Audient EVO 4 USB Audio Interface

This is my 3rd interface in 20 years. My first was an M-Audio Mobile Pre, and the second was a UA-25ex by Roland. When I get something that works, I use it until it no longer does. The UA-25 was great for it's time, but it has never had support for Windows 10 (no official drivers), and was dropping out several times on a daily basis. I have a decent PC and it shouldn't have been a problem. While searching for a new interface, I came across overwhelmingly positive reviews of the Evo 4, so I picked one up, and have no regrets. For context, I make beats and record vocals, and use Studio One as my main DAW.One of the main, if not the only, complaints that came up in every single review I watched was the build quality. Honestly, it isn't bad at all. It isn't steel like most of the more well known, or even common interfaces these days. It's plastic, but sure doesn't feel like plastic. My Mobile pre was plastic, and you could tell it was plastic just by looking at it. I've plugged both my XLR cable/mic into it, and headphones, they all snap in very nice and secure. The Evo also feels really heavy. It has a nice weight to it. So please don't let the complaints of the build quality turn you off.The device drivers are working well, which is probably the most important thing to me next to the sound quality itself. Both the Mobile Pre and UA 25 stopped receiving driver support and ended up giving me trouble. I have not had a single drop out, and have done some recording as well, with no issues at all on the Evo 4. There is also companion software which can be used to update the firmware. This is a modern interface indeed. Hopefully, they will continue to support the device on future versions of Windows.Feature wise, the interface has a couple of punches that I like: smart gain, which automatically sets the gain of an input based on the incoming signal, and smart mute, which mutes the main output when headphones are connected. I tried out the smart gain, and got great results. It was also really easy to do: push the green button, then the input channel you are recording into, and the green button again. It will then set the gain, which you can adjust when it's finished. I like the smart mute, as a solo artist, because I was always forgetting to turn off my monitors before recording vocals. I could see how that would not benefit an engineer, or any case you needed to monitor on speakers while someone else had headphones in.The sound quality is great. I don't really know much about pre amps, dac, and all the technical stuff that goes into an interface, so I had to take what reviewers said about it, and it's definitely a selling point across the board. Especially for the price. Input monitoring works fine, with controls to mix the signals. The other interface I was looking at had input monitoring, but no mixing control, unless you bought the next version up.Finally, the overall design of the device is interesting as mentioned. There are no dedicated knobs. Just one knob that will control the signal based on the button pressed. I was concerned I wouldn't like it as it so not traditional to any other device on the market, or one I was familiar with. However, it is so easy to use, and will not be a problem. I also like the big dial on the top, that also has led lights that act as a gain meter to both input and output signals. So I have no complaints on the design.TLDR: For the price, this interface is unbeatable. You get great sound quality, with an excellent feature set. More than enough to get you started and stay within a tighter budget. Build quality is fine, despite reviews. Of course steel is always better than plastic, but this feels very premium. This is my first Audient product, but I would definitely buy from them again.

Audient has packed the EVO 4 with quite a lot of functionality for such a small box. It has far more use cases than I will probably ever scratch the surface of... but that's okay because it didn't cost me an arm and a leg to get all the extras. The cheapest XLR to USB interface you can really find that's worth getting is probably the Blue Icicle which is half the price of the EVO 4 - but all it does is convert and amplify the analog signal to digital.With the EVO 4 you get that plus a second XLR input channel, a JFET instrument input, and 1/4in TRS stereo out for speaker/headphone monitoring. Additionally, you can mute the channels by long pressing the numbered buttons. The smart gain feature is a great innovation for getting levels set up quick during your sound check without having to worry about the possibility of clipping. I occasionally will pick up one of my two guitars, so it is nice to now have a device that makes it very simple to record if I ever find myself improvising something that I'd like to remember how to play later. My primary use is just as the interface for my XLR microphone for communication purposes while online gaming and it comes crystal clear through the preamps on this device with low to no background noise being picked up. I don't have any kind of sound treatment in the room I use it in and the sound from my PC tower fans are not even noticeable recording at 75% to 80% gain. The same set of LEDs around the digital knob in the center relay various information such as volume control, monitoring L/R balance, and when your input device is in use - the levels it is reaching for the channel you selected. If it lights up the right most LED then you are probably getting clipping and have the gain set too high.Audient provides access to the compact DAWs Cubase (PC/Mac) and Cubasis (iOS) LE 2 and some VST synthesizers if you register your product on their site, which is a nice set of freebies for some aspiring songwriters or producers to add to their arsenal.The only complaint I know people have is that you can't use speakers and headphones for monitoring at the same time, because plugging in headphones will automatically mute the speaker output channels, but this doesn't really affect me personally for how I'm going to be using it.You get 2 recording channels but it's worth noting that the EVO 4 creates an input selection that mixes those together as 1 channel for you if you'd like, plus provides both mono and stereo loopback channels for recording your PC's audio output. The 1/4 TRS JFET input routes only to channel 1, and it takes priority over XLR port 1 and thus automatically mutes that signal when in use.Overall, I don't think you can go wrong with this unit if you just need to record a couple of mics for a podcast, or vocals and an instrument for your original music or a cover song. It may be overkill if you want to use it for something like teleconferencing for work because let's face it, most people aren't going to notice how much better your microphone sounds than everyone elses'. But hey, someone might and they can be your second new best friend, after the EVO 4.