Correction correction: I have triple-checked and my Babyface really does deliver 125 dB(A) dynamic range with the XLR output. I might have gotten lucky here and I wouldn't expect every Babyface to reach this exact dynamic range but they will be close and that's an excellent performance.

Was looking forward to this video. It’s been well worth the wait. Thanks Julian

Couple of days ago, I was searching your channel for a Babyface Pro FS review. Excellent review as always. Thanks Julian!

The video I have been waiting for since I've subscribed. An RME review...thank you so much! Nuff respect from NY

Much awaited review. Eagerly awaiting for the teardown and performance results of Apogee (Duet 3) and Apollo Twin MK II (Quad core). Thank you and very best wishes for future videos 💫😊

i've been waiting for you to get one of these. great review!

thanks Julian, I've been waiting for this !

Excellent review!!! Detailed and well explained! Thank you for this!

Finally :-) Every morning when I startup my Computer, I'm in love with my Babyface!!! Wonderful review! Good points in your final verdict. Thanks a lot, Julian

I have been waiting for this video!

Great job Julian Thank you. I’m a huge RME fan. Their support for older devices (FireWire 800in my case) is still awesome. I recommend them to everyone without any reason apart from being awesome!

Intricate review. Thanks, Julian. Subscribed.

I love to see the Tascam HR2x2 on second place in noise mic input. :) I switched from two old Firestudio Project interfaces to a HR2x2 + a 16x08. I cannot be happier with them, such clean audio and the units don't produce any heat whatsoever.

Great Review as always. Love RME!!

If I were buying an interface today, this would definitely be on the short list as the specs and features are pretty well everything I'd want in a desktop interface. I've been using my RME PCIe interface for just over a decade and haven't felt the need to upgrade. I'll admit, though, I still haven't fully learned all the features of Total Mix. Thanks!

Thank you for this amazing review! I wanted to purchase it but I wasn't sure between babyface vs apollo twin! but now I wanna use this as my main interface so I can add some more in and out channels through ADAT, thank you again Julian and good luck!

Glad to see you reviewing another interface above the $400 range. It’s great to see how all these specs compare.

Great review and it totally confirms my experience with this interface. I have this interface around a year now only using for home recording. At the time I was interested in the usb based appollo and the zen go as they seemed to have lots of extra stuff that comes with them which looks pretty cool. I went with the babyface cause I wanted a simple great performing solid interface and it was exactly that. I set total mix to daw mode as I dont use the built in fx and its basically plug and play. And as a home recording guitarist the low latency is fantastic.

Vielen Dank! Thanks for doing this one Julian.

Damn. Your timing couldn't be more perfect! I am comparing multiple AIs and I am eyeing that baby

A bomb review. I gotta have it. Great go Krause

This is the best channel ever.

Thanks for the video Julian! I'm so glad you finally got around to this one as I've had friends recommend it to me in the past as the gold standard. This RME unit is really one step ahead in the latency departmen! Seeing the difference in performance with the Motu M2 which I use daily, I'm glad I picked it over this one when deciding, as putting in 3 times the price of the M2 to get only marginally better performance (hello, diminishing returns) really wouldn't have made much sense for me (and still wouldn't!). Seeing more comparisons and reviews on your channel, I think the Motu M2 might even be slightly more expensive than I could have gotten away with for my requirements - but then again, the M2 is built excellently, and has all around excellent specs for its price category.

I’m still using the original Babyface which I bought from new and it’s rock solid and still supported, can’t go wrong with RME!

The review we’ve been waiting for 😉 it’s been a long time coming!

Thanks Julian, been waiting to see you put the Babyface through its paces. Would be great if you could put the Apogee Duet on the list soon :)

