I try to give you an informative overview by explaining the evolution of the top line of RME recording interfaces step by step, focusing on UFX, UFX+/UFX II and UCX II. I think it is interesting and important to know the history and those upgrade steps as the UCX II got also improvements from the flagship interfaces UFX+/UFX II.

The UFX has been introduced in 2010 and there were a lot of changes between UFX and the sucessor UFX+/UFX II (from 2016/2017), not only in the digital but also in the analog domain.

UFX+ - the evolution of the top line of recording devices (UFX, etc) started with the introduction of the UFX+ in 2016.
A lot of improvements have been made which I described all in this blog article:
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … 8-RME-UFX/

UFX II - one year later in 2017 RME introduced a 30ch interface version of the UFX+, the UFX II. Same quality and features except MADI (for a 30ch interface no thunderbolt and USB3 required).

Meanwhile FS clock has been introduced with the ADI-2 DAC FS in december 2017 and has also been introduced to ADI-2 Pro FS and in updated products like the Babyface Pro FS, 12Mic (to mention a few) and also the UCX II. RME didn't make a hype out of FS clock and in discussions on forum (ADI-2 DAC vs FS version) the consens is, that FS clock doesn't bring audible advantages, but some technical in terms of SteadyClock FS (see the Youtube Video from Matthias Carstens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti0aHW-zYcs).

The UCX II has been introduced in 2021 and came with a lot of improvements over the UCX (from 2012). I put together the features here in the forum: https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=33222

The fastest way to compare UFX, UFX+, UFX II and UCX II ..

.. is by looking at my Excel sheet which you can load from this blog article: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … B-MADIfac/
Direct Link to download the Excel: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/index.ph … -04b-xlsx/

[ Note: in the Excel file you can select the TAB for getting either an English or German version. There you can expand the Excel columns for discontinued and current recording interfaces and hide columns for devices not needed for the comparison, which gives you the best overview for a comparison of e.g. UFX, UCX, UCX II, UFX II. ]

UFX II - Quick overview about interesting features

Very interesting with the new UCX II is surely

• smaller form factor, 9.5"

• currently fastest converters with only 5/6 samples latency at single speed (0.11/0.13 ms !)

• FS clock

Things which it got from the flagship interfaces:

• improved version of DURec (with real-time clock to get timestamps of your DURec recordings)

• improved display, by this now fully operateble in stand-alone mode (compareable to UFX +/II)

• Mic preamps from the UFX II with a higher gain range, 75dB vs 60 dB (UFX)

• improved phones outputs with more power and lower impedance

• connector for ARC USB at the back to be useable in stand-alone mode (shared with DURec port)

• instrument inputs with 1MOhm (little higher) impedence like e.g. UFX II/+

Also nice:

• loopback implementation is pre-fader like with the UFX, then you can mute an output/submix where loopback is active without interrupting loopback, see also: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … mentation/

• in contrast to the newer USB MADIface driver the older USB driver still supports the pitch function. Note: the reason to use the old USB driver for implementation is compatibility to the UCX to make it possible to use old UCX and new UCX II together (synchronized) in one setup through one (e.g. ASIO) driver.

To sum up
I think it's absolutely worth to get the UCX II

• quality and feature wise and

• if you need a smaller 9.5" format

Option - Remote, ARC USB

ARC USB is a very useful remote control and can be used either connected to PC or - in stand-alone mode - you can connect it directly to the USB port at the back of the UCX II which you can use either for attaching storage for DURec or for ARC USB in standalone mode.

Option - Integration of ADI-2 DAC/Pro FS into your setup

If you want - as an option - you could also think about to add an ADI-2 Pro FS R BE to this setup. Then you can enjoy the high quality and special features of the ADI-2 Pro to further enhance your monitoring section (active montors, phones) like many of us do.

As the UCX II now also has an additional AES port as the flagship interfaces, you can connect the ADI-2 DAC/Pro digitally to it and still have the ADAT port free to e.g. integrate a preamp.
Or - if you want to keep your UFX - to connect the UFX in stand-alone mode on demand to get e.g. more analog I/O ports (mic/instr/line) and even 2 more headphone outputs for your setup, if needed.

In my blog you can find useful information about the ADI-2 DAC/Pro FS regarding:

• Overview/models/features: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … ses-EN-DE/

• How to integrate the ADI-2 DAC or Pro into your setup: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … our-Setup/