MOTU M2 2x2 USB-C Audio Interface Reviews

Probably one of the best multifunctional pieces of audio equipment out there for a crazy good price. Has a DAC and ADC that measures very well, has a bunch of functionality and looks really good. What much more could you want?

Really nice interface great audio quality and the shipping service was great too

I have used the M2 for some time ... when it comes to quality (in every respect) and latency ... I don't think anything compares (you have to check out review about the latency numbers, amazing< ... I have to admit, MOTU has some problems with Windows 11 ... I know, we have spent hours trying to figure out and are hoping MOTU will deliver on a solid driver for Windows 11 ... just purchased a new Creation Station with Windows 11 and there were problems with the MOTU M2 install ... looks like we might have it figured out for now ... the reason I write this review is because Sweetwater sent me another new audio interface (which online is getting good reviews), but it's not even close IMHO on Main Output and Headphonw jack out ... no question the overall performance is super ... built like a tank ... has independent separate phantom power for each combi-input ... I've been around for a long time ... this unit has been exceptional overall ... I hope MOTU always stays in business ... becuase they have a standard of build, quality, and features like no other ...

I upgraded to MOTU M2 from Behringer because I wanted the separate phantom power channels. I record my horn with iPhone backing tracks. Gave the Behringer to my grandson who already surpasses me in sound design.

This box is easily the best audio interface I've used as a VO artist. Solid build, easy to maintain, Motu is very responsive with any tech issues, and it's helped launch my career into voiceovers. I am very grateful to my rep, Ian Lemberg, for pointing me to this box.

Shoutout to David Winkert for helping me pull the trigger on this.

The sound quality and ease of use is excellent I was up and ready to record in 10 mins. Works great on my Windows PC.

The interface is transparent and translate my tone without coloring it. The latency even at a modest sample rate is imperceptible.

For home producing, I dont think there is a better interface out there.

Oh boy, let me tell you, the MOTU M2 audio interface is a game-changer! This thing is worth every penny and then some. As someone who's always looking to up their audio game, the M2 was the perfect addition to my setup.

First of all, the M2 is built like a tank. It's sturdy, sleek, and just looks cool sitting on my desk. But more importantly, it delivers some seriously impressive sound quality. Whether I'm recording vocals or guitar, the M2 captures every nuance and detail with crystal-clear clarity.

But wait, there's more! The M2 is also incredibly user-friendly. It's got all the inputs and outputs I need, plus some sweet extras like loopback functionality and built-in effects processing. Plus, the drivers are rock-solid and never give me any trouble.

And the best part? This thing won't break the bank. The M2 is a seriously affordable option for anyone looking to step up their audio game without shelling out a ton of cash. Honestly, it's a steal.

So if you're in the market for a high-quality, versatile, and budget-friendly audio interface, look no further than the MOTU M2. I can't recommend it enough. 5 stars, baby!

Since the newer iPads don't have headphone jacks, I needed a simple interface that I could use to carry an audio signal out of the iPad, and this interface does just that and more. I like that it is bus powered with a dedicated on/off switch. I also like that it has an lCD signal meter, rather than just a light. It's nice to see how much headroom you have in the signal, rather than just a clip light. Great value for the money!

I got the MOTU M2 based on a recommendation from a friend and it hasn't disappointed. I love the fact that not only does it have an exreeeeemly quiet noise floor, but it has meters on the front, 48 volt phantom power on each channel that can be selected independently on each channel, but it has MIDI connections on the back for my old keyboard gear! It's a wonderful piece of equipment that will connect using a USB input on my system, not requiring specific firewire connections like my old interface. And it's easy to pack up and travel if I need to do that. I don't notice any latency. But I did download the driver which is supposed to help with latency. I Love this piece of gear and highly recommend it!

Plug and play as advertised. I'm a little hesitant to download the M2 drivers, since all is working fine out of the box.

I bought this interface for my 15 year old son as his first interface. Works well, very well built, the knobs feel great, the screen is sharp and very responsive. The features are good too. Its perfect for him and what he does and Im impressed with the quality of sound it produces with his Shure SM7B MIC!

Wanting to rack my MOTU 828, as it's usually used for multi-track live recording (with it's "interface" abilities being a "cute" option), I went looking for the "best bang for the buck" option, and the with sales help from Paul Koehn, turned out to be another MOTU, this one being the M2.

What's striking about the unit was the pristine audio & depth the unit has - and this without the aid of a word-clock (which I would love to attach one to, however it doesn't come with that option.) Everything from streaming TV to my multi-tracks has a level of transparency that I had not heard previously. And the fact that it's powered from the USB connection give single or stereo tracking capabilities from my laptop in the case proper AC isn't around.

One last reason for keeping in the MOTU ecosystem is they support their gear from the original driver release up to most recent OS's. My 20+ year old firewire 828 still works under Windows 10, and I expect this M2 to be part of my gear even after I'm in someone's urn.

