Audient id14 or Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 gen 3?

[Thunderpaws]

Hi there. Considering either of these for recording mostly bass for band tracks, plus electric guitar and acoustic for myself. Does anyone have experience with these. The sound quality of the Audient is supposed to be a class above. Does it matter that it only has 96 kHz capability vs the Focusrite 192 kHz? 

[Mcgiver69]

Both are great interfaces Scarlet being cheaper but by no means worst. I would consider the new Audient EVO 4 same specs as Scarlet for only £100.

[foxyFuze]

I have the ID14. I'm no expert but I think it's rather good.  Once setup the interface is blissfully easy to use. It sounds good and seems sturdily built. Note that if you want to use the Line In from an MP3 player iPad etc you'll need to go to the DI or use a mic preamp to get the appropriate signal level. I don't know if this is common to all devices or just the Audient.

[mr zed]

I've just purchased an Audient ID4 (ID14's little brother) as part of the Audio Technica AT2035 studio pack. This was purchased following tons of research. First go at recording vocals this morning and it is excellent! Intuitive to use, easy to set up and the clarity is second to none. Highly recommended!

[sammybee]

I've just got the Audient ID14 this afternoon after extensively searching the market for a replacement for my aging MOTU 828mk2 USB. The reason I plumped for the Audient, was the expandability - it is one of the cheapest good interfaces that you can plug an additional 8 inputs into via ADAT. I had it up and running on my Mac in about 5 mins flat, including setting up the additional 8 inputs. Sound wise it is very nice, build quality is very sturdy. I can now finally upgrade my Mac to Catalina. I have no experience of Focusrite interfaces, although I did used to own a couple of their pre-amp strips. I think there is probably very little difference between them (the Audient and the Focusrite) - just boils down to whether you would need/want the ADAT input.

Edited May 15, 2020 by sammybee

[wateroftyne]

I’ve got an Evo 4 arriving tomorrow. Looking forward to trying it...

[Thunderpaws]

Ended up going for the Audient. I’m probably quite gullible for marketing talk so talk of better converters got me hooked. Good software bundle too. Looking forward to unboxing in the next few days when it gets here. 

[skidder652003]

17 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

I’ve got an Evo 4 arriving tomorrow. Looking forward to trying it...

let us know what you think of it. I'm thinking of upgrading my first gen focusright 2i2

[wateroftyne]

7 hours ago, skidder652003 said:

let us know what you think of it. I'm thinking of upgrading my first gen focusright 2i2

So far - fantastic.

I've done some tracking this afternoon and the client is really happy. No problems at all. Straight into my Macbook from the DI on my head, and all good to go.

I used a Focusrite iTrack Solo previously which was fine, but a few years old. I thought I'd go the Audient route 'cos the Eo 4 has two inputs for only a tenner more than the Scarlett Solo.

It seems to handle a hotter signal, and it’s much richer and fuller.

I think I'd probably prefer the build quality of the Focusrite - there's a lot of (good quality) plastic on this, but that's the only real downside I can see.

Here's a little jam I recorded this afternoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6cFE-k64GM

Edited May 16, 2020 by wateroftyne

[skidder652003]

12 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

So far - fantastic.

I've done some tracking this afternoon and the client is really happy. No problems at all. Straight into my Macbook from the DI on my head, and all good to go.

I used a Focusrite iTrack Solo previously which was fine, but a few years old. I thought I'd go the Audient route 'cos the Eo 4 has two inputs for only a tenner more than the Scarlett Solo.

It seems to handle a hotter signal, and it’s much richer and fuller.

I think I'd probably prefer the build quality of the Focusrite - there's a lot of (good quality) plastic on this, but that's the only real downside I can see.

Here's a little jam I recorded this afternoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6cFE-k64GM

Thanks for that, I might go for the ID4, the DI in looks impressive and the pre amps are supposed to be fantastic although my old 212 is pretty decent

Edited May 17, 2020 by skidder652003

[adamg67]

I've got a 192 KHz interface, it's set on 96 KHz all the time - maybe if I did something serious that I wanted to give to someone to mix / master I'd use 192? But for at home stuff you just don't need it.

[Frank Blank]

I have the Scarlett 18i20 Gen2 and have just bought the Focusrite Solo, can’t praise the Focusrite gear enough, superb.

