HCMarcus and 8pre-es

[Phil O]

HC, hope you see this post. I'll PM you if not. I noticed in another post you mentioned owning an 8pre-es. So I directed this at you. Anyone else, please chime in.

I've been looking to expand my dedicated mic pre options to include an interface with at least 6 pres AND is highly portable. I've actually picked up some remote recording work in these crazy times and I don't want to break down my studio every time I need to travel, or have to bring a mixer. I'm taking a hard look at the 8 pre-es. It has some options over the 8pre that will let me easily incorporate it into my studio once the remote work goes away (Will we get a vaccine?).
What has been your experience with this unit?

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[HCMarkus]

Hey Phil! Sorry to report I have only an 828es, so I cannot weigh in with anything pertinent.

Glad you are getting the work!

[Phil O]

Sorry for the mistake, HC. Maybe someone else will chime in. Thanks for the reply.

[mothra]

You're talking about the 8pre as in the usb rack mount interface right??
Functionally it should be the same as the ES version. The 8Pre-ES gets upgrades like newer preamps, the new ESS converters, Thunderbolt 1/2 and USB, AVB networking, the way more awesome new display, and will use the new mixer software that replaced CueMix (which the old 8Pre still uses). Its one drawback, if you can call it that, is that instead of individual controls for all 8 preamps on the front, now you get a switchable bank of 4 at a time, that's so the fancy display can fit. The ES has word clock finally too.

Its the same with the 828mk2-mk3-X-ES (the original was an odd one being the first of its kind in a few ways).. They just got hardware upgrades and updates along the way. Extra ADAT port or headphone jack here or there, no big deviations from the earlier gens really..

[Phil O]

Thanks for the feedback, mothra. I just ordered the es version from Sweetwater. I've been reading customer reviews from various vendor websites and most are five star ratings, so I bit the bullet and put down my money (er, plastic).

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[mothra]

Awesome you cant go wrong there, always nice to have the latest and greatest hehe.

I was planning on moving from the 828mk2 up to the 828ES myself eventually, but I lucked out and scored an 828x from a guy on Reverb locally for $200 a few months back, could not pass that up! The x has pretty much everything the ES does minus the AVB, display and ESS converters. If this one lasts as long as my 828MK2 has, Ill probably be upgrading around the time the 828ESmk4 is released haha.

[Phil O]

Yeah, I still have an original 828 but I used to have two. One has gone FUBAR and the other is getting tired.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[Walchey]

I've had an 8pre-es fro six months.

It's good - Clean mic pres, good connectivity, although nothing is perfect right....

I run 8 mics in and use the ADAT inputs to run my Airport express in for listening to music.
I'm only running a single set of monitors, but obviously it can run at least 2. Two headphone outs is also helpful. Pre's get noisy above about 45db-50db of gain.

In built talkback is useful - but a bit tricky to rout as it easy to miss on the routing page.

AVB is very useful.

I've since added an 8M and can run this in a cabinet isolation room and only need an ethernet cable back to the control room.

I think the 8Pre-es is more versatile than the 8M, and I can't detect anything in the way of difference in sound quality.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Curious to hear any impressions specifically on the quality of the mic pres on the 8pre es. How do they compare, to say, the Apogee Element and Focusrite Clarett series?

[Phil O]

I find the mic pres to be very neutral. No coloration that I can discern. That works for my tracking style. I like to have preamps that don't get in the way and select the microphone for the job. Any time there's a microphone involved, I'll go to my Grace Design 201 first (very accurate pres), but it's only 2 channels. I used to use the pres on my Soundcraft board for extra channels, but now I'm using the 8pre. I can hear a small difference between the Grace and the Motu, but it's really subtle, which is quite impressive.

