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RME Babyface Pro


cclarry

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1 minute ago, Carlos said:

I sold my pos of the Audient id44, should I get this? Some videos show this is amazing. I can get the FS version at Thomann for the same price.

 

(Sorry King, I feel pretty strong about my vies on the Audient)

This is a great interface...and no worries

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I have the BabyFace Pro and have used it for years live playing of VIs on an old laptop.

This gets excellent measured performance in the GearSlutz interface database; the best PCIe cards don't perform that much better in the real world.

RME software is rock solid. Low latency performance is superb. TotalMix is a nice bonus. The "box" and physical buttons and dial all are very high quality.

Only complaints I ever see on these relate to pricing.

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Below is a recent interview with some insight into RME development from lead engineer.

Interestingly, RME are not looking to ThunderBolt for future development so will keep focused on USB for consumer goods. IIRC, RME said ThunderBolt required a lot of engineering hours and did not significantly outperform their USB products.

Hey  All,

I popped this up on the main DAWbench thread, but I thought it would be worthwhile posting up the notice here as well.

With RME being a focus over the years for driver performance, I think many reading in will be interested in listening in to the chat with Matthias Carstens , who is the co-founder and lead developer at RME.

DAWbench Radio Show :

Episode 03: Audio Interface Low Latency Performance : RME – Setting the Bar !

Special Guest : Matthias Carstens

Run Time : 88 Minutes

DAWbench Radio Show : Here

Spotify : Here

Enjoy

peachh

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=14366676&postcount=3684

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1 hour ago, Carlos said:

I sold my pos of the Audient id44, should I get this? Some videos show this is amazing. I can get the FS version at Thomann for the same price.

 

(Sorry King, I feel pretty strong about my vies on the Audient)

I would definitely get the FS version. They trying to sell the old stock. I noticed with the FS version when you master and render your songs, the wav files will be much smaller in size due to less jitter noise introduced. Everything has more detail.

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I bought a used original Babyface for $300 about 3 years ago, and it has been -- hands down -- the absolute best interface I have ever used. Clean sounding, solidly built, rock solid drivers that are still supported and updated, great latency and designed to last.

RME pretty much locked me up as a permanent customer going forward. They're the best, in my books.

Rob

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2 hours ago, cclarry said:

It's $899 at Sweetwater...they must have raised the price from $749,
which makes this an even better deal!

that is the FS version..... the orignal is no longer there. It was on my wishlist.   No matter how great they are for me to spend that kind of money would be ridiculous

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I bought a used FireFace 400 for more money than I ever paid for any audio interface. But I had heard for a long time RME was the best. So I gave it a shot. They have won me over. I will be a RME customer for life now. 

I recently purchased a used (like brand new!) UA Apollo Twin. And I really love it too! But I am not getting rid of the RME FF 400. 

I rather RME console software over UA version. Much more flexible. But the UA plugins...... man!! I am waiting to see how the UA drivers work on big projects. 

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30 minutes ago, Grem said:

I bought a used FireFace 400 for more money than I ever paid for any audio interface. But I had heard for a long time RME was the best. So I gave it a shot. They have won me over. I will be a RME customer for life now. 

I recently purchased a used (like brand new!) UA Apollo Twin. And I really love it too! But I am not getting rid of the RME FF 400. 

I rather RME console software over UA version. Much more flexible. But the UA plugins...... man!! I am waiting to see how the UA drivers work on big projects. 

I'm a fanboy but I can't afford their gear.   If I wasn't so ignorant at the time when I shelled out $500 for a Yamaha SW1000XG and went with a Hammerfall it would still be used. 

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3 hours ago, synthmeister said:

I have the BabyFace Pro and have used it for years live playing of VIs on an old laptop.

This gets excellent measured performance in the GearSlutz interface database; the best PCIe cards don't perform that much better in the real world.

RME software is rock solid. Low latency performance is superb. TotalMix is a nice bonus. The "box" and physical buttons and dial all are very high quality.

Only complaints I ever see on these relate to pricing.

 

3 hours ago, jude77 said:

So true.  Plus, I have an original Babyface and they are STILL supporting the drivers.

