Recommendation for good quality audio interface

robinbowes

I'm looking for a good quality audio interface for my Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013).

My current signal chain is:

MacBook Pro -> Belkin dock -> Presonus Firestudio -> line mixer -> JBL LSR305
        Thunderbolt     Firewire                balanced      balanced

I've noticed that my audio quality is nowhere near as good as my Slim Devices Transporter (also balanced output into the line mixer) so I figured it might be time to upgrade.

Can anyone recommend anything?

Thanks,

R.

octatonic

Budget?
How much IO do you need?

Jalapeno

Lose the dock and plug straight into the MBP would be my first thought.

robinbowes

octatonic said:

Budget?
How much IO do you need?

Budget - I'm not looking to spend a great deal. eg. I don't think I can justify a UAD box. But I want something that sounds good.

IO - I'm mostly interested in good stereo output, but a stereo line in would be useful and I also occasionally plug in a guitar (not essential).

R.

robinbowes

Jalapeno said:

Lose the dock and plug straight into the MBP would be my first thought.

Sadly, no can do. The Firestudio is Firewire, and the Firewire port is on the dock.

R.

digitalscream

I use the Komplete Audio 6. Low latency, excellent quality, a big more-useful-than-I-thought volume knob on top and built to last.

You'd need a splitter (stereo -> 2 x mono) for your stereo line in, but that's about it.

spark240

Where are you losing audio quality?.....on the way in via the Firestudio pre amps? 

octatonic

robinbowes said:

octatonic said:

Budget?
How much IO do you need?

Budget - I'm not looking to spend a great deal. eg. I don't think I can justify a UAD box. But I want something that sounds good.

IO - I'm mostly interested in good stereo output, but a stereo line in would be useful and I also occasionally plug in a guitar (not essential).

R.

UAD gets very expensive when you start adding their plugins.

RME do some very good options- the Babyface Pro, but that is priced the same as UAD, albeit without the additional plugin cost.

Check out Focusrite- they do a lot of options at the entry level to midrange.
I'm using their professional range of interfaces and they are rock solid.

robinbowes

spark240 said:

Where are you losing audio quality?.....on the way in via the Firestudio pre amps? 

I presume it's the Firestudio outputs. I noticed when comparing the same track from Spotify played on the laptop, and streamed direct to the Transporter. The difference is massive. I then confirmed by playing the same FLAC file on both devices. The Transporter has a much wider soundstage - the laptop sounds mono.

Hmmm... goes off to play audio test file... Fuck me, that's because it *is* mono. That would explain the "wide sound stage"  .

I guess this would do it: https://support.presonus.com/hc/en-us/articles/210045203-Why-is-the-audio-coming-out-of-my-FireStudio-family-interface-mono-only-

FML - perhaps I don't need a new device after all..

robinbowes

Turns out, this was all I needed to tweak, ie. pan the outputs hard left and right:



So, thanks for the recommendations - I may get a new interface some time that uses Thunderbolt/USB so I don't have to rely on the dock for the Firewire port. However, for the time being, not running in mono has improved things

R.

Jalapeno

robinbowes said:

Jalapeno said:

Lose the dock and plug straight into the MBP would be my first thought.

Sadly, no can do. The Firestudio is Firewire, and the Firewire port is on the dock.

R.

I meant - lose the docking station and get a more modern USB or Thunderbird interface.  Focusrite Scarlett Solo/2i2 or if you're flush an Apogee of some sort.

thegummy

robinbowes said:

Turns out, this was all I needed to tweak, ie. pan the outputs hard left and right:



So, thanks for the recommendations - I may get a new interface some time that uses Thunderbolt/USB so I don't have to rely on the dock for the Firewire port. However, for the time being, not running in mono has improved things

R.

Glad you've sorted it; was going to post to say that it's unlikely the audio interface that would be causing noticeable quality drops. Definitely not the dock, I don't see how that could affect audio quality in any way at all.

There's a big step up in price for a higher quality interface - the RME Babyface is basically the cheapest that will be any better than the standard ones like your current one, the Focusrites etc. and the Babyface isn't cheap for most people's home studios.

So not surprised at all that it was a setting, glad you found it.

I wonder how many people (with their money burning holes in their pockets) would have just bought a new interface, that one comes with the panning set correctly by default then they go on to give people advice on how much better quality their new interface is compared to the Presonus.

robinbowes

thegummy said:

I wonder how many people (with their money burning holes in their pockets) would have just bought a new interface, that one comes with the panning set correctly by default then they go on to give people advice on how much better quality their new interface is compared to the Presonus.

TBH, I was very surprised myself when I noticed how much better the other device sounded. I'd not really thought about it as I generally only use this laptop for work (I work in IT), and don't do much critical listening on it. Thinking about it, I have another personal MBP which I use for audio, and I guess that must be configured correctly as I've not noticed anything untoward about the sound it produces with the same interface.

One lives and learns...

R.

spark240

Yeah that UC can be tricky ;-)....glad its sorted.