MOTU 828mkII vs Traveler?

[Mach5]

What's the biggest difference between the two?

[crankz1]

The Traveler can be bus powered or battery powered.
It has 4 preamps built in.
It's converters offer 192kHz Sample Rate.
It offers AES/EBU I/O.
It has two less analog inputs.

[Mach5]

ok.. i am almost to a decision.. i promise..

do you think the bus powered feature is an improvement?

and how big of a difference is the 192kHz going to be? i want this to be an investment of sorts. do you think having 192kHz will be handy in the future.. meaning I won't need to upgrade?

[crankz1]

The battery/bus power could be a nice feature for situations of remote location work where AC power is not readily available. Other than that, I see it as no improvement so to speak.

192kHz ..... I haven't ever felt the need to record at 96kHz, let alone anything higher.
The fact being that the Traveler offers 192kHz may mean the converters are slightly better. In all honesty, I don't know.
It would likely take some Golden Ears to hear any difference. Not to mention that us mortals are only able to hear higher frequencies in the range of 20kHz. Give or take a few k.
That and the Nyquist theory states that you need to sample at twice the amount to achieve the targeted frequency. Ain't nobody gonna hear a signal in the 96kHz range. Human, that is. 48kHz gives me enough information for my tastes.
However, what the future brings as far as recording mediums and playback devices, higher sample rates may become the norm.
So long as we are still pumping out regular Audio CD's, the end result is gonna be 44.1kHz.

It's up to you .... do you want 192kHz capability? Will you ever use it?
Something to think about.

If I where to make a choice again ... I think I'd still choose the 828mkII.
A car battery and a power inverter gives me remote location juice when there's no wall outlet in sight.

[Alexi]

hi guys

just my 2cents, please, please don't buy motu stuff, RME delivers a way better sound quality just cause they have a way higher quality standart and better A/D converters.

[alexthacowboy]

i second the RME i have a Multiface and i Love the Multiface.

[crankz1]

Originally Posted by Alexi

hi guys

just my 2cents, please, please don't buy motu stuff, RME delivers a way better sound quality just cause they have a way higher quality standart and better A/D converters.

To late!
I bought an 828mkII just over a year ago.
Works and sounds fantastic.
YMMV

[malekmusic]

Originally Posted by crankz1

The battery/bus power could be a nice feature for situations of remote location work where AC power is not readily available. Other than that, I see it as no improvement so to speak.

192kHz ..... I haven't ever felt the need to record at 96kHz, let alone anything higher.
The fact being that the Traveler offers 192kHz may mean the converters are slightly better. In all honesty, I don't know.
It would likely take some Golden Ears to hear any difference. Not to mention that us mortals are only able to hear higher frequencies in the range of 20kHz. Give or take a few k.
That and the Nyquist theory states that you need to sample at twice the amount to achieve the targeted frequency. Ain't nobody gonna hear a signal in the 96kHz range. Human, that is. 48kHz gives me enough information for my tastes.
However, what the future brings as far as recording mediums and playback devices, higher sample rates may become the norm.
So long as we are still pumping out regular Audio CD's, the end result is gonna be 44.1kHz.

It's up to you .... do you want 192kHz capability? Will you ever use it?
Something to think about.

If I where to make a choice again ... I think I'd still choose the 828mkII.
A car battery and a power inverter gives me remote location juice when there's no wall outlet in sight.

well just because the traveler can record in 192 khz doesnt mean the converters are diffrent to those of the 828mk2.

it just means the world clock can handle higher sample rates. but who needs 96 or 192 anyway ? in order you dont produce dvd or super audio cds u wont need it. but i would still love to know if the converters of the traveler or the ones from the 896hd or the 828mk2...

[jamjon]

A friend of mine does music for TV. He uses an 828 and the results are fine. Granted he also uses some fine vintage mics, but the 828 gets the job done.

[NeoMagick]

Another very satisfied 828mkII user over here.

The bus powered feature is clever, i guess, but I'm never in a situation where i'm recording and AC power isn't available.

A) do you have a laptop? If not, it's a non issue, and I'd get the 828, hands down.

b) if you do have a laptop, how often do you intend to be in the middle of a field recording people with /no/ other AC gear?

c) Bus power means that if you /are/ using a laptop, it draws power from it, which will nix your battery life expoentially.

That, and bus powered devices beyond USB flash drives don't sit well with me. Too much iffyness. I like to know my devices are booted on their own, if i need to debug any hardware issues.

But if you want Firewire and must have 192khz recording, look into the 896HD. Same concept, bigger unit, higher sample rate.

[Dr_simon]

I have two 282s and an RME Audio Digi96/8 Pad card. I like em both though Id be hard pressed to say one was a million times better than the other. They are both nice.

My 2c, The MOTUs rock !