 

2 hours ago, John Bohlen said:

I would definitely get the FS version. They trying to sell the old stock. I noticed with the FS version when you master and render your songs, the wav files will be much smaller in size due to less jitter noise introduced. Everything has more detail.

 

2 hours ago, Amicus717 said:

I bought a used original Babyface for $300 about 3 years ago, and it has been -- hands down -- the absolute best interface I have ever used. Clean sounding, solidly built, rock solid drivers that are still supported and updated, great latency and designed to last.

RME pretty much locked me up as a permanent customer going forward. They're the best, in my books.

Rob

 

38 minutes ago, Grem said:

I bought a used FireFace 400 for more money than I ever paid for any audio interface. But I had heard for a long time RME was the best. So I gave it a shot. They have won me over. I will be a RME customer for life now. 

I recently purchased a used (like brand new!) UA Apollo Twin. And I really love it too! But I am not getting rid of the RME FF 400. 

I rather RME console software over UA version. Much more flexible. But the UA plugins...... man!! I am waiting to see how the UA drivers work on big projects. 

With the Covid 19 around the corner, I hope you have time in your hands to answer the next question, it's so simple I don't know why people in any forum focus on it, specially on GS, before I ask the question, let me tell you that:

After I gave away in exchange for a Bluebird microphone (I didn't know what I was doing, although the trade was a good one) my Mbox (original), all the interfaces, not just them, but the audio coming out from my PC/Laptop, to me... was SHIT. My statements are bold, I know, just bear with me please 1 second.

After a VERY long search, I got lucky and finally solved my issue: Having the Audient id44 made me realize that perhaps the DAC of the interfaces was the culprit.
You don't have any idea how much time I put into trying to solve this problem, buying new cables (not of great quality, but different type of connections as the Audient offers a lot).

How I solved it: Since the Audient headphone output is shit, I thought "ok, what some said on GS about not having enough power for a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 990 is true, I can see that now". Let's buy a headphones amplifier, as I've read quite a lot on forums and on product reviews. So I bought... THE SCHIIT! A Heresy (it could've been the Magni 3+ but that's a different story). Ok, so, since I don't live in the best country (ok my country is the best but don't tell anyone, yours is very close... but mostly because you got everything and more at your fingertips, at least it's how I see it) it took more than a month to arrive (due to fkcing bureoucracy, not that my country is so far away from yours), in the meantime, maybe 15 days in of being shipped, I bought a used Modi 2 usb (not the latest version). This thing is a DAC!

This DAC solved my issue 90%, I'd say 99%... sound wasn't harsh anymore (mostly), YOUTUBE didn't sound like shit anymore (and it's not that they compress your sound, I download videos I like and play them on the VLC player... they sound louder, so I don't think they touch your sound, but withing a browser for some reason sounds with lower volume).

So the Heresy arrives, and plug it in, then send the RCA outputs to my Yamaha receiver, which powers up my Yamaha NS 244's... guess what guys?

I spent 4 hours STRAIGHT listening to music NON STOP, it sounded so great even my mother came to me at some point, not to complain (I had it quite loud, and I played some songs she really liked) and said to me "I feel something great is coming because this sounds so good, it really does make you feel very good (because it sounds so good)" or something like that (she mentioned angels and what not, even if Metallica was playing, lol).

Also, if you remember... I fkcing hated the Beyerdynamic DT 990 for being VERY FKCING BRIGHT AND HARSH!
Well guess what I am using right now for daily "drivers"?
It wasn't the canners, it was the fkcing source!!!! They don't sound fkcing bright or harsh, they sound great now... sigh... 

So, you see my problem now is ... I can't fkcing record using the Schiit Modi, since it's just a DAC...  

My question is then to you guys: FORGET ABOUT anything the Babyface Pro has (outputs, inputs, drivers, Totalmix, whatever) except one thing and one thing only:

How does your stuff sound through the headphones output (and line outs)?  And Youtube stuff (that you know should sound great)?

