NAID: RME Fireface UCX II

[2dor]

After having jumped through a few USB audio interfaces in the past 3 years, I finally decided to bite the bullet and go with RME.

I wanted something that had the most accurate frequency response I could get on the Hi-Z and other ins/outs and, by the looks of it, the UCX II is it.

Have only managed to unbox & test it out for ~10 minutes.

Couldn't get any output on the headphones until I pulled out TotalMix and bumped the sliders up a tad on the Phones mix. Pretty darn powerful utility.

Wasn't cheap but yeah - judging by what folks make of it in most places I've looked, it should last me quite a bit.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

 

[Thrifty]

Cool! RME devices last a long time. I have a Fireface 800 that I bought in 2007. It was in perfect condition until around 2018-2019 or so when it stopped syncing my computer. Sent it to their workshop in Thailand, where they replaced the entire board and sent it back to me.

Fast forward some 5-6 years later and I still have it and it's working like a champ. So no fears about reliability, and the company also stands by its products.

 

[2dor]

So I tried doing some measurements on the RME UCX II to try and understand how close to the source would signal reamped via one of its Line Outputs going into my Signal Art reamp box and coming back in on one of the Hi-Z inputs.

I shot a sweep through the reamp chain (back into the RME on Hi-Z port 3). Then, I used the "Tone Match" feature in the React:IR II to match the frequency spectrum of the original sweep signal to the reamped one; the result would be the frequency response delta between the 2.

...the thing is flat and I mean FLAT.

Gonna shoot me some NAM profiles

 

[jellodog]

@2dor I've been circling the UCX II on and off. Thinking about picking one up again.

Would you still recommened? I'd use it primarily for playing guitar through NAM, other plugins and general playback of audio for musical enjoyment. Naturally, I care about the quality of the Hi-Z input for electric guitar.

Will probably also route Axe-Fx III via SPDIF through it. Would have it connected directly to my powered KH 120 monitors.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

@2dor I've been circling the UCX II on and off. Thinking about picking one up again.

Would you still recommened? I'd use it primarily for playing guitar through NAM, other plugins and general playback of audio for musical enjoyment. Naturally, I care about the quality of the Hi-Z input for electric guitar.

Will probably also route Axe-Fx III via SPDIF through it. Would have it connected directly to my powered KH 120 monitors.

I‘m not @2dor but I have a UCX II and am 100% satisfied with it. I made the switch from a PreSonus Quantum last year, because that had problems with switching between internal and external clock when using SPDIF. The RME works flawlessly every. single. time.

The Hi-Z input works great and has a low noise floor.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Another UCX II user here. It's excellent, no complaints really at all.

 

[contrario]

Can you connect two digital gear using the spdif/ebu and ADAT simultaneously?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Can you connect two digital gear using the spdif/ebu and ADAT simultaneously?

Yeah. You can have ADAT, SPDIF and AES/EBU I/O all seperately.

 

[2dor]

@2dor I've been circling the UCX II on and off. Thinking about picking one up again.

Would you still recommened? I'd use it primarily for playing guitar through NAM, other plugins and general playback of audio for musical enjoyment. Naturally, I care about the quality of the Hi-Z input for electric guitar.

Will probably also route Axe-Fx III via SPDIF through it. Would have it connected directly to my powered KH 120 monitors.

It's an awesome unit. You cannot go wrong with it. The Hi-Z is *very* linear & has adjustable headroom from TotalMix.

 

[Space Pickle]

Nice, I'm looking at the UFX III for my home studio right now.

 

[contrario]

Can you share the roundtrip latency values at 48 kHz at different buffer sizes?

 

[2dor]

Can you share the roundtrip latency values at 48 kHz at different buffer sizes?

Using 48 KHz, this is what I see in Reaper:

- 48 samples: 1.3 ms / 1.8 ms
- 64 samples: 1.7 ms / 2.2 ms
- 96 samples: 2.3 ms / 2.8 ms
- 128 samples: 3.0 ms / 3.5 ms
- 256 samples: 5.7 ms / 6.2 ms
- 512 samples: 11 ms / 11 ms
- 1024 samples: 21 ms / 22 ms
- 2048 samples: 43 ms / 43 ms

 

[contrario]

Using 48 KHz, this is what I see in Reaper:

- 48 samples: 1.3 ms / 1.8 ms
- 64 samples: 1.7 ms / 2.2 ms
- 96 samples: 2.3 ms / 2.8 ms
- 128 samples: 3.0 ms / 3.5 ms
- 256 samples: 5.7 ms / 6.2 ms
- 512 samples: 11 ms / 11 ms
- 1024 samples: 21 ms / 22 ms
- 2048 samples: 43 ms / 43 ms

