Are all cheap audio interfaces crap?

A

adamangler

New member
im looking for a beginers interface and would spend up to £125 max

usb or firewire is fine.


problem is ive looked at hundreds of reviews for all sorts of interfaces in this price range(maudio,mackie,presonus,lineport,edirol,lexicon etc etc)

i keep finding problems with each one, just when i decide on one a problem arises

ie mackie satellite underpowered phantom power
presonus inspire noisy preamps
tapco link, no vista drivers

theres always something, lack of drivers, only 16 bit support, noisy pres etc



my point is do i just gamble and buy one, am i just to accept that in this price range nothing is gonna be perfect?

or has anyone used an interface that has run spot on?

thanks
adam;)
 
most good stores should have two things:
1. A good return policy
2. a sales staff who will help you get what you need and help you if you didn't.

Trust me I went though the same situation.
 
I use to have a Fast Track Pro by M-Audio and found the Pre's to be unusable. I got an MBox since then and have been pleased with it, although the pres are no Millennia, and the converters are okay. The questions is, will the Pre's give you enough gain before audible distortion to be usable, and is the clock stable? And you are right to be concerned about phantom power via a USB bus. But if it seems to be a problem you can always get an inline phantom power supply.

I would save a few more pennies and get an MBox, it'll do.
 
can you go the PCI route? theres some PCI cards (m-audio 2496) that you can get very cheap used or new for $100... then find a mixer that has the same features as you are looking for in a usb interface (mackie mixers have awesome quality preamps).

If you can spend $350 there is the Tascam US1641 USB 2.0 interface that I have heard a lot of good things on & it comes with so much for the price.

this might help ya too
tweakheadz.com/soundcards_and_audio_interfaces.htm
 
I've got an EMU 0404 USB Interface, and it's been great for me so far. Pre's seem nice and clean, and no problems with Phantom Power. I got it pre-owned on ebay for £80, but I think it's around £150 new.
 
i just bought the emu tracker pre usb 2.0 and it's doing a nice job.i'm using it on vista home basic.about 150.00 new and comes with a nice software bundle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top