I don't talk about it much but I live with an incurable illness that's forced me to rely on my RU-vid channel as my only source of income to survive. That said PLEASE consider using my links in the description - it not only helps the channel but helps keep my life afloat. BIG THANK YOU to those that do.
@@royalt7503 nooooo😭 terrible there’s cheaper interfaces even better but I still wouldn’t grab those spend about 200$ for the mix quality everything stems from your interface
You need to upgrade seriously the um2 gives the worst gain it’s never going to get you the good mix now if that’s for you to learn how to use it ok but when you become atleast a mid level engineer you should atleast have a focusrite
@@BabyslabzFocusrites are absolute trash. I started off on a um2 and decided to upgrade to a focusrite because my um2 was god awful, in the end i returned the focusrite and went back to the Behringer because, while it is bad it's at least usable unlike the scarletts.
Great video. Today I had to buy a new audio interface, because my old 10 year old (bought used) onyx blackjack died. After about 30min research I picked up SSL2 in nearby guitar store. It sounds great out of the box, and includes fancy emulation of ssl's 4k "harmonic distortion circuit" (I say emulation because I am almost positive that this thing dont have any analog circuit, and just have some digital processing). Recorded short demo, mixed it, got same sound as with my old interface (which is fine with me at my current level). Recorded same demo with "harmonic distortion", mixed, ended up with lighter compreasion, lighter saturstion and had to drop the presence... Which brought me full circle to the same sound as my old blackjack.
I think getting a decent audio interface and a decent mic preamp will make audio quality better. I'm using Motu M4 pairing with the Art Pro MPA II. The audio quality gets better. If you have the money you can go for an expensive preamp rather than spending way too much on an audio interface.
I switch to all Universal Audio interfaces in my studio; an older silver face Apollo 8 and Apollo x8 on Windows 10/11 PC's using Thunderbolt. They key is to find a motherboard that natively supports Thunderbolt - NOT as an add-on card, but integrated on the motherboard. I chose the MSI MEG ACE Z690 series motherboard for all of my studio PC's and I haven't had a single issue.
By the way, I just want to make a point re UAD devices, as I have TONS of experience with them, as until a few months back, I used a maxed thunderbolt chain of 3 Apollo 8 and 3 satellites. 6 devices on 1 thunderbolt port, for years. But even though I used Windows, I had an iMac Pro. Yes, I used an iMac Pro for my Windows machine. Apple had done something where it all just worked, with really low DPC latency also (lower than I have ever seen, amazing), and I could run all 6 devices at the lowest buffer at ALL times to maxing out my DAW (Pro Tools and Nuendo) without a single crackle or pop. I am talking about record armed tracks being monitored through DAW so they were really at 32 native buffer. The issue is with MME drivers on PC... If you use a UAD on PC, make sure you have a secondary cheap gaming card if you want something for RU-vid, Vid streaming, etc. That will solve that. Secondly, thunderbolt 4 has broken it on PC, but the thunderbolt 3 option card or the new X interface does fix that. UA do not offer nearly enough analog ins for the price, and there should be 16 channels of ADAT, not 8, but they are not bad interfaces, far from it. And yes, this includes windows. You just need the right motherboard, and it will work amazingly well in your DAW. But what most people tend to do, is just set it at 128 buffer and forget it. What this does, is give you an output latency of 3.5ms at 48K, which is fast enough to enjoy playing any VI with a keyboard, and really fast at higher sample rates. Then, you actually monitor your external inputs through the Apollo Mixer with DSP plugins. This is how you do it if you want the best stability and performance for most PCs. I even did it this way when I used Logic on Mac for my old projects (no longer own any Mac) as it was a perfect compromise. But as said, I did also use it at the lowest buffer and bypass the DSP entirely and it worked great. So.... I can't agree with being against UAD overall, if one can afford it and has a modern computer, the thunderbolt 3 line should work on modern PC's. Peace.
