Best Digital Audio Interface (Focusrite vs Behringer vs Audient)

[Vinny554]

Yes, I know. I'm going to get blasted since there are a million of these posts but I genuinely am just overwhelmed with all these options and I'm unaware of where to go. The reason I've posted this is because I believe all of these options depend on what each person is looking for, so here we go.

I'm the songwriter in the progressive metal (deathcore, metal core, whatever the hell you want to call it) group QUEEN KONA. A sample of some of our material can be found through a quick YouTube search. To save costs, we do all of our recording in-house except drums. I used a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (2nd gen) for our first projects and definitely need to swap it out (could you believe I recorded guitars on "Line" mode instead of "Inst"). Now that I've corrected this noobish issue, I've realized the 2nd gen Scarlett will not allow me to record guitars without clipping. So - Focusrite be gone.

We record guitars and vocals via interface. Vocals are done with a Shure SM7B. Essentially, my needs are to record DI guitars and vocals at great in-home quality. We send everything to engineers to professionally mix and master. Lastly, I love to play guitar and practice through DI also. This means latency or delays in sound would be an issue.
I've been looking closely at:

1. Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 or 2i2 (3rd gen)
2. Audient ID4 or ID14
3. Behringer UMC204HD

Now, I've heard every Pro and Con to all of these just about. I hear the Scarletts are great for the cost, but lack in pre amp quality. Has this gotten better in Gen 3? I've heard the Audients are wonderful but suffer latency issues. Would these be an issue for me practicing and jamming guitar via plugins? And I've heard great things about the Behringer, however there seems to be much less feedback overall with this one...not as popular.

What do you all think? I've come to a conclusion that I don't think the guitar DI audio will change at all through these, but vocals might. Thanks!

 

[noise in my mind]

get a used rme fireface.

 

[urzasj00rmom]

I don’t think you’re going to see that noticeable of an improvement in either the mic pre-amps or the DA conversion at the same price point as your current interface.

As for latency, that’s pretty hit or miss and has a lot of other variables at play.

You may be able to find a used interface of a bit higher quality that would have some better pre’s and conversion. A used UAD Arrow or an Apogee Duet wouldn’t be too far out of that price range depending on the seller.

 

[chopeth]

UR22 mkII

 

[Winspear]

Audient imo - latency issues would be very surprising. Probably someone with a weak cpu trying to use amp sims. Used AUD or RME otherwise is a good shout too.

 

[Metropolis]

Audient iD4 here, and no latency issues. With amp sims it's normally set to 64 samples, but it can be used with 16 samples without them or any other instances in DAW itself if you decide to play through a modeler with your audio interface. And my system has somewhat old processor which is i5-4570. DI quality is good in it's price range and preamps have low noise floor compared to it's competitors, which comes really handy with mics like SM7B, because they need quite a lot of gain from preamp.

 

[sakeido]

get a used rme fireface.

A used babyface is probably the only RME that fits in the budget, and even then it's a huge stretch.

But RME for sure. I've had my Fireface UC for 5.5 years now - bought it used, and it's appreciated in value somehow since then. Rock solid. Nobody else even comes close to RME drivers. Sound quality is fantastic. DI and mic quality are both great

to OP's question, you'd be making a lateral move. There is no point in buying another entry level interface when you could get something like a buffer pedal or pad connector to bring your levels down for way less money. Especially to consider another Focusrite after the existing one can't do something as basic as record instrument level signals without clipping like... really?

 

[Anant Naag]

Audient > Behringer > Focusrite

I concur with others, get a used but better interface.

 

[Vinny554]

I don’t think you’re going to see that noticeable of an improvement in either the mic pre-amps or the DA conversion at the same price point as your current interface.

As for latency, that’s pretty hit or miss and has a lot of other variables at play.

You may be able to find a used interface of a bit higher quality that would have some better pre’s and conversion. A used UAD Arrow or an Apogee Duet wouldn’t be too far out of that price range depending on the seller.

Audient imo - latency issues would be very surprising. Probably someone with a weak cpu trying to use amp sims. Used AUD or RME otherwise is a good shout too.

Audient iD4 here, and no latency issues. With amp sims it's normally set to 64 samples, but it can be used with 16 samples without them or any other instances in DAW itself if you decide to play through a modeler with your audio interface. And my system has somewhat old processor which is i5-4570. DI quality is good in it's price range and preamps have low noise floor compared to it's competitors, which comes really handy with mics like SM7B, because they need quite a lot of gain from preamp.

A used babyface is probably the only RME that fits in the budget, and even then it's a huge stretch.

But RME for sure. I've had my Fireface UC for 5.5 years now - bought it used, and it's appreciated in value somehow since then. Rock solid. Nobody else even comes close to RME drivers. Sound quality is fantastic. DI and mic quality are both great

to OP's question, you'd be making a lateral move. There is no point in buying another entry level interface when you could get something like a buffer pedal or pad connector to bring your levels down for way less money. Especially to consider another Focusrite after the existing one can't do something as basic as record instrument level signals without clipping like... really?

