Who Here Has Moved From MR816 Series to UR Series?

Steinberg Hardware
1

Hi all,

My 816 seems to be finicky on my particular computer with a crappy firewire connection that I don’t feel like upgrading. I think I’ve had it with the 816 even though I think the pres/converters/fx are unbelievable. So on a whim, I decided to order the UR28M on sale. I don’t need as many in/outs and am mostly tracking guitar/bass/vox/using sampled drums/mixing in the box.

Can anybody tell me if I am going to be getting a significant downgrade? Obviously I know I am getting less inputs and there’s a difference in latency of firewire versus usb. My question is focused firstly on sound quality and then stability. Stability was not good on my particular system for the MR but I see less issues for the UR series despite lower latency as USB is slower than firewire. I have to think about what I will do with my current 816 unit and whether or not I should return the UR28 for a different product. Does Steinberg offer any paid diagostic/repair if I am willing to ship it out and pay for repairs if needed?

It is costly for me to replace the 816 (which is why am leaning away from the 824 unless there is a notiecable sound quality difference between the 28m and 824) so I am wondering if someone can comment whether or not the converters or anything else on the UR28m are subpar compared to the 816.

Anybody’s input current user or Steinberg employee whether you can compare the 824 versus the 816 or the 28m versus the 816 would be much appreciated. Again, I am talking less about feature (I can see the specs available online) and more about real world sound quality/stability comparisons

PS, I want to stick with Steinberg as I love the Yamaha pres fx. Thank you in advance.

2

I have an MR816x and a UR824. I basically use them as multi-channel DACS for music and movie playback so I can’t comment on the mixing capabilities. I have found the UR824 much more stable for movie playback and I can use it at its lowest latency while I couldn’t with the MR816x. I also think the UR824 has slightly better sound quality.

3

I have both and the main differences are;

For the same buffer size the UR has slightly higher latency.

The UR doesn’t have quick connect.
The UR doesn’t have inserts on channels 1&2

Positives;

The UR had the ability to have 24 in/outs from one USB port

It also has var versions of the dsp plugins rev-x etc.


MC

4

I work in the studio with the 816 and at home with the 28M. They are VERY similar soundwise. In a blind test you wouldn’t be able to tell which one is the best.