Agreed! UA thunderbolt interface gave me so much grief for three painful days trying to make it work on my Windows PC with Thunderbolt, that I finally gave up and sent it back! I ended up with a PreSonus Quantum thunderbolt interface with minimin setup and within an hour of opening the box and marrying it up to my DAW, I was hitting the ground running.
I Used those old cassette-based recorders as well. SO easy and straight forward. Literally plug-and-play. Getting into PC-based recording has been a long, arduous and confusing journey - largely thanks to constant changes and "upgrades" in connectivity and computer RAM. I've had a Firewire interface now for many years that works perfect. Except good luck getting any new devices that have firewire connections. So now I've had a MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 4 for nearly 2 years, and there is not a single interface (that I've found) that uses that. There are a few Thunderbolt 3 interfaces and a slew of USB-C interfaces (which are designed with iOS users in mind). I would really rather just go back to the straightforward simplicity of those older systems.
Those USBC interfaces should work with your Thunderbolt ports. As a rule of thumb I always make sure I have at least 16 GB RAM (although I use 32 since I edit 4K video). If you just want to move away from computer recording in general they still make digital portastudios.
Im on PC and have had a Motu M2 the same month they were released. The preamps are great, also a very clear and consistent sound for mixing without any coloration.
Yeah but the 2021 version has been moved to China to save money now all you get pops clicks and whistles plus the Lcd screen creates unnecessary noise.
@@sikwitit773 That's too bad, because the original unit is awesome. I know/read a few folks had some issues in the beginning, I was lucky enough to not be one of them. The zero latency is the real deal!
Good point about the constant hardware upgrade cycle. I was doing that quite a few years, but finally settled on an RME PCIe interface about a decade ago. The Windows drivers have always been excellent and you can't really beat the latency performance for those rare occasions you need ultra-low latency. Thanks.
Actually you can beat the latency performance. The Presonus Quantum 2626 is the World's Fastest. If you really care about the lowest latency possible use ASIO rather than Core Audio. 🙂
In case you didn't get it the first time around, all things being equal, Windows has BETTER ultra low latency performance than MacOS. Check out the extensive test demonstrating this on DAWBENCH. 🙂
The reason for this is how each operating system "calls" for each block of samples. Steinberg's implementation is more efficient compared to Apple's, but Apple refuses to support ASIO.
If you want perhaps one of the best audio interfaces quality and driver wise, RME is the way to go. The best drivers bar none of all audio devices on mac and windows, and their quality is insane. They are a bit pricier than some other more popular options.. but well worth the extra spend for what you get.
I love my neve 88m i even took it on tour with me and it was great for live daw performances with autotune vocals and fxs . Routed from my neve to the venues sound engineer. The monitoring switch between mono, daw (the one i used for tour), stereo mix monitoring .
Stay away from Focusrite 3gen if you got a Windows PC - the driver disables the computers gain boost, and when recording the condensor mic (so should be way better sound than dynamic!) at max gain without clipping (sound distortion) the driver "claims" i am at -12 dB, peaks at 5 dB, while the actual level going into the DAW (i tried both Ableton and Cubase) is a whisper of -35 dB, peaks at -23 dB. The response from Focusrite is " it is good not to record too loud" .🙄 I would say it is nice to hear what you have recorded. I will now return that very pretty red box, and try a SSL2+. And if that will have similar issues, I will invest and get a mid-level interface around 700€. People tell me "just get a preamp!" which costs 1000 € minimum! If I put that together with the price of a crap interface, I can spend 1200€ and get an almost pro level one. Why should the amateurs be required to know twice as much about EQ, compressing, gain staging and mixing than the pro's, just because they have to make up for all their crap equipment? Saying "it's not important what stuff you have, it's the skill that counts" is the BS line of the century. You can actually HEAR the quality of the gear, and the sound of crap stuff can never compete with pro production. No matter how good you sing, if you have to distort it to be heard, you will finally sound like crap. I know Whitney Houston recorded on Shure sm7b - imagine trying that with Focusrite amps and whisper gain? She would give up singing from shear frustration 😂 In my humble and annoyed opinion.
