Audio Interfaces Ranked

Thought this ranking of audio interfaces was interesting. Having started with a basic Minifuse, and then the M-Audio, I’m now using SSL interfaces which thankfully rank quite high. Despite the relatively low ranking for the Minifuses, Arturia’s flagship interface rig jumps into excellent territory.

I can't speak to the m2, but if its close to the pro stuff then its the best damn thing for the buck. I'm all motu AVB gear in my semi-pro home studio and you can't do better for the money when it comes to noise floor, resolution, internal clocking and transparent line inputs... the 2 mic pres on my 828es are acceptable for a lot of microphone tasks and their DI mode is really good for vintage synthesizers where I prefer the to all my line inputs for 20th century synths and also to a DI in front of my outboard pres or console pres in most instances. THough I have rakcmount and desktop edirol USB midi patchbays, the studio is currently setup with acontrol on the 828es midi in and a misi solutions T8 for distribution and it works fine. Latency for uadio and midi over thunderbolt with 2 units slaved over AVB is super low to the point where I seldom have to use the internal mixer for direct monitoring and plugin synths are close to instantaneous. I also have a focusrite clarett 8pre and some crappy behringers slaved over adat if needed and the quality wordclock cleans all those add-ons up sufficiently that even the behringers don't bother me. I do use good quality adat and BNC cables though. Its a very affordable 34in/56out setup that allows me to track whatever and do complex hybrid mixes or mix in analog with compressors on loops so they're post DAW automation with analog EQ and summing. No complaints. I'm Eyeing the new version of the 828es that has dual ethernet ports as my central hub...

can't recommend motu highly enough these days, the saber converters are great, particularly the D to As. You have to spend way more to top these interfaces. I prefer the playback sound to the UA apollo line, which I find to be a bit colored and flat... if you don't need all the apollo DSP bells and whistles, and I don't, go motu at this price point.

I was skeptical of this video because of the subjective reasoning peppered throughout, but then I checked out some of that creator's per-model videos -- in those single-product videos, they are going harder on measurements and other things that smell like objectivity. So... solid find, thanks.

It IS strange that no UAD interfaces made it into the mix, especially now that UAD is transitioning to native processing and releasing lower-cost interfaces.

What ISN'T strange is that the RME Babyface Pro FS sits a top their S tier. I mean, they have to be awesome if their opinions reinforce my own personal consumer decisions, right?

EDIT: OK, now I ramble on a bit about how I love my RME interface... one day I'll come back and copy/paste this into a review, I swear...

...so yeah, I been really happy with my Babyface Pro FS. Purchasing one was one of those "just spend the damn money and trust you'll finally be free of worry" moments, and the Babyface delivered on that front. I will still be using this thing 10 years from now and RME will still be supplying rock solid drivers for this interface another 10 years after that.

Styling-wise, the Babyface looks like RME's desperate attempt to secure a place on Apple Store shelves... circa 2007... but nobody is buying this thing blind... we all know how ugly it is before we hand over our cash.

The babyface comes with its own snap-locking plastic + molded-foam transport case, like it's a nice kick drum pedal or... a handgun?... and RME approaches every detail of the experience with that same late-70s Mercedes Benz type of over-engineering... but they overthink these things so that we don't have to. Who wants to waste time thinking about audio interfaces?

I didn't get into music to spend my days thinking about who has the lowest noise floor.