The DACs on all the "Fast USB 2", uSB 3, Thunderbolt 3 compact interfaces introduced since October 2019 are from the same family — and they're extremely good. The only differences are the number of Ins/Outs/Mic Pres/Headphone Amps the various part numbers support.

I've written an article on this but, till published, I can't post the details other than I've torn a number of them down and seen the ink on the chip set.

I can say that the 8 mic Pre/MIDI/2x headphone/8 out version costs $6.30 each if you buy 1,000 or more. Despite the claims of the marketing departments and online reviewers who parrot those blurbs (and never look under the hood), no one is making their own — and I do mean no one.

So, buy the current generation of whatever has the features you are looking for. Some are built like a tank with pan pots/switches and have onboard effects but no MIDI (Mackie). Others have proprietary "vintage" circuits (SSL). Most have I/O Mix/Blend controls (except the Scarlett—none have it). Some have hi-gain circuits in front of the mic pres (M-Audio Air can handle a SM7B and many ribbon mics w/out a Cloudlifter). Some come with many GB VIs and effects (NI, MOTU). The list goes on.

The M-Audio Air series is externally powered, has a number of different I/O configurations, most have MIDI… the 192|14 is 8 x 8 with 4 mic pres, 2 DIs, 2 Line Ins and 2 headphone amps for $329 or less. Fewer features cost less. Interestingly, M-Audio's marketing department claims that the 192|14 is only 8 x 4 — you'd think that they'd want to sell some. You can read my full review here under MikeH:

192|14

I'm not pushing M-Audio. In fact, I do not care what you buy. As long as it's the current generation, it's all (really) good. If you like the way the Scarlett Gen 3 or the Mackie PROFxv3 or MOTU M2/4 etc. get it. Do not pay attention to RT Latency numbers — it's all the same and dependent on sample rates and buffer size. The difference between them is less than moving your ears 2 feet closer or further to your monitor speakers with the PreSonus Thunderbolt 3 interfaces being the fastest—barely.

It's all inexpensive. I would not buy the older gear. No matter how it gets marked down on closeout, the new stuff is the better bargain.

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