Motu UltraLite mk4 Review

There’s a Mk5 out now, looks to be around $600. Anyone get ears on it?

 

Strangely enough, I do. I'm waiting until my Asgard 3 comes in (probably today) before I pass any judgement. That said, it has sounded pretty good as a AIO and I haven't heart any of the annoying sabre timbre issues yet.

 

^ looking fwd to this !!

 

I have one inbound. It will be replacing my Lynx Hilo. I want more analog inputs and outputs in my work suite. I'll do up a simple listening comparo when I get it in.

 

Interesting. Lynx has always had (projected?) an aura of "ultimate." MOTU has had a good reputation too, but the M2/4/6 models are low-budget.

Looking forward to your experience.

 

The Lynx is definitely ultimate. It is simultaneously too much and not enough for my use-case. I need more analog ins and outs for a future surround monitoring environment. I also need ins for some audio-reactive work I am doing. The Hilo is beautiful full stop, but it does not do all these things for me. It's a mastering DAC which also means it is quite straight for an audiophile listen. It is also a swiss army knife of digital and analog routing, which I do not really need here.

I am replacing it with two DACs - the MOTU for work and the Geshelli J2S for fun listening while I work. I have the Sparkos op amps in the J2 and it's pretty fine, I must say. I am working with Geno to figure out the AKM DSD Direct Playback, too. It's tweaky and fun for listening.

I have the Motu in now and have been working with it today. I can say a few things about it so far: It has the same low latency as the Hilo, it's quite clean and crisp sounding - not annoyingly so. It does not stage as deeply as the Hilo but it is no slouch.

This weekend I will do a simple listening A/B of the Motu and the Hilo before I box it up for sale. I'll see if I can work on an A/B of J2/Motu A/B for listening, too.

 

I spent some time comparing the Hilo with the Motu this week. I feel that the differences are subtle, appearing in the usual suspects: a tilt towards a subtle harmonic richness in the Hilo - more little sounds that add up to a kind of glow with strings and voices, etc., a very subtle organic-whole sensibility in the rendering with the Hilo, a technical crispness in the Motu with their whispered ESS decoders (zero itchiness), exceptional separation with the MOTU. Both DACs handle complex material without breaking a sweat. Both DACs put you in the music.

In the end, I find the MOTU very fun to listen to. There was enough difference that I was able to train myself to distinguish them from each other in the moment. I am not sure if I could do it coming in cold. I am listening to the Motu right now and it's totally enjoyable. The Hilo is better, but not three times better. I think what you are paying for with the Hilo is likely worth it for a mixing engineer, a mastering artist, or a discerning audiophile who wants high performing accuracy. I don't have the link offhand, but you can Google loopback tests of various interfaces, and the Hilo AD/DA is always near the top.

I would also say that the clocking on the Hilo is amazing. There is no audible difference between USB, or AES and S/PDIF from a PI2AES. In addition, the Hilo handles sample rate changes seamlessly. With the MOTU, it takes a while to lock each time the rate changes. I do find that S/PDIF from a PI2AES sounds a bit better on the MOTU - it reduces the gap with the Hilo, but it is a bit flaky. I've been experiencing some rate locking issues.

EDIT2: the rate locking issues with the Motu is because there is no automatic rate change over S/PDIF. If I upres everything in roon or through HQ Player, it runs perfectly well and sound fabulous - better than USB. Also, the Motu does not like 192 over S/PDIF whereas the Hilo and J2 have no issue with it.

For me, I don't need as much 2-channel juice in my suite as the Hilo offers. I have a mastering friend who recommended it and I do love it. I do, however, think the MOTU will work great for multichannel stuff, and I like the sound of it enough for daily driving.

I am working with Geshelli to get a J2 with DSD Direct implemented on the AKM chip. With the ability to roll op amps and play with the filters in HQPlayer, this will be my tweaky "for fun" DAC in my suite. In my experience with DSDD and HQPlayer, it's like having 10 dacs in one...I am looking forward to it.

 

This is a little "pleasure listening" update on the MOTU Ultralite MK5.

With the Hilo boxed up and the J2 board swap in progress, I am left with the Motu on a Friday night for my pleasure listening while I work away. My desire for some nice sound has led me to the following workflow: S/PDIF from the Pi2AES is clearly preferred over USB as long as you use the S/PDIF stream as the clock source. It takes a while for the motu to lock onto the S/PDIF stream - like a minute or two.

The MOTU does not make automatic sample rate changes when using S/PDIF, so it is best to run everything through a resampler to get everything to the same rate. I am using HQPlayer from Roon. The Motu does not like 192k PCM over S/PDIF and inexplicably does not have 128k as a selection, so you're looking at 96k as your sample rate. It is not an impediment as it sounds pretty great.

Once you get this dialed in, it's quite good and involving. I won't be without this over the weekend.

The thing I would say about the MOTU, as compared to the Hilo from a usability standpoint, is that the Motu is very much entrenched in its design as an audio interface. The Hilo is also an interface, but it is much smoother in dealing with various sources.

The chain for all this is PC/PI2AES -> DAC -> Lyr+ in SS mode -> HD800Ss.

Addition: Popped my Ken Rad into the Lry+ and it's glorious. Rocking some T.Rex, Bowie, Atoms for Peace, Elliot Smith etc here and it's the appropriate amount of wow.