# Audient iD14 vs Focusrite 2i2 - your opinion ?



## ManicMiner

Looking to get a Focusrite 2i2 or Audient.

Anyone got any opinions on a comparison between these two?
Uses : voice narration, singing, and possibly sampling instruments like piano, guitar, home studio.

Also, I know Scarlett 2i2 comes down a lot on Black Friday sale, to about $110 I think, - _does the Audient come down as well ?_

I've seen a couple of YT videos on a comparison but there seems to be not a huge difference in recording quality. Just wanting to see if you guys have an opinion.


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## MarcelM

audient wins. very easy decision! better ad/da.


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## Lassi Tani

Loving Audient. I had focusrite, but Audient wins easily.


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## Mornats

How does the Audient compare with Focusrite when it comes to latency? I have a Forte which had no further support from Focusrite any more so may need to change it at some point.


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## ManicMiner

Mornats said:


> How does the Audient compare with Focusrite when it comes to latency? I have a Forte which had no further support from Focusrite any more so may need to change it at some point.


Good point. I think the Focusrite has its own ASIO drivers. I am assuming Audient has its own ASIO drivers too, and is good with latency.
And does Audient ever go on sale , e.g. Black Friday? Focusrite comes down about 30% in price.


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## Morning Coffee

My opinion only as I have not used either. I almost bought an Audient ID22, because it has inserts for analog gear, but the ID14 is a bit more scaled down. Ended up buying a Tascam UH7000 instead.

Things I like about the ID14 over the Focusrite 2I2.

1.The Audient microphone preamp designs are supposed to be the same ones as used in their mixing consoles.

2. I like the layout of the ID14 better, it looks more solid and less fiddly to handle when compared to the Focusrite. E.g the microphone gain knobs on the Audient look bigger and easier to handle, you get a better LED level metre display, which gives you a more accurate idea of what is happening. But what I really liked is the scroll wheel function which could be used for many things I'd imagine, like zooming in and out on your DAW screen, controlling plugins etc (The ID22 did not have this feature unfortunately). It also has dedicated buttons for speaker, headphone and scroll wheel function.

3. The ID14 has optical input, incase you ever need to expand.

I still like the Focusrite brand though, especially their flagship Clarett models, but I don't have thunderbolt. The Red colour is nice too!


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## MarcelM

latency is a bit worse with the audient, but it got better with latest drivers. go for the audient.

the tascam 7000 has between the same converters than the audient id22, but i liked it also a bit better. lateny wise the tascam was bad for me.

if you can get a cheap focusrite forte, then go for that piece. it has same converters than the clarett series and beats the audient.


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## kitekrazy

Here is a nice perk about Focusrite.

_Access to Focusrite's Plug-in Collective, with exclusive offers from Nugen Audio, Exponential Audio, Fabfilter, D16 Group, Flux, Positive Grid, Sound Radix, Eventide, iZotope, and more
_
You do get some nice free stuff every month.


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## ManicMiner

I see the Audient ID14 on Ebay for about $130, pre-owned of course.


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## Mornats

The preamps and overall sound quality of my Focusrite Forte is great, I can't fault it for that. My only concern really is they as it's discontinued there won't be any driver optimisation. They've told me they'll do fixes so it doesn't break (or something along those lines) but there won't be any further development of their drivers. 

It's all running fine at the moment but there's always a worry it won't! So I keep my ear to the ground about potential replacements so I'm not having to make a snap decision under pressure.

The Focusrite plugin collective is superb. You get an Addictive Keys piano for starters.


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## sostenuto

fwiw __ Scarlett 3rd Gen. Just rcvd e-mail.

https://focusrite.com/scarlett

Likely purchase to replace (2) older Saffire Pro 14(s). 
Will be going 4i4(s) to retain older MIDI connectors on back.

$230. on Amazon, but delivery is ~1-3 months.


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## Heinigoldstein

My own comparison between the Audient, Focusrite, Steinberg and (I forget no. 4 actually) endet up with buying an ID14. It simply sounded better, at least for my ears.


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## JonesyXL

I’ve had the id14 for a couple of years and no complaints. Also recently tried a scarlett 2i2 briefly, although just with the instrument inputs, and it seems very good value. A couple of things to consider besides the price and quality of the preamps -

id14 - The preamps have considerably more gain, so can better handle low output mics like ribbons.

2i2 - Slightly more versatile input options. You can connect 2 guitars, or 1 guitar and 1 bass etc. at the same time. The id14 can only connect 1. Front facing controls might be an advantage when it comes to where you position the interface.

So it depends to some extent on your recording needs and the mics you’ll be using. If you only plan on using 1 mic, you could get the id4 which is roughly the same price as the scarlet but with the better preamp. Having said that, I think the quality of your mics and the acoustics will affect how much you’re actually going to benefit from more expensive preamps.


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## ManicMiner

JonesyXL said:


> 2i2 - Slightly more versatile input options. You can connect 2 guitars, or 1 guitar and 1 bass etc. at the same time. *The id14 can only connect 1.* Front facing controls might be an advantage when it comes to where you position the interface.


