Motu M4 & M2

MOTU M4 & M2 Audio interface Review

client

MOTU’s debut entry-level interfaces offer professional performance at a cut‑down price.

MOTU M4 & M2 (Review) are not known for entry-level audio interfaces, favouring the more high-end side of multichannel audio, and so the M2 and M4 USB‑C interfaces with only two in/out and four in/out respectively came as a welcome surprise. It’s a crowded market and so I was very keen to see what MOTU thought they could bring to the table.

Functionality

Both units are wrapped in cold hard metal and feel plenty weighty enough for this sort of interface. They have decent feet to prevent them from being pulled off the desk by the weight of your cables and the knobs have a good feel to them with grip surfaces. It’s all good standard two in/out, four in/out audio interface stuff. What you are drawn to is the displays they’re rather nice.

Performance

The audio resolution on offer is up to 192kHz. Both interfaces are quoted as having a 120dB dynamic range at the output and -129dBu EIN on the microphone inputs, which are remarkable figures at this price. The converter technology is the same ESS Sabre32 Ultra DAC that’s found in many of MOTU’s more high-end audio interfaces and extends to the headphones as well as the main outputs.

Conclusion

MOTU haven’t just dropped a pair of decent audio interfaces into this entry-level market, they’ve raised the bar by quite some distance. They’ve gone significantly further on every aspect whether it’s the individual +48V and monitoring buttons, the power switch, the low latency, the low noise, the metering, the DC coupling, the Loopback driver or the extra RCA outputs for easy connection to DJ gear; feature after feature that sets them apart from anything in their price range. Both the M2 and M4 are priced at the top of this bracket of audio interfaces, and you might have to factor in an additional USB cable, but they are worth it.

Pros

  • Individual phantom power and monitoring buttons.
  • Loopback facility.
  • DC coupled outputs.
  • Jack and RCA outputs.
  • Power switch.
  • High-quality, low-noise preamps.

Summary

The M4 and M2 are thoughtfully produced audio interfaces that go further and tick more boxes than anything else in their class.

Review by soundonsound