Great buy, a continual great company to buy from.

SAA


PS: Picked up an Avatone MP1 shortly after, which sounds very close to my HS5's. A great partner to the M2.

I have listen my lecturers in terms of buying new pro audio gears. Once my lecturer kinda slip out Motu as his favorite interface without even lecturing on the topic of Audio Interfaces and he said, he does not care about what other people think by emphasized on that he really like the AD/DA conversion on Motu. I immediately jotted down that strange name on my notes. Sounded so much little Indian kid to me. It was cute. It took me 5 years to do research for deciding which new gear to get. I have made the right choice again. But I do wish that Motu could give us a software for our M series. So that we could pan the output signals lefts and rights. To get wider stereo spectrum. Dynamics in Motu ADConversion is incredible. I could feel it.

I wont't say much because a lot of reviews saying the things i wanted to say. I only will say that just by opening the box of the M2 you can see how well protected the M2 is. And this fact by itself tells you the quality you are getting as a first impression.

My Duet 2 finally took its last breath, and like most musicians out there, money is tight these days. I carefully researched interfaces, and my pocketbook settled on the Motu M2….which turned out to be a very good decision. This unit does it all….never skips a beat…. sound quality is excellent, preamps are very acceptable, and best of all….build quality is very good. My old Duet was really a good unit, I had no complaints against it….it simply got old…the lights stopped working long ago, but who needs lights when you have the built in software? Sure, the Duet was designed to work seamlessly with my DAW, Logic Pro X, but the M2 works just fine without the flashy program. I decided against the new Duet 3, the SSL2, or any of the many other fine units at there….and I love my choice….the M2 is all that, and a bag of chips! Grab one!

Mine is connected to a 2018 Mac Mini using Logic Pro & Reaper and so far, it's a solid little interface. The knobs feel firm and smooth. I haven't had a chance to use the MIDI function yet but I've had MOTU interfaces before they are always good with MIDI. The level meters are nice too. I have a Focusrite 2i2 (which is good too) but I'm old school and appreciate the level meters. Let's not forget it has a power switch! Surprised to see interfaces (small ones) lack a power switch. I also like how you can control which Mic input needs phantom power. The Focusrite has one switch that controls all of the mic inputs. Not the end of the world but I like the option.

Awesome interface for the price!

I like this unit enough to have bought my second one. I use this when I'm traveling and need a way to record with my XLR mics. There are no bad things to say about this product. I love the huge meters and the great sound.

This was a huge upgrade from my Presonus Audiobox USB 96, without costing much more money. It has a LED display for levels, which is much easier to read than Presonus's blinking red light. It has much more headroom. The headphone amp delivers more level. And lastly, the connectivity options are better. They only include a USB-C to USB cable, but you can use a USB-C to USB-C to run directly into a newer Mac without needing an adapter. Having TRS and RCA outputs for your monitors is also a plus.

as far as hardware goes, I love it. all the buttons are easy to see/identify and press. the knobs turn smoothly with just the right amount of resistance. I've encountered no issues software-wise on my Mac or PC. I've gotten clean sound for all my applications: singing, VO, video chat, voice chat, gaming. I use a Rode NT1-A and Logic Pro with this interface.

I really don't have anything negative to say about this interface, so I'm mostly just going to list all the reasons I like it.
-It uses USB-C. Yes, it's still not actually using USB 3, but the connector is sturdier and easier to come by these days, so it's nice to have.
-The preamps are clean, flat, and powerful enough to drive mics like the SM7b.
-The headphone amp is best in class for an audio interface and is on par with even some "audiophile" gear. It's possible that if you are using 600-ohm headphones or more that you might not have enough volume, but otherwise there are no issues.
-The meters are nice to have even if they're not essential.
-Independent phantom power for each input.
-Low latency ASIO drivers on Windows.
-The loopback feature is actually really useful for recording video calls. For example, I get together with friends once a week and I can record them, any music we're listening to, and my mic (to a different track if I want) with minimal effort.

The only potential downside I ran into was that I had some issues when making those recordings where I'd get clicks/pops on my mic with the buffer set to 256. I have a powerful computer, so that shouldn't have been a problem, but I still had to set it to 512 to work properly. Having said that, I was using an older driver and the latest one specifically claims to fix that. I upgraded to the M4 and am using the newer driver with that and have had no issues so far, so perhaps that is actually fixed.

In summary, if you want a two-channel interface, especially if you are a streamer or want an excellent headphone amp without having to buy a separate box, get this.

i genuinely have no complaints with this product. it's affordable, very transparent for its class, and gets my headphones all the power they need. i especially recommend the motu for students or for anyone operating on a budget.

