Hi, greetings to all of you.

I wanted to buy a budget audio interface but with the loopback feature available for DAW recording to OBS as well as for streaming. And of course for music production too (recording, editing, mixing, etc...)

Since I have a DT770 Pro with 250 ohm impedance, it will probably require an audio interface with a decent headphone output as well.
My budget for audio interface is around 200 USD

After seeing this:
https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/loopback-explained-what-is-audio-loopback/
https://evo.audio/products/audio-interfaces/evo-4/specs/
And some discussion about Audient EVO 4 on Reddit.
I tried to ask here first.

1. Has anyone here ever used or had experience with the Audient EVO 4 Interface?
2. Is Audient EVO 4 Interface stable for using Cubase 12 on Windows 11 21H2?
3. With the budget that I have, is there an audio interface other than Audient EVO 4 that is better value for my condition?
4. Which of these lists is worth Cubase 12 Windows 11 21H2 with a budget of around 200 USD?

If there are suggestions from other suitable brands, I will listen.
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Hello @ARTHEMISC, I would like to recommend you the Audient - iD14 MKII $199 it is "loop-back" capable, it has more dynamic power than the Evo: ADC dynamic range: 121 dB and DAC dynamic range: 126 dB, for your headphones with 250 ohms the power of the iD14 is enough, you don't need a headphone amplifier. Audient runs stable and the company delivers stable drivers.

www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/iD4mk2--audient-id4-mkii-usb-c-audio-interface
https://audient.com/loopback-made-simple/

EVO 4 vs iD4 --> What’s the difference? --> https://audient.com/id4-vs-evo4/

 

Last edited: Dec 31, 2022

@BEAT16 Do you know if the Audients are USB Audio class compliant?

 

Hello @fiction!

Is iD14 Class Compliant?

We often get this question from people about the possibility of using iD14 with operating systems other than Mac or Windows.

While iD14 is largely class compliant, there are some extensions and vendor specific features that are not supported in generic USB audio software. So for example, digital input and output format switching, monitor control and routing are not available, however you should be able to control elements of the mixer and input/output volume.

Source: https://support.audient.com/hc/en-us/articles/204721819-Is-iD14-Class-Compliant-

 

Thanks, "largely class compliant" sounds fine for me

 

Hi @BEAT16
Thank you for your recommendation.
I looked at the link you included.
In the picture you can see the USB cable on both sides using USB Type-C.
There is no USB Type-C socket on my PC.

Will it become a new problem later?
Will replacing the cable with a market cable affect the latency?
Or replacing it with a different cable will solve the problem?

 

Streaming ?

Yamaha AG03 or AG06
Second hand may be

 

Hi, @ARTHEMISC personally I use RME, but I set up Audient iD14 recently

What I know for sure - I was able to set up stable Loopback quickly and easily (for eg. streaming).

I just looked at tech specs and it seems usb 3.0 is the minimum (no matter the form factor) but usb-c gives more power for the phones (if that would even be a problem).
Here at the bottom tech specs https://audient.com/products/audio-interfaces/id14/tech-specs/
I don't think a normal quality shorter usb to usb-c cable would have impair latency.

 

Hi @ARTHEMISC, your questions are answered with this article from Audient the manufacturer as follows:


What USB port can the iD14 MKII be connected to?

The iD14 MKII can be connected to either a USB-C port using the included cable or to a USB-A 3.0 port using a USB-C to USB-A cable (not included).

USB-C


The small rounded USB-C is the newest connector type for USB and is now being found on more and more computers. The iD14 MKII will work perfectly on a USB-C port and the extra power provided by a USB-C port even allows for a little more volume from the headphone amplifier!

USB-A


BEST PERFORMANCE IS DELIVERED BY USE OF A USB3 PORT

The rectangular, slightly later USB-A port is the classic USB connector type that has been used for many years.
The iD14 MKII will also work on a USB-A port just fine and will provide two full channels of phantom power.

Important note - The USB-A connector must be able to provide 900ma of current (as specified in the USB3.0 specs).
A vast majority of USB-A ports on computers from the last 6-7 years will be able to provide this.

If you're unsure whether your USB ports will support this then please contact your PC manufacturer for more information.

If you do not have ports which meet these requirements then we would reccomend the use of a powered USB hub with the correct ports.

Source: https://support.audient.com/hc/en-u...t-USB-port-can-the-iD14-MKII-be-connected-to-

 

Hi
Apart from streaming, I also use it for music production. (recording, mixing, etc...)

Thank you for the advice.
I just found out there is a mixer with a loopback feature

Hi @RobertoCavally , Thanks for pointing out the info about USB-C
Immediately I was interested to see "DSP MIXER LATENCY ROUND TRIP (in-to-out):" on the web.
Is the latency value still safe?

Hi @BEAT16
Great info.
OK, I understand now. Thank you for the information.

