828 upgrade Useful?

[Demious]

I currently own a 828mk3 FW from, I believe 2008, over 10 years old, at least.
What would I gain when I would upgrade to the newest model? The 828mk3 Hybrid, that is. Is there a significant sound quality increase? More power/speed? Lower latency? Anything else?

Cheers!

[mikehalloran]

Windows and FW are interesting because whether or not something works is often dependent on the FW chip set. If your card isn't using the TI chip, this can be problematic.

The 828 Hybrid lets you use USB2 as does the 828x.

It may be possible that USB2 offers lower latency. I'm using my 828mkII FW through the Apple FW–TB Adapter with my 2012 MacBook Pro and using a Mackie USB2 interface with my iMac Pro. If there's a noticeable difference in latency, I can't hear it.

I could swap since I have all the adapters and cables I need to hook the 828 back up to my iMP, I suppose and see but I have a backlog of projects with deadlines and need to leave things as they are.

If the mkIII is working fine, the Hybrid is unlikely to make a noticeable difference. If it dies someday, MOTU makes other USB interfaces including the 828x. Intel doesn't support FW and never will. Parts of the FW spec are incorporated into Thunderbolt and that is supported by Intel — which is why FW works at all on a Mac made after 2011.

[bayswater]

I still have the 828-3 in the rack but it is rarely used. I looked for an newer converter when it started having heat problems, but didn't find noticeable differences with newer MOTU units at the time. Maybe they were better adapted to newer computers, but didn't seem to perform differently. I ended up with something simpler because I didn't need so much I/O in the world of VIs.

[Demious]

I originally bought the 828mk3 FW when I bought my G5 and the PCI-324 didnt fit anymore. Ive got a pretty nice PC, 5GHz CPU, 32GB RAM at 3200MHz and, as it turns out, the firewire pci card Ive got does a very nice job. When recording I can easily run up to 60 recorded tracks, Superior Drummer 3, Kontakt with like 10 instruments and still monitor virtual amp rigs through my DAW, without any noticeable Latency. I was actually quite impressed when I tested the power of my system.

I was taught that the quality and capacity of the chips was directly connected to the sound quality and to keep up with development of chips to have relevant converters. Although, this was the 1990s, when every little development in computers made quite a bit of difference, maybe this isnt as important as it was back then.

I think I'll stick to my current unit for a bit longer, a new one is still a lot of money for just a little bit of improvement.

Thanks guys!

[mikehalloran]

See my other post about the 424, 424x and 424e.