Advice On Audio Interface Purchase

[gearJunkie]

Interface Comparison Chart | GBR

www.getbeautifulrecordings.com

View attachment Interfaces__Unfinished3.jpg



From the video, best audio interface for each price point...

~$200 budget - Behringer UMC204 HD
~$300 budget - Lewitt Connect 6
~$400 budget - Audient ID24

 

[laxu]

Interface Comparison Chart | GBR

www.getbeautifulrecordings.com

View attachment 22340



From the video, best audio interface for each price point...

~$200 budget - Behringer UMC204 HD
~$300 budget - Lewitt Connect 6
~$400 budget - Audient ID24

Watched this, it seems to completely gloss over some aspects, like any measurements for latency, output levels of the headphone out etc. It's quite heavily focused on the mic pres and line ins.

What bugs me about these "best audio interfaces" group tests is that they very often pick one of the cheapest models from every range. Those models often have cut down software, and those direct monitor mix knobs or buttons, whereas the next step up ditches those features for more comprehensive mixing capabilities.

The other issue is that there's very little talk about what they are suited for. So many audio interface reviews are made by podcaster type people who only consider voice quality and I'd say most of the features are entirely lost for those uses where anything with enough mic preamp gain is going to be fine.

Finally, there needs to be a "design" category. Most audio interfaces are pretty inoffensive boxes with knobs and jacks up front, or more minimalist like the Audient EVO or Universal Audio. I kinda like the feature set of the Audient ID44 Mk2 (not in this video), but it's IMO a visually ugly, pretty big box just like the SSL2 that doesn't conveniently fit on my desk compared to the typical "all controls up front" designs. The Lewitt takes the cake for ugliest design.

 

[laxu]

Tried the Auto-gain feature on the EVO 8 today with 3 mics on my cabs. It worked really well. "Press auto-gain button -> press inputs you want to set -> press auto-gain -> play something for a few seconds". Now all mics were at an appropriate level. So much easier than painstakingly trying to balance two SM57s with two gain knobs.

I'd love to see this become a standard feature on audio interfaces. Not because people are too dumb or lazy to set gain levels manually but because it makes the process so straightforward with little trial and error needed.

On the minus side, the EVO 8 could have more mic gain on tap. For "recording at reasonable home levels", it set up the gain on my SM57s to about 7.5/10 for close mics, so not a whole lot of room to go up. I tried it for regular speaking voice with my AT2020 and it ended up at around 6/10 with auto-gain. There's no noise issues with this or anything, but it's probably not the audio interface you want for your ASMR whispering...

 

[laxu]

Oh, I'm sure it will - but you said it might even add some if deactivated.

By deactivated I meant simply turning off any processing in its control panel. Signal still gets routed through the driver so that might cause some additional latency and there's really no way around that other than uninstalling the driver.

But this is all speculation since I could not find any info if this is actually the case or if slightly higher latency is caused by something else.

 

[laxu]

Roughly a week into using the Audient EVO 8 and I think I will keep it. I said it in other posts but it's just a "good for its price" device. It's not the best at anything, but might be one of the best options in the <200 € price range.

Restarting my Mac didn't seem to help for latency, but playing Helix Native with the EVO's instrument input, I think it actually sounds/feels better than my old Focusrite somehow. I could not perceive any latency in this scenario either, so it's good enough. I can easily throw it on the lowest buffer size and so far heard no issues from this.

I was initially apprehensive of the single knob + buttons system but it does work well.

One issue with it is that it won't show if one of the inputs or outputs is muted until you press its corresponding button. This is generally a non-issue, but threw me for a bit of a loop while trying to measure latency by connecting Out 3 -> In 3. I had the second set of outputs muted but it was not reflected in the control panel in any way. For the inputs it at least shows a mute button that follows the front panel function.

Another oddity is that you cannot set the sample rate or buffer size of the device anywhere from the control panel. Your DAW or other apps can of course set it, but IMO it should be an option in the control panel too.

