[dmoffitt]

I have a Traveler and love it, it's a strong enough amp and excellent source for my main rig (Mac Mini to Traveler to either a Linn Numerik or MF Tri-Vista DAC 21) - but I was thinking of downsizing to the Ultra Lite as it truly can "travel" - as I spend at least 1-2 weeks a month away from home for business.

Thoughts?

 

[dmoffitt]

Well, I didn't get a response so I went and got one to find out.

*WOW*

That's all I can say. The bass control is excellent, plenty of gain to drive Cardas-cabled Senn HD-600s and absolutely excellent build quality - which is to say, that like most of the hardware that gets my nod, you could beat someone to death with it and still use it (for example, the remote for my Rogue Magnum 66 pre or my old Bryston SP 1.7 - or a Nikon pro SLR / D-SLR).

Interface wise and software is EXACTLY like the Traveler (used the same drivers, makes back to back a simple matter of unplugging one and swapping cables). It's not a HUGE sonic improvement over the Traveler, what impresses me / gets the "wow" is that its one of the few products where rather than cost-down and cheap out on the small / "lite" version they learned what REALLY worked on the big brother and improved upon it while simply cutting out a few features / connections, not quality!

BIG Thumbs Up to MOTO on this one, way to go guys!! I think I might just keep the Traveler in my main rig off the Mac Mini for now to feed my DACs and use this to travel, but you might see a Traveler up for grabs soon - the other thing that Ultra Lite surprised me and does is it passes 5.1 or 7.1 via the Analog Outs and might make a killer little HT Pre - gotta test it further....

EDIT: PS - I normally DESPISE Up-Sampling, well, this thing sounds SMOOTHER at 96k out than most everything I've heard, I am still listening to see if it's adding a lot of dithering or just simply doing the conversion at a higher word-length like my TriVista (probably the case, these MOTO folks seem quite intelligent). NICE.

Figured I'd attach a picture. I can't get enough of this thing, listening to Hold your Colour by Pendulum (UK D&B / Electro group) - OMG bass... I swear I have hybrid 701s and HD600s lol....

 

[selfconstruct]

I hope your using this for recording too; Quote:

2 mic/instrument inputs with preamps, 48V phantom power ... 6 balanced line-level quarter-inch (TRS) inputs and ten analog TRS outputs ... S/PDIF digital I/O, a dedicated stereo headphone output and MIDI I/O ...

otherwise some might think it's a bit of an overkill. (I'm just jealous because I only have two unamped analog ins)

 

[dmoffitt]

Yeah, not as much as I would like (trying to get back into indy filmmaking more) but it will work great with my Mac and Shure FP-33 instead of a DAT

 

[Fill-Billy]

I started with the 828 MKII, I had to return it because one firewire port was inoperative, the bloke at the music store let me use an Ultralite for the time I was waiting for a couple of weeks then I swapped the 828 for the Traveler, as I need 4 pre-amps as opposed to only 2, the thing is 5 was listening with hte Ultralite for a couple of weeks and sounded great until I plugged in the Traveler, the sound was better, even my Mrs thought so, richer, more full on the bass and the treble more clear, I am more than happy with my traveler and who wants cables sting out in the front where you can't access neatly and the Ultralite knobs are too close together in comparison with the Traveler, and as I have pretty small hands, i could imagine a big hands man would find it too small, my vote is with the Traveler

Fill-Billy . . . just blowing with the wind !

 

[dmoffitt]

I'll have to A-B them some more...

 

[dmoffitt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmoffitt I'll have to A-B them some more...

And after doing that

I've found :

The UltraLite has far more gain - but the highs are a tad harsh as it gets up there in volume, and the bass isn't as good as the Traveler (as Fill-Billy mentioned). Neither hold a candle to the Emmeline / Ray Sammuels Audio XP-7 re: bass but I think the AD-797s have a lot to do with that - they sound a bit "darker" and richer with a laid-back high end, really full bass and warm if a TOUCH recessed mids (very very minimal, I like a warm forward midrange and still find this quite enjoyable, so it's pretty darned neutral in my book there). My guess is that since they are darker, I'm actually simply listening a touch hotter to get the same apparent volume so that's where the "extra" bass is coming from. In reality, the Traveler is by far the most neutral and the UltraLite a VERY close second, but I think I prefer the "fun" sound of the XP-7 (am I turning into a Bass Head?!?)

I love the portability of the UltraLite, and as long as you stay below say -6dB it sounds great, in fact, it's virtually indistinguishable from it's big brother at that point. -12dB on the Traveler is somewhere around -16 or -17dB on the UltraLite -- and neither have the gain of the XP-7 but 95% of the time I wouldn't want that kind of volume anyway. The fact that it's bus-powered over FireWire vs the XP-7 needing 2x9V batteries is very nice, but it's footprint is STILL sizeable, it's roughly 50% wider AND 50% deeper (almost exactly the same height if you ignore the XP-7's feet) so it's still not all THAT portable - more of a "throw it in the suitcase and listen at a hotel, not listen on the airplane / bus / train etc. Then again, I have the Shures + iPod for that, so I don't really care, I'm more looking that when I'm out of town for 2 weeks I can take something good with me and leave it on a desk... I can agree / confirm that the knobs on the UltraLite are a bit closer, but it doesn't bother me, it's smaller, that's to be expected. Overall it seems the Traveler is more suited to wear it's rack ears and the UltraLite would travel better, I don't need the extra inputs, my filmmaking work is all 2ch and anything more can get mixed down on my FP-33 ...

So at this point I am thinking I might take back the UltraLite and keep the XP-7 and re-buy another of the power supply that was stolen from me ages ago since it CAN travel and just leave the so-called Traveler in my rack lol..... we'll see

 

[dmoffitt]

(odd, dupe post?)

 

[Fill-Billy]

Hey Mr.Moffit,
I know what you mean, I also liked the size of the Ultralite, but I never figure on recording, mixing, etc iin a car, bus or airplane, I prefer the view, but all the latest MOTU units such as the Traveler,

the 896HD,

and the 828MKII,

*ALL* use Asahi Kasei's converters, which are the *SAME CONVERTERS* used by Apogee, RME, and others.

Which makes me happy as some of my more *richer* friends have RME, always going on about their superiority over others, blalmy, we say now, even though RME may have less jitters in the wordclock sync process, etc .. .

I don't see Ultralite on the list and that may explain the difference, anyways, my computer bag has enough space for the Traveler to fit in,

(maybe this is the end of this thread?)

laters dude . . . Fill-Billy

 

[K271 Guy]

thank you.

 

[Fill-Billy]

Yes RME is hardcore in that dept., although the MOTU units may have around 120 picoseconds jitter, which could be much, much better, down to 10 is possible with modifications (lower jitter clock) but that would bring the price up to the RME Fireface 800 for example, at the moment my rig is simple and am not having much need to sync devices, but super pro's have to think differently (usually have more cash than others), which are you ?

your friendly Fill-Billy

Bottom Line - How much cash in the pocket ? RME = more $$$

 

[Supacon]

The MOTU Ultralite is a great audio interface, but watch out! Don't try upgrading firmware unless you have some serious problems with it, because you probably will after the update. After installing the 1.15 update, I now get the output signal switching into loud noise after a bit, and I have to shut down my audio application. It didn't do that before.