M-Audio M-Track 8X4M

First class interface! ... with a little weakness ...

I was looking for a USB interface that had at least 4 microphone inputs including phantom power. I admit it: The first thing that struck me about this interface was the incredibly chic design - but what good is this, it has to deliver good technical values. And so I tried relevant Internet searches and found something from various recognized sources that already had this interface in a test environment. In short: What they have described is also shared with me - except for a little something, but for this one below. First of all, a big thank you to Recordcase for sending the interface to me as soon as possible! I waited for this interface for over three and a half months - it was not available! Great service !!! I now have experience with over 5 interfaces. 2 Focusrite products (permanent computer crashes thanks to poorly programmed drivers), Steinberg interfaces (strong background noise via monitoring, even if the volume was turned down to zero), old M-Audio interfaces (audio and recording quality not quite as good), etc. etc. But now the M-Audio M-Track 8x4M is in my home studio: The best stereo channel separation I've ever noticed and the whole thing with a "very airy" sound. In terms of analyzing the audio signal, a clear leap forward! I would like to call the recording quality first class in this price range. The recordings have more pressure than anything else I've ever noticed! I can't measure objectively, but subjectively I perceive a much better audio quality than anything else that has been with me so far. Also through newly imported tracks compared to old tracks from my old interfaces. BUT: The latency - up to a second !!! ... no matter what I have set. OK, I can separate my guitars with a Lehle P-Splitt in first-class quality and use a small guitar amp as a monitor. But recording with my studio mic's ... ... I was in despair. With the help of the "Monitor Mix" potentiometer, the signals directly at the interface should be connected to the USB. or mix the DAW signal, for example, that you should hear your singing latency-free on headphones ... ... but that didn't work at first. Although this control was turned to "Direct", I did not hear any direct signal - neither via headphones nor via the monitoring. I then asked Musis for advice in a forum and did not really get any further. Then I called M-Audio Support, very nice and very competent! Nobody could really help me, but individual statements in the forum AND (!) Of the M-Audio employee gave me the idea of "tearing open" everything on the volume controller that was on the interface: I got the direct signal very quietly heard my headphones !!! I connected a Beyerdynamik DT770Pro (250 ohm) and a Superlux HD-681 (32 ohm) headphone. Even at 32 ohms it was still too quiet. I then switched an "LD Systems HPA 4" headphone amplifier (I have had this since my Focusrite interfaces because the headphone outputs were too weak) after the headphone out in a row of the signal path: That's it! Now I hear the direct signal and can mix this latency-free to the USB signal! M-Audio would have to improve here! A small boost push button for the "direct" signal would be of great advantage here. M-Audio would have to determine whether to increase by 10, 15 or more dB. But that such a small boost has to come is, in my opinion, a MUST! Perhaps Recordcase can influence M-Audio that something like this is coming here ;-) Conclusion: In this price range, "the home studio" is being raised to a new, higher class, as far as audio quality in playback and recording is concerned. A boost for the "direct" signal at the "monitoring" controller should still come.