 

[jazzarian]

Wow! Thank you for all the input guys!

The Motu M4 looks nice, but I’m wondering if I’d be better off with something USB 3.0 capable, which is why I was looking at the Audient. The MOTU appears to be USB 2.0z Low latency is at the top of my list. Is USB 3.0 overrated for my application?

MOTU M4. Going on year 4 for me. My one complaint is no S/PDIF support.

It's connected to my Mac Mini m1 via USB-C. If you need more data throughput than that, please see a doctor.

 

[jazzarian]

Something to keep in mind is at that price they won't likely come with SPDIF i/O if that is important to you.

For MOTU you would need to go to the M5 to get SPDIF and it's a few hundred more.

Seems to be going the way of the dodo, like Firewire.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Seems to be going the way of the dodo, like Firewire.

I think you are confusing S/PDIF with Thunderbolt.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Fwiw, Presonus has 4 new of their Quantum series interfaces. Looking pretty good IMO.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Fwiw, Presonus has 4 new of their Quantum series interfaces. Looking pretty good IMO.

Presonus has always been solid for the cost. I still have a Studio 192 if I need to record more simultaneous inputs. Also a Digimax LT I've had going on 20 yrs with surprisingly clean mic preamps.
I'm sure the newer interfaces offer less latency, better conversion.

 

[mavrick102000]

For the money the Quantums offered a lot and fantastic drivers/latency numbers. There were some quality issues that some reported at the end of the prior versions lifecycle, but overall they were good units for under $700 with a lot of IO.

I remember @Jim Roseberry recommending them several years ago as a mid priced great latency interface until you spent RME or more money.

 

[jazzarian]

I think you are confusing S/PDIF with Thunderbolt.

No I am not.

I don't use Mac terminology for USB-C either. Thunderbolt and Lightening were really stupid terms bound to be jokes in the near future.

You probably should be aware, I am a retired EE. Please make a note of it.

 

[JiveTurkey]

No I am not.

I don't use Mac terminology for USB-C either. Thunderbolt and Lightening were really stupid terms bound to be jokes in the near future.

You probably should be aware, I am a retired EE. Please make a note of it.

Are you going to be grumpy all the time?

 

[jazzarian]

Are you going to be grumpy all the time?

That's why I retired.

Sorry, but engineers in general, cut to the chase pretty quickly. Semantics are for English majors. The term "Thunderbolt" is absolutely stupid. Maybe it meant something when there was a proprietary connector. USB-C is what the world understands. Tim Cook's alphabet seems to be missing a few letters.

 

[JiveTurkey]

That's why I retired.

Sorry, but engineers in general, cut to the chase pretty quickly. Semantics are for English majors. The term "Thunderbolt" is absolutely stupid. Maybe it meant something when there was a proprietary connector. USB-C is what the world understands. Tim Cook's alphabet seems to be missing a few letters.

I feel you! I have 13 years but it feels like I should probably be done in 3 weeks

 

[Blix]

Fwiw, Presonus has 4 new of their Quantum series interfaces. Looking pretty good IMO.

The new ones are a downgrade if you care about latency though, the thunderbolt quantum 2626 verion had a RTL at 2ms, while the new ones clocks in at almost 5ms. Still good but...

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

[…] You probably should be aware, I am a retired EE. Please make a note of it.

Retired EE, active AH.

 

[jazzarian]

Retired EE, active AH.

Well I hope you use a condom.

 

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

Trivia;
Firewire (IEEE 1394) was standardized around 1995 and had a speed of 400 Mbit/s, very convenient for plug-n-play digital data transfer, etc.
USB 1.0 was standardized in 1996 but was slow AF with pathetic 1.5 Mbit/s, it was not until 2001 with USB 2.0 that USB reached the speed of 480 Mbit/s but by then Firewire was the go-to for a ton of studio equipment and remained so for at least another decade.
---

Hopefully USB will be backwards compatible.... forever.

Yeah, Firewire is "old man" shit now, built for dudes younger than me.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Well I hope you use a condom.

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