Audient > Behringer > Focusrite

I concur with others, get a used but better interface.

You guys have been awesome. From all the others I've asked, most either respond with:

"all are similar, but Audient if I had to choose"
OR
"Scratch all - go RME Babyface Pro"

So its between the Babyface and Audient for me. Being that most of the vocals are screaming with some singing, I'm debating if the jump to the RME is worth the extra money. Hard to find them used, so I'm looking at an additional $300 minimum

 

[sakeido]

With RME you know they will support it literally forever. They are buy it for life type products. You won't run into a situation where they've suddenly have stopped supporting your interface so it doesn't even work with a new version of Windows or something like that.. like has happened to me twice with Roland and M-Audio

like a quick Google showed that Audient's drivers were 2+ years old and only got updated because they released the id44. That's not what I want to see for the product that is the nerve center of my entire studio.

The Babyface also has more room for expansion down the line. You can add 8 more channels of inputs and 8 channels of outputs so if you guys decide to start taking on more recording responsibilities yourself, it'll step up and accommodate that whereas the Audient will run into a ceiling much sooner

But we are talking a serious cost difference here. If Babyface Pros were floating around used, maybe it'd be a better conversation, but nobody sells theirs so it's tough. For your immediate needs is it worth double the money? Probably not.

 

[Vinny554]

With RME you know they will support it literally forever. They are buy it for life type products. You won't run into a situation where they've suddenly have stopped supporting your interface so it doesn't even work with a new version of Windows or something like that.. like has happened to me twice with Roland and M-Audio

like a quick Google showed that Audient's drivers were 2+ years old and only got updated because they released the id44. That's not what I want to see for the product that is the nerve center of my entire studio.

The Babyface also has more room for expansion down the line. You can add 8 more channels of inputs and 8 channels of outputs so if you guys decide to start taking on more recording responsibilities yourself, it'll step up and accommodate that whereas the Audient will run into a ceiling much sooner

But we are talking a serious cost difference here. If Babyface Pros were floating around used, maybe it'd be a better conversation, but nobody sells theirs so it's tough. For your immediate needs is it worth double the money? Probably not.

Perfect summary. I guess what it comes down to is how much better are the RME pre-amps for vocals than the Audient...is it worth the $300+ difference? I do admire the expansion capability, however I don't foresee myself wanting that anytime soon. I do, however, want great preamps for vocals.

 

[Anant Naag]

Surprised that there is no mention of the Audient Sono here.
But the cheaper audients are absolutely worth it.

 

[Vinny554]

Surprised that there is no mention of the Audient Sono here.
But the cheaper audients are absolutely worth it.

The iD4 lacks the Burr-Brown converters vs iD14...is this something that's genuinely beneficial?

 

[Anant Naag]

Kind of, but not worth the price difference.
You can always use a preamp in front later etc.

 

[Descent]

iD14, no contest. You can even expand via ADAT preamp if you feel like it for total of 10 channels.

 

[Element0s]

So its between the Babyface and Audient for me.

I found myself in the exact same position earlier this year and ended up springing for the Babyface Pro. Definitely a more expensive investment but I'm happy with it. I ended up expanding with with an 8-channel preamp from ART so I'm rocking 10 channels (plus the two line-ins!) in our rehearsal space. The Babyface goes home with me and I use it for demos and home stuff. It's great and extremely well-made. The Totalmix FX software is extremely powerful and very detailed almost to a fault.

The Audient stuff is getting great reviews but since my rig needs to be mobile I decided to splurge and get something that I knew would survive multiple trips out of the house.

 

[noise in my mind]

With RME you know they will support it literally forever. They are buy it for life type products. You won't run into a situation where they've suddenly have stopped supporting your interface so it doesn't even work with a new version of Windows or something like that.. like has happened to me twice with Roland and M-Audio

like a quick Google showed that Audient's drivers were 2+ years old and only got updated because they released the id44. That's not what I want to see for the product that is the nerve center of my entire studio.

The Babyface also has more room for expansion down the line. You can add 8 more channels of inputs and 8 channels of outputs so if you guys decide to start taking on more recording responsibilities yourself, it'll step up and accommodate that whereas the Audient will run into a ceiling much sooner

But we are talking a serious cost difference here. If Babyface Pros were floating around used, maybe it'd be a better conversation, but nobody sells theirs so it's tough. For your immediate needs is it worth double the money? Probably not.

I bought my fireface used 9 years ago and it's still running strong day in and day out.

 

[fps]

I have an ID44, it's absolutely fantastic, sounds great, strong recommend. I also use an SM7, would recommend a Cloudlifter with it for gain reasons with this interface.

 

[LeviathanKiller]

Not a total fan of my Focusrite. It's a bit noisy. Had some Windows + Focusrite drivers issues a while back where my audio would drop out and stay out until I re-plugged in my interface.

 

[Anant Naag]

Focusrite has really sad quality control. I paid 1/3rd for a Behringer and got better pre amps , lower noise floor etc.

Whatever I heard from the Audient is absolutely mindblowing.