I've had a bunch of digital audio interfaces in the past which I ended up selling, not because they were not good but because my workflow was in constant change. Now I was on the hunt for the simplest two input xlr interface with metering and the lowest possible Round Trip Latency, I didn't want any extra features such as digital preamp emulations or auto gain, just something really simple with transparent and low noise preamps, good dynamic range, independent phantom power, and the best RTL, so the search led me to the Motu M2.
I got a revised version with two screws on each xlr combo, which is different from the unit in the pictures. I read somewhere they are now assembled in China, my unit doesn't have any information about where it's made, only in the box "assembled in China".
To my surprise the RTL I got was even better than the advertised, running at 96Khz 64 samples gives me a whopping 2,17ms RTL, 128 samples 3,5ms. At 48Khz 64 samples I get 3,6ms RTL. Pluggin to a MacBook Pro M1 after installing Motu M Series Installer. These values are really unbelievable, switching between direct monitoring and DAW I can't notice any difference (so really no need for playback/daw monitor mix control). I'm running two condenser mics in AB with a bunch of processing and get virtually no audible latency and no pops or strange noises, feels the same as the UAD Apollo Solo I had in the past.
Nice to be able to toggle stereo direct monitoring with both channels hard panned to their correspondent side.
Excellent build quality, all the knobs are metal and turn super smoothly with no wiggle, the same for the inputs and outputs. Excellent sounding preamps, lot's of gain available. The oled metering display is a nice touch, I'll try to cut some tempered protection glass to protect it as it seems a bit fragile.
Running Sony MDR-7506 I get comfortable and loud headphone volume at around 4pm (almost max).
This unit really impressed me in every way, after having owned other interfaces such as Steinberg UR22C, IK Axe I/O Solo, UAD Volt 276, UAD Apollo Solo, I feel for the price the Motu M2 is the best, with great sound quality and class leading RTL.
If I have to point any small negative is that the gain knobs have a logarithmic curve that makes it a bit hard to match stereo input gains, here the little screen really helps.
If you want a dead simple device with no fancy buttons for digital emulations and aids, the best RTL possible, great low noise preamps, high quality converters, metering screen and independent phantom power I highly recommend the Motu M2.
