Burl BAD16/BDA16

Can't comment on the Burl stuff but I think RME MADIface or Danteface USB would be one of the cheapest ways if you don't need dsp fx.

YMMV, but in my experience running the Raydat PCI and Fireface 802 (USB2) on the same system the performance results were very close. 

RME USB latency numbers are about the same or slightly slower than their PCIe cards. As per the chart above when you add in the converter latency its basically the same. 

I looked at the RME USB stuff, and if I were going to go USB, they would be the one, but I'm sticking with Thunderbolt, for various reasons. So I would really need to find something that works with that. So far, the best option I've seen seems to be finding a used RME HDSPe MADI card, and putting that inside a Sonnet Thunderbolt box, and then connect that to my Mac. But that's still gonna be like a minimum total of roughly $1500. Ouch.

The other option is the Motu 112D, but that's only Thunderbolt 2. I'm still surprised that nobody makes a TB 3 to Madi interface.

I was about to say the same. I think TB2 is still way above the bandwidth where it matters. It's still 20 gb/s which is 4x faster than USB3. I don't think speed is the problem with these formats, it's drivers.

My MOTU 828ES is also TB2 and latency is very low.

Hasn't been a problem for me with my UA Satellite. I daisy chain those all up without issue. Just one use case but still.

I had the Motu 112D for a while. It worked well but it's kinda weird that the AES ports don't go above 96 kHz.

I dunno, at $1,500 it's not that much more to jump up to the RME PCIe which you know is the best there is.

Yeah, based on what I've seen thus far, and IF I end up going with MADI/Dante/AES converters, and thus need a separate interface of some kind, I'm leaning towards getting a Sonnet TB box and placing inside it an RME pcie card with the appropriate connection protocol.

Potential TB2 compatibility issues aside, how did you like the routing on the Motu 112D? Any other gotchas with the 112D? Or features which you really liked?

I liked it. The routing is flexible and I miss that being stuck on Apollo right now.

The built in mixer is flexible but has anemic DSP like pretty much all interfaces with DSP mixers so no surprise there.

The driver was solid and low latency over thunderbolt but RME is probably going to be significantly more efficient and I just trust them more.

The other thing that bothered me is that there is only one thunderbolt port so no daisy chaining beyond it but not that big of deal these days since the new Macs have many thunderbolt ports and its probably best to keep it dedicated to its own port.

Also if you use the AVB port to add another Motu interface the latency is offset unless you route through the mixer which is confusing:
gearspace.com/board/music-computers/1356594-motu-16a-24ao-avb-latency.html

Also it's Motu and I never trust them 100%.

Lynx Aurora (n) is tempting but they run hot putting so many channels in a 1U unit. You really need 3U of space with a blank above and below and even then I would not run it in a hot room. I never really gelled with the Hilo conversion I had so I never really considered this one personally.

I also consider Apogee Symphony I/O MKII 16x16SE at this price point. It's 2U and has a quiet fan so it runs cooler. I find the Apogee sound more musical than Lynx to my ear.

Another option if you want to go Dante for a bit more money:
AMS Neve StarNet ADA16

It's +26 dbu and has the line amps from the 88R which is interesting. It's 1U so you need 1U space above but at least the power supply is external which greatly reduces heat.

www.ams-neve.com/outboard/starnet-range/ada16/

"The StarNet ADA16 is Neve’s first 16x16 analogue line-level AD/DA converter to the Dante audio-over-IP network.
Housed in a 1U 19” rack chassis, the ADA16 is a compact, professional unit suited for integration into a wide range of
recording studios, live sound venues, and broadcast or post-production suites.
The StarNet ADA16’s is capable of up to 192kHz sample frequency and 32-bit integer bandwidth, with mastering-
grade A/D converters producing 119dBFS of dynamic range, and pristine quality D/A converters producing 122dBFS
of dynamic range. The ADA16 features a selectable headroom of +18, 24 or 26dBu to accommodate any digital
standard. Analogue I/O is provided via four rear-panel DB25 connectors for simple connection to professional
analogue equipment and studio patch bays.
The Neve StarNet ADA16 uses a modern, low-drift crystal oscillator clocking system and PLL complimented with
DAC chips featuring built-in jitter elimination, this system makes the ADA16 the ideal master clock in any
professional studio environment. Devices can synchronise to the ADA16 master clock via a 75 Ohm BNC word clock
output, and the StarNet ADA16 can synchronise with external equipment via a 75 Ohm BCN word clock input
connection.
The ADA16’s analogue output stage uses the same balanced line amplification technology from the 88R console. This
circuitry delivers an analogue frequency bandwidth that surpasses 100kHz, the perfect platform to translate true
192kHz digital audio. This amplification stage is incredibly stable, able to drive long cable lengths without signal
degradation. The analogue input stage is complimented with similar technology, professionally balanced, with
superb common mode rejection and pristine audio quality."

So I just found these Marian MADI cards.  Anybody have any experience with these?  They're quite a bit cheaper than the RME stuff.  

www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SERAPHM2--marian-seraph-m2-madi-pcie-sound-card-bnc?srsltid=AfmBOoqKZneryq6qIbOkNRb8zJok16pOuMQYoiY6Xqm6AaCby4HrH6Varqo

www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SERAPHM2-F--marian-seraph-m2-f-madi-pcie-sound-card-optical-sc