My Apogee Duet FW was having software compatibility issues w latest rev of Logic. Josh at Sweetwater recommended this interface and I love it. Clean signal, I like the separate headphone volume dial and monitoring options. It even has a LCD screen showing input and output levels! Love that!
It is small enough and rugged enough for travel. Low latency. Only suggestion for next version: lose the MIDI ports and put in a second headphone jack. Other than that, perfect!
I would suggest it to anyone looking for a small inexpensive interface.

I personally have been using the M4 version for over 6 months and have been very pleased with the results. In all honesty, the M2 would have been just fine for what I do, but I like having the stereo line in pair on back for pulling audio off everything from an old 4-track recorder to an Ampeg SCR-DI.

My wife does a lot of teaching and work with ministries in South America via video conferencing. Unfortunately she is not the one who sets up the calls, and the moderators often forget share the record function or the recording after. This is where the "Loopback" feature is a HUGE win. Being able to reroute the "other side" of the call through the M2 allows for separate tracks to record of both sides. She also loves the visual feedback provided by the device. Though Loopback is making its way into more and more devices, none so far have the clarity or power MOTU packed into the M-series. Add to this USB-C connectivity complete with bus power and she can now setup anywhere in the house or the backyard with minimal effort.

Having the option to use RCA or TRS outs is also nice. My wife needs a basic setup, and a set of CR4s we have kicking around work great with her laptop and an RCA cable I had hoarded away from the days of component audio and video systems.

THE FOLLOWING IS REGARDING THE INCLUDED DAW AND NOT REFELCTIVE OF THE INTERFACE PERFORMANCE...
MOTU also gives the user access to a lot of great software with purchase, including Ableton Live Lite, and a special edition of their Digital Performer 10 DAW. I have used this (Performer Lite) to edit and finalize many of my own podcast episodes, but on my Late-2011 MacBookPro it consumes a lot processing power. It works fine if I am taking my time editing, but can be prone to crash if I attempt to do a lot of edit work with the DAW at my regular pace. Thankfully 90% of the time this DAW has been able to open an autosave of the session with no loss of work. Am I a little overdue for a new machine? Probably.

I love this interface! It does everything I need with crystal clear audio and rock solid stability. I use the M2 on my bedroom workstation. One of my favorite features is the loopback recording option. I use it often when recording screen captures for my virtual vinyl videos. I highly recommend this little powerhouse. I have zero complaints.

Simple functionality and has higher quality than I was expecting. Pretty happy with this purchase, for this price range this might be the best 2 channel audio interface in my opinion.

As someone who is starting a home studio, this is a great budget audio interface, which includes all the ports that I would ever need plus a hardware monitoring screen! It also comes with Performer Lite, which is a great first DAW. Overall, I am pleased with my purchase!

This is a singer songwriters dream come true. Clear clean beautiful sound. Get it you won't be unsatisfied.

Got an M2 to use on Jam Kazam with my band, 3 piece with multiple singers. Interface worked great. 3.5 ms rock solid latency, no noise or drop outs. Easy to use. I was skeptical about jamming online but it worked really well. Not quite the same as being in the room together, but honestly the sound was just fine. Highly recommended.

I've had this interface since about June, and honestly, it's been absolutely solid. I've paired it with an AT2035 and a pair of DT990s (250OHMS), and I have zero complaints; I've been able to get super clean recordings with zero noise (and zero latency!) even when I push the gain, although I've barely had to, since even only a small turn of the gain knob is more than enough. Also, not something absolutely essential but very appreciated, there's an On/Off switch on the back that's pretty neat. Additionally, the LCD screen for monitor your inputs is pretty quick and accurate, so you can safely rely on it for monitoring your inputs. I sincerely think this is probably one of the best options for the price.

I dont review gear, and this is one of the cheapest things in my studio (I bought it for zoom teaching), but this thing has blown my mind so far.

I was doing a demonstration with my SM57, and it had more than enough gain to push it straight without any kind of pre.

Surprised by this, I thought why not plug in my SM7B to see if it would work. I had little hope, but it actually had enough gain to push that mic known for needing so much gain.

The sound quality is great, but if you need something for zoom, and you would like to use a dynamic microphone, this will do it perfectly.

I bought this little MOTU M2 to replace an Apollo Twin that died after 6 years. Considering I could buy five M2's for the cost of one Apollo, it's a fantastic little audio interface. I has the same latency and sound quality as the Apollo, the same number of inputs, and the same number of outputs. Moreover, it has a feature the Apollo doesn't have: standard midi in/out for my legacy Roland keyboard. The only issue I have with the M2 on a Mac is that when I power it off for a while and then power it back on the system doesn't see it under the system sound output/input devices. I find I have to restart for it to be recognized again...it's a minor thing, but it makes me not want to power it off while the computer is on.

