Our use case is a bit of a "non-standard" setup, so perhaps a more detailed description would help.  I'm setting up this audio dome as part of a lab where we study the relationship between the brain and spoken language (speech comprehension, tinnitus, etc.), so we're working a lot with neuroimaging and audiometry.  The goal is to be able to create highly naturalistic and controllable "adverse listening situations" using spatial audio while also measuring subjects EEG data.

So essentially, I need to be able to get a lot of (but certainly less than 64) audio channels from Max/MSP out of the control room to the listening room next door where the dome is.  The mic inputs would just be for talkback between the rooms, and headphones and/or a pair of some small speakers in the control room would be to monitor the trials remotely.

My plan with Dante would be simply to connect the experiment laptop directly to the M32 DA without any switch to simplify things.  Before that (before considering the need for mic ins/headphone outs) I was going to use a MADIface USB, and then I looked into the MADIface XT, but that seems not to be so available(?), plus as you said, the cost is almost the same as a UFX III.

I've used Dante in the past in another room I setup, so I figured it could be a more flexible and "modern" option, but it has also caused some weird buggy issues, so I'm a bit more weary of using it here, as this new setup really needs to work reliably (w/o having to verify that wifi is off, or restarting DVS, etc).  So I think I've just talked myself into just biting the bullet and going for the UFX III.

thanks again for the advice!

UFX III-------------MADI----->----------M-32 Pro II DA
       |                                                    |
       +--------------MADI-----<-------------+

Option 2:

If you would get "AVB tool" (to get mic inputs) from a shop or used market, then another option might be:

MADIface USB---MADI--->AVB Tool---MADI--->M-32 Pro II DA
                |                                                            |
                +---------------MADI--------<----------------+

Option 3:

MADIface XT--------------MADI--------->----------M-32 Pro II DA
                |                                                            |
                +---------------MADI---------<---------------+

UFX III €2689
MADIface USB €849 + AVB Tool  €1554 = €2403 (better get the UFX III for a few bucks more)
MADIface XT €2299 (a new updated device is on the way, maybe also here better to get UFX III for a few bucks more)

With the UFX III you have 4 superior Mic inputs up to 75 dB gain range, excellent AD/DA converter.
DURrec might be used for playback instead of having to use a PC, depening on what you intend to do.
You have one MADI bus to use the M32 Pro either at single or double speed.
If you need even more MADI buses, check out MADIface XT.

In short, I need to have at least 17 output channels to speakers (plus headphones in the control room) and 2 mic inputs - hopefully the total channel count will go up as we get more funding in the future.  My plan is to use an RME M-32 AD Pro II-D to feed 16x Meyer MM-4XP speakers via 2x Meyer MPS-488xX power supplies plus one Meyer MM-10AC subwoofer directly.  The system will be driven by a M3 mac.

My question is on how best to feed audio to the to the D/A converter.  After doing some more research I’ve come up with two possible solutions:

1) Use a RME UFX III and connect to the DAC via MADI
2) Create an aggregate device using a RME UCX II and Dante and connecting to the DAC via Dante

Option 1 would certainly be simpler, but it feels a bit ridiculous to buy such an expensive interface to just use 2 analog ins and the headphone output and we could use the budget for other things.  Option 2 would be cheaper, but I’m not so sure about the stability of using an RME + Dante aggregate device like that; I’ve done it without any problems once or twice in the past, but just for a day or two, not for a permanent installation like this that should just be plug and play from a laptop.  Also, it would require having a Dante license for any laptop that needs to connect, which is just a minor inconvenience I guess.

Does anyone have any intuition on this?  Does the Dante aggregate option sound reasonable or better to just go with the UFX + MADI?  Or can you think of some other better solution that I’m missing (e.g. is it possible to directly daisy chain devices directly)?

thanks,
-eric