 

Hello, many thanks to all the friends who have helped with suggestions.
In the end, I didn't buy Audient EVO 4.
And bought Audient iD4 MKII yesterday.



Have a great day.

 

hi @ARTHEMISC
im also thinking of getting this interface..
you like? works well? are the drivers stable?

 

For loopback Audio you dont need Hardware. You can just use Voicemeter for example.

 

Hello @franko22 , how you doing?

I love it so much so far

Perfectly on Windows 11 21H2 64bit
Using Cubase 12 & Studio One 5

So far so good.
The loop-back feature is excellent so far on OBS for recording DAW audio-video.

What system and DAW are you using @franko22 ?
In addition to
The volume knob for headphones will always start from 0% when the PC is just turned on or restarted.
That's the only thing that's annoying. But after a week, I got used to it and understood what to do next.

After I installed the driver that I downloaded from the official site. I intentionally didn't update the firmware and so far it's been very stable on my system.
Usually I'll update when a problem occurs. But so far no problems. (I bought it on January 4th 2023)

Yes, absolutely correct.

But...

I've used Voicemeter, Banana, Reastream, and whatever but it's very unstable on my system.
Maybe you are luckier than me... That's great.

 

Last edited: Jan 15, 2023

Im using it for years and i dont have any problems yet.
What hardware do you have? Maybe you set something wrong? Did it crash or what happend?

 

Of course you don't have any problems yet.
In fact, I read in various forums that there are many people that get lucky like you.
While there are those who have followed the tutorial correctly and succeeded, but soon they suddenly become unable to use loopback with software like me.

For example, previously I used Reastream.
With the setup according to the tutorial, I finally managed to record video and audio on my DAW without using a loop-back Audio Interface.
But after a few days later, with the same settings, I can no longer record audio on the DAW (I don't even change the settings )...
Only video is recorded on OBS.

Of course I've googled, searched several forums, including Reddit, and indeed there are people who are not as lucky as me.
Without fiddling with the settings, somehow suddenly I can record again using Reastream on OBS in the different day. Weird right?
It happened to two of my Rigs. on my AMD Phenom II X4 955 and my new Intel Core i3-12100F.

I've used Voicemeter and the results are delayed. And there are lags and stuttering on video result. I don't like it at all.

And my time is up just fiddling with this stuff. Whereas my main job is took my time and I just want to focus on producing music without thinking about very detailed technical matters on loop-back things.
So finally I decided to buy a new Audio interface with loop-back feature. And so far very reliable and stable.
Case closed at least for now

 

I mean in the beginning voicemeter is kinda confusing and it doesnt really look that easy. It took me also a while to get it all right.
But your problem is the CPU. Those are not really powerfull enough todo all that stuff at once.

Those are only 4 Core CPU's. So running OBS, your DAW, some Browser Tabs and Voicemeter. Thats too much. Even when you use nvenc for encoding you will get to the limits of that CPU. A year ago i had a i7 7700k and with a really big project is becomes kinda laggy.

Now im on a i9 12900k and no problems.

I mean there are some options that can help like i said when you have a geforce card you should use nvenc. Also switch from 1080p to 720p can give your system a big performance boost.

So yeah it makes totally sense to get a interface that can do this with the hardware.

 

This is all I can afford.

That's obviously with your rig you can run anything smoothly.
That is what makes the difference, and is a challenge that the search for solutions may also be different.

Even if indulged, I also want to have the best rig. But everyone's reality is different.
I can only afford to buy my current rig and optimize it.

I thought NVidia had driver issues on the music production rig.
I am using AMD Radeon 6500XT. And this is all I can afford.

With less than 1000 USD to build a new PC, it seems impossible for me to think of a 12th generation i9 right?

And yes.
This is the best solution I can afford and can get by buying a new Audio Interface after 8 months ago assembling a new PC.
Before this, I even bought headphones and a condenser mic because I didn't have one. So there are many variables and considerations why I assembled my core i3 PC and finally bought this Audient iD4 MKII.
And so far I am very satisfied with the results.

Of course so I can make my music better than before

 

Built-in preamp has a loud harmonics, not clean, but digitally it has both excellent DAC/ADC.
Requires USB 3.0 minimum for better monitoring, outputting and inputting. Hand-made power supply as I saw on youtube (made by a russian guy) showed cleaner and better results, but still a lot of harmonics because of built-in class A console preamps. As he said, and others said, DAC is very clean for listening, but for inpit testing it is dirty. Good for warm analog recording. Consider iD's inputs as a subtle preampic saturator (for your line/mic) ported into almost great ADC; DACs are fine, very good headphone amp.
My DT770 pro 250 Ohm are good with iD14 mkII, bit not too enoigh bass and very bright..... but HD650 - fucking beast, deep, clean, better. I think some better headphones may give excellent results with this.