No fuss, no muss. What little I know about studios, audio interfacings etc. you could fit in a thimble. I coupled this with my amplitube software and bingo! Thank God. Very happy I didn't have to go to college to coax sounds out of it.

First let me say for $ you can not go wrong with this unit.The sound on it is very airy ,lots of detail in the music,Full sounding interface.I was blown away how good this thing sounds in both windows 10 pro and kali linux,thats right it even works in linux with no drivers needed!!.The motu m2 feels very well built solid feeling.All The controls on it are metal and buttery silky when you turn them,real pro feeling.I compared the ifi dsd le dac amp to this and let me tell you its day and night.The motuM2 blows it away in all aspects hands down period.This is a real steal in my opinion for $...This thing sounds like a very expensive dac amp costing lots of$$$$ but with inputs too . The headphone amp in this is again full silky sounding with lots of power. tried it on both jbl 32 ohm closed back headphones and the akg 702 studio monitor headphones plenty of power on all music.I also ran this motu m2 threw my 16 track presounus studiolive 16.4.2 digital mixer again with fantastic results.This thing is dead quite i hear no noise at all in it. Sweetwater again got me this in no time to my door. Hats off to you Sweetwater !!!! Great company.

I thought the drivers sucked. I had a bad unit, Sweetwater replaced it and it's been solid ever since. One fix if you have a windows machine. If you experience drop outs update your BIOS

This interface likes at the moment of unboxing as it is solid, heavy,feels so strong. All knobs are metallic, perfect. Easy to configure, and it has the best latency results I've ever seen in a interface in this price range

Cuts all the crap and gets the job done. Stable as a rock.

My primary interface is on a Windows 10 system running Studio One and I needed a small interface for my Mac and Logic Pro X and after watching a lot of video reviews, I determined the M2 would be the best path. It was the right choice - Logic identified the M2 and offered it up as an interface option at 24/96 and with very low latency. The sound quality is amazing and though the metering levels do not have graduated markings, the metering is not only useful for estimating db level, but also gives you immediate feedback so you know signal is present. It's metal, good looking, works right out of the box and an incredible value - at least a 9.9 out of 10. I would also mention independent phantom power, MIDI in and out, physical knobs for gain and monitoring and my favorite, a power switch make this USB interface a no brainer!

windows 10 idiotic spyware program that spends all computer resources on its goals you are no longer the owner of the computer the owner of the computer windows 10
even with this program, motu m2 works fine
no problem everything is good a little bit the digital converter needs to be done better and two headphone outputs let it be more expensive it would be super

I had been using the M-Audio C400 for many years and moved last month to the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 (3rd Gen). Despite my deep research and multiple troubleshooting I could not depend on it due to drop outs or the mic input just ceasing to work in a zoom meeting so I returned it.
I use my computer for a lot between video (Premiere Pro, After Effects and WeVideo) and music production (Audition, Cakewalk, EastWest Play) and teaching through Zoom and Google Meets while using Guitar Pro and Sibelius. Also OBS and YouTube live streaming. The MOTU M2 is exceptionally solid and does not freak out when I have multiple applications opened. It handles them wonderfully. I used the loopback function yesterday to stream a Google Meet through OBS and then to YouTube. Lot's going on there and it worked beautifully. I didn't think I'd care about front panel metering but it turns out I do. Very useful when getting a good level that's not clipping when you have to use it in many different programs. I am looking forward to using Performer Lite this week which is free with the purchase of this. Seriously, could not be more happy this unit. I hope it works as well for you as it does for me!

I had a Focusrite Scarlett Gen 2 which I had replaced with this Motu M2. Upon connecting my RE20 and Adam a7x Speakers I was absolutely floored. I had to stop what I was doing and just stood still in absolute awe. I wasn't expecting to hear such a massive difference in sound quality. In a way I was upset that I had wasted so much time with a garbage interface in the Scarlett and yet I cried tears of joy from the astonishment. It was like hearing music for the first time through my monitors and my voice was that much cleaner and crisper with hardly any noise floor. The headphone jack has tons of headroom and it brought my Sennheiser 650's to life. I threw the Scarlett in the trash out of anger. Seriously, don not hesitate to but this interface. It is well made, sleek and small with a polished metal frame and strudy metal knobs with hardly any wiggle. Well built product that satisfies every need.

The sound quality from this device is surprisingly a lot better than expected. Nice clean sound and the meters on the front of the panel help out with my mixing.

This is a fantastic sounding little audio interface, that I have matched up with my IPAD Pro 12" as a dedicated audio interface. I am exceptionally happy as I discovered that it will run on the USB-C bus power provided just by the IPAD and can still power a phantom condenser mic (AKG c535 eb in my case). The preamps on this little unit are very clean, and provided plenty of amplification. For just a little 2 input interface, the build quality is really good. I'm also very happy to have the 2 five pin MIDI din's as some of my vintage synths do not have USB for midi.

