Shootout Avid Mbox Pro vs Apogee Ensemble vs RME Fireface UFX vs Prism Orpheus

[Pr0blem]

listening to the test on my profire 610 the 2nd part of the test i nailed it .. that apogee just has a shimmer to it .. that just pushes it over the edge quality wise for me ...

damn this test just made me realize im buying an apogee in the next few weeks ....

on the other hand black lion audio with mod the new mbox 3 pro . check their site out for more info

[MattiaS]

Fireface 800 user here.... I got a B at the test...

To be honest... I'm listening the RME preamps, not the ADC.... the RME preamps are a little bit blur in the low mid region... that's why I use them just if I need more preamps that I have here...

I don't know if I have my ears in my butt or what but I don't know if the differences are so critical... Maybe if you compare the Mbox against a Lynx or something like that we could listen a dramatical difference.... who knows?!...

Anyway... I think that this would be better if we could listen the same PRE, into each interface... using each interface's clock of course... As I said, in the challenge I was listening the RME's preamps... and I never listened a Prism before... so was a discarding game with that...

Cheers!

[ToddAO]

I got a "B" too. From several sources, they really did the convertors over and like you said. For sounding so close and yet subtle, in a mix, rock pop plus mics amp tube vs electric or plugin, bass traps or just a good mic and headphones and amplitube (I think sounds the best) but the line 6 amp will give you sounds you might
not have thought of. Does it come with a pedal to change???

Anyway know a guy, full time foley. Different guy, both named Derek though. Anyway, he uses a Mbox 2 at home do you can do anything of you know what your doing but to have an Mbox that can now play Cubase/Nuendo PT-Logic, and sound like an Ensmeble is pretty cool. Amazing price. Apple is the one now falling behind as PT/Avid finally gets it. I always said when, not of, just a matter of time and it look like its here. Only prob is, NAMM. Will we see lots of thunderbolt? FireWire not going away for a long time. USB will probably go first. Lol.

[ToddAO]

Nope. Very subtle and very close. You have to have good ears. Almost worked for Paul when he owned Groove Tubes and made Solo 75 and 150's ( what I had) as I could hear when a cap went out and it lost a tad of shine, glassy high fendery sound. Got a B. but even if you failed, that just means you can't tell the difference, so that's not a bad thing and now with 10 and plug in format, TDM will work with Hd and more.

Apple really needs TI get their act together. So much potential. Ala smart instruments. One to one trainers used to be FCP, Shake, Adobe on occasion, color, Logic, et-cetera. Now it's all iLife and email for iPhones and iPads. Also said the air worth it at $999. Now if I could only find/figure out how to make money doing stuff like that. :-)

Peace mates.

[guitarmax_99]

Originally Posted by tyler1205

Am I the only one who doesn't really hear a big difference? I mean, yea, if I were to stay here for hours on end and really crank up the volume, maybe I could hear some slight variation? But that's just not realistic and definitely not worth an extra few grand...

Totally agree.

[Sugar Stinky]

Black Lion Audio | RME UFX Modification

with this MOD the UFX is every bit as good as our myteks and lavry's,

just saying,

bummer i'll be without gear for a while, having sell it all off :-(

[Avening]

Originally Posted by tyler1205

Am I the only one who doesn't really hear a big difference?

Nope, neither do I. It is so subtle that neither one of these interfaces would get in the way. My takeaway from this test was that all of the interfaces tested, sound great. I couldn't care less which one I was using during a session from a sonic standpoint. Mind you, as someone on this thread mentioned, I would love to hear the same test with an external preamp so we can focus on AD conversion alone (the most important to me).

Which brings us back to functionality and feature set as the major selling points of these units. To me, a fire-wire connection is a deal breaker for a mobile rig considering I use a brand new MacBook Pro. That FW port is already used by my external FW800 Drive for tracking / playback, and all of these interfaces require access to the full bandwidth of the FW buss in order to operate to their full potential (ie: latency figures, signal reliability). Which means for my purposes, the RME UFX is the Interface of choice. To me, it sounds just as good as the Avid, Apogee or the Prism. And this is coming from someone who's home base is 192's, and AD/DA 16X's. The Prism was on my radar for my mobile rig, but IMHO, it's just not worth the price tag (and I've never used RME anything btw).

Very cool test, Avid.

[neirbod]

Originally Posted by Avening

Which brings us back to functionality and feature set as the major selling points of these units.

Agreed

Originally Posted by Avening

The Prism was on my radar for my mobile rig, but IMHO, it's just not worth the price tag (and I've never used RME anything btw).

The Orpheus drivers also behave in a way that makes it more difficult to easily set up a backup system, which is essential for any location work. I posted about this a while ago, and to my knowledge the Orpheus drivers have not addressed this serious flaw:

Orpheus - pulling the plug for location work?

[Avening]

Originally Posted by neirbod

Agreed



The Orpheus drivers also behave in a way that makes it more difficult to easily set up a backup system, which is essential for any location work. I posted about this a while ago, and to my knowledge the Orpheus drivers have not addressed this serious flaw:

Orpheus - pulling the plug for location work?

Thanks for that. And you're right in saying that's an issue with the Prism. Although if I'm doing proper location work, I'll generally have some type of hard disk recorder as a backup (generally take a few stereo mixes from the console). However, in an effort to lighten my load (and the weight in my rack) I'd love not to. The RME having that USB port on the front panel that records regardless of a connection dropout is simply fantastic engineering.

As a producer, the lions share of my work is in overdubs. Bass, guitars, vocals, editing. Usually in locations other than my home studio, as needed for the acoustic requirements of the project. I track drums in a commercial room and I mix in a commercial room (generally an SSL G or J), so having gear that I can beat up day in and day out is a top priority. From what I've heard of the UFX convertors, they will work just fine for my needs. Sure, the Prism might have a slight edge in the conversion department, but if this MBox challenge has shown us anything, it's not by much ... at all.

Anyways, just thinking out loud. All of the tested units will surely satisfy the needs of the mobile studio, and all sound great. Pick your poison.

[lawman]

Boy, am I going to save some money by not getting new converters.

[guitarkeys]

wait did Walter say the correct answers?

[guitarkeys]

WHICH ONES ARE WHICH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha I listen and have submitted, but they do not tell you the answers..........I am looking to buy a AD/DA converter and leaning towards the Ensemble, whatcha guys think?

[gideon352]

*SPOILER ALERT*

Forgot about this one. Got an "A."
Let's see if this works:



Hope this helps!