Digi 003 to Motu 828mk3 - Good Upgrade Move?

[epu]

Considering selling my Digi 003 for a Motu 828 mk3 since my laptop doesn't have Firewire, and I could run a Motu via USB with my laptop OR desktop.

Anyone use both? The 003's are getting up to $599 which would leave me spending $200 for that MOTU. I need some advice. Please share your thoughts...

[albee1952]

I've been asking the exact same question for months and by most accounts, the answer is, its not a great move sonically. Now having said that, I suspect that anything that comes into the MOTU via digital(it has 2 sets of lightpipe inputs) should sound exactly the same as the 003 digital input(which puts the quality squarely on the head of the converters in the lightpipe preamp). Then there's the question about D>A coming out of the MOTU for playback. Again, I have yet to get a report that it sounds as good or better than the 003(which is what I use as well). Because of this(and the fact that I want more inputs) I am leaning toward the RME ff800. Its a lot more money, but gets rave reviews for build and sound. Maybe an actual user will spot this and add to it

[epu]

Money is an issue with me and honestly, the Digi 003 is going down in value as we speak. My laptop doesn't have a Firewire port and the Digi 003 drivers have had problems in the past on my XP system, it works now, but the slightest update makes it go out of whack.

I've heard MOTU is rock solid, so I may sell of my Digi 003 as I'm using PT 10 on my laptop anyway.