Having recently purchased a Røde microphone, the Motu M2 works perfectly when paired with my Dell Alienware pc. Very easy to to connect with my pc to have me up and running, recording music.

The unit works great and is very well built. I really appreciate the great one-on-one customer service from Sweetwater!

I wanted a USB audio interface since my new laptop has no Firewire port for my ancient MOTU 828 MkII and after checking out a number of "boxes" this one seemed the best to me. It seems to work well with my PC laptop and I even connected it to a Raspberry Pi 3b+ and found it worked with both Reaper (Linux) and Audacity (although I get low power warnings since the M2 is USB powered. I may try it on a powered USB hub). Construction seems solid and I'm happy with it.

We need to run audio out from our sound board to our iMac and this was dead simple to connect and be up in running in now time. Sound quality is amazing!
Thanks to Sweetwater and their quick service.

For me this beats Scarlett because it has midi in and out and RCA out and better visual metering, not to mention individual phantom power.

I am very pleased with the low latency of this unit. Bought to run with laptop and Scuffham s-gear as a guitar rig. Works flawlessly enough I bought a second for practice room

This is my first audio interface so take it as a grain of salt. The last time I recorded any music it was with a tape recorder ha ha. This device is simple to use and installation was fairly easy. Started recording my guitar the same day and was able to share it with friends. I really like the lights on the front of the unit to see your input volume and the overall unit is very sturdy including the connections and knobs. So far sound quality seems to be very good and latency delay is unnoticeable. The volume control knob for headphones and monitors are separate n that is a nice option. Very happy with Sweetwater customer service too.

I'm definitely pleased with my purchase of the M2. It looks and feels solid enough to last for years, though I wouldn't feel comfortable just "throwing it" in my backpack. I would worry that the gain knobs my break off. It looks sleek and is light weight so won't be a burden to carry around in a bag at all. I'm enjoying the zero latency from the direct monitor out button. Oh and it sounds really good. I guess that might be important too.

Works perfect for what I want to do -- podcasting. Easy to use, lots of tutorials on MOTU's website. Have not run into any issues.

I've been using it for a month or so now and I'm extremely impressed by the quality of the recordings I've been getting. Absolutely love the hardware monitoring, allows me to play silently in conjunction with my amp's direct out. Highly recommended!

As a simple answer, this is the best interface for the price....hands down!

Does the job well. Just be aware that on certain amp sims with a high noise floor you can start to hear some hiss, but other than that, it's a nice interface. Drives my DT 770s quite nicely.

Terrific looking piece of kit, solid metal construction, controls are very well laid out. The knurling on the knobs is a nice touch. Display is very easy to read and the information is quite useful.

For Mac M1 users, I thought I'd pass this along: the instructions say that the interface is ready to go without any driver installation. That is not correct, you definitely need to install a driver on your Mac for the interface to show up as an audio device. Once you register the product, you are directed to a downloads page that has the MacOS driver. Install the driver, reboot, and voila, the M2 appears as an addressable audio device. You may as well grab the latest firmware update and install that as well: power off the M2, hold down the MON button on IN 2, power on the M2, and it's ready for a firmware update.

It's working well with my synth and GarageBand. Comes with a download of Performer Lite and Ableton Live, plus a pile of plugins. Great value at this price point.

One disappointment is that the headphone amp is really under driving my 250 ohm DT770s, I've got the headphone volume knob at 2-3 o'clock with my input volumes pushing the limits. Same experience with a set of consumer grade headphones, fairly weak output.

Recently bought one of these from Sweetwater. I haven't had a lot of time to play around with it yet but so far I've discovered it will not only work with my Surface Pro 7 running either Performer Lite (included) or PreSonus Studio One Artist (came with another purchase) which so far has been my DAW choice, but also have got it working with my old iPad Air 2 running GarageBand, a simple but very friendly app. Granted to do so requires a lightning-to-USB camera adapter and a powered USB hub but still. Has me considering upgrading my old iPad now that they've lowered the price a bit

It's the meters. Let's face it... all audio interfaces these days are darn good.

But the meters are so great. Just in those little moments when you have a brain fart, you're not getting sound from the speakers... you can just peek at the meters and determine if it's a hardware or software issue.

Build quality is nice. Drivers are good.

Love the meters. Did I say that already?

This is a great AI; works well with Ardour and OBS using XLR. The level indicators are fantastic! The build quality is very good; a durable unit for sure.

The only problems I've had 1) has been using it with Discord, and 2) no "official" linux support. The Discord issue isn't the M2's fault, but a problem with webRTC and XLRs via AIs in general. However, you should be aware of this general problem if you intend using it as such.

