Best Audio interface

Audio interfaces are designed for use in the professional or semi-professional area and for high demands on sound quality and miscibility of audio signals. They usually contain flexible drivers, high-quality converters and a large number of connection options, whereby the number of audio inputs is usually higher than that of the outputs. Several external audio sources or audio output devices can be connected and operated simultaneously. With the help of the interfaces, sound signals can be recorded, processed, transformed, mixed and output.

In general, a distinction is made between internal and external devices. Internal audio interfaces installed in the PC are designed for direct connection to the PCI or PCI Express bus. However, most devices, especially in the high-quality segment, are external audio interfaces in their own housings. Data transfer to/from the PC or notebook/netbook is via standard ports such as USB, Firewire, PCMCIA- / PC-Card, and ExpressCard. Solutions with a Firewire connection are becoming more and more popular because this interface is suitable for large data volumes with good transmission stability. There are also Thunderbold connections to the computer. But they are rather an exception.

For peripheral devices such as keyboards, guitars, microphones, headphones and speakers, analog and digital connection ports are available. The latter are mainly found in professional equipment. Frequently encountered interfaces are for example:

– S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface)Interface specification for both electrical and optical transmission of digitized multi-channel audio signals.

– ADAT (Alesis Digital Audio Tape)Originally designed for magnetic tape recording, ADAT is now the standard in small and medium-sized recording studios for transmitting digitized audio signals over fiber optic cables.

– AES/EBU (Audio Engineering Society/European Broadcasting Union) is a specification for interfaces for the transmission of digital audio signals in stereo, dual-channel or mono technology.
– MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)This interface is an industry standard for clocking musical control information. Main application is the connection of keyboards and synthesizers, a connection of other musical instruments is generally also possible, e.g. electric guitars, but is an exception.

The designs of the audio interfaces are diverse and advantageous or disadvantageous for different applications. Stationary devices are available in 19 inch dimensions for installation in a corresponding rack. Other devices are to be operated stationary in a box or box-like housing, which is also portable. Some interfaces have rotary potentiometers on the front and a display for level metering. In addition, there are also hybrid interface mixer designs that offer the advantage of often having multiple interfaces in a single enclosure. Similar can also be realized with single devices, since many interfaces are cascadable.

Some audio interfaces have their own processor and a hard disk integrated in their housing. For some devices stand-alone mixing is possible. If the number of input/output channels is not sufficient, the possibility of cascading can be used with many devices to expand the number of channels with several interfaces. With such a setup, however, you should first check whether the audio program on the PC is compatible, which is not always the case. In general, before purchasing an audio interface, you should also check whether the desired combination of interface, PC chipset, operating system and audio software is executable. Forum pages of the manufacturers often give information. Furthermore, you should pay attention to the required version of the frequently used ASIO driver (Audio Stream Input/Output).