Overall:
Excellent entry level interface, and depending on use case is peerless when factoring in software as well. It has everything you need for tracking, recording and streaming/desktop set-up and does more than stellar job for the price range.
Pros:
- Software, is brilliant and should not be overlooked. If just starting out the Studio One DAW is worth the price of the unit alone. Also guitar players it includes Ampire which imho is more than adequate compared to other aftermarket solutions. Guitar singer/song write should be looking at this unit for these factors along.
- Great build quality. This might be very superficial but feels like professional piece of kit with full metal construction compared to some prosumer offerings.
- The drivers/software on PC systems is great and lightweight.
- Mixer switch on front is also great at this price point compared to peers.
- Comes with a basic meter on front panel. It’s no substitute to a proper meter but gives immediate feedback for ballpark gain setting etc, but very appreciated at this price point
- The headphone out does enough to power my HD650s, but I am a bit of an audiophile snob so pair it with external amp which gives better performance. But this is to be expected, point is headphone amp does the job and don’t need external amp unless want skull crushing volumes or have some enthusiast headphones. HD560S would be excellent match with this interface for music production/recording.
Things to consider/negatives:
- The mic preamp amp does not have large amount of gain. If running dynamic mics the gain will be cranked and the case of my SM-58 is probably 5db short of where I want it to be. The Focusrite solo mic preamps do measure a bit better, with bit more gain and less noise, and if just want a unit for tracking that might be preferred. It’s workable, but I wouldn’t be matching a SM7B with this without factoring in a preamp for it.
- The 48V phantom power can not be separate per channel. So if planning to record guitar + condenser mic at same time, can’t send the 48V just to the mic.
- There is very little information out there regarding the converters. If want top-tier DAC for audiophile outs I would looking at Motu offerings, however you really need to critical listen to discern any difference. If tracking, you source will be way more important than whatever ADC included here.
I think this is excellent offering and can’t go wrong at pricepoint.