There is also no official support for linux. There are great DAW apps for lixus distros, and basic kernel support >=5.8 (I think ... I'm using 5.9); so it works pretty well despite the lack of official support. But, there are some issues with *some* DAWs that I'm sure official support would address.

Other than that, it's fantastic! If you are a Win or Mac user you would probably be very happy; if linux, you will have to put up with some flakiness until the drivers/kernels provide better compatibility.

I am using the M2 with a 16" Macbook Pro so I needed an audio interface for live stream gigs with OBS and Audio Hijack. I had to buy a USB-C cable since the M2 only came with a USB-C to USB-A cable. It has an extremely loud headphone amp, yay, a pretty glowing green screen,woo, nice back lit buttons and solid build quality for the price range. Sound of the preamp is clean and clear, low noise, simple to use. Made in USA was a selling factor over the leading competitor.

Two wishes: segments in the display to indicated metering values and switchable soft clip input limiters. M2 does the job well with no complaints. I'd buy an M4 if they had one in stock.

This interface is awesome. The VU meters are a nice to have when you are recording or playing audio through monitors or headphones. I would give it 5 stars except I've been having this weird issue with the audio driver where it would pitch up the output one semitone. Weird, huh? There is a power switch in the back that you can turn off and back on, and that seams to do the trick. I feel like it's good practice with the Motu M2 to turn the interface off before you shutdown your computer. My previous interface was a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 2nd Gen., and I never needed to worry about powering it off. However, the Motu M2 has it beat in pretty much every other regard.

This interface has the ability to deliver clear audio, true to the source, and latency will not be an issue. Is it the best interface I've ever owned? No. But I've used UA interfaces and have always preferred them. Still, COVID-19 had other plans for my Apollo Twin (had to sell) and this was my compromise. While I do miss the UAD software quite a bit, I have to say I am absolutely stunned at both the quality and dynamic range of audio coming in, as well as audio going out to my monitors.

I researched every day for about two weeks (not kidding), and this interface had the best technical specs of any interface under $700 at the time. Recently, UA released their new Apollo Solo series, which have 3db more dynamic range on the inputs and 5db LESS dynamic range on the outputs. ...I would be skeptical of anyone claiming they could tell the difference between 115db and 118db of dynamic range on inputs. Again, the real value of the Apollo inputs that the MOTU can't compete with is the unison/UAD software. Also, different converters have different character and that plays into the sound of an interface, and I tend to like the overall "sound" or character or UA interfaces over others I've used, however the MOTU M2 is no slacker.

Let's remember this is $... and I am comparing it directly to an interface that costs almost 3x that amount.

The video I linked to this review is what finally convinced me to purchase this interface. The listed interface in this video is the MOTU M4, which is the exact same thing but with some more I/O I didn't need personally. Your music won't sound like this strictly because of this interface - that would require lots of Warm Audio's awesome gear, and this video likely underwent some serious mixing and mastering with highly professional individuals in very cush studios. Still, the video proves one thing - this is what your music CAN sound like with this interface. It will support and translate the other awesome gear you buy very accurately, and in my opinion, that is exactly what an interface should do at its core.

I replaced my Audient EVO 4 with this and it's been a great experience so far. Pre amps provide tons of power and are pretty quiet. Being able to monitor the mic while still hearing your computer audio is great. Headphone amp/dac is pretty darn good. Easily drives my 300 ohm HD 600 and sounds great. Unlike the EVO 4 you can hear audio from your headphones and monitors at the same time which is nice. The front LED meters are actually pretty darn useful too. Makes it easier to dial in my gain before I start recording my classical guitar. Just wish they were marked with dB levels.
My only minor gripe, which seems to be common on Windows for audio gear, is the drivers are a bit iffy. For some reason every time I start up my PC the audio coming out of the M2 will be slightly higher pitched than normal until I reset the M2 with the power switch on the back. Only way around this is to make sure the M2 is off before starting my computer then turning it on once Windows has started. Other than that minor issue it's been a flawless experience. Loopback is a handy feature too.
One of the best entry level audio interfaces on the market. Only issue is it's hard to get your hands on one right now. I had to wait a while to get mine.

Initial impressions here are good overall. I needed an interface for conducting in-home(studio) interviews for an oral history project and wanted something with the flexibility the Motu M2 was offering.

Clean audio experience passing to my monitors. Inputs likewise very clear/clean. I'm quite happy to say that the LED meters are so damned convenient for quick gain adjustments for my interviewees. I consider this an absolutely great value purchase.

I looking at this and the Scarlett 2i2. I know that Scarlett is the standard among podcasters, but I also saw so many glowing reviews of the Motu M2.

The two features that pushed the M2 past the 2i2 for me were 1) The meter on the front, which is so handy, and 2) The individual phantom power buttons.

I do wish there was a knob for headphone mixing live monitoring and pc sound. That's why I gave it 4.5 stars. Then again, I guess that'a what you pay for when you upgrade to the M4. The lack of this feature was not a deal breaker for me though.

