MOTU 8M - Thunderbolt interface

I am using a MOTU UltraLite MK3 and I love it. My guitars sounds good when recording. Low latency too. I don't know it that is of any help, cause UltraLite is a older card.

As far as I know they haven't upgraded their preamps any.  They are quite muddy and noisy compared to similarly priced options.   Pristine? No.  I had an 828mk2 but found the preamps unusable for any kind of detailed work.  I "traded" it for a Steinberg MR816, which I was much more happy with sound quality wise.  However, MOTU is far better in the driver department than most except RME.  I still think the RME UFX is the cream of the crop under $4000.  

rumleymusic
As far as I know they haven't upgraded their preamps any.  They are quite muddy and noisy compared to similarly priced options.   Pristine? No.  I had an 828mk2 but found the preamps unusable for any kind of detailed work.  I "traded" it for a Steinberg MR816, which I was much more happy with sound quality wise.  However, MOTU is far better in the driver department than most except RME.  I still think the RME UFX is the cream of the crop under $4000.  

Thanks for this, Ive heard all great things about RME, a possible hitch I guess Firewire may not be as common to find in a newer PC these days (which I'm also upgrading). Do you know if USB is really as reliable as some claim when using many I/O simultaneously, say like if maximizing UFX as a mixer and recording simultaneously.  

Thanks Daniel, I appreciate your comments and advice, I guess my of suspicions of USB limitations, or as a toy is somewhat unfounded. While RME UFX may be a little more costly and with only 4 mic pre's, Ill have to add additional mic pre interface(s), it may be worth it in the long run, hate that plasticy look and feel for sure. Hate to bother you more but do you have any experience with Focusrite equipment?  

I haven't got a bad word to say about Focusrite...

Thanks all for all the replies, I see Focusrite has a new series, the Clarett coming soon,(in June I believe) with Thunderbolt I/O, with ISA type pre-amps, assumedly a higher standard of pre-amp, (currently limited technical info is available). Then they have the RedNet series of interfaces with Ethernet and other protocols, at a much higher level of sophistication, quality and price range then I may currently need to go to. Yet somewhat similar in nature at least to what new MOTU 8M/AVB systems seems capable of doing in a more simple manner with expansion and networking, plus IOS remote mix control, each device within the cost range of other similar I/O channel count interfaces, too bad their pre-amps performance may be limited.

FWIW, You won't beat the performance of RME.
They're more expensive than most interfaces... but it's the type of unit that'll be viable for a decade.
 
If you're looking for absolutely top-tier mic preamps (equivalent to the best outboard units), literally none of the onboard preamps are that level.  
ie: They're not using eight $1k/channel mic preamps on an audio interface that sells for $500.
The best onboard mic preamps are pretty decent and pretty quiet.  Certainly useable...
 

I own a MOTU 8M and can tell you there is no competition in it's price range, period. 
I needed to dump my buggy Windows firewire, (MOTU 8pre) and Windows users have limited options.   I thought the 8pre was OK but it wasn't my first choice for anything critical, the MkIII units were a jump up from MkII and I was looking into saving a few bucks by going with a 896MkIII.  I auditioned the Scarlett pro 40 and the pres sounded better than my 8pre, neither one is in the same league as the 8M which if not "pristine" are very usable for most of my needs.  For those other times, well these units play very nicely with others. When my wallet recovers from the 8M I'm thinking of adding a Universal Audio 4-710d. Anyone with experience with this unit? The Thunderbolt equipped Clarett series looks nice but I doubt if windows implementation is even being talked about.
 
The 8m integrated easily with my system and Sonar X3.  USB implementation is still an issue and thunderbolt is not forthcoming at this time. MOTU is currently working on getting more than 24 channels on USB, which is a limitation.
The 1248 employs the Cirrus CS5381 ADC and the 8M uses 2 Cirrus CS5361 ADC's per channel.  The gain is 63db for the 1248 and 53db for the 8M. The difference being the employment of V-limiter circuitry.  The DAC's used are the Sabre32 Ultra 8-channel DAC, which I believe you will find in gear costing much more. My biggest complaint is that I'm now hearing things that were not there before, bad things. The emperor indeed has no clothes, and there is nowhere to run, I have to up my game. Not that most of our current population of music consumers , who mostly listen to music on some device, could tell the difference.  
Latency is 12.3ms using 96/24 and will run for as long as I need it to so far.  Decreasing the buffer size results in bad things. 48/24 is 6ms if needed.  
 
