Best Audio Interfaces (Sound Cards)
Sound quality, latency, and sound balance of audio interface (sound card) are the main factors to do a quality recording and to produce a high-quality mixing. Due to that, we need to choose it very carefully according to our requirements and budget. In this article, I divided audio interfaces into two categories which are budget, premium and, Amazon recommendations. Budget audio interfaces are for beginners and home studios. Premium studio monitors are for people who can afford a big amount and for people who are working as professionals.
I did not write detailed paragraphs about audio interfaces but I listed all the key features of audio interfaces that we should consider before buy. Also, in this article, I listed some affiliate links from trusted sellers in the following tables according to the countries and regions. Audio interfaces are listed according to their sound qualities. I am a sound engineer and please note that all of these ranking and reviewing are done according to my own ten year working experiences in the music composing field. Also, there are some more good brands in today’s market that I didn’t mention in this article because I am unable to find trusted sellers. So, I will try my best to update this article every month when the arrival of competitive new products and trusted sellers.
Let's Take The Best Budget Audio Interfaces (Between 59 - 139 USD)
Image | Name | Price By Country | Approximate Price | Comment | Include Softwear | Weight | Dimensions |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Native Instruments Komplete Audio 2 | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $139 £115.60 | Nice sound indicating meters, Combo instruments inputs | Maschine DAW/ Monark/ Effects Plugins/ Ableton Live Lite | 13.1 ounces | 6 x 5 x 2 inches | |
Focusrite Scarlett Solo | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $107.99 £89.00 | Best selling, Good build quality with steel | Abelton Live Lite/ Pro Tools First/ Focusrite Collective | 1.1 pounds | 3.77 x 5.65 x 1.71 inches | |
Steinberg UR 12 | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $109.99 £164.33 | Nice build quality, Durable | Cubase AI | 1.87 pounds | 9.21 x 8.07 x 4.13 inches | |
Presonus Audiobox USB 96 | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $99.95 £72.00 | 2 microphones inputs, midi in/out | Studio One DAW/ Studio Magic Pack/ Analog Lite | 2.01 pounds | 1.75 x 5.5 x 5.5 inches | |
Midiplus Audio Interface (Studio 2) | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $97.74 £89.05 | Good bass, Durable | - | 13.4 ounces | 7.36 x 5.31 x 1.89 inches | |
Tascam US-1x2 | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $69.99 £86.95 | 2 line inputs in back,No any nob for mixing to detect sound | Cubase LE | 2 pounds | 8 x 3 x 7 inches | |
Behringer U-PHORIA UM2 2x2 USB Audio Interface and Accessory Bundle | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $79.99 £31.30 | Can record only upto 48 kHz | Waveform DAW / Behringer plugins | 3.82 pounds (package) | 12.01 x 10.63 x 6.85 inches (package) | |
M-Audio AIR|HUB - USB Audio Interface | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $69.00 £69.00 | Nice sound indicating meters, Good build quality | Ableton Live Lite/ Pro Tools First / Avid Effects/ Air Plugins | 1.98 pounds | 4.2 x 3.96 x 2.52 inches | |
Moukey USB 3.0 Audio Interface | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $68.98 £47.99 | Heavy bass, high pitched | - | 1.85 pounds | 7.4 x 6.89 x 2.76 inches | |
Miditech Audiolink III | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $59.00 £55.10 | Fair price for the quality | - | 1.14 pounds | 6.81 x 4.25 x 1.97 inches |
Let's Take the Best Premium Audio Interfaces (Between 182 - 649 USD)
Image | Name | Price By Country | Approximate Price | Comment | Include Softwear | Weight | Dimensions |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MOTU UltraLite AVB Audio Interface | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $649.00 £535.00 | DSP mixing, Wi-Fi control, AVB audio networking | - | 2.2 pounds | 11.42 x 7.48 x 3.54 inches | |
Universal Audio Arrow Thunderbolt 3 Audio Interface | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $499 £484.59 | Recording upto 24-bit / 192 kHz | LUNA Recording System, UAD plug-ins | 2 pounds | 10 x 8 x 4 inches | |
Focusrite Clarett 2Pre USB 10-In/4-Out Audio Interface | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $439.99 £299.00 | Best selling Durable | XLN Audio, Focusrite, Softube, Ableton and Loopmasters | 3.11 pounds | 6.34 x 8.27 x 2.17 inches | |
AXE I/O SOLO | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $249.99 £357.70 | Record upto 24-bit, 192 kHz | - | 3.19 pounds | 7.67 x 7.67 x 1.7 inches | |
midiplus Studio 4 Audio Interface | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $198 £173.71 | Durable | - | 2.25 pounds | 10.5 x 6.4 x 3.2 inches | |
M-Audio AIR 192|4 | Amazon USA Amazon UK | $196.20 £95.00 | lowest round trip latency (2.59ms). Upto 24bit/192kHz recording | ProTools First, Ableton Live Lite, Eleven Lite, Avid FX Collection & Touch Loops content, Creative FX Collection, Xpand2, Mini Grand, Vacuum & BOOM | 1.76 pounds | 8.04 x 6 x 2.76 inches |