[Sibob]

11 hours ago, adamg67 said:

I've got a 192 KHz interface, it's set on 96 KHz all the time - maybe if I did something serious that I wanted to give to someone to mix / master I'd use 192? But for at home stuff you just don't need it.

Generally speaking, you won't even really hear the benefits of 96kHz unless you're recording audio with a lot of nuance, spoken word, perhaps a close-mic'd string quartet, acoustic folk etc etc.
If one is recording 'rock and pop' music, ie music that distorts the sound-wave in some way (and of course I count 'synth' sounds found in pop and other music in that), then really 44.1 or 48 is more than enough. Increasing from there will increase the size of your project files, although also improve your latency figures, so there are pros and cons that come with the choice.

Si // Focusrite 

[Mcgiver69]

5 hours ago, Sibob said:

Generally speaking, you won't even really hear the benefits of 96kHz unless you're recording audio with a lot of nuance, spoken word, perhaps a close-mic'd string quartet, acoustic folk etc etc.
If one is recording 'rock and pop' music, ie music that distorts the sound-wave in some way (and of course I count 'synth' sounds found in pop and other music in that), then really 44.1 or 48 is more than enough. Increasing from there will increase the size of your project files, although also improve your latency figures, so there are pros and cons that come with the choice.

Si // Focusrite 

B I N G O

[Thunderpaws]

My ID14 has just arrived. Away to unplug the slightly broken (headphone input) Rubix and replace with the new one. Looking forward to hearing the new one. 

[Al Krow]

Another Focusrite Scarlett fanboi here, but have recenlty been thinking about the general sound quality output - actually in the context of improving on my budget but reasonably decent desktop monitors. But I'm guessing the limitations of a PC soundcard are likely to significantly reduce the benefit of any such additional spend.

Had a really useful tip from @dave_bass5 about by-passing the PC soundcard entirely and using the Scarlett's soundcard, instead, for output from the PC e.g. for YouTube clips etc. I suspect that won't be news to most of you more experienced folk but was a really helpful pointer to a novice like me! 

That tip and this thread has got me thinking about how good the Scarlett's sound quality compares to other interfaces. I've come across this really helpful review: https://www.audiomentor.com/reviews/top-10-best-audio-interfaces-for-serious-music-production. I was struck by the following comment, which certainly got my attention! Not sure how fair or balanced a comment it is, but it's certainly quite a vote in favour of the Audient kit:

"If you think the Focusrite Scarlett sounds decent, wait till you listen to the Audient interfaces. The Audient line-up of interfaces features Audient’s console microphone preamp and the JFET DI built in. Why does Audient simply sound better? That’s because the components used to build them are of superior quality. You get better sounding AD & DA converters and mic pre-amps."

[Bobthedog]

I too am a Scarlett fanboi but have been looking recently at an upgrade. The guys at PMT suggested that unless I was going to spend several hundreds, I would not notice any material differences and would be better off upgrading other areas of my kit. 
the following video was also of interest (probably because it said what I wanted it to!) because it was based on popularity rather than an individual personal ranking  

Another point for me is that my Scarlett sits under my screen. Having all controls on the front rather than the top is important to me. 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Bobthedog

[Sibob]

46 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

"If you think the Focusrite Scarlett sounds decent, wait till you listen to the Audient interfaces. The Audient line-up of interfaces features Audient’s console microphone preamp and the JFET DI built in. Why does Audient simply sound better? That’s because the components used to build them are of superior quality. You get better sounding AD & DA converters and mic pre-amps."

For balance, they also mention about the Audient:
"Granted the price is higher than budget audio interfaces. In fact, the iD4 (entry-model) has only one 1-input. At the price you pay for the iD4, you could get many other audio interfaces with more ins and outs."

Of course, my point here is that people will always have a choice regarding performance vs price, and there's always a line to be drawn with regards to what someone is willing to pay when you start getting into the margins spec wise, not to mention other elements (as the article suggests) such as customer support and software/plugin bundles. 

Si // Focusrite

[skidder652003]

So I've pulled the trigger on the Audient ID4, my old 2i2 is playing up a bit (I think) and I fancied a change, and it would appear contrary to some reviews the ID4 has 2 inputs. The 2i2 has been a great little unit, I'm going to lend it to our guitarist (along with an old imac) so we can keep writing during lockdown. Great to hear all the different views on here.