This replaced a sub-par Tascam USB 2x2 interface that finally showed its inability to measure up to the task, when I started putting electric guitar amp apps through it. This is vastly superior. On most modern system, including a Microsoft Surface Laptop 3, i can run ASIO as low as 128 with great response times. It occasionally hiccups with what appears to be a driver recovery, but the sound is back in seconds and it only happens ever hour or two, somewhat random.With driver or firmware updates it should be fine. It's otherwise stable. Works great on my custom built Ryzen gaming computer as well.

I do wish it was fully USB 3.1 compliant, but an interface with these inputs really only needs 2.0 bandwidth. And the 3.1/Type-C connector allows it to draw sufficient bus power that it doesn't need external power. Occasionally my older Tascam did.

As a note for MAC users: The reason the device only works right with the low latency driver in Catalina, is because MOTU made this device Class Compliant but only developed a 64bit low-latency driver because Apple dropped support for 32bit apps as of Catalina. Which no doubt also borked a number of your other apps too.

I replaced PreSonus AudioBox iOne USB Audio Interface, no frills audio interface. The unit worked fine as a Focusrite Scarlett Solo USB Audio Interface could not be recognized by Presonus Studio Artist. I must say the Motu M2 is working great and was recognized right away by my software. This is a office system that powers my Arturia Keystep midi keyboard and my Spotify streamer. It's nice to have those awesome LED power meters to keep me company.

I have owned the Motu M2 for 3 months now and I really do love it. There are a few cons below but I think for this price its hard to beat all depending on your specific application.

Pros -
Sound quality and a/d converters are great ...same as on their higher end gear
Metering on front is awesome
Set Up was quick and easy
headphone out driven by same high end converters
I can use it as a DAC to listen to amazon ultra HD Flac audio through my headphones and its quite remarkable
comes with a loopback feature so you can record audio from any software on your computer (this is an extremely useful feature for sampling and for streaming audio from youtube to podcasts)
USB Powered
Portable
Well Constructed

Cons:
No routing or mixing software - this means that the inputs and outputs are fixed - for instance it is not possible to assign a cue function to the headphone outputs so if you want to do any dj style productions where you need a cue then this is not the interface for you
In addition this also limits anyone from hearing a click in their headphones that isnt coming out of the main outputs and you cannot create a separate mix to send to the headphones.

No Direct Monitor mix adjustment - there is no way to mix the levels of your direct monitor and inside the box volume - so youll have to actually adjust the track or master volume in your daw - this is addressed with the bigger brother M4 that includes a monitor mix knob.

All in all I do enjoy this little bad boy but I will need another device for doing live shows where I need my click only in my headphones.

I have had good luckw ith the MOTU M2 so far as my first external interface. I will be using it to drive active studio monitors and an external headphone amplifier. I wish it had fixed line level outputs but otherwise have been very pleased so far. The sound quality is much better than the internal sound card I had been using. The only snag I have had so far is trying to get Ableton Live to recognize the inputs, but I am new to Ableton and hopefully will figure it out soon.

This is indeed a good entry level audio interface. I was looking to get the Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen, but I came across a couple of reviews and videos of the m2 where everyone gave this unit a great review. I have to say for the price this unit is solid, and the quality is good comparing it to the Presonus entry level line or even the Steinberg ones. But I do have an Audient ID14 and I have to say that, the Audient is way better than the M2. If you want something simple that works the m2 can do no wrong, but if you want something better without breaking the bank go with the Audient ID14, you are going to get better preamps and better converters. At the end of the day the m2 its good but not amazing.

I use the interface to record my guitar in Garagaband. I have a Mac running OS 10.15 (Catalina), another running OS 10.13 (High Sierra) and another one running OS 10.12 (Sierra). The software provided by MOTU to make the interface ultra low latency only works with Catalina. Although I got support from MOTU and they were really concerned and wanted it to work we couldn't find what the problem was. The interface works on class compliant mode with no problems on Catalina, High Sierra, and Sierra but it would have been nice to have the ultra low latency on all of them.

I bought an M2 and upgraded it to the M4 so that I could record voice and stereo audio from an older keyboard (if you're just recording voice and guitar, then the M2 is perfect). I actually like the display on the M2 better, because the meters are bigger and you can see them from a few feet away (on the M4 there are 4 meters on the same sized screen so that are half as wide).

It delivers great sound, but I do have two issues with both the M2 & M4. First, the Loopback feature doesn't work on a Mac. Second, the interface is flakey when I power it off and back on or when I restart my computer...it doesn't play any sound. The M2/M4 appears in my sound settings but there's no audio coming out of the speaker, of levels appearing on the screen. If I switch to internal sound I hear the audio fine. I Usually have to turn it off and on several times and restart my machine. This happened on both the M2 and M4, which leads me to believe there's a bug in Mac MSeries drivers I downloaded from Motu (since they both use the same drivers).

