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Audio to USB interface

June 29th, 2024, 5:02 pm

For years I have been using a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 to interface my laptop to audio devices. Recently one channel went bad and I looked for a new interface. Focusrite still makes these devices but I found a company Motu that also has some interesting ones. I found one that was interesting: https://motu.com/en-us/products/m-series/m2/

It has updated ESS devices and great specs. I received one today and did a spectral analysis of both channels. The results are included. Vanishing low distortion and noise. It will not be a limit with any measurements you do. I got it on Amazon for $199 and it seems to be a bargain. If you need a USB to audio interface you should look at this one.
Attachments
Motu M2 channel 1 spectrum analysis.png
Motu M2 channel 2 spectrum analysis.png

Re: Audio to USB interface

June 29th, 2024, 10:33 pm

tomp wrote:For years I have been using a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 to interface my laptop to audio devices. Recently one channel went bad and I looked for a new interface. Focusrite still makes these devices but I found a company Motu that also has some interesting ones. I found one that was interesting: https://motu.com/en-us/products/m-series/m2/

It has updated ESS devices and great specs. I received one today and did a spectral analysis of both channels. The results are included. Vanishing low distortion and noise. It will not be a limit with any measurements you do. I got it on Amazon for $199 and it seems to be a bargain. If you need a USB to audio interface you should look at this one.


I have both units, and the M2 is the one I use for ripping LPs. It's definitely cleaner and clearer than the Scarlett. Thanks for confirming that, I might try it as a distortion analyzer. I use the Scarlett for my narration setup because I actually like the extra warmth. Plus, by the time my clients squash and smash my audio for download, it hardly matters what I use. ;-)

Re: Audio to USB interface

June 30th, 2024, 6:28 am

Should work well for your measurements. I don't do music recording but am using both the ARTA suite and Room EQ Wizard for speaker, room, and electronic component measurements. ARTA is going away which is a shame.

Re: Audio to USB interface

June 30th, 2024, 7:15 am

The ADC's in the dspNexus 2x8 work well for measurements and recording.

An AKM AK5578 ADC is used and the input filter setting can be either linear phase or minimum phase.

The ADC's can be set to go to the USB or S/PDIF output for use with REW or other software for measurements.

I use it for audio recording with Adobe Audition 3.01. The ADC RIAA EQ setting will let you archive vinyl to files.

Re: Audio to USB interface

June 30th, 2024, 7:50 am

I love my dspNexus but it is a little cumbersome and expensive just for taking measurements.
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