Hi Fritzi,

device comparison excel

perhaps my Excel spreadsheet can help you find differences that might be of particular importance to you in your decision-making process. Everybody uses his interface in the recording area a little differently, so that there can also be different focuses and needs, for example pure recording vs. playing via virtual interfaces, see: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … B-MADIfac/

Direct link to the Excel: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/index.ph … -04b-xlsx/

UCX II - summary of changes

Please read also my summary, that I posted after the introduction of the new UCX II as it highlighes changes and improvements: https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=33222

The list of additional / upgraded features is very long between UC / UCX and UCX II.

There are now several possibilities...

a) I am satisfied with what I have.

b) There are a lot of improvements and additional features, I just have to have that.

c) I wouldn't necessarily have to upgrade, but I would like to counter-finance by selling my UC while it still works and doesn't age much more to get the highest possible resale price (~€600 should still be possible), but would then have to pay around 1299-600 = €700 extra.

d) If I already invest €700, then the jump to other solutions is also not far:
UFX II: 1879-600 = €1279
UFX +: 2198-600 = €1598

e) or integrating an ADI-2 DAC FS or ADI-2 Pro FS R BE into the current solution:
Keep UC + ADI-2 DAC = €966
Keep UC + ADI-2 Pro FS R BE = €1699

More options - Integration of ADI-2 DAC or Pro FS

Regarding last option e), see also my blog articles about:
1. The integration of an ADI-2 DAC/Pro into a RME environment:
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … our-Setup/
2. The different models and interesting features of ADI-2 DAC/Pro:
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … ses-EN-DE/

Some advantages of the ADI-2 Pro

The ADI-2 Pro I would recomment over the less expensive ADI-2 DAC model for the following reasons:
- to have two DAC chips so that you can run both, monitors and phones at different volumes
- to be able to make headphone comparisons which need two phones outputs
- to have a SRC (sample rate converter) in the setup which can become very handy when e.g. connecting devices which can not read the clock rate from your environment or have a fix clock (like e.g. a DAT device)
- to be able to connect the ADI-2 Pro not only through ADAT/SPDIF but also through AES, this keeps your recording interfaces ADAT ports free for other expansions (Preamps, AD/DA converter, link to HiFi as Monitor B, ..)
- to also have high quality analog inputs
- to have also digital outputs when needed, then you can also use the feature dynamic loudness on digital outputs if needed.
- supports the four typical studio levels

ADI-2 DAC/Pro - DA-Filter Selection

One of the unique features of ADI-2 DAC/Pro "high-end converter" compared to the "recording interfaces": with the ADI-2 DAC/Pro you can select different D/A filters of the DAC and maybe have the same findings as KaiS, that the Slow D/A filter gives also you the best listening experience when it comes to certain details of audio playback:
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 68#p177168

It gives you the best possible quality using current equipment and is a well basement if you should intend to invest into better monitors / headphones in the future. If you check such devices at home, then you have already a solid basement in the ADI-2 DAC/Pro for best D/A conversion.

If money is no objection

Combination of UCX II and ADI-2 Pro FS R BE: 1299+1699=€2998

The UCX II as recording interface gives you already a lot that also UFX II would give to you in terms of quality and features (analog section, mic and instr inputs, Autoset, DURec features, FX, Class Compliant mode, Display ...).
The ADI-2 Pro FS R BE is the ideal companion to make the good even better.

To sum up

The options reach from improving your recording interface up to getting the best payable AD/DA convertion on the market to improve your monitoring section with an ADI-2 DAC or Pro, where the ADI-2 Dac/Pro models can also act as kind of monitor controller to have ultimate control over the end-volume of your setup and finally to have the best solution for monitors and phones (kind of "payable" end-game here).

I think not to upgrade because "there will always be something new" is a bad argument. Either you need an upgrade for some reason (whatever reason, tastes and demands are different) or you don't.

But there are other things to consider as well: if you plan to upgrade, do it immediately while the device is still working.
This is the only way you can benefit from the high resale prices that RME devices achieve on the used market.

Depending on the age of the device, there is also a certain price range.
So why wait for the device to get older? It only loses value and the risk of a device defect increases.

In the event of a device defect (be it due to aging or damage) you would not get anything in return.
Repair is an option, but repair costs are usually quite high and would only significantly reduce the resale proceeds.

That's why I've chosen my answer carefully and listed options, some of which he may not have thought of at all, including the option to stick with what he currently has.

I also made the personal experience that good instruments, devices, additional features can be very motivating and inspiring for the work and make operating / using an environment easier and more fun.

It's of no big importance which DAC chip they actually use.
RME devices are all known for their transparent non-colorizing sound.
A few dB difference here or there are meaningless.

The different RME products have a different feature set.
Better concentrate on the feature set and the type and amount of I/O ports, that you need for your work.
If you want DURec then choose between these recording interfaces: UCX II, UFX II, UFX+.

The larger / more expensive recording interfaces support more reference levels on inputs and outputs.
The more reference levels they support the higher the SNR over a wider range of volume.

If you want best payable ad/da conversion coupled with a lot of nice features, then get an ADI-2 DAC or Pro FS for your monitoring section. There you can also choose between different AD and DA filters.
If you have a very nice room and speakers then you can potentially also hear nuances like KaiS described in his posting:
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 08#p157808

I described here in my blog articles:
- About the ADI-2 DAC/Pro differences and features
  https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … ses-EN-DE/
- how to integrate the ADI-2 Pro FS into your setup
  https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … our-Setup/

The ADI-2 DAC/Pro are designed as converters. So it makes sense to combine them with a recording interface to get routing capabilities of TM FX as well.

If you primarily need DURec, then it's best to focus on that and to keep costs low .. (depending on budget).

But if you also want reference grade AD/DA conversion, coupled with very useful features, then the combination of recording interface and ADI-2 Pro FS is simply the best device combination.

I don´t quite understand this, forgive me for being a noob, I am trying to figure out how everything works. I thought that the higher impedance, the more current you need to power the said device. So if the UC has a 30 Ohms impedance and the new one has a 1 ohm, the headphone output needs far less current to be powered, i understand it up to here.

But why is it worse when using low impedance, insensitive headphones at highest volume? Because I thought the higher the impedance on the headphones, the harder it is for the interface to power it. I can notice this when I plug in my beyerdynamic 990 pro at 250 ohm, i also have the hd 58x at I think 150 Ohm. The beyerdynamic 990 pro needs a lot more gain on the headphone output, but sound more refined.

Does the quality of the music deteriorate if the headphone output has higher impedance or is it equally good, just you won´t be able to power really high impedance headphones with, let´s say 500 Ohm or so and you can do that with rme fireface ucx2?

Ok, thank you very much, I always wondered about the Fireface UC, if I were to hypothetically connect a shure sm7b to it, would the gain suffice? Because I saw in the specs that fireface ucx2 and the ucx have higher gains for the microphone inputs. Which gain would suffice for the sm7b? Does the UC have enough for it, people say the shure sm7b is very hungry for gain and I think the UC also has lots of it. I saw a device named fethead or cloudlifter which is used for this.