Good morning Sky

> UCX II offers SteadyClock FS. Will this make much of a sonic difference?

The outcome of discussions regarding ADI-2 Pro FS vs non-FS was that there is no audible difference.

I fully agree with you, it makes sense to have some reserves.

There are no fans built-in.

Speaking further about reserves and options:

I even would think about getting UFX+ if budget allows to have more flexibility to expand.
And you have several choices to connect to the PC: thunderbolt, USB3 and even USB2 mode when using it as 30ch interface without MADI (EDIT: over USB, internal routing works though).
The point is, there can be situations where it is nice to have ADAT for special purposes.
Then its good to have MADI to expand.
Also gives you more flexibility in terms of placement of connected Preamps and/or ADDA converters as each optical OM3/OM4 fiber cable can be up to 2km long between each of the up to around 8 devices in such a serial connection of devices and from the last one back to the UFX+.
Think about if you have perhaps a house and one room for recording drums and another for the rest of the band or whatever.
If you think to go for UFX II then it's also valid to think about why not directly UFX+.
Another thing, if you need several loopback ports, then you have more spare ports for that with MADI.

BTW, if you want/need an Excel sheet to compare technical data, then pls check my blog here:
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … B-MADIfac/
Direct link to comparison Excel: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/attachme … 4-08-xlsx/

Another idea for further expansion: to integrate ADI-2 Pro FS R BE into the concept to make use of it's advanced options:
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … our-Setup/
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … ses-EN-DE/

My current setup is e.g. based on UFX+ and two ADI-2 Pro FS R BE

UFX+-------ADAT or AES----------------------------------------> ADI-2 Pro FS R BE ->Recording Corner (headphones/monitors)
|  | |
|  | |-------ADAT2-------> Oehlbach Optosel 4:1 Mk II ---> ADI-2 Pro FS R BE -> HiFi
|  |                                                                   TV -------> "
|  (MADI)                                                       BlueRay---> "
|  |                                         ADAT/SPDIF Spare Port---> "
|  12Mic
|  |
+-Octopre XTC

Or look at this more detailed overview:

                 
By this I can use my PC for recording and as playback device for music. The 2nd ADI-2 Pro performs all D/A conversion in the HiFi corner and with the analog port I could record TV or even vinyl, but I do not have a turntable anymore.

The UFX+ 12Mic/XTC combination is in one 4RU compact a rack for mobile recording purposes.
4RU for three devices because of the "passive cooling", so that some air can flow around the devices.

I wanted to show you that an UFX+ can give more options to you for current and future demands.

Another view:
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … -DURec-DE/

Soon I might have a stereo setup, then I will need more than 4 Mic/instr inputs as I usually record the amp with two mics, a tube mic which gives some color to the sound and a SM57.

In this case it's good to have the 4 Mic Pres of the UFX+ for instruments
Mic9 - (Instr) with lower gain for humbuckers
Mic10 - (Instr) with 3dB more gain for single coil guitars

I plug the guitar to the UFX+ to also be able to record the plain guitar signal for any potential later reamping purposes.
Then I need some analog ports to build a parallel effect loop for the amp.

I intend to add two Lexicon's to the unit (stereo FX units), there I will need 2x2 analog I/O for this alone.
One Lexicon for the guitar, another one for mixing and mastering.

TM FX routing gives you a lot of options how to use the Lexicons in your setup. Either to add it to the guitar signal or to enrich sound a little bit for music playback or to use it as external FX inside of cubase with full latency compensation.

Regarding music playback with MusicBee .. run an auto playback list e.g. for FLAC files rated >=4 Star and then install a plugin MusicBee remote which allows remote control through an android device and MusicBee App.

Regarding ADI-2 Pro, it's very nice to have features like auto ref level and dynamic loudness for listening to music at my recording desk and also very comfortably to have these features also for the HiFi or when watching Netflix & Co, as film music and effects are really high quality. So a high quality D/A converter with dynamic loudness function etc is very useful here. Other nice feature: the bittest to check for end-to-end lossles audio signal path.

It's nice to have some options And remember, also Rome has not been built in a few days. So start with a device as good foundation and over the years you can grow. Also such an ADI-2 Pro can be added later at any time.

Never seen a RME device with fan inside.
We users are the fans.

UCX II has different converters, arguably lower grade. New Fireface 802 FS, UFX II, and UFX III all use the same converters.

Main difference between UFX II and 802 FS is more digitally controlled preamp gain on UFX II (my experiments have shown 802 FS has just about enough gain for low output mics such as Shure SM7B, anything beyond +60dB gets more noise/hiss anyway) and has LCD display with main volume control knob.

The preamps on the 802 FS are very quiet and sound transparent/true. Really excellent, as are UFX II and III preamps which are arguably higher grade.

I'd say unless you need the additional digital functionality and expansion possibilities of UFX III (MADI I/O, USB 3) then go for UFX II.

If you don't need the digitally controlled preamp on UFX II, volume knob and LCD display then go for for 802 FS. I doubt you'll be able to hear any difference in sound quality between 802 FS, UFX II, and UFX III.

Hope that helps as it took me a long while asking questions here and researching the differences. I'm sure MC will correct me if I'm wrong on anything

Would be helpful if RME had a chart showing the main differences between the interfaces.

Check my Excel:
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=35156

Differences UFX+ / UFX III
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ent … iii-en-de/

Differences UFX+/II vs UFX
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Entry/68-RME-UFX/

RTL Differences (misc products and product combinations)
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ent … cts-en-de/

Differences UCX / UCX II
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=33222

If money is no hindering point, then I would get the UFX III to have reserves for a long time by MADI and to have sustainability of purchase and do not lose money in case you would need to upgrade later.

The two ADAT ports of UFX II/802 are nowadays not sufficient anymore to connect further devices that have usually a higher port density than 8 ports per device, see e.g. 12Mic and M-1610 Pro. Especially if recording in double speed is a topic for you.

So if the demand should arise, to connect more devices, then MADI will support you well by this. The new RME devices have all a MADI option.

If you need e.g. loopback, then you can use unused MADI channels and do not need to spoil I/O ports that you might use for other connections.

There is only a difference of €540 between UFX II and UFX III ....
Think about the efforts having to sell UFX II and buy UFX III in case you need it at a certain point.
a) loss of money selling UFX II
b) additional cost of buying then UFX III
c) the efforts to build-up all the routings from scratch when moving from UFX II to UFX III

I would go straight and get the UFX III directly. But its your decision, only you know about the likeliness whether or not a UFX II would be sufficient for the next 10+ years or not. And if you think in such long time ranges, then the €540 more are not that much more.

You're welcome

There are some more things that you could do

- get an RME ARC USB additionally, it's an excellent remote for TM FX
   https://www.rme-audio.de/de_arc-usb.html

- if you have a Desktop PC and one PCIe slot left, then you could isolate the UFX III behind a supported USB3 controller by using the Sonnet USB3 card with (according to manual supported) FL1100 chipset. Win10/11 already include drivers for it and the driver uses the more efficiently working MSI (message signalled interrupts).
  https://www.sonnettech.com/product/alle … 4port.html

- if you need USB3 cables, use cables with good shielding. Lindy cables have triple shielding, good plugs and you can use cables up to 3m. Reasonable prices: https://www.lindy.de/3m-USB-3-2-Typ-A-a … ;ci=800504

- if you need more than 3 m from the right to the left side of your desk get e.g. a 3 m USB3 extension from Startech. It works very well for me. https://www.startech.com/de-de/kabel/usb3aaext3m
This gives you from 3.5 up to 6 m every length you might require at your desk.