Is the Mbox 2 any better than the Box 1?

[Ecks]

I'm looking into buying an Mbox... My question is, is the Mbox2 enough of an improvement over the Mbox 1 to drop the extra $100?

What actual improvements did they make to the machine?

[Bob Olhsson]

You can bet it's going to be supported longer. Possibly LOTS longer.

[natpub]

Originally Posted by Ecks

I'm looking into buying an Mbox... My question is, is the Mbox2 enough of an improvement over the Mbox 1 to drop the extra $100?

What actual improvements did they make to the machine?

I think Sobe answered your question fairly well here:

As many have commented, the Mbox 2 is primarily designed to provide greater value and quality to new users, rather than as an upgrade to existing Mbox 1 owners. It is a “replacement” in our product-line in that respect, and we weren’t expecting it to take over from the needs of buyers of our FireWire-based products like 002 and 002Rack. As more and more MIDI musicians choose Pro Tools, we were keen to ensure that they wouldn’t have to buy a separate MIDI interface.

Nevertheless, why not make it FireWire? This was driven by our desire to make it work as a portable peripheral with the widest possible range of laptop and desktop PC and Macintosh machines. As many of you know, FireWire is much less common on PC’s, and on PC laptops the standard which has evolved is to use 4-pin FireWire connections, which don’t provide power. This means you would have to use a line-lump/wall-wart adapter to power the unit from an AC socket – a bit of a drag for a portable device!

On the USB1.1 vs. 2.0 issue, many older machines are USB1.1 only, and we didn’t want to make an inexpensive peripheral, but have users feel like they had to buy a new machine just to work with it. While it’s true that USB2.0 is faster than 1.1 (480Mbps vs. 12Mbps), it’s latency is actually worse in most cases, and for the requirements of a 2-channel device 1.1 is just fine. In fact we even managed to improve the simultaneous channel-count over USB1.1, and improve the latency compared to the Mbox 1, which was already one of the best in it’s class. USB2.0 is really not capable of streaming audio efficiently yet (hence the lack of USB2.0 devices in the audio space), and it would have increased the cost considerably, as would FireWire.

So, does this mean that it’s hamstrung by an archaic technology foundation? Actually, not at all: it still represents a considerable leap forward in design terms. All USB-powered peripherals struggle against a performance limitation imposed by the low-quality nature of the 5 volts supplied over the USB cable from the computer. This is where some of the most demanding design effort went on Mbox 2: by completely re-designing the mic pre circuits and matching them carefully with the power control circuits within the Mbox 2, this unit now delivers 5dB better signal-to-noise performance than it’s predecessor (106dB!) and 10dB better THD+N performance (0.0008% vs. 0.003% previously.) All through the design phase, we’ve been taking a hard look at our competitors’ performance, and while we’re not 100% certain that we have absolutely the best USB peripheral specification anywhere ever, we were unable to find one that can match the Mbox 2 in bus-powered mode. These numbers are world-class even for AC-powered pro-audio devices.

Finally, I think someone commented on the handle, and how that might make it hard to store in your laptop case. It’s not apparent from a quick glance at the product page, but in fact Mbox 2 comes with two interchangeable face-plates in the box. One is the pictured handle which, apart from the obvious carrying benefits, can also tilt the unit up towards you if it sits on a desk, or allow it to be stood on it’s end to conserve desktop space. The other piece fits very flush to the body, making a more slim-line unit which can slide into your laptop case, and provides a very slight up-tilt when you lay it down on a desk. You can swap them in seconds with a single release screw.

Also The compromises with a 96k USB 1.1 device are a little ugly: 1.1 can't support sending 2 channels of 96kHz audio in both directions at once (there isn't enough bandwidth.) This would have made it possible to record or playback but not both at the same time. Some Mbox users are (like yourself) also owners of a TDM system, but most Mbox users use only the Mbox, and we felt it was more important to give that type of user the simultaneous I/O and MIDI while keeping the price the same, particularly since we already provide other 96kHz alternatives (002, 002 Rack, as well as M-Audio devices working with Pro Tools M-Powered.)

...

[Sobe]

we need a portable small 02 ... but for the $$ the m box has no competition if you like working in PT .

[Ecks]

I understand it will be supported longer, but does it SOUND better? The Mbox is not my long term solutuion, so if its not supported in 2 years thats not an issue for me.

[DivineMusic]

well it looks better.. i doubt if its any better though.. its still usb and its still limited to 24/48...

[Kestral]

How about the M-Audio units with Pro Tools M-Powered?

[dy6587]

Mbox2 is made by M-audio

[Fredrik]

Originally Posted by Sobe

we need a portable small 02 ... but for the $$ the m box has no competition if you like working in PT .

I was thinking about the M-audio FireWire 1814, you should be able to run protools M.powered with that thing, it´s half rack I believe and 1u high.

18-in/14-out + midi

[VuucuuV]

nope