What are you trying to do with it? Different needs require different hardware.

i just want a highest-(sound)quality) digital i/o which is 24/96 capable, has low latency, stable drivers etc.(don't need adat, so i don't go for hammerfall)

what catched my eye with the luna was that it has an built-in dsp, i.e. built-in mixer for recording, and it's also cheaper than the rme-card!

so, is there any reason (see mentioned preferences and also other points from your perspective) to prefer the rme over the luna anyway?

Synergy
Quality is definately a key to deciding on a good audio interface..also flexability too..both cards you have mentioned give you those options indeed..The RME cards have the ADAT ports on them but it doesnt mean that they are specifically for the ADAT's themselves..RME makes analog ins and outs that feed into the optical ports for direct digital connection into your system..Creamware is going the Firewire route just like MOTU has been doing for quites some time now. It's the same principle basically just using a different cable between the PCI card and the breakout box.
I know you are looking for quality but the real question is how many inputs are you looking for? How are you going to be feeding these inputs? Via a digital board or an analog board..What situations will you be getting into?
As far as stable drivers go..there's a lot to go at there! RME has a lot of people ranting and raving about their cards especially with the whole Nuendo packaging concept. GIve us some more info and lets see what we can do for you

Opus :D

I've run tests on the DIGI 96/8 PAD with the AES option. It spec'd out really well. What I didn't like was the on board analog i/o connections, unbalanced 1/4 TRS stereo jacks (like headphones). You need an option card for better i/o connection. I also tested the Lynx One and it spec'd out great as well, but it's not 96k. It has better I/O connections, balanced XLR. The Lynx Two should be out soon.
However, I just purchased the Aardvark LX6. It has four 1/4 in. balanced analog i/o +4 or -10 and an additional 2 RCA unbalanced out. It is 96/24 ready. So far i like it, it's for PC only no Mac drivers. They also make the same unit with built in mic preamps (no mixer required). This card also has built in DSP for compression, EQ and reverb. Check out the website. They have a great rep for audio sync products.

I've run tests on the DIGI 96/8 PAD with the AES option. It spec'd out really well. What I didn't like was the on board analog i/o connections, unbalanced 1/4 TRS stereo jacks (like headphones). You need an option card for better i/o connection. I also tested the Lynx One and it spec'd out great as well, but it's not 96k. It has better I/O connections, balanced XLR. The Lynx Two should be out soon.
However, I just purchased the Aardvark LX6. It has four 1/4 in. balanced analog i/o +4 or -10 and an additional 2 RCA unbalanced out. It is 96/24 ready. So far i like it, it's for PC only no Mac drivers. They also make the same unit with built in mic preamps (no mixer required). This card also has built in DSP for compression, EQ and reverb. Check out the website. They have a great rep for audio sync products.

thx for infos about aadvark!

what about the quality of the built-in effects (according to a test, they don't work @ 24/96-is it still the case?)?

price of the lx6?

If you ever plan on doing outside recording ie.....going to a studio and tracking drums/bass/guitar and need 8 to 16 inputs, get a card that has some sort of optical or the such connectors. You can rent higher quality converters than you can afford. Also why limit you're self to on board converters? I myself have the MTU 2408 and rarely use the on board converters except for monitoring back. I have a Apogee Rosseta for a front end. Pod pro into spdif. It's a great system (2408) cause it gives you lots of options. 8 analoug ins/outs, 24 channels of optical in/out, 24 channels of tascam tdif in/out, spdif in/out 1 and out 2, headphones out, main L/R out. With other hardware box options for more dig in/out and other analoug interfaces that up to three interfaces can be plugged into the single pci card via fire wire type cables. Very cool set up for the money. I have heard that the RME stuff is rock solid and the latency is awesome. Get you're self a cheap outboard mixer (mackie) for monitoring record tracks.

Good Luck
KBP

Originally posted by KBP:
I myself have the MTU 2408 and rarely use the on board converters except for monitoring back. I have a Apogee Rosseta for a front end. Pod pro into spdif.
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Hi All!!
Same here, in fact I just got the 2408MKII, and set it up 2 days ago. I'm curious about how you set up this Apogee front end,and bypassed the 2408 converters, as I'd like to experiment a bit. I'm just a little confused as to how you go about it. BTW, I have a Panasonic DA7, along with ADAT's and BRC, as well. :cool:

Well as I do not have as great of a set up as you, My plan for future upgrade did include a DA7, my plans have changed a bit now but when don't they? So what I do know is pretty simple/ Rosseta to spidf in on 2408, Wordclock from Rosseta to Wordclock in on the 2408. 2408 is set to Wordclock as master. I don't physically bypass the ins/outs on the 2408 I just don't use them for recording. I use them for monitoring back the main mix out of the computer, or monitoring voice/instrument while tracking through a little outboard mixer.

Here was pretty much my former plan, maybe it will give you some ideas.

Equipment

DA7 w/ 3 adat optical expansion cards
2408
308
Rosseta
Various outboard effects

I was going to use the Da7 as an overglorified submixer by doing this.

the 2408 would interface all of the 24 ins/outs with the DA7 via lightpipe. The Rosetta and outboard effects would interface to the 308 via aes and spdif. This setup will allow you to route anything anywhere in you're system. You could make the sends in you're DAW point towards the outboard effects through the 308 will using the pci324 console to route the effected sound back into the 308 and out the light pipes to the DA7 for submixing and further sweetening. I was also going to send some of my group channels out the optical to the Da7. All audio and monitoring control would be done through the da7. Mixes would be finalize then through the DA7 out spidif to a second computer with a lexicon card, which was going to act as my Virtual instrument/Sampler/mixdown deck/internet.

The whole thing would be locked to the Rosettas wordclock via a Aardvark wordclock distribution.

Hope I'm not being to simple for you, I just figured I'd share it with you, you lucky dog.

Good Luck
KBP

PS My plan now is to build an API 16 channel submixer and bus everything out to it to sweeten the mixes a bit.