Edirol UA-25ex vs. M-Audio Fast track Pro

ORIGINAL: Counting Coup

Hi
Anyone had a chance to compare these two for audio quality? It's not easy for me to do so in my part of the world. Any pros or cons with either?
Price is not the issue (and I'm stuck with USB).
Many thanks

I think the audio quality would be the same and driver support on both are great. However, the M-Audio has built in effects for use when doing zero latency monitoring. And will also work with ProTools M-Powered if you ever need to use that. So I would go with the M-Audio if those things appeal to you.

Anyone want to argue about this with the man before I get out my credit card?
(cheers, Frank)

In this Perice class, there's isnt really a difference that you can hear in regards of sound quality. but i think the drivers for the Edirol are better. I want to add that i never used any of those cards before, but i did own 2 other edirol cards, the UA25 and the FA66 a few years ago and they where rock solid as far as performance.

Anyone want to argue about this

What did you call my Moma!!!!!!!!

Many happy years with the original UA-25 (EX version is slightly tweaked from the original). Built like a tank - solid aluminium case. Balanced ins and outs have resolved my ground loop problems. Drivers rock solid and obviously this interface will be tested by Cake for each Sonar release, being an Edirol product. Unless the M-Audio interface has some deal-breaking feature you can't live without, I'd go with the UA25EX.

(PS: also, look at the product lifetime - Edirol have been making and selling this device for years, now, so Its Just Gonna Work)

I can't speak to the audio quality or build quality of the M-Audio unit, but I can say I have the original UA-25 product and it has been a very solid performer.

The audio quality has been very good for me. The drivers are excellent--I've used both 32bit and 64bit drivers without any crashes in Windows or SONAR. The unit is in a metal case and holds up very well for traveling. It is USB powered so no extra power supply needed. The built-in limiter is very nice to help "just in case" the level peaks hotter than you planned when setting levels initially.

The UA-25EX adds some compression capability and threshold control to the unit (UA-25 only has a limiter on/off capability). The unit is USB 1 (not USB 2) but that doesn't really matter since it is only 2 channels. I believe it cannot play and record 96kHz sample rate simultaneously (there is a selector switch for that rate between play/record) but it is fine at 44.1 and 48.

Hi all.
After weighing up my needs, I ended up with the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra. The first unit failed on day two (it went into a motor-boating state and cheerfully remained there ), but the current unit appears stable. I find the non-log nature (or is it non-linear?) of the pre-amp pots pretty weird but all-in-all, it's good bang for the buck.
Many thanks for all your help.
FS
(P.S. Actually I had a another real doozie with the 2nd unit. I kept randomly loosing use of the 2nd headphone jack and all but inputs one and two. Turned out after much head scratching to be the plug blades on the (New Zealand-style) wall wart making only intermittent contact with the cheap power multi box and hence dropping the unit into USB-powered state).

UA 25.
Gotta be better to keep it in the family.
WSS

Just look on line regarding buzzing noise from edirol ua25. That should help you decide.