I can't comment on the Apogee Element and I've only used a Clarett in another studio. I found the Clarett to be a little hyped in the high end, but take that with a grain of salt cuz it wasn't my studio or my monitors, etc., etc, yada, yada.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[Rusty Shackleford]

I find the mic pres to be very neutral. No coloration that I can discern. That works for my tracking style. I like to have preamps that don't get in the way and select the microphone for the job. Any time there's a microphone involved, I'll go to my Grace Design 201 first (very accurate pres), but it's only 2 channels. I used to use the pres on my Soundcraft board for extra channels, but now I'm using the 8pre. I can hear a small difference between the Grace and the Motu, but it's really subtle, which is quite impressive.

I can't comment on the Apogee Element and I've only used a Clarett in another studio. I found the Clarett to be a little hyped in the high end, but take that with a grain of salt cuz it wasn't my studio or my monitors, etc., etc, yada, yada.

Thx for the feedback, Phil. Interesting about your impressions compared to the Grace. How would you characterize those differences between the 8pre-ES and the m201?

Do you find any latency advantage connecting the 8pre-ES via TB vs USB beside the number of tracks made available?

Makes sense how you described the Clarett since it has that ‘Air’ switch to highlight/hype the highs a bit.

[mikehalloran]

Awesome you cant go wrong there, always nice to have the latest and greatest hehe.

I was planning on moving from the 828mk2 up to the 828ES myself eventually, but I lucked out and scored an 828x from a guy on Reverb locally for $200 a few months back, could not pass that up! The x has pretty much everything the ES does minus the AVB, display and ESS converters. If this one lasts as long as my 828MK2 has, Ill probably be upgrading around the time the 828ESmk4 is released haha.

[Phil O]

Thx for the feedback, Phil. Interesting about your impressions compared to the Grace. How would you characterize those differences between the 8pre-ES and the m201?

Do you find any latency advantage connecting the 8pre-ES via TB vs USB beside the number of tracks made available?

Makes sense how you described the Clarett since it has that ‘Air’ switch to highlight/hype the highs a bit.

The Grace is just super pristine. If there's a cleaner pre out there, I can't imagine anyone could hear the difference. In combination with a pair of Earthworks mics it sounds like you're listening to something live when you close your eyes. By comparison the MOTU does an excellent job, but the sense of "I'm in the room listening live" is a little less obvious. But don't get me wrong. IMHO the MOTU unit still sounds better than anything I've heard from Presonus or Focusrite. I have the 201, BTW (no longer in production). The m201 came later, and then the m201 mk2.

I haven't measured the latency of the unit. I have a dedicated mixer for monitoring during tracking and I use the 8 outputs routed internally, so my monitoring signal never encounters TB or USB during tracking - as close to zero latency monitoring as it gets.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[Rusty Shackleford]

Thx for the feedback, Phil. Interesting about your impressions compared to the Grace. How would you characterize those differences between the 8pre-ES and the m201?

Do you find any latency advantage connecting the 8pre-ES via TB vs USB beside the number of tracks made available?

Makes sense how you described the Clarett since it has that ‘Air’ switch to highlight/hype the highs a bit.

The Grace is just super pristine. If there's a cleaner pre out there, I can't imagine anyone could hear the difference. In combination with a pair of Earthworks mics it sounds like you're listening to something live when you close your eyes. By comparison the MOTU does an excellent job, but the sense of "I'm in the room listening live" is a little less obvious. But don't get me wrong. IMHO the MOTU unit still sounds better than anything I've heard from Presonus or Focusrite. I have the 201, BTW (no longer in production). The m201 came later, and then the m201 mk2.

I haven't measured the latency of the unit. I have a dedicated mixer for monitoring during tracking and I use the 8 outputs routed internally, so my monitoring signal never encounters TB or USB during tracking - as close to zero latency monitoring as it gets.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

Thanks for sharing your impressions, Phil. I ended up purchasing the 8pre-ES. I am very impressed with the sound of its pres and how it recorded my piano. The only issue I have using the interface is with the ipad app that controls the unit’s routing and mixing - great in concept but it’s been very unreliable/buggy. Disappointing since controlling the interface from the computer app works fine. I’m still curious how these pres compare to the Apogee Element’s sound, although I imagine it’s in a similar class.