 
However lots of other units do around the same thing for around the same price, so what sets these units apart? AVB. You control your unit with a web ap from any networked device. Live mixing from you ipad anywhere in the hall?  This starts putting ideas of bringing your unit out on the road. Build quality appears to be the same as most other MOTU units, all metal case, plastic front knobs. If that is you idea of cheap and plastic-y, no worries, it's just different than mine. Still would I take it out on the road? No, not at this time, but perhaps for a live recording in the future. 
AVB uses ethernet and it is how you get your updates. I'm using Linux right now run it all . Not being platform dependent is sweet.
The software is wonderful, intuitive and has yet to crash.  The DSP can be inserted where you wish taking a load off of your CPU and perhaps a bit better quality than what Sonar is offering (subjective).  Routing has never been easier. It was literally open it up and start to use it. Using the ADAT banks you can link  MOTU or other units.  If you happen to be on the Mac side, you even get AVB audio interfacing and linking. For large facilities, teaching institutions and such it could come in very handy. 

I currently running a 4770K on a Z87 board. I have a new gigabyte thunderbolt Z97 and 4790K waiting to build out, no real need for an 8 core for the foreseeable future.  With hard drives being so cheap I just got a couple to make a multiboot system.  Windows audio is prone to pops, clicks and plain old crapping out. I've found a clean install with only needed drivers, no other applications and no internet works best for Sonar X3.  As for Linux, it's practically internet bulletproof so it's our browser, email and most other aps, but not my DAW. I also have all of the Windows aps I can't live without on a third drive, however as time goes by, the beautiful simplicity of Linux is something to see.  For example a 2G mp4 file takes a bit to transfer in Windows over to a USB 3.0 stick. Certainly not even close to advertised transfer rates. On Ubuntu it was a matter of seconds and done, unbelievable. Not only that but you can try it out using a USB stick and run it from there, no messing with your current system. The only issue I have is when I switch, windows can't remember what the correct time is.  Did I mention it's FREE? The Ubuntu Studio distro is pretty cool to check out. 
 
No doubt about RME having great drivers and superb quality. I'm sure the pres are better, but not something I need at that price point. The Octamic XTC is almost twice the price of the 8M, so comparisons are somewhat limited. I'm on a project studio budget and look for best price/performance ratio. The RME units have more mature drivers and the preamps are superior but the 8M does so much more.  
 
What I meant by "bad things" was that details not heard before are now apparent.  It was quite a difference and I was surprised. It is as if I wasn't hearing everything before. It took mic placement optimization session and a bit more room treatment but the results are stunning. Is it deutsche grammophon quality? Of course not, but you could certainly broadcast it without anyone telling you you should have used a Micstacy.

I might be a bit on the bleeding edge here with hoping that Thunderbolt will ever work on a PC.  I'm not sure what kind of game Intel is playing with Apple and Microsoft but the I'm thinking the mobo manufacturers were not amused given the lack of TB silicone on the current X99's.  On the other side, the audio community has a real conundrum . For the most part they have been telling us there is no need for speeds beyond USB 2.0 , which tops out at @ 480mbps even though USB 3.0 offers 10X that speed. I've heard the "they are trying to appeal to consumers with USB 2.0 only." arguement against USB3.0 . I call BS, I've had USB 3 for several years now and so will those who do what we do. I've heard of RME getting 64 in and 64 out using USB 2 , yet they have come out with the first USB 3.0 . I was surprised when MOTU introduced their new line with only USB 2 , perhaps they are waiting for 3.1 to roll out.  Things tend to move slowly and can take years to settle out.    

4K video would be a reason to get the x99 for sure. I know for what limited video I do (cyberlink powerdirector) it was a big jump in reducing rendering time when I switched to the 4770K.  My feeling is firewire is at the mercy of Apple, it will die when they kill it. USB  3.1 is going to be worth it just because you will now have a less than 95% chance of plugging it in backwards. MOTU already allows the ethernet port to act as the audio interface, on a Mac that is.  We currently have 24 channels i/o, so that's a good start and many more are coming soon as MOTU has stated it is priority #1 on the windows side. A small SSD drive might be a good idea for tracking, no need to use it for storage, so you could get away without having to spend too much, good idea.