Because at the end of the day, this has been my issue all along, and again, I don't know why people dont' talk about this stuff: 

What you hear or how you hear it is the MOST IMPORTANT THING (if it sounds like sht it doesn't matter if it has the "best converters or preamps in the world", I don't know how any logical situation when you can say that when the headphones output (and or line outputs) sounds like shit).

Even the Audient had this "96 KHZ Test (Intermodulation Distortion)". It's on Youtube (the issue explained).

Does the Babyface Pro pass the Intermodulation Distortion test?

I hope you can answer this easy question. Does it sound GREAT.

(Added comment: With the Modi 2 finally I could hear the reverbs going, how long they lasted, if they were implemented well or not so well, lots of details came alive,
even if it still doesn't sound 100% silky it's very close I can enjoy music again. EZdrummer doesn't sound like shit anymore too, now sounds amazing. Stuff has now punch, bass is alive, not overwhelming but you can finally tell it's there, doing it's function, as a great mix should have: balance. There were songs where I didn't really understand what the bass was doing, or anything really, and the Modi fixed this. Now I can understand better the singers because it seems transients/consonants are not lost and muddy).

So many things to say, sorry, I had to let it out.

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LOL... dude! You should've known that the Schiit DAC's are intended for auditioning, not recording music. The Audient ID44 looks like it has good reviews, so I'm not sure where your disconnect is. With that said, almost ALL the audio interfaces have crappy headphone amplifiers (I don't care what anybody else says). Even my $4000 Prism Sound Orpheus had a crappy headphone amplifier. The headphone amplifier on the Babyface Pro is decent, but it's not going to replace your DAC. Even if it's a cheap one like Schiit. It seems like you have unnecessary gear in your routing. I'd get rid of the Yamaha amplifier and the NS-244's and get a pair of decent powered monitors and hook them directly to your audio interface. 

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As for the intermodulation distortion test, I no longer have the Babyface. I really don't do anything at 96kHz (that's just silly). Though, I ran the test on my Solaris Quantum at it passes with flying colors. All frequencies remain pure and clean and can't hear any distortion.

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56 minutes ago, John Bohlen said:

LOL... dude! You should've known that the Schiit DAC's are intended for auditioning, not recording music. The Audient ID44 looks like it has good reviews, so I'm not sure where your disconnect is. With that said, almost ALL the audio interfaces have crappy headphone amplifiers (I don't care what anybody else says). Even my $4000 Prism Sound Orpheus had a crappy headphone amplifier. The headphone amplifier on the Babyface Pro is decent, but it's not going to replace your DAC. Even if it's a cheap one like Schiit. It seems like you have unnecessary gear in your routing. I'd get rid of the Yamaha amplifier and the NS-244's and get a pair of decent powered monitors and hook them directly to your audio interface. 

So how on earth can I have great headphones output while being able to record amazing stuff? Is there a way I can record while listening/monitoring through the Schiit stuff? I want my Reaper output be the Schiit stuff, because it sounds kind of great. All the interfaces so far... let me say this: I though a Reverb was a smearing effect to blend stuff together... hahahah, that bad interfaces are.

Also, I don't know why sometimes people read me literally, ofc I know a DAC is for auditioning... well... a dedicated DAC that is... all interfaces have a DAC.

And my disconnect to the Audient id44? I just explained the whole thing on my essay, lol.

Thanks for trying to help though.

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Well, you could go with the Babyface Pro, and I'd definitely go with the FS version. It's probably one of the best for that price range. If you don't like the headphone amplifier, then connect it to your DAC.  If you want to stay with the RME brand and have the cash, then I'd recommend the ADI-2 Pro FS. But at that price range might as well get the Solaris. 😁😁

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12 minutes ago, John Bohlen said:

Well, you could go with the Babyface Pro, and I'd definitely go with the FS version. It's probably one of the best for that price range. If you don't like the headphone amplifier, then connect it to your DAC.  If you want to stay with the RME brand and have the cash, then I'd recommend the ADI-2 Pro FS. But at that price range might as well get the Solaris. 😁😁

Thanks mate, highly appreciated. Just wondering how the Babyface and my DAC (USB) can work together?
For example, in Reaper, you have to select an interface (or DAC) but not both.
That's my main concern.

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