Edited May 24, 2020 by skidder652003

[wateroftyne]

6 minutes ago, skidder652003 said:

So I've pulled the trigger on the Audient ID4, my old 2i2 is playing up a bit (I think) and I fancied a change, and it would appear contrary to some reviews the ID4 has 2 inputs. The 2i2 has been a great little unit, I'm going to lend it to our guitarist (along with an old imac) so we can keep writing during lockdown. Great to hear all the different views on here.

The ID4 only has one mic input, I think. The other is a jack input.

I went with the EVO 4 in the end. I can't fault it performance-wise, but I do miss the form factor and build quality of the Focusrite stuff.

[skidder652003]

19 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

The ID4 only has one mic input, I think. The other is a jack input.

I went with the EVO 4 in the end. I can't fault it performance-wise, but I do miss the form factor and build quality of the Focusrite stuff.

yeah that's right, one is a mic/jack input, the other a line input only, so you could record vocals and guitar at the same time on 2 seperate tracks, is that right? I went with the ID4 over the evo as it looks a little more sturdy (aluminium)

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by skidder652003

[wateroftyne]

Just now, skidder652003 said:

yeah that's right, one is a mic/jack input, the other a line input only, so you could record vocals and guitar at the same time on 2 seperate tracks, is that right?

Yep, if you're happy plugging straight in that'll work.

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, skidder652003 said:

yeah that's right, one is a mic/jack input, the other a line input only, so you could record vocals and guitar at the same time on 2 separate tracks, is that right? I went with the ID4 over the evo as it looks a little more sturdy (aluminium)

When home recording do folk often lay down more than two tracks at a time? I would have thought typically you kick off with the drums and then layer over the rest? I guess if you need two mic inputs you could do this with the Audient ID14 instead of the ID4.

On 20/05/2020 at 10:37, Sibob said:

For balance, they also mention about the Audient:
"Granted the price is higher than budget audio interfaces. In fact, the iD4 (entry-model) has only one 1-input. At the price you pay for the iD4, you could get many other audio interfaces with more ins and outs."

Of course, my point here is that people will always have a choice regarding performance vs price, and there's always a line to be drawn with regards to what someone is willing to pay when you start getting into the margins spec wise, not to mention other elements (as the article suggests) such as customer support and software/plugin bundles. 

Si // Focusrite

The other option which we've not really mentioned on this thread on the Focusrite front is to consider going from the budget Scarlett range to the Clarett 2Pre, which would seem to be fairer head to head with the Audient ID14 in terms of price and quality.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Al Krow

[sammybee]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

The other option which we've not really mentioned on this thread on the Focusrite front is to consider going from the budget Scarlett range to the Clarett 2Pre, which would seem to be fairer head to head with the Audient ID14 in terms of price and quality.

The clarett is a LOT more expensive than the Audient ID14 - street price of a Clarett is around £300 as opposed to £160-170 you can snag the Audient ID14 at present.

[Thunderpaws]

Yeah, so I’ve been using my ID14 for a week now. It’s solidly built and I can get used to the knobs and buttons being on top rather than on front.

i had a bit of a guddle getting Cubase to install correctly but it does seem like a good bit of kit, just functions differently from Reaper which I had been using. 
 

Back to the iD14, having the Di which is jfet as well as the two combo jacks on the back is brilliant. The best bit here is that you can D.I. either straight from a bass/guitar and add some tube type emulation gain at the input. What a difference it makes for bass parts especially. Or the other thing to do is record d.i. from the Xlr output from the amp and mic up at the same time. I’m going to try using the Xlr out from my Genz Streamliner and use TwoNotes Torpedo (which comes with it) as the cab. See how that sounds.

The functionality of the inifite wheel on top is great. Hover your mouse over anything in your DAW and adjust the level from the wheel...great feature and very adjustable. 
 

Sound quality appears to my ears to be clearer and more lively across the frequency range in reference to my Roland interface that this is replacing. 
 

Things I love....d.i. is a step up from what I’ve been using. Build quality is excellent. Ability to set up your levels with the iD14 mixer plugin that comes with it before it reaches the DAW. Sound quality rocks. I paid £171.