Originally Posted By: Matt Finley
Agreed. But Simon, have you used a small Focusrite? The case is metal (painted aluminum, I think) and they are quite solid. I've used a 2i4 on remote gigs for many years.


Yes, I have a 2i2 3rd gen right next to me, and I had a 2i2 1st gen before I upgraded to my current RME. I consider the Focusrite "studio or home" reliable but not "toss it around at a gig and pour beer on it" reliable. The main reason is because the pots and jacks are only board mounted, not fixed to the case at all. So if you trip on a cable and yank the Focusrite to the floor it can break the jack off the PCB much easier than the Mackie who's jacks are screwed to the metal case.

This may or may not be an issue to the OP, if he takes care of his stuff and doesn't let others handle it for him.


Originally Posted By: Mike Halloran
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.


The DAC itself is probably the least part of the equation when it comes to sound quality. The analog components between your audio source and the DAC chip play a much bigger part. Like you mentioned with the SSL that it has it's "vintage" circuit, but it probably has higher quality components than the M-Audio or Focusrite.

Either way, you probably won't hear the difference, and not many people can.

I work here