Best Budget Interface of 2021 Audient Evo Review
One thing that is good and maybe bad about moving into the future is all the cool things that we wanted have become better and affordable. In some cases even just cheap. And not in the just “cheap junk” meaning (although there is a lot of that) but cool tech stuff just doesn’t cost much. The Audient Evo series of computer audio interfaces is a perfect example of one of those types of things. I remember when I first got heavy into recording right around the year 2000 I ended up buying my first real interface. It was an Egosys Wami Rack 24 that my buddy turned me on to. If memory serves that unit cost me around $750 or just under. It required a dedicated PCI card, just quarter inch in’s and some midi in’s and out’s no phantom or XLR’s, not much of anything other than AD/DA converters. If you wanted some real options, get your checkbook out it was gonna sting. Now, you have more options than you can shake a stick at including the new Audient line of interfaces.
The Evo series comes in 2 flavors. The 4 and the 8. Basically identical interfaces but with 8 housing 4 XLR in’s with preamps and 48v phantom power and at a silly cost of $199. It’s little brother the 4 at $129. So if you’re a traveler or a podcaster than needs mobility or just a musician that needs a small footprint this is the perfect interface. With completely quiet fantastic sounding preamps with headphone outs it can be a killer solution for a musician or podcaster that want’s high quality in a tiny footprint and still sounds as good as interfaces 10x it’s cost. One of the other cool features added is something called Smart Gain. In short with a button push the Evo will listen to your sound source and determine the best gain setting for you. If you want total control however there is Evo Software Mixer that gives you all the basic options you would expect from any other interface.
- Computer Connectivity:USB 2.0
- Form Factor:Portable
- Simultaneous I/O:4 x 4
- Number of Preamps:4 x Mic, 1 x Instrument
- Phantom Power:Yes
- A/D Resolution:24-bit/96kHz
- Analog Inputs:4 x XLR-1/4″ combo (mic/line)
- Analog Outputs:2 x 1/4″ (L/R), 2 x 1/4″ (L/R)
- Headphones:2 x 1/4″
- USB:1 x USB-C 2.0
- Software:EVO Software Mixer, ARC Creative Hub access
- OS Requirements – Mac:OS X 10.9 to macOS 10.15
- OS Requirements – PC:Windows 7 SP1 or later
- Bus Powered:Yes
- Power Supply:USB bus powered
- Height:2.75″
- Width:7.48″
- Depth:2.75″
- Weight:1.05 lbs.
- Manufacturer Part Number:APACAU24-EVO8
Who is this for you may ask? Well that’s the scary thing… Anyone. I know that in order to be the “Professional King of Audio Cool Guy” you need the most expensive thing you can get your hands on. But, for giggles I just hooked this up to my big recording studio machine and am recording a demo clip for another YouTube video. In that clip I’m running my Strymon Iridium and using Superior Drummer and all the trimmings and this isn’t skipping a beat. If all someone needs is just a really good sounding inexpensive interface this is unit. What it wouldn’t be as great for is someone that needs options going in. If you’re trying to record say a small drum kit or anything that would require effects at the time of recording such as compression or limiting you’re going to be out of luck. But that’s really what is separating the big interfaces from the little ones anymore. I think the AD/DA converters are to the point that it’s hard to argue one interface over another. It kind of comes down to preamps and software. But if you want a killer portable interface that can handle most of the day to day things that most of us need…. I don’t know what you would look elsewhere especially at this price point.
The Evo 8 comes in at a nuts $199 and the Evo 4 at $129 and at those price points it’s really hard to argue against it. Be sure to check out my YouTube video and subscribe to my channel to stay up on new cool toys, tricks and tips.
