Hi all. I want to get me an audio interface, nothing to fancy or expensive. I came across those 3 units, what do you guys recommend?

 

If you're on Windows 10 I'd at least be careful with Focusrite. Although it seems to work for some people some others seem to face serious difficulties.

 

I own a Focusrite 2i2 (v1). It works just fine on Windows 10.

The only issue with it is that its inputs are too hot for some instruments like guitars. Depending on the pickup, its too hot even with the knob turned all the way down to zero.

Not sure if they fixed it on their second hardware version, though.

 

I own the Audiobox USB and the headphone pot gave out after a few months otherwise it is solid. I now own the Scarlett 2i2 and I'm in love with it's high quality design. I can't particularly hear a noticeable difference in sound quality, but the build quality is 100 times better and headphone amp gives a lot of gain.

 

And too add about what i've seen browsing youtube is that the UMC204/404 sound basically terrible compared to the others, there's a large noticeable change in sound. Check the comparisons on youtube.

 

Forget about Focusrite, unless you want an interface with melting knobs (after some years) and a headphone output not able to feed correctly a professional Headphone (high impedance).

 

Nothing's melting here. Where do you live?

That's true. Even for my medium impedance semi-professional headphones I use an extra amplifier.

 

Get the Behringer, it is the cheapest and the best out of the three. When you save up some more money you can get a Zoom UAC-2 if you need lower latency.

Audiobox USB is one of the worst interfaces in the history of audio interfaces, I can't believe it is still being sold. It barely has enough clean gain for high sensitivity condenser microphones, it's impossible to use dynamic mics with it. It's got like 40db of gain or something...

The Behringer can easily provide enough clean gain even for very low sensitivity dynamics and it has a strong headphone amp. The drivers are stable and latency good for the price, certainly not any worse than Presonus or Focusrite. The DI is a bit muddy sounding on the Behringer, one of the only bad things about it. You can fix this by using a separate active DI box in front of it.

 

Check:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/budget-dac-review-behringer-umc204hd.1658/
http://caulixtla.com/JP-08/UMC204HD.html

 

I've helped a couple of friends looking to get into DAW music install Behringer 204HDs and they really perform incredibly well for the price!

 

My vote is the UMC... its a very clean PRE all around cant go wrong with its tone... considering i have Neve,Focusrite,SSL among others the 2 Rack 8 channel UMCs i own are pretty damn good in comparison with many mics ive used them with. i purchased a UMC404HD USB to tag along with my laptop and like it \m/

 

I have a Steinberg UR242 and I am very satisfied with it. It is in the same price range.

About Scarlet 2i2, I heard some good stuff and also some very bad stuff. It seems not to be consistent depending on OS and computer. As you see in the above video.


Also, I won't recommend you, Behringer, at all. Their Audio interfaces are not good at all. Many problems with DI, and you may experience clipping even below 0dB.

 

Last edited: Feb 19, 2019

I can't tell here, obviously, but humidity and temperature are very stable all year.
H=58 to 67, T =17° to 24°
Knobs are made of this typical soft black rubber. And I can assure you that one is literally melting.
It's a 18i20 first gen btw.

 

To my ears, the Focusrite has better preamps, although the drivers tend to suck

 

This sounds great.

This sounds not so great.

 

I have a pro 40 My Sony MDR-V6 and others work fine. It's quite old and fully functioning.
Also my unit is sold and no issues with it or win 7 or win 10 64 bit.
I have a friend who bought a 2i2 and it is working fine on win 10.
I really do not understand why people are saying there are issues win Focusrite and win 10.

 

I purchased a ADA 8200 as an Adat expansion for my Pro 40.The Pro 40 has much better quality pre amps than the Ada 8200. It's pre amps to me are not as good as my Pro 40 for low line level signals. For the Money I paid it's great.

 

I dont know about the issues of any of these units with windows 10 and drivers, but i do own Focusrite Rack pres and Behringer UMC and prefer the Behringer i do not do direct guitar recording much and record real instruments 90% of the time as i own a fully functional recording studio >>> my profile pic is my custom made rack housing some of my hardware i use ;) with Neve, Dacking,and SSl xlogic pre amps among others i own... ;) i understand sound very clear and to my ears the Behringer Midas designed pre's are good clean pres... to me its all in what you prefer in sound... Behringer and Focusrite both make decent pre amps in terms of cost \m/

 

i dont know anything about the ADA 8200 units from behringer but i have 2 of the UMC 1820's with Midas designed pres and they are much better to my ears than my Focusrite Rack pres... but to each his own ears haha

 

Since I refuse to use Win10 I don't have any personal experience but I heard it all over the places. A friend of mine uses a 2i4 with Studio One and Win10 and tbh honest I had a better performance with Cubase SX.