Topic: Which of these two combinations should I get?

I have my eye on two combinations that both will do the job, they cost roughly the same so that’s not a problem but maybe you can help me decide.
-1 : Babyface pro fs + Audient Nero monitorcontroller.
-2.: UCX + Arc usb.

- UCX has more ins and outs than I need but better be safe than sorry, Babyface has just enough but is also expandable through adat.
- I need a monitorcontroller with te Babyface for multiple speakers, will that degrade the sound in comparison to the all digital combination 2?
- And most importantly I think, UCX is eight years old. There has been a lot of development in ad/da conversion over the last ten years so should I just play safe and buy the newer Babyface or is the UCX almost as pristine sounding still?

I hope someone will be able to shed their light on this.

Kind regards,
mgbr65

Re: Which of these two combinations should I get?

The day I decided to sell my UCX was the stupidest day of my home studio days, so I vote UCX, the Arc is great too!
With the ucx you can do sub mixes inside the daw, somthing you cannot eaily achieve with the Babyface/Nero combo.

Babyface Pro FS, MSI GS66, Studio One

Re: Which of these two combinations should I get?

I recently went through similar process (comparing UCX vs BF Pro FS) and decided to go with UCX. For me the additional inputs and the form factor were the deciding factor. I use the UCX where the output goes via SPDIF into my ADI2 PRO FS (which has the same form factor and dimensions) and these devices never leave my desk (nicely stacked on top of each other to save space on desk). However, if I needed something mobile I would have picked BF Pro instead.

Re: Which of these two combinations should I get?

@tomg,
Yes I too am favouring the form factor of the UCX.
Alas I have no budget for a separate da converter.
That’s why I’m wondering how the converters of the UCX and the BBF that are eight years apart compare.

Re: Which of these two combinations should I get?

@ebmmbongo,
If there was a newer version of the UCX I’m pretty sure that would be my choice.
But it’s so hard to get an idea of how much difference the eight years in converter development will have made.

Re: Which of these two combinations should I get?

mgbr65 wrote:

@ebmmbongo,
If there was a newer version of the UCX I’m pretty sure that would be my choice.
But it’s so hard to get an idea of how much difference the eight years in converter development will have made.

Yeah I totally understand. For me the ucx converters worked splendidly, and my hobby studio took a sound quality hit when I changed to a cheaper brand for more preamps.
But Of course the newer converters will be better, question is will tjey be noticeably better?
I dont have an answer to that, I just answered from my point of view, to have totalmix as monitor controller is far superior to tour alternative, at least for my workflows.

Babyface Pro FS, MSI GS66, Studio One