The change was for functionality not sonic quality, although it they do seem to be just a touch quieter (less hiss at idle)
The two features that were most important
1. easily repeatable gain and preamp settings
The MOTU is fully digitally controlled, Gain, Pad and Phantom power on a per channel basis and although not controlled directly through SAC/SAW Studio I can save and recall settings. Its also easy to manually get back to a known state without just guessing if the gain is the same. Settings are actually stored on each device internally, so they can actually be recalled from the front panel of the box as well as through the Web Interface.
The Behringers knobs are easy to bump particularly with all the connectors on the front. Obviously less of a problem in a setup like Bob is using for Elton John where the input cabling is permanent and everything is recessed, but in my setup I was plugging in the snakes every time.
2. digital mic split
The MOTU supports AVB audio which made it possible to do a full digital signal split. So instead of doing a mic split before the preamps its done post preamp which is so much easier. We plug in everything on stage exactly the same regardless of wether we are handling all the sound or just the stage mix. A simple ethernet cable is routed to another MOTU 24ch AVB box and I an instant split of any 24channels out of the 32 I have available. Could be extended to all 32 channels by just adding a 2nd interface, but at the present time we don't need the higher channel count.
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