I have been using an Antelope Audio Zen Go for a couple of years now on a PC and and am totally satisfied with the product. Sound quality is truly amazing. They are using state of the art preamps and dacs. I am also using the bunch of plugins from Antelope Audio that came with the Zen Go and bought additional ones from them. They all work flawlessly. Also bought plugins from Spitfire Audio, Native, Arturia and many others and everything works fine! Shortly after purchase my system had a few hiccups so I had to contact Antelope customer service. They replied quickly and took care of me quickly as well. I use Ableton Lite for a DAW. No compatibility issues. The headphone preamp in the Zen Go has plenty of gain and no noise. With this modest unit I can get incredible sound when I play my recordings on my nearly $40,000 hi-fi system, on par with what I can get playing CD's or music coming from my NAS and streamer. I record in 24 bits 96Khz and I am very impressed by the sound quality. So far reliability and customer support have both been excellent. In fact I partially based my puchase decision on the excellent review done by... Jacob Dark a few years ago! There seems to be a consensus about Universal Audio units having problems with PC's. So I decided to stay away from them. At the end I was debating between buying a RME Babyface or a Zen Go and decided to go with Antelope Audio Zen Go because of the bunch of plugins included with the unit Personnally I am happy with my purchase and do not intend to replace it.
I'm super glad it's working out for you and you're happy with it, experiences will differ. Antelopes hardware is spot on, really good stuff but I was left with a bitter taste after software glitches, intermittent connectivity issues with their servers that required constant reboots, enough to make me not want to deal with interfaces that rely on software too much. I'd be totally in if they came out with a line that didn't require the server connections to work.
Talent trumps everything. Paul McCartney recorded his first solo album on a Studer four-track tape recorder, without a mixing desk or VU-meters showing recording levels.
UAD is amazing , the apollos are awesome !! even if you buy an old one you will get better pricing then the crazy new price range.Amazing preamps, great dsp and considering how heavy they are to the CPU on Spark i love that i have extra 4 cores for plugins, Zero latency and all. I agree its horrible for PC but its awesome on MAC . And finally yes the Antelope is a great hardware terrible software solution
@@Mope333 yes but you keep them for life in any updates i had an old card and all my plugins work in the new one as well as in the new spark and they are worth every penny
First off I gotta say shout out to the Eagles man, they played a very good game on Sunday. Secondly thank you for this video it was very informative for new home studio users. Not mad at the UA comment and I can see why you would not recommend that to some one just starting out. I myself have spent years recording on anything that would play back lol. Stressing the talent first is so important. I now run out board gear with a x6 and twin x but that's me personally. My vocal chain is entirely analog now and I mix in the box using mostly UA plug ins. I love videos like this that really help people starting out! got my sub!
The logic you give for not upgrading your audio interface every 5 minutes (sometimes sooner!!!) is why I am still rocking a 2017 vintage Lenovo Yoga 920 laptop. It is still running fine. Are there newer laptops? Sure. Do they have any advantages over mine (i7, 16gb, 512gb SSD and a great screen)? Not any worth the nearly $2000 I'd be spending to get them. If you don't chase shiny stuff you will keep more coin in your pocket... Great video.
I love my UAD Apollo X Twin. Even though today’s computers are powerful enough to run many amp sims with virtually no latency, I prefer to use the UA DSP plugins on the device.
I agree. Using the Console when shaping your sounds before recording or just fooling around being creative is a much more pleasant experience than using the DAW. My Apollos has been some of my absolute best investments in terms of audio equipment.
TASCAM 16x08 here. Unassuming, made for live band recording but rock solid in the studio, great clean preamps and has DSP and a mixer (compressor, EQ, Volume, Phase). The only thing is that its ASIO while good, has a bug and increases the latency so I use ASIO4all and have zero issues.
@@JacobDarkOfficial I dont like their infinite volume knob it is not practical compared to the volume knob of the id24. I wonder how the audio is too for the outputs cause i didnt like the id14 mk2 output sound it was inferior to the id22. Im interested as well by the new ssl 12.
