Focusrite vs RME vs Motu

I have 2i2 focusrite Scarlett.Looking for an upgrade...more I/O and better preamps , dual headphones.Scarlett itself has higher models.I hear a lot about RME and Motu.Do the RME and Motu sound better than Focusrite? They are much more expensive than the Scarlett models.Wondering if its worth the price.

I'm not happy with my Scarlett's pre amps so I don't use them. You can always buy a better pre amp so I use a Joe Meek 3Q.  For my next interface might be the Tascam UH 7000 just to get the pre amps , If I had the money I would certainly look at RME..  
 
As I always say, make a wish list of what you need first before shopping.
And putting solid drivers at the top of the list is always a good choice.

Well, as a general principle, out of those manufacturers I'd put RME as the top one, then Motu and Focusrite last. However, the law of diminishing returns kicks in as it does with all things. An RME that costs twice as much as a Focusrite won't have "twice the quality". What it will have is a higher build quality, which shows up as a reduced noise floor and what are amongst the best, maybe the best, external interface low-latency drivers in the business. And a superb software control application/digital mixer and a fat manual.
 
My Focusrite Octopre is slightly noisier than the UFX if I use the October mic preamps, but I mostly use them as line inputs where they're OK. The mic pres aren't so noisy as to be a problem, but the RME ones are a bit quieter and I think a bit flatter in their frequency response. At least, that's what running white noise through them and taking a look at the resulting spectrum says. Not a huge difference though. As I said, there comes a point where spending more and more gets you less and less in the way of obvious improvement.
 
RME also have a history of supporting older products well. Since they recently replaced the UFX with the UFX+, the biggest change being replacing the Firewire socket with a Thunderbolt one, they'd better keep on supporting old products or I'll be quite annoyed with them.

Here is a more precise description of what I do with the audio interface :
 1) I work mostly on video projects. I record 50% of the time in-the-box. The other 50% is vocal and instrument tracking, mostly 1 or 2 at a time. I don't record a full band at the same time.
 2) I need to monitor my mixes on different studio monitors, so I need multiple outs (atleast 4, planning 6 for a third pair of monitors in the future )
 3) I need 2 headphone outs preferably .
4.) I am on Windows (obviously being a long time sonar user) and have a firewire PCI card on my motherboard.
 
While I was looking for a monitor controller for (2) and (3) I figured out an audio interface upgrade might as well cater to my monitoring needs plus if I can get better sound and performance than the focusrite, then I rather go for a AI than for a monitor controller.
I am also wondering if its worth getting a firewire interface when most new interfaces are either Thunderbolt or USB .
 

I just got a focusrite Isa one. I love it.

WSS

RME drivers are the standard by which all others are judged.
MOTU's latest AVB series is a close 2nd.
 
Fidelity wise, MOTU's AVB series is a tiny notch better than the Fireface UFX.
 
You can't make a bad choice between RME and MOTU's latest AVB series.
Both are rock-solid and yield low round-trip latency.
 
I've been running a Fireface UFX.
Most of the time, I leave it at a 48-sample ASIO buffer size.
Rarely (if ever) do I set it above 128-sample ASIO buffer size.
Absolutely glitch-free... rock-solid performance
 
After the computer itself, audio interface is the 2nd most critical choice for a rock-solid DAW.
Go with a proven top performer... 
It's an investment that'll last a decade... and you'll never give it a second thought.
 
 
 

Appears from the responses , I will see a clear difference in sound moving from focusrite to RME or MOTU ?..

when i got my rme babyface pro,
the very first thing i noticed,
was how on playback,
thru the same exact monitor system,
everything sounded a bit different to me.
 
more clarity.
 
i could hear where i had previously tweaked high end and low end, and now i didn't really like it.
 
smoothed it back out, and it all sounded more natural.
 
this i chalk up to the better DAC
 
so yea,
it matters.
no matter what the sound source,
the playback is critical.
 
 
 
the other thing i noticed,
was how neutral the preamps were in the babyface,
versus my two other preamps (and then into my older PCIe card)
 
i prefer neutral.
it lets me make 'mix' decisions much quicker and easier.
 
if i want 'highlighted' eq, or somewhat saturated, i can always go into my tube mic pres, and then into the babyface.
 
but i'm finding i prefer neutral,
and then eq to suit the mix, 
versus getting a bright track with a different preamp, one that i really didn't need bright,
but i'm stuck with that sonic fingerprint because of the nature of the preamp.
 

AT
I just saw an announcement for a new motu -
 
http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2016/09/28/new-motu-audio-interface/
 
seems to meet all the OP's criteria except 2nd headphone out, which is fixable.  $600.  And Jim sez MOTU fidelity is better than RME, which if true for this unit makes it a financial class winner - for the time being, anyway. ;-)

The larger AVB audio interfaces ($1500 and up) have newer converters and slightly lower noise-floor than the UFX.
Noise-floor is ~-117dB.
 
The Ultralite AVB and new Ultralite 4 both sound excellent at that particular price point.
Noise-floor is ~-112dB.
 

FOR ME, 
with the new rme after almost 7 years with the other interface,
diff was night and day

Have a high-end studio with acoustic treatment and top-notch monitors?
 
Have savant-like hearing? 
 
If the answer is no to these questions, then I'd bet money you couldn't hear a difference between those units.  Get the one that you can afford and matches your I/O needs.
 
Now, it's a different story coming from an old or cheap interface to a modern one.  There's enough improvement in converter quality that there's usually a night and day difference in clarity.

Jim Roseberry
 
Generally speaking (as with most things), you get the fidelity you pay for.
Higher cost audio interfaces will have lower noise-floor.
You may or may not hear the 6-12dB difference difference on a stereo mix.
If you multiply the extra noise floor across 24 to 48 tracks of audio, it's suddenly a huge difference.
When using the interface with lower noise-floor, it's like peeling a veil of noise off the project.

that is very true.
 
very impressed here how the MOTU 1248 sounds (or does not sound). I've almost completed rebuilding my system around two of these 1248s, improving all those little things that accumulated as ideas over the past 3 years (cabling, routing, ergonometrics, monitor mixing, etc) ... sound quality was more than acceptable before, but it's getting frighteningly clear, already at HP mixes in tracking with all these mics and external synths feeding the inputs ...

Apogee Element could rule them all ...

Make sure to checkout the MOTU AVB series.
The Ultralite AVB is an excellent audio interface.