Ultralite Specs

[Talk Show Host]

Hello Everyone,

I've been trying to decide on a ultraportable, bus-powered Audio Interface. So far I've narrowed my selection down to the Focusrite Saffire, RME Fireface 400, TC Electronic Konnekt, and the MOTU Ultralite, however, MOTU has been very sketcky regarding the Frequency Response of the Preamps and the Dynamic Ranges of the AD/DA converters. Can you guys please help me out? It looks like the MOTU rocks.

[baanes]

Well, specs don't really have a whole lot of bearing on the overall sound. MOTU will, however, send you them if you email them. Between those interfaces the RME will probably sound the best (although it hasn't actually been released, it is supposed to based on their multiface which is a solid unit, and the RME pres have gotten good reviews). Don't know about the others, however if you use the search function of this forum or google for reviews you could probably dig out some info about them (in terms of sound quality the ultralite should be identical to the motu 828mkii).

[psizE]

i'm not sure what OS your on but i had the saffire and it was very unstable for me on osx. the problem was their drivers are always in the beta stage. i had high hope of this interface but was let down. however when i purchased the ultralite it's been flawless. i love this interface! hope this helps..

regards,
psizE

[gspencer]

The UltraLite uses excellent ADC's/DAC's for analog input & and analog output. As an example, the ADC has 113dB dynamic range which is more
than you can use for normal input sources even when recording at a max level of 90 or 100dB. Also, the Mic1 & 2 have a discrete analog mic preamp (front panel selectable fixed gain settings) with up to 36dB gain and you can follow this with up to 18dB of additional "analog" gain which is provided internal to the ADC. The ADC has an input digital attenuator with a range of 0dB to -63dB.
Please note: All of the input dB's are referenced to the analog converter's full scale signal level of 0dBFS.
The DAC's dynamic range is 115dB. One of the key attributes that makes the UltraLite better than most competitors at a similar price point is the HW ckt design and ckt board layout which is as important as the internal components that have been chosen. In my opinion, this is the best portable analog mix/digital I/O unit on the market with supurb sonic quality.

[arth]

The UltraLite uses excellent ADC's/DAC's for analog input & and analog output.

Indeed -- they sound like something costing a LOT more -- I've had pure DAC units with much worse sound quality.

The only audio quality I'm not too thrilled about on the UltraLite is the headphone amp, which doesn't seem precise with light-driven headphones (Grado RS-1), and also appears to taper off the bass at too high a frequency. Feed the output from the main outs to a headphone amp, and the problems go away, so I'm pretty sure it's the headphone amp in the unit itself that might not be top grade.

Regards,
--
*Art

[gspencer]

I have never attempted to use the UltraLite headphone output. I use my
HK integrated amp to drive my AKG's which are about 800ohm input Z.
The UltraLite actually uses a "high end" Codec which is used in pro-audio
and high-end consumer products.
Does anyone know what the "high" Mic input (& line input) impedance is ?

All of the input channels have an opamp buffer configuration and the
Mic inputs have opamp with gain/atten from front panel which just switches in/out resistors.

[Smokehouse]

I would add that if you are a Windows user (rather than Mac) prepare for some headaches. MOTU support for Windows is thready -- there are lots of issues reported by Windows users here that never really get fully resolved.

[gspencer]

I've only used Adobe Audition 2.0 and Audio Mulch with plug-ins and both
programs recognize the Motu driver set and I have not experienced any
routing or configuration issues (yet). I rely mostly on S/PDIF data transport thru Motu Box and the Dell 610 Laptop with an el-cheapo PCMCIA firewire card is working perfectly although I was prepared to buy
a better one (Adaptec unit).
There is one function that I was hoping to configure Motu UltraLite on occation but I don't think it has the internal audio data bus span. Since there is a stereo DAC at every analog output, I would like to configure the Motu to send out the "same" mono S/PDIF audio input data to ALL of
the analog outputs at the same time. I know the HW design engineer for this box, I think I'll contact him to inquire if it is at all possible unless someone out there has already has success with this non-standard config.

[Smokehouse]

gspencer - couldn't you use CueMix to route the S/PDIF input to all outputs?

[djpetec]

I originally started with a Focusrite Saffire due to the liquid channels rack being to damn good.

Only to find constant distortion and clicking, the drivers were so bad that the onboard MAC sound was better and had better latency.

I was going to buy a Fireface 400 due to owning a 9632 plus 2 addon card but it was not available. Being an RME lover I never wanted anything else till I tried the MOTU Ultralite, damn its good.

THANKS MOTU, the Ultralite is the dogs.

[gspencer]

Hey Smoke ---- You're right. That works. I just use Bus 1 thru 4 and route Bus1 to Analog out 1,2
Bus2 to Analog out 3,4
Bus3 to Analog out 5,6
Bus4 to Analog out 7,8

At the moment, I can't figure out how to do this with the Adobe Audition mixer. But, now that I know it's possible in hardware, I'll figure out how to configure SW channels and Bus(s).

Thanks for bringing up the stagelights on this issue. Things are in better focus with the lights on.

[Christophe LE BRASSEUR]

here's some of the components found into the ultralite :

converters :
- AKM AK4620AVF * 3 (datasheet : http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet- ... 20AVF.html)
- AKM AK4620VF * 2

op amp input + output :
- 4580 JRC (datasheet : http://www.ampslab.com/PDF/njm4580.pdf)

preamp op amp :
- 2068 JRC (datasheet : http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet- ... 2068D.html)

[gspencer]

Chris .....Thanks for info on the codec & opamp devices. Do you know
what S/PDIF receiver is in the UltraLite ?

It's probably a 96kHz AKM part or Cirrus Logic part.

[Christophe LE BRASSEUR]

Well, the only component I can see in the S/PDIF path is a Philips 74HCU04D (Hex inverter).
Then it seems to go to a Xilinx Spartan FPGA (XC3S200). I guess this one can do the job (see http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/design ... key=CWda03 and http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/design ... key=CWda04)

Other than that, I also identified a Philips LPC2104 and a TI Firewire chip...

[Dubnick]

I'm very interested in the Konnekt 24d - looks like the suggested retail price is gonna be around $629 according to EQ. Two things that look intriguing about it - the ability to monitor at low latency with compression without having to track it that way (via the hardware based dsp, a la Saffire) and the Dice II chip which has this Jitter Elimination Technology - which claims to completely eliminate jitter, whether clocking internally or to an external source - sounds like a variation on the Steady Clock in the RME stuff. The pres are a bit of a shot in the dark as of right now, but I've got an Eureka I'm ok with. Speaking of which, the DICE II chips will also be in the new Firestudio from PreSonus as well (if they add the same Saffire-like monitoring ability, I'd probably go with it instead). I would get the Fireface 400 cause everyone says they (the RME interfaces) are amazing hands down, but it looks like the Fireface 400 is going to cost around $1200 us, if the Euro pricing is any indication - if this J.E.T. thing works, it looks like it there might be more middle ground between a MOTU with BLA mods and the RME stuff - that would be nice.