Moog Music Forum

Hi,
I connected the One to my new RME Fireface UFX III and connected headphones to the RME.
I was surprised to find that the sound was quite different from when I have the headphones connected to the Moog. I
A B tested this 40 times by putting in the headphones in the Moog One and then playing a bit and then inserting it into the RME headphone out.
I came to the conclusion that the Moog One headphone out seem to have a bit more base, but I also think it sounds a bit more pleasant.

What could be the reason for this? Have they maybe lifted the base a bit on the headphones to compensate or does the RME change the sound this much?
I also tested to use the Sub outputs and they sounded a bit different from the Mains which also surprised me, but I have not AB tested it yet.

Ideally I would like to have the sound from the headphone outs from the Moog since it sounds the best!

Best wishes,
Andreas

The headphones outs sound far better than the main outs. It's the balanced transformers, the A/D -> D/A chain, the very weak headphone amp in the FireFace.
Look, using the headphones directly glues your ears to the oscillators. There's nothing else happening. Using the RME means a lot of additional steps as seen above. Even with 384kHz and a SPL phonitor running on Burls or HEDDs you will not get the same result. That's why analog synths should not be overrated when it comes to real-life music production. Chances are that you will never get that direct punch and clarity on your hard disk that your synth actually delivers.