Top 10 Audio Interfaces 2020

in this video we're going to be looking at the top 10 audio interfaces of 2020 [Music] hi folks i'm mike and i hope you're well as i recall this video black friday is almost upon us and some of you will be considering buying new audio interfaces so i'm going to give you a top 10 for 2020 but with a little bit of a twist i've been running some polls in various audio production groups to find out which audio interfaces people have been using in 2020 so really my top 10 is the most popular audio interfaces being used in 2020 and hopefully that will help you to make a decision now of course i'll be doing this in reverse order starting off with number 10 and working my way up to the most popular interface however before we get into that i want to have a quick word about some of the specs we'll be talking about so all of the interfaces we'll be looking at use a bit depth of 24 so we won't be looking at that in the specs now some of them recorded a sample rate of up to 192 kilohertz now as a rough guide i use either 44.1 kilohertz or 48 kilohertz in all of my recordings if you want to step it up definitely you could try 96 but i think that's more than enough for today's standards now another thing i'd like to talk about is inputs and outputs because these can be a little bit misleading because not all of the inputs and outputs they quote will be physical analog inputs some of them come from ada or some of them may even include things like headphone outputs as well so i'll be differentiating between those two things when i talk about the specs the other thing i want to talk about in terms of inputs is the fact that a lot of these interfaces do have what i call xlr combos this means you can plug in either an xlr connection or you can use a quarter inch jack to connect to the audio interface so that's what i mean by that now let's take a look at number 10. 10. in at number 10 we have the scarlet 1 8 i8 from focusrite this is an 18 in 8 out interface but the actual analog connections are made up of eight ends and four outs note that only four of the inputs are xlr combos it's really nice to see that has standard midi connections and a very useful two headphone outputs the maximum sample rate on this interface is 192 kilohertz and it connects up to your computer with the usb 2 type c connection focusrite are known for their preamps and the third generation all have air mode which emulates the classic isa preamps and are great for adding a little bit of high-end sparkle to things like vocals and guitars focusrite are also known for great build quality this is very reasonably priced for the features and a great choice if you need them extra inputs and outputs but don't want to break the bank nine in at number nine we have the rme fireface and the version that we're looking at here is the ucx which either uses firewire or usb2 type b to connect your computer note that there's also a usb only version the uc this is an 18 in 18 out interface but the actual analog connections are made up of eight ends including two xlr combos and six outs excluding the headphones of which we have one connector on the front in terms of midi we can connect up using the supplied breakout cables the maximum sample rate on this interface is 192 kilohertz rme interfaces are probably more often seen in professional environments than in home studios as their focus is more towards quality than features they're also very well known for driver stability which is important in a pro environment i actually think that considering this the price is not too bad at all eight in number eight we have the second cheapest interface on the list the scarlett solo from focusrite this is a two in two out interface with one xlr input one quarter inch input and two quarter inch outputs plus a headphone out note that there are no midi connections on this interface the maximum sample rate on this interface is 192 kilohertz and it connects to your computer with a usb 2 type c connection again this third generation interface has air mode emulating focus rights isa preamps giving a nice high-end boost there are two main reasons you go for this interface first of all if you're on a tight budget but want reasonable quality and second if you mostly produce electronic music so you don't have so much need for lots of analog inputs seven in at number seven we have the audient id14 this is a 10 in four hour interface but the actual analog connections are made up of two xlr combos and a jfet di input where we can emulate classic valve amp tones note that using the di input overrides one of the xlr inputs we also have two quarter inch outputs plus a headphone output this interface also has a clever talkback feature which uses your computer's mic to use as a talkback mic please note there are no midi connections on this interface the maximum sample rate on this interface is only kilohertz but i still think that that's more than enough it connects to your computer with the usb 2 type b connection probably the main reason people buy this interface is that audience analog digital converters are well regarded and as well as that they have great build quality one thing i've noticed is amongst the people that bought this interface their enthusiasm for the purchase is very high they seem very satisfied indeed six in at number six we have the most expensive interface on our list the universal audio apollo 8. here we're looking at the latest incarnation the x8 this is an 18 in 24-hour interface but the actual analog connections are made up of 14 ins and 10 outs four of these inputs are xlr as well as this we have two dedicated headphone outputs the maximum sample rate on this interface is 192 kilohertz and it connects to your computer via thunderbolt 3. note that you'll need to buy a thunderbolt cable as they don't provide one with the unit and if you want midi connections you'll need to get a midi to usb cable as this has no midi connections this is the first interface we see with onboard effects processing four of the preamps have authentic emulations from giants such as neve manley and ssl in addition you can record with near zero latency through uad plugins including eqs compressors reverbs tape machines and channel strips so why such a high price tag well with a unit like this you get the combination of an abundance of features with highly regarded high quality hardware it's that simple five in number five we have the ur-22 from steinberg and we're looking at the latest incarnation here the ur 22c this is a two-in two-hour interface with the two inputs being xlr combos it also has a headphone output on the front once again it's nice to see it has standard midi connections the maximum sample rate on this interface is 192 kilohertz and it connects to your computer with the usb 3 type c connection incredibly the ur 22c also has latency free monitoring with some basic