FocusriteClarett 8Pre USB 18-In/20-Out Audio Interface, Red (AMS-CLARETT-8PRE-USB)

I bought this after using a first generation Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 for many years. Overall, I think the sound on the Clarett is superior (although the Scarlett certainly wasn't bad). The biggest difference I notice is that the Clarett has no perceptible latency when recording, which is a major plus. It was also effortless to set up with my workstation. I use Pro Tools, on a PC running Windows 10. I basically just plugged the thing in and it was ready to go! The was a welcome change from my prior experience (trying to get the Scarlett, my prior PC running Windows 8 and Pro Tools 11 to all work together was a nightmare which lasted several days). Recommended.Pros:-Great sound quality-No perceptible latency-Improved preamps compared to Scarlett-Easy installation and integration into my system-Great build qualityCons:-Must use included software to switch between line/instrument modes and turning the AIR circuit on and off (the Scarlett has this on the front panel - why not the Clarett?!)-Not bus powered - needs AC power supply

My situation is kind of unique. I stream and was listening to my PS5 audio via 4K60 Pro set to "Listen". The problem was the audio delay. Elgato processes video signal before audio. Elgato HD60 Pro was pretty dang fast my PS4 audio but apparently the 4KPro spends longer processing the video first. This equaled a very perceptible delay in sound. I decided to rip the audio using and HDMI audio stripper and send the audio to my PC using optical to a Sound Blaster sound card. It was better but still had a pretty noticeable delay. I decided to search for a way to have my own audio purely from the PS5 and the stream audio would be whatever from the HDMI. It was time to upgrade my 2i2 anyway and I found this neat unit. Optical in and it will play whatever audio.This thing nails it. I hear the audio right off my PS5 AND it works great with the SM7B. Also have the JBL sub and 308p IIs running off of this.

I've got this 2pre usb running on just USB power just fine, took a little bit of trial and error at first and updating the firmware on the hardware before everything started working correctly. It's a wonderful upgrade over the 2i4 I was using. In comparison it has the same high quality build that the 2i4 has, even slightly improved.Being able to control both 1/2 and 3/4 outputs with the monitor control knob thru focusrite control is great in comparison to how the 2i4 does things. Sound quality is amazing and with the better circuitry in this unit compared to the 2i4, there is a bit more gain which is nice to have an even lower noise floor.The anti-thump circuitry in the 1/2 outputs works very well. As a bonus, the optical input in this unit is great as I can hook my tvs optical output into it and let my tv/consoles play through my monitors or gig system very easily with supreme quality.Lastly, the headphone amplifier is much stronger than the 2i4 but my only issue is the monitor knob must be turned up to give the headphone amplifier gain and if you have monitors plugged in and facing you, depending on your setup, this is not ideal.

Extremely well made and well designed piece of hardware. The ADC and DAC chips are a several year-old design, so no longer state of the art, but they still perform well, and are the same ones used by most of Focusrite's competitors in this price range (and at slightly higher ones, too). Great dynamic range and low noise performance. In normal mode the thing is completely transparent. Don't trust reviewers who talk about its "sound"—the frequency response is ruler-flat and the distortion and noise are low enough to be irrelevant.In "Air" mode, you're getting an audio effect. Many reviewers have noted that gives a couple of strong shelf boosts, one in the upper midrange, one more in the treble. I learned from Focusrite (after some tooth-pulling) that it also drops the input impedance from around 6K to 2K. With some mics this will make an audible difference. Nothing more to report, as I don't use this feature.There's one minor hardware shortcoming: the headphone amp isn't universally great. It's got a lot of power, and a high maximum voltage, so it will effortlessly drive studio headphones with high impedances, and sound great doing it. But it has a pretty high output impedance, and is current-limited ... which means that it will have distortion problems with low-impedance headphones that inefficient, like some current planar designs. I use lowish (30 ohm) cans that are very efficient, and find that it plays loud and sounds great. But beware that this is where Focusrite cut corners.Finally, the bad news. Focusrite's software is a minor horror show. I've gotten it working, and gotten it stable, and haven't had problems in months ... but it was a painful couple of days getting the thing to work. This is just inexcusable, especially on a Mac with a supposedly class-compliant device. At least there's the possibility of Focusrite fixing this nonsense down the road. I'll say that their support people were very helpful, although it's unclear what exactly got my software working right (or what was wrong with it in the first place).Knowing what I know now, I still would have bought this interface. It has some imperfections, but I don't see anything else I like as much. They got the industrial design and ease-of-use of the hardware just right, and this is worth a lot to me. And it sounds as good as anything out there, as long as you're not using the wrong headphones.