@@LaidbackSoundsSo the id14 mkii sound quality doesn't match up to the ID22? Because I see a id22 and it's even cheaper than id14 mkii and Id rather get that
If you don't need DSP, there are heaps of good options. The Audient Evo 4, SSL 2 and Motu M2 are all excellent at affordable prices. If you need DSP on a budget, the Presonus Revelator IO24 is decent. Anything better will cost you significantly more and often comes with additional complications (Zen Go) and Apollo (on windows).
My SSL2 is a piece of garbage ... That interface is all gimmick but poorly made .. The hype is crazy over those SSLs and it's completely unwarranted ... mine buzzes, the buttons are fuzzy and is pretty much unusable although it sounded great the first month. People should stay away from that model ... they're junk.
@@TheHalfmanofOz I've talked to more than a few people who've experienced the same sort of thing. Either that or it just completely stopped working ... If you put your hands on one, you'll see what I'm talking about. People talk about how well made they are, but they're just light weight cheap plastic .. Mine sounded great the first month .. I noticed a drastic price drop on it at Sweetwater .. I'm thinking these issues might have something to do with it. Maybe I got a dud .. but who knows? I'm going with the Focusrite Clarett .. hope it works better. I can't wait to throw the SSL2 in the trash.
The Revelator looks amazing on paper for the price. I honestly didn't understand how they could make it so cheap.. until I tried one. Horrible experience. They could have made it three times the price and it could be a really attractive product.
At the time of this message and recording. I do believe UAD will come out with a new Apollo updated version of their Apollo's. NAMM this up coming spring. They have their youtube page about transfering licences with comment disabled. I just bought the UAD Apollo Twin X and to be honest for my MBP, I am still going to be keep it. It sounds amazing. I don't think it's worth it unless they give out unlimited DSP/plugins for a much much lower price. I agree with you on the Antelope Audio. I believe it is one of the reasons why Sweetwater dropped working/selling for them. There were just too many issues and it sucks because they sound amazing. This could be said the same for someone who just bought M1 Pro or Max MBP and then M2 came out. It's still going to be really good. I know I plan on keeping mine for at least over 4 years.
Its correct that you dont need to spend more on IO's than you actually use. For home users, which usually are either guitar or keyboard players making songs, wont need more than like two Hi-z inputs or two mic preamps for an audio interface. Only need more if youre going to record more ppl at the same time, or if youre drummer that want more mic pre's. But about any modern audio interface will do with not more than two mic/hi-z/line inputs. Like, the SSL, Audient, RME, Steinberg, etc. So dont spend more than a few 100 bucks on it. Then get a good DAW that has many good stock plugins, like Cubase 12 Pro and a good headphone like Sennheiser HD 600. Then a few good mics for recording vocal, guitar, etc. Rest you put on instruments and nice plugins. Try to stay in the box so no hazzle with outboards, cables, bad recall, etc. If you play/sing good, make good songs and learn the craft of recording/mixing, you can still create awesome music with all this Ive mentioned. Get a band though, its more fun rehearsing and playing live than just having a home studio, although thats pretty amazing too!
This may sound pretty obvious, but its the Marketing & Hype the manufacturers of these devices that get people too hung-up on the minuscule differences and get blown out of all proportion! Whats important is that a particular device meets all of your needs and is going to last a long time - and you have also done what you can to minimize or eliminate Bad acoustics in your studio environment! I went with a Minifuse from Arturia, because it checked all the boxes for my particular needs: I was getting tired of the silly & cumbersome Breakout Cable (for hooking up Monitors & Mics to it) fom my previous Duet and the Clicks & Pops it kept outputting to my speakers, so I knew I needed a device that had the sockets housed into the unit body for more robustness and to keep everything tidier… the Minifuse is completely pop & click-free when putting my Mac to Sleep & Waking it up! As an added bonus (that swung it for me) was/is the fact that its the ONLY audio Interface I know of that has a USB Hub built right in to it, because I was fast running out of ports for my everyday devices.