dsp effects including reverb a channel strip and a guitar amp emulation this is a great little interface and well loved by my mate pete johns who swears by for recording with garageband on his iphone four and number four we have the absolute cheapest interface on our list the presonus audio box this is a two in two out interface has two xlr combos and two quarter inch outputs as well as a headphone out it also has standard midi connections the maximum sample rate on this interface is 96 kilohertz lower than others but still more than enough it connects to your computer with the usb 2 type b connection the real selling point of this interface is probably the price but if you don't need many connections and would find the midi connections useful this is a decent quality interface that will serve you well three in the number three we have the universal audio apollo twin we're looking at the thunderbolt version here but there's also a usb variant this is a 10 in six out interface but the actual analog connections are made up of three ends being two xlr combos and a high z input and four outputs again as with the audient id14 using the hi-z input at the front overrides one of the xlr combo inputs again there are no midi connections and you'll need to buy your own thunderbolt cable also note when shopping there are thunderbolt 2 and thunderbolt 3 versions of this interface available in addition there are duo and quad versions available with the quad version having more processing power this may be relevant when it comes to using the dsp effects not so much in terms of speed but your ability to have more instances of the uad dsp plugins in action this interface also has preamp emulations as we discussed earlier on the apollo x8 this is not a cheap interface but a very good choice when you want excellent quality tons of features but don't need too many analog inputs two in at number two we have the focusrite scala 18 i20 this is an 18 in 20 hour interface but the actual analog connections are made up of eight xlr combo ins and 10 outs it has standard midi connections and two headphone outputs the maximum sample rate on this interface is 192 kilohertz and it connects to your computer with a usb 2 type c connection we have third generation air mode which is emulating the classic isa preamps and for what it's worth i think this interface looks really nice this is a very reasonably priced interface considering the features and a great choice if you need them extra inputs and outputs but don't want to break the bank now before we move on to number one i don't want you to feel bad if your audio interface is not included in this list there are many great audio interfaces not included here and i use two of them every day in fact let's take a quick look at those now my main interface is the presonus studio 192. this is a 26 in 32 out interface but in fact it has 8 xlr combo inputs and 10 quarter inch outputs plus 2 headphone outputs it has a maximum sample rate of 192 kilohertz and connects to my computer via a usb 3 type b connection it has a number of on-board latency-free dsp effects including compression limiting gates eq reverb and delay these can either be used just for monitoring or can be printed to the recording i can control every aspect of the interface from my phone or ipad including preamp gain so i don't need to get up and down from my playing position to adjust that in addition it also has deep integration with studio one allowing me to control many aspects of the interface straight from my door and effectively being able to recall settings on a song by song basis the quality is great and it's treated me well for the last two years my second interface is the evo4 this is a new kit on the block and i really quite like it it has two combo xlr inputs and two outputs as well as a high z input and headphone jack it has a very sufficient maximum sample rate of 96 kilohertz and connects via usb 2 type c it has a rather neat auto game feature for getting great recording levels every time now on this channel whenever i record videos like this i use my presonus studio 192 as a mixer and then this is my actual interface so basically everything you hear comes through this unit it also has a big brother the evo 8 which i'll be reviewing on the channel soon so we're about to find out what the number one most popular audio interface is for 2020 now if you found this video useful could you go ahead and hit the like button for me do that right away so that you don't forget and if you do like this kind of content make sure you subscribe and ring the bell on youtube so that you're notified about my future videos don't forget to let me know in the comments down below what your favorite audio interface is which one have you been using also which ones have you used which you didn't like that would be very very interesting indeed so let's take a look and see what number one is one in at number one we have what is quite possibly the best selling audio interface in the world in all the polls i did this easily dwarfed the competition in terms of popularity this is a focusrite scarlet 2i2 it's a two-in two-out interface featuring two xlr combos two quarter-inch outputs and a headphone out it has a maximum sample rate of 192 kilohertz and it connects to your computer via a usb 2 type c connection apart from that it has the same features as other focusrite units in terms of preamps so why would this be so very popular well i think they've had a sweet spot in terms of affordability quality and basic required features it's a well-regarded brand and in an age of singer-songwriters who use virtual instruments and mix in the box on a laptop in a bedroom or on the go this ticks a lot of boxes so if you're interested in buying any of these audio interfaces check the links in the description down below also for as little as one dollar per month you can become a patron of this channel and help me help you by making more of these videos check the link in the description down below for that and i'll see you in the next video you

Channel: Creative Sauce

Views: 139,062

Rating: 4.8633351 out of 5

Keywords: Top 10 Audio Interfaces 2020, Top 10 Audio Interfaces, Best Audio Interface, 2020, Best Audio Interface for, best audio interface for home studio, best audio interface for guitar, cheapest audio interface, cheapest audio interface 2020, most popular audio interface, best audio interface for home recording, focusrite scarlett 2i2, focusrite scarlett solo, focusrite scarlett 2i2 3rd gen, Universal Audio, Audient, best audio interface, audio interface, best budget audio interface

Id: Nh-zOhS3qo0

Length: 13min 49sec (829 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 20 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/CreativeSauce2B]

Hi folks! I've been on a mission to find the most popular audio interfaces in 2020. This is what I found.