These are the latency figures at the input and output stages. We can calculate the roundtrip latency by adding the buffer on top of that. It would be as following:

- 48 samples: 1.3 ms + 1.8 ms + (48/48) = 4.1 ms
- 64 samples: 1.7 ms + 2.2 ms + (64/48) = 5.23 ms
- 96 samples: 2.3 ms + 2.8 ms + (96/48) = 7.1 ms
- 128 samples: 3.0 ms + 3.5 ms + (128/48) = 9.16
- 256 samples: 5.7 ms + 6.2 ms + (256/48) = 17.23
- 512 samples: 11 ms + 11 ms + (512/48) = 32.6 ms
- 1024 samples: 21 ms + 22 ms + (1024/48) = 64.33
- 2048 samples: 43 ms + 43 ms + (2048/48) = 128.66

It's amazing RME achieves that low roundtrip latency at USB 2.0 bandwith with its rock stable drivers. I'm sure any mid to high end PC or Mac can work without a hiccup at 48 samples.

 

[2dor]

These are the latency figures at the input and output stages. We can calculate the roundtrip latency by adding the buffer on top of that. It would be as following:

- 48 samples: 1.3 ms + 1.8 ms + (48/48) = 4.1 ms
- 64 samples: 1.7 ms + 2.2 ms + (64/48) = 5.23 ms
- 96 samples: 2.3 ms + 2.8 ms + (96/48) = 7.1 ms
- 128 samples: 3.0 ms + 3.5 ms + (128/48) = 9.16
- 256 samples: 5.7 ms + 6.2 ms + (256/48) = 17.23
- 512 samples: 11 ms + 11 ms + (512/48) = 32.6 ms
- 1024 samples: 21 ms + 22 ms + (1024/48) = 64.33
- 2048 samples: 43 ms + 43 ms + (2048/48) = 128.66

It's amazing RME achieves that low roundtrip latency at USB 2.0 bandwith with its rock stable drivers. I'm sure any mid to high end PC or Mac can work without a hiccup at 48 samples.

Yeah - I have it set at 48 samples using guitar plugins & it does a great job. Immediate attack, no noticeable lag etc.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Mine runs at 48 kHz / 32 samples without any issues. RTL is 142 samples (2,958 ms).

 

[gergohajer]

After having jumped through a few USB audio interfaces in the past 3 years, I finally decided to bite the bullet and go with RME.

View attachment 25081

I wanted something that had the most accurate frequency response I could get on the Hi-Z and other ins/outs and, by the looks of it, the UCX II is it.

Have only managed to unbox & test it out for ~10 minutes.

Couldn't get any output on the headphones until I pulled out TotalMix and bumped the sliders up a tad on the Phones mix. Pretty darn powerful utility.

Wasn't cheap but yeah - judging by what folks make of it in most places I've looked, it should last me quite a bit.

Sick, congrats!

 

[ctreitzell]

I‘m not @2dor but I have a UCX II and am 100% satisfied with it. I made the switch from a PreSonus Quantum last year, because that had problems with switching between internal and external clock when using SPDIF. The RME works flawlessly every. single. time.

The Hi-Z input works great and has a low noise floor.

I was a PreSonus user (FSM) from 2013 to 2018. I was cascading two FSMs for a little while and really, PreSonus drivers are nothing special. After a fair bit of research, I purchased a RME UFX+. The immediate improvement is amazing driver performance. Total Mix really has taken a lot of teething for me.

I'm also not thrilled with the USB 3 connection type (drivers over USB 2). IMO, RS232 would be a vastly better connection format. I have had the USB connection to mobo foul a couple times over the past 7 years...I'd guess 4 times; not a biggie, but not bullet-proof either. Obviously routing infrastructure is whatever users have set up.

I don't use my AI for playing electric guitar through, though...like many do nowadays

 

[jellodog]

Well I also for a Fireface UCX II. It's effin' great isn't it.

I wish I'd bought one of these years ago, but of course balked at the price tag.

Worth it.

Super low latency on a MacBook Air M4 with the DriverKit drivers is wonderful.

 

[JasonE]

I am a UCX II user as well. I bought one of the early units when they released them. Mine bricked just past the warrantee on it. I contacted them and found out that they had an issue with the chips in the early units. They told me to send it in and they would replace it free of charge even though I was out of warrantee. I found out that their US site is $100 from when I bought mine.