Topic: Babyface Pro performing inferior to Steinberg UR 22..?
Hi all,
I just got a used Babyface Pro (no FS - which I only realized after having it for two hours ) and I'm not sure what to make of it.
Before, I used a Steinberg UR22, and the sound of the Babyface is, as hoped for, a lot better - unlike the latency and the overall performance. I'm normally working with a 128 sample buffer size, and the Steinberg managed most of my projects really well. Now with the Babyface I have to increase to 512 samples to get similar results.
The DSP performance looks similar between both interfaces on the same sample rates (you can view that live in Bitwig), but on the Babyface there are occasional spikes, which are audible as cracks/pops. After trying it for a few minutes with one of my larger projects, the Babyface actually crashed and wouldn't give out audio, even though there was a moving level meter on the device.
Also I compared both interfaces with a complex Omnisphere preset. The Babyface had occasional cracks with 128 samples buffer, while the UR 22 didn't have any issues at 96 samples - what?
My system is up to date, I'm using a Lenovo Legion 5 with an SSD running Windows 10, a Ryzen 7 4800 H and an Nvidia RTX 2060. My USB Ports are all 3.2. I am using the ASIO Fireface USB Driver. I updated the Babyface's firmware to the current version.
My audio settings are 44.1 kHz with - normally - 96-128 samples.
I have tried turning off my Wifi card and setting the Babyface to not be the standard audio device (was mentioned in the manual as a potential issue). Both didn't change anything.
I have been reading through a lot of posts here on this forum but nothing really gave me an insight as to explain why this device, aimed at the professional customer, would perform so inferior to a really basic entry level interface.
While the interface is definitely usable at 512 samples, that definitely isn't that magic performance boost that everybody here is always raving of, and which got me to get an RME interface as well.
Without changing anything about the system, the UR 22 just performs better than the Babyface. Does anybody have an idea about potential bottlenecks? Or did I just buy a broken interface?
Thank you in advance,
Luis
(Edited for clarification)