Have a Scarlett 2i2 2nd gen that I've had for a few years and it still runs like a champ. Now I just need some better monitors as my Mackie 3s are starting to wear out.
I don't think (and hope not) that DSP is going away anytime soon. While it's perhaps not needed that much in the mixing stage these days (although I've had good use of it despite having an M1 Pro), it still absolutely rocks when recording.
Nice one really glad you brought up this subject and people thinking if they buy the newer, more expensive interfaces with slight technical specification improvements will make their recordings, tracks and mixes much better. As you say if you don’t have the knowledge and skills in sound engineering and production, good, catchy, well written songs and good creativity etc, then your recordings will sound just as crap. Myself having good recording, engineering, production, technical, musicianship, songwriting, creative skills that I’ve worked on developing and years of experience is the biggest primary contributing factor in producing a great track, and knowing your gear, what is achievable with the gear you have is for me the telling factor. I stopped buying and upgrading a lot of gear a few years ago and realising the gear I have although a bit older is more than adequate for 99% of the recording & productions I do, and I’m a few cases I’ve actually gone back to basics saving me a shit load of cash and getting just a decent really good sounding tunes. Thanks for a good, enjoyable, very true and relevant points in a great video. Cheers Steve @thedeadxtras
Advice is solid. I think you should just buy what is best for your budget. I bought the RME Babyface Pro FS with an MKH 416 and called it a day. No more interface or mic shopping, just cut to the chase. It's better than anything above the entry tier and I know there is diminishing returns pushing beyond that. Like you said, the deal is to be creative and do awesome stuff. That is what the gear should allow you to do. I owned an Audient iD14 mkii and to me, that interface is 10/10 at it's price point. Being 100% real, only reason I moved off Audient is because I wanted better latency for input monitoring. I owned a bunch of interfaces and at the $300 price point, the iD14 mkii is unbelievable. Full marks.
@@rylandweet7750 the biggest difference comes when you have to push the pres. When you're using a condenser (keep in mind, I'm using an MKH 416 that doesn't require a ton of gain), almost every interface is going to sound good. It's when you get a dynamic that needs to be pushed, you see other pres start to fall off a bit. The RME seems to be able to push anything without an issue even at max gain without a real difference in sound. It's flat at low gain, medium gain or high gain. The Audient can do it too, but it's not perfectly flat. It's mostly flat. In it's price range, it's perfectly acceptable flat. We are talking a half DB here and there at most. Plus, the headphone amps on the Audient are really good. They're louder than RME that's for sure (have more power), but the RME sounds more detailed. Trust me, there are definitely diminishing returns on performance going from Audient to RME. Where there is NOT diminishing returns is latency, the RME cut the latency in more than half from the Audient. That's is what made me decide to make the switch, not the preamps. If you're just taking a mic, recording and doing work in post you'll never need anything more than the Audient id14mkii. I hope that answers your question.
Great video brother! I recommeded I've never had any problems with my apollo twin x on windows ! Awesome! I don't know why ppl talked sh*t about the thunderbolt connection it's better than regular usb.
I still went with the Antelope. I am on Windows and it's the only one with solid printable DSP effects. I will keep my iD14 mk1 for the extra inputs tho. Those preamps still sound great. But I appreciate the honesty regarding what you said in the past and what you think of it now.
Great vid. I ended up choosing the just released new MOTU 828 USB3 model, which I am *hoping* is just a bigger version of the Ultralite mk5 with more inputs.. It was 1700 AUD vs 1100 AUD for the ultralite, so with 2 extra line inputs, word clock, a colour display (but Ultralite is OLED) and an extra adat port, that feels about right for $600 difference. It should be the same quality. I say this because the Ultralite is the best sound quality vs input count vs price point by far. It's like a jack of all trades and master of them too. It's amazing. Check out Julian's incredible review of the UL MKV. Anyway, I will know tomorrow when the 828 arrives. I really needed those extra analog ins.
Nice!! I was hoping to get one in for review but haven't heard back from MOTU so don't think it's gonna happen. Either way that 828 should serve you well.