I love to see a revew of the new beacn mic. love your videos

Thank you so much for this review I just got a BF after months of waiting and this review confirms my choice. One thing I think you didn't stress enough is the fact that the BF is USB powered, with those specs no other USB powered interface achieves this, no matter the money. I think this is also the reason for not including the DSP dynamics, they had to cut some corners...maybe who knows, an option for future firmwares, dynamics included if you externally power the unit? Also for the same reason (USB powered) I think they had to cut corners with the instrument input gain, vintage single coils pickups struggle a bit even at maximum settings, not a big problems because the noise is low, but more gain for single coil pickups would have been nice, humbuckers and active pickups of course have no problems. Another thing I really hope will be available in the future firmware is the possibility to go from mono input to stereo output in standalone mode and allow to use the BF as a practising tool to be used with headphones. A simple workaround for guitars is a Y split cable mono to dual mono, but still it would be nice to have this simple function in standalone mode, obviously this is easy to do when connected to a PC. Also as last point, people should remember not to connect unbalanced monitors to the balanced output connectors of the unit without proper unbalanced XLR connector /adaptors (with only pin 2 and 1 connected and 3 disconnected), the output is not servobalanced. Meaning the BF doesn't recogonise unbalanced connectors at the output. This is another corner cut for USB powering the unit. Overall a great unit with the super bonus of TotalMix, which is a valuable, quick, flexible and efficient mixing tool.

Best review of the product. Reviews should be like this :)

TotalMix has long been in a class of its own. Great, consistent interface and excellent view choices. It’s not immediately apparent what justifies the high cost, but the deeper I look, the better the deal looks.

Thanks for another great video. Just a quick note, RME clock and jitter control is another reason people buy these units.

You are the bomb when it comes to Audio interface reviews. Pls accept my online hug. You are simply the best.

Oho!!!! Julian reviewing the top stuff neow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

damn i forgot to click on the bell icon. so that's why im missing your vids. all sorted though. thanks for this.

I have the very first Babyface and it still works well with the updated drivers and firmware. RME delivers in every regard.

great review

Hi julian, your analysis are impeccable. Wondering if you are avoiding Apollo Twin review or we just need to wait a little bit more. Can't wait. Thank you for such a nice job in all your videos.

i'm really looking foward to the review of fireface ucx ii!

Thank you very much 👍

Julian, your videos have been MAD useful. I'd love to see you tackle some of the major mixer/interface combo units out there, things like the Tascam Model 12, the Allen & Heath ZEDi, and PreSonus Studio Live ARc consoles. I think they're pretty overlooked/underconsidered by a lot of people trying to buy something that gives them a lot of bang for buck.

Hi Julian thanks for the review!!! Great job as always. Curious how to tell which converters are in my unit withou opening it up!!!✌️❤️

Great review! Please consider making a table with RTL times for future videos.

Really cool review, thanks Please review the apogee duet 3

Just purchased one based upon your review, and also as my Audient id44 lacks XLR outputs (dislike TRS to xlr cables). Will follow up when it arrives, it is backordered!

very useful thanks

I hear RME makes some of the best interfaces around, which this confirms -- thank you! Need to decide between this and the Audiofuse Studio with the extra preamps and reamping ability but maybe lower audio quality.

Köszönjük!

You sir are a professional

Another fantastic video. Thanks for that! Have you considered doing a review of the Apogee Duet 3? I'd love to see how it stacks up against interfaces like this RME and a lot of others around this price point. Preamp noise, frequency response and AD/DA converters etc are all aspects of the Duet 3 that I haven't been able to find much into about. Cheers! R

I like your channel 👍🏻

Hey Julian, here's another Julian :) Nice review - just one thing I think should be mentioned regarding RME in general: The driver support for their products is second to non. You will most likely never run into the issue of not having proper drivers for your old interface trying to use it with your future system. I think that's is one of the BIG pluses when buying RME stuff and saves you money in the (not so) long run; particularly compared to other brands. For me this was the main reason to get RME interfaces and I will never change that for exactly that reason; besides their state of the art performance as a brand. Best regards Q

Wow, fantastic latency specs. RME drivers are incredible. I'm still using my Multiface to this day. They still support it. Nice to see a company support its products for years and years to come as you advance through OS's.

Love the wheel, the interface is great for guitar sims, finally they sound like the demos on YT

Simply amazing review. You have definitely impressed me with your ability to focus on important issues, and show the strengths and weaknesses of the product with extreme dignity. It was originally released in 2010. By any standard this is a phenomenal piece of gear that has stood the test of time. That's thanks to its stats and build quality, exceptional business ethics from the entire team at RME, and the fact they have continuously updated the drivers which have been considered some of the best in the recording business. This interface is 12+ years old and they just released a firmware update as well as drivers for the new Apple silicon computers in 2023. Is there any chance we'll get a Neumann MT 48 review soon? They say it has 136 dB of dynamic range. Thanks

Hey Julian, thanks so much for your overall approach, for both very technical information and soft - user info. I'm curious why you don't have the Apollo in your comparison mix? I'm sure there is a reason and I have not watched enough of your videos to know this. I'm trying to compare the Twin X DUO this this RME. You're about the only person I trust on KZfaq. Thanks again for what you do!