I thought the ID14 had two XLR inputs. So why can't you connect two guitars at once?


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## JonesyXL

ManicMiner said:


> I thought the ID14 had two XLR inputs. So why can't you input two guitars?


Sorry mate, ignore my post. I'm happy to be corrected on this but what I meant was that the id14 has only one dedicated input for _electric guitar_, whereas you can use both inputs on the scarlet 2i2 for this. 

But yes, if you are connecting an electroacoustic via XLR, or an electric via a DI box using XLR, you can use either input on the back of the id14. So you could record simultaneously either one DI guitar and one connected via XLR, or two via XLR.


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## chrisphan

Will the release of gen 3 from Focusrite mean my gen 1 will sooner or later be unsupported? What’s Focusrite’s/ other brands’ history on this?


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## wst3

Audient!

I use one of their analog to ADAT converters and it sounds great, works great. I like the company, I trust their designs, and I trust them to support their products.

Not a slam against Focusrite, but for a smaller interface I would choose Audient.


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## ManicMiner

I am hearing that a few people have had USB surge problems and this has led to their Audient unit breaking. The Audient I think comes with an external power supply as well as the option for it to rely solely on USB power.

As far as I am aware a USB surge is when the unit is asking for more power than the USB port can supply(?)

So I am wondering if employing the external power will mean that the Audient is less likely to surge since its not relying on USB power?


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## Morning Coffee

When I was in the market for an interface I remember reading that the smaller Audient ID4 could use USB power exclusively because it had lower grade converters or perhaps because it has one input channel only, or something like that, can't remember.

However, the ID14 is slightly different.
"the iD14 will work on bus power; however, Audient say that USB can’t provide enough power to maintain the iD14’s sound quality while also powering mics, so if you want to engage phantom power, you have to use the supplied DC adaptor."

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/audient-id14


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## ManicMiner

Morning Coffee said:


> However, the ID14 is slightly different.
> "the iD14 will work on bus power; however, Audient say that USB can’t provide enough power to maintain the iD14’s sound quality while also powering mics, so if you want to engage phantom power, you have to use the supplied DC adaptor."


So having it plugged into external power will nullify the risk of USB power surge(?)


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## Morning Coffee

ManicMiner said:


> So having it plugged into external power will nullify the risk of USB power surge(?)



I can't answer that question directly, better to contact Audient to be sure.


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## Zoot_Rollo

had the 18i8 gen 1 for a while.

drove me batty with connection issues and drop outs, etc.

went with the id14 for a couple of years.

great audio quality, but latency issues and USB configuration requirements made me jump to an RME Babyface Pro.

considered selling the Audient, but still use the id14 for occasional remote situations.


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## sostenuto

_On lower-cost end_, does NI Komplete Audio 6 deserve a look here ??


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## bill5

ManicMiner said:


> I've seen a couple of YT videos on a comparison but there seems to be not a huge difference in recording quality.


There isn't. The better gain (58 db vs 50) is really the only reason to get the Audient, and that's if cost doesn't really matter to you as it's far more expensive. Well unless the nice big volume knob is a big deal too.


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## vicontrolu

Focusrite 3d gen brings a new low latency drivers, supposedly. Would be nice to hear opinions from users in this regard


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## Chris Hurst

I’ve had the Audient for a few years and the quality for the price is exceptional, in my opinion. 

I’ve only changed it since I’ve now got the Audient Sono instead, which is also great.


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## MaxOctane

In my quest to mic up my amp (with an SM57 and a good ribbon mic) I bought and returned:

- Scarlett (weak preamps, couldn't drive the SM57 worth shit)
- Steinberg UR44 (stronger preamp but not enough)
- Motu AVB mk4 (good preamp but killed the USB driver on my Mac laptop, every time -- no more mouse etc)

And wound up with an Audient id44. Strong preamp, and the DIs for guitar/bass are sweet. Enough inputs and output to do interesting routing.


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## ManicMiner

Regarding the *USB power surge* issue with the Audient, I got a response from their support today:



> *On the iD14 there is over voltage protection on the USB input to protect against potential surges from USB ports.
> Unfortunately on very rare occasions a unit may have problems, which you may see reported online, but this would account for a very small amount of iD14's. Furthermore, we provide a 12 months warranty with all our products for the very rare cases where something goes wrong.
> The unit should be fine using either USB or the 12V power supply.*



It seems rare but there is a risk of surge breaking it, so the reply does not fill me with confidence. 12 Month warranty is actually quite a short time.
Is there anything I can do to prevent surging?


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## AllanH

vicontrolu said:


> Focusrite 3d gen brings a new low latency drivers, supposedly. Would be nice to hear opinions from users in this regard



I am considering getting one of new 3rd Gen Scarletts to try something new. The specs look good and it appears that they have done something about lowering the latency. As I'm only going to hook up a two synths, USB DAW/midi, and no mics, they seem like pretty good value.


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