I searched. All I find are a bunch of product-given-influencers giving reviews in the two hours since i realized they've gone on sale. Of which I've started to conduct my research.

I currently own a RME Fireface 800. ITS. But it's rack mounted. And the dongling requirements for my new-ish MacBook make me want to punch a baby. Well not really punch a baby. Maybe make it cry. Just for like three seconds.

Bus powered desktop sound card would be ideal atm. I'd like four balanced inputs. But two are fine.

They suck? They rule? Nay or Yay, trusted community?

 

they do not suck, but there is no way i would buy one. other people will elaborate I am sure.

but I would not want a bus powered interface for any laptop, too much of a power drain. What is the "dongling requirement" you have issue with? My 2017 MBP is 4 tb3 ports only, and the Apple tb3->tb2 adapter is not great, 40$ and they fail for no reasons. But there are other ways around it, like a hub or different connection to it. I was using a Motu M2 for a while as a second interface, and it was bus powered. It didn't use any additional software so it didn't interfere with my racked motu 828es.
I got rid of it, but that was because I moved a bunch of stuff around so it just wasn't needed anymore.

 

Personal opinion from a RME fanboy may not be what you're looking for, but I truly believe you would be better off in the long run with something like this https://rme-audio.com/babyface-pro-fs.html. Probably will cost more than one of those cantelopes, but in the long run you will have an interface AND drivers (drivers almost as important as the hardware itself) you can count on.

I can say that RME as been rock solid for me via the HDSP 9652, ADI-8 pro, Fireface UFX, HDSPe AIO.

 

As an Antelope Zen-Go owner I can tell that the interface is pretty reliable, it has nice preamps and transformers, the drivers work fine, also I had it running almost everyday for 2 years, so I can't really complain about its performance. However if you're interested in the Antelope interface for its plugins you're gonna be let down cos their daw integration is bad, I prefer to use 3rd party ones that I can get in the sister site.

 

Research an old company called Aardvark Audio. If you are still cool after that then go for it.

 

Better stick with RME.
Antelope is time bomb.
I like their MX clock but interfaces...

 

I have Orion studio, it's ok, but I wouldn't buy it again. I would move to rme. Drivers aren't that great and toggling between phones and mains with the volume knob is horrible. Sounds good, but just not refined.

 

They don't suck, but they are built cheap.... Nay AVOID... go RME or Audient.

 

Would Digidesign be too much of a stretch comparison? Probably. But I would never get involved with a company whose customers commonly report getting screwed by them, monetarily. Sometimes it's exaggerated bullshit; but you are always, without fail; better off believing them.

A red flag I have noticed over the years, is audio companies that refer to whatever you consider buying from them as "an investment". They mean it to sound like you are future-proofing your setup. But what it really means is that they will be back like a crackhead at 2am needing more money, sometime in your relatively near future.

 

Better Pres, fantastic sound, top notch plugins
right now a sale on all plugins for 50 (till the 7th i believe)
i like it

 

I had an Orion32HD
Lot's and lot's of I/O which was perfect for my needs. On a PC, hackintosh and Mac.
Sold it after changing my setup, not going back to Antelope. Had some horrific times trying to get everything to work.
Some days rock solid, other times horrible. sadly not reliable. on paper their products are great but in a real wokring enviromment....
Nay.

 

they where always Rock solid on mac and most problems are gone on pc now, too.

 

nope, you need to find a specific driver version to make it work on a specific mac os version. usually meaning a downgrade of the current driver. the sort of info you will find buried deep in facebook comments in the antelope group page and not on the official antelope website.

 

isnt this always the case for mac

 

Or you could look on the Logic Pro forums. I'd buy a UAD long before I would play around with an Antelope. Prices on previously owned UAD interfaces have gone way down since they released Native plugins and Spark. And I dislike them as a company, overall.

I'd get a Motu M4 or an Audient. A Volt or an SSL even, if you only want to spend a couple hundred bucks. What external audio sources are you even recording?

Not even close. You may need additional software from the Interface manufacturer which is not included in MacOS. You do not need to track down old files which are parts of MacOS.

 

Last edited: Dec 26, 2023

Not sure if high end enough for you, but I recently had similar issue with an older firewire MOTU, albeit on Windows, with firewire support being dropped and difficulty getting any assurance of longevity.

My solution was that I bought a USB C bus powered Audient ID14 MkII. Audient have higher ins/out models too. This was cheap, works and sounds amazing, and I then hooked up my old MOTU via ADAT into it, meaning I can still use the inputs of the MOTU and have an extra 8 ins into the Audient.

This also has a few pros for me in that I can easily take the Audient with me as it small and portable when going away or travelling. It also operates as a pretty good desktop control station with easy access controls for the volume, headphone levels, and so on.

The other good thing is by being USB C bus powered, when connected to a USB C port it has enough power to also properly drive my 250 ohm Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro headphones without needing any headphone preamps.

Just a thought as a potential other solution, and same would be applicable for the bigger Audient portable devices too, like the Audient ID44 that has extras like 2 ADAT inputs for additional 16 ins and 2 ADAT outs for additional 16 outs. This would enable you to still use your RME ins and out, or the Class A preamps of the Audient if using it on its own.

 

I have Zen Tour SC the usb/tb version one. From my experience, what I can tell you is that if you are not worried about being tortured by drivers with frequent problems, you can try it to see if your patience can withstand it.

 

How is a bus-powered interface a better power supply design than a regular macbook electrical cord plugged into your UPS kind of power supply?

Replacing the internal battery in a Macbook Pro is not what you would call cheap. Does anyone have information about a Mac's power management to show this does not hasten the failure of the battery? If you are using a laptop as a secondary, portable computer that is one thing; but if it is your main stationary workstation it is constantly plugged in with the interface drawing power. And the battery is constantly being charged and depleted (to an extent). You can change some settings in Energy Saver within MacOS System Preferences, but that is basically options for sleep settings.

Bus Powered is a great option to have, but it is not when it is the only power supply. Some UAD Apollo Solos and others do not have optional external power source. It's not desirable at all, in my personal experience. With the UAD/other pulling power directly from Macbook Pro, you are going to have the CPU fan going like your laptop is preparing for liftoff.

 

Last edited: Dec 26, 2023

There was an "users" thread some times ago.
"Winner" was RME, Audient just behind.

For whatever it 's worth.

About "bus power" :
RME bus power is 2.5 Watt

Powerbook 2021 : 69.6 watt-hours (14-inch model) or 99.6 watt-hours (16-inch model)

So power bus soundcard consomption is PEANUT compared to laptop itself.

 

years back I was seriously considering their Goliath, but according to reviews and troubleshooting articles, its main flaw was generic aftermarket USB bus controller, so that time I went for RME 802 (and later expanded with Octamics) instead,
even nowadays I don't think Antelope makes custom USB stuff (well, RME does)...

once you get familiar with RME's TotalMix FX, you simply cannot go back, professional interfaces like UA's Apollo X8P or Focusrite's Red or AVID's MTRX look like toys for kids,
if you want something smaller than FF800, then UCX II is only viable option right now,

I'm against bus powered desktop audio interfaces, USB power delivery is very limited in terms of actual power specs and reliability,
for example take a look at huge price difference between bus-powered RME Digiface AES, and adapter-powered RME Fireface UFX II,
imo it's not at all worth it, and also forget about higher amount of mic preamps or overall I/O