Thanks for confirming that this is what I should upgrade too from my 2i2. Better microphone first though

Don't think I'm ready for this one yet. It is cool to have a company truly dedicated to longterm support through the years. I'll look at the manual. You can learn a lot about a brand on how their manual's written. Glad they painstakingly break down every button. Having great support is just as necessary as great hardware. peace

Julian is the best.

Hi Julian, any chance of covering any of the other RME interfaces? I would love to see you do one of your deep dives on UCXii or even UFXiii. Regardless of if this is even possible, I really appreciate everything you do on this channel. It is just so helpful. Thank you.

hey julian thank you for doing these videos, really cool to see someone putting out there such good quality reviews. I have a question, or rather I'm looking for advice, I'm currently changing my studio setup for a more travel friendly option. I'm trying to decide what's the best audio interface with 2 preamps and 2 line inputs + adat connectivity and best ad -da conversion. What would you recommend? I currently have dedicated preamps + focusrite clarett 8prex

Great review on the Pro FS, Julian. Will you be reviewing the LCT 1040?

Hey Julian, great content as usual. On the very low end, could you review the Behringer UCA202/222? :D Always interesting to see how the cheapest cra...stuff performs.

Just discovered your channel, love your videos! Noticed you have no reviews on Universal Audio Apollo Twin, not that but not even any mention in the graph for value references. Planning to do a review on it at any time soon? That would be amazing.

Looking forward to your review on the Merging Anubis - AUDIO INTERFACE

Good to see some big brands interfaces on this channel, but when Steinberg AXR4, UAD Apollo and Avid Carbon?

Finally ! Thanks for outstanding review, Julian! After all i have a couple questions, you said that RME has multiclient ASIO support, i thougt that in 2022 every sound card does that ? no ? ultralite can't handle 2 or more DAWs and sound from WDM bus at the same time ? If i'll power babyface FS with external power supply, would it affect headphones output ? can it give more amplifiering to them ? results are pretty modest, 60mW wouldn't be anough for headphones like Fostex T50rp or some other power hungry magnet planars

One of the great thing about the RME products is the clocking accuracy over adat.

thank you so much for doing this!, could you see if you could also get your hands on the twice as expensive UCX 2 audio interface?, also the warranty sticker was hilarious, but it is a serious problems of companies putting that sticker on, its just a lie and a bad thing to do.

Just commenting for the algorithm. Super video even if I made an audible gasp when I saw the price.

They're not cheap but they are absolutely worth it (had one over lockdown that I moved on). Now have a Digiface USB and ADI-2 FS setup which sounds amazing. Really must get the ARC controller for it at some point.

Hola Julian. Sería posible que puedas hacer una revisión de la interfaz donner livejack color morado. Muy bueno tu canal

Great as usual... but now I’m wondering what the older converters deliver. Sigh.

made algorithm happy, as suggested... 🙂

Built to last - yes; if they maintain drivers and software through changes in computer operating systems and hardware. Thanks for your videos they are invaluable.

Thank you

Great review. Maybe you can get Merging Technologies to load you an Anubis?

I was confused about Rme Babyface pro fs and Audient id14 mkii which one to buy a month ago and bought Audient id14mkii. After watching this video today I am convinced that I have made a good decision. :)

Cool 💙

Thorough review as usual. I do have a question as you show the BabyFace didn't have 65 db of gain on the mic inputs as claimed, but maybe about 58 db. I have the AKM version (which may or may not matter), but it has dead on 65 db of gain. So my question is what method you use to measure the gain perhaps that explains the difference?