I really wanted to love this audio interface, but have had nothing but trouble trying to use it with my Lenovo ThinkPad running Windows 11. While using it on Zoom recordings, my audio will randomly buzz and glitch like I got the 3rd wrong answer attempt, and when attempting to monitor audio through the interface, it would randomly quit & drop out while listening to YouTube or Spotify, so I needed to either constantly reset it or just route my audio back through to my PC headphone port. I have done all of the manual troubleshooting steps and then some, and have been in communications with their support teams for literally months where they seem bound and determined to point a finger at something wrong with my system, and not with Motu's drivers for Windows. I ended up getting frustrated and purchasing an Elgato Wave XLR interface and have had none of these issues. The interface itself is fantastic, built like a tank, with great monitoring, low noise, and an ON/OFF switch(!!), but until Motu fixes these issues, it amounts to an expensive paperweight for me...

TL;DR: I do not recommend this interface if you use Windows; at least until you see their drivers have been updated to be newer than "Version: 92462 Release Date: Jan. 10, 2023"

I bought this after reading many great reviews on it. Initial installation was quick and easy and the sound quality was much better than my old Presonus 96 interface, until... After a few days of playing with it, I was getting popping and crackling noises. So after much troubleshooting, adjusting buffer and sample rates and even contacting Motu directly, I was informed that Motu stuff typically works better with Mac than Windows OS. I am a bit bummed because the sound, when it wasn't crackling and popping was great. Very natural, open and smooth. I sent the Motu M2 back in exchange for a Black Lion Audio Revolution 2x2 and so far that is working much better as it has special Asio drivers developed just for newer Windows OS, like mine. If Motu were to build their interfaces to work well with Windows, then I'd gladly give them a second chance but for now, I'll keep on rolling with the Black Lion interface.

I've had a few issues with this device, if you leave it on for long periods of time with your computer on sleep mode, everything is pitched up until you restart the interface. I've also had a problem with its loose port

I purchased an M2 about a year ago and used it without many issues on my M1 MacBook Pro using GarageBand and Ableton. Occasionally it would start making a grainy/glitchy sound, and I would have to turn it off and on again to fix the issue.

Recently I bought a PC with an Asus motherboard, and the M2 flat out does not work with it. I have tried multiple troubleshooting guides (including Motu's own guide) with zero success. The grainy/glitchy sound is constant when using it with my PC. The M2 is basically a $ paperweight at this point.

This is a review for users using this DAC with a Windows setup. I have been using this DAC for the last 4 years, playing games and listening to music. It has been working really well until late last year. The audio will cut out or get choppy. I would have to go into the Motu interface menu and check a box and uncheck it(any of the options) or turn off and on the DAC for the sound to come back on, but then it would do it again shortly after. I have installed updated drivers and that seems to make the issues even worse. I reverted back to drivers Version: 84479 and that seemed to make things slightly better but it just keeps cutting out still. I didn't want to have to get a new DAC and I really enjoyed using this one, but the drivers and compatibility with Windows killed it. I have been trying to troubleshoot this issue to no avail. Seems like the Motu works well with MAC, but I cannot recommend it for Windows.

It died on me just after the 2 year warranty went beyond two years. My Focusrite is still going strong

It worked great until different Windows computers stopped recognizing it.

My unit has been subject to the most deafening amplitude issues I have ever experienced. Whenever this unit is adjusted to approximately 25% volume on the master knob, the volume shoots up to an ear splitting 100% volume. I suspect that some people will be skeptical of this, so I have attached a video demonstrating the phenomena.

Unfortunately for me, I purchased this unit many years ago and it sat, unboxed, on a shelf until about last month when I rehomed my old Scarlet 2i2 first gen to a friend, and finally put this thing in as a replacement. Now, I really wish I hadn't done that. Since I purchased this thing so long ago, and even though it is still brand new (you can even still see the blue screen tape I haven't removed since I deployed the unit), it's pretty likely out of warranty, since the actual date of purchase was so long ago. I may as well have just lit a couple hundred dollars on fire, and what's worse, I'm still going to have to purchase another new interface to replace this thing, likely at a comparable price.

From what I understand about this type of hardware, it seems like it may be a faulty potentiometer on the master knob, so that maybe indicates some quality control issues. Purchase at your own risk.

I should have done more research before purchasing. Motu's Windows drivers apparently have a reputation for being bad. Audio randomly stops working, and the only way to get audio back is to restart the M2 or change your sample rate. I've spent more time troubleshooting audio issues and trying fixes than actually recording with the M2. As much as I want to like it, I can't recommend it for anybody with a Windows machine. I've heard their Mac drivers are fine though.