Love my Babyface Pro FS :) The only thing I use when recording something at home (even though I have a couple of analog and tube pre-amps at home as well). It's not something you would use for a studio, but as a portable and/or bedroom interface it's perfect! As long as you plan to record only up to 10 mics at the same time and mix completely ITB, there is really no need for anything more than what the Babyface offers. I guess you could connect a couple of hardware pieces if you connect them through a ADAT pre-amp, if you really wanted to. There are other interfaces better suited for that though. I do wish that the headphone outs were separately controlled, but other than that I can't think of anything I would change with it.

Have you any plans on reviewing the RME UCX ii? These vids are great. Cheers

Julian Krause is one of the very few KZfaqrs who uses 'sponsor' (and 'advertisement') correctly! Many KZfaqrs abuse the word 'sponsor'. They belief is : - company pays = sponsor - company does not pay = not sponsored They never even say that they are advertising even when they clearly are advertising whether they buy with their own money or not!

Rme gave me the biggest headache to set up. But afterwards when I got it to work. It's been nice lol

Great review. Any chance of you doing one on the Steinberg AXR4? It’s supposed to be quite different from their cheaper offerings.

great review as always! I treated this as a stand-in review for my UCX so I was happy to see the strong specs across the board. Personally one of the only critiques I have for the UCX is that the XLR input is mic level only, and the same input's TRS combo jack is line level only. Seems like a simple feature to make the whole combo input switchable?

As others have said, drivers and long term support of products are unmatched. I agree that a finer EQ on the output and dynamics on the input would put this ting over the top. I'd even pay an extra $100 on the premium price for it. I do wonder how the headroom is on the instrument input compared to the last gen model (I have the last gen pro model). It gets a little dicey with high output passive humbuckers (haven't tried it with active). Though if I do upgrade I think I'll end up with a UCX II. Would probably still keep the babyface and use both.

It will be very interesting to see how good are Apogee element 24/46/88 and/or symphony interfaces.

Very nice review as always..In your opinion until now which is the best overall interface in 2023 under 1000?

Been waiting for this one. I'd love to see you compare it to an old babyface. They go for around 250-300 euros second hand and I've been thinking that they're a great option in that prince range.

thank u for ur videos cau u please can do a test for WAVES Digigrid iox ?

Would have been nice if you mentioned the automatic SRC, being a long time user often caught out on that with different manufacturers when trying to playback files at a different sample rate as the interface is running at.

Hi Julian, thanks for this really good review (as usual :))! I have a question about the line inputs. Your review shows that the TS line input has slightly higher dynamic range than the XLR TRS input. I expected different results as the maximum input level is higher with the 1/2 inputs (+19 dBu @0dB gain with PAD) than with the 3/4 inputs (+13 dBu @0dB gain). Does it means there is no correlation between these audio performances and the maximum input gain? Or perhaps you haven't used the PAD for testing the XLR input line (do you think it would change the result with/without PAD activation?). Thanks in advance if you have the opportunity to answer :)

Have you ever thought about checking mixing desk interface performance, for example Midas MR18, a massive amount of input and output and also a massive amount of DSP, when you consider the price point it is a very viable option!

I would like to see a review of something from the Behringer Xenyx series, such as Q502USB. I saw a review claiming it amplifies high impedance headphones better than a Scarlett, for a smaller price too.

Hi Julian would love to hear what you think of the Apogee Duet.

I cant wait for recent my FIREFACE UCXII

nice video . as usual ;-) it would be interesting to see how the Antelope Discrete 4 compares to the Babyface, which has compressors,..fx. intigrated. I want to record classucal muisic and Im looking for the cleanest mic preamps with lots of dynamic range under 1000€. Best wishes

Not planning to buy this one but really fun to watch your super in-depth review! So, many, connectors.

Nice review! Do you have plans to test Midas digital mixers like m32c with dl32 or you know someone who already did? Couldn’t find much about this system in terms of practical use and quality. Thank you!

I did a lot of research last year to replace my super old UR-22, and ended up with the baby face. I don't regret it! However, it has some gnarl with ASIO, where sometimes, it's not running when I open Cubase, and I have to go into the ASiO setup control panel and "reset" it to get it running. I use it with Studio Projects B3 and a Maschine+ on inputs and Sony MDR 7506 and desktop monitors on the outputs. Overall, it sounds great and had y been solid. I especially like the multiple submixes that can be returned into different logical inputs -- great for processing and mixing into Zoom/streaming with low latency!