@@JacobDarkOfficial Doorbell literally just rang so I'll put it through its paces re latency/performance etc and let you know in a couple of days if still interested.
Well , well ... Looks like I'm one of the few who had no problem with Thunderbolt and UAD apollo X on PC. Well, it s true , I had calculated the PC config for this interface .. Lol Besides that, for me it was their very expensive plugins that made me leave them and the aging Vst 2 system as well as its weak dsp chips for the price. But she has a good sound, that's for sure. I agree with you: UAD will be releasing new high-end models soon (before the end of the year) my nose tells me so. At that time, I will see if one of this new series interests me. I'm looking for interface with audio at the top and minimum latency, line in (8 or 16) 2 microphones input minimum. I'm thinking of one of the latest RME or Lynx Aurora latest version. Are you talking about M2 chips? It's what ? THANKS
Any particular reason one of the SSL interfaces wasn't on your list? I know you picked the SSL2 over the id14 at one point. Reason I'm asking is I just got an RME Babyface to replace my very old UR44. I'm now feeling like the RME costs a bit much and am thinking of returning it and getting the SSL12. My main concern is reliability and sound.
I been using the Antelope Zengo has worked fine for me. Actually their customer service is very fast. I just had to call once to set up the effects bundle, the recording of that machine is killer !
I love your videos and I need some helping picking an audio interface with a budget of $300. I'm a 3D animator and I was using a Motu m4, but It has too much "drop outs." The interface I want has to have at least 2 XLR inputs for mics, Analog Outputs: 2 x Stereo (RCA), 2 x 1/4"(for my studio monitors), 1 x 1/4" (Headphones Out). The main use is running a lot of 3D software like Unreal Engine 5, and I want to record myself with zero "drop outs" from all of the running programs. Thank you so much. :)
I'm choosing by privacy policy mostly. Here's one I won't get... Ableton live... User generated data legally can mean any music you create they can collect. I'm no lawyer , but I know it "can" mean this. Policy::: 2. Ableton Account User, Ableton Product Customer::: (ii) The processed data are IP address, name and contact data, user name, language settings, data of the registration of the Ableton account, account events, communication data and usage data, content preferences, user generated data.
Thanks for the video, Jacob. Is it not true that the Audient interface relies on software to fully utilise its advertised features? I'm thinking of pulling the trigger as a complete newbie, but reliance on software gives me pause, given that the iD14 has already been out for quite some time now.
I'm sure it's a fantastic interface as the SSL2 was already good and will be more than good enough to get the job done. If you decide to order I'd super appreciate you using my Sweetwater link
By the logic of " no need for the top of the line newest thing " I bought a cheap interface since I only need it for streaming not music making. Only to learn it's a ticking time bomb as it will brake from just little use. So now I'm tempted to save up and buy a somewhat expansive interface I don't need . Just so I can be sure that it will last a while .
@@Fourhoursleep Ah yea I would've advised against anything M Audio, if you don't want to spend a lot and just need the basics grab a Focusrite Scarlet and call it a day
I totally agree with your opinion on audio interfaces. I bought the zen go synergy interface as an upgrade from an older Yamaha Audiogram 6, and found myself going back to the Yamaha interface because of the hiss via the type-c cord they shipped with the interface. I really wasn't impressed with the Antelope interface at all. I think if you find something that works, stick with it, because there will always be a new shiny object dangled in front of you promising to be the next best thing.
@@harpoleon6806 More like an electronic interference sound, like it needed to be grounded. Either way, I got rid of it. Wayyyyy overpriced and over hyped
I also bought one. It has been a love hate relationship for over a year now. When it works, it sounds excellent and the included DSP is stellar. However, I have experienced issues with being unable to launch the console on bootup many times, issues after updating, headphones outs being swapped for no reason (I plug into headphone 1 to hear headphone 2 mix) and various other bugs. As you say, once you find one that ticks most of the boxes and is stable, stick with it as you learn how to work around its shortcomings.
Considering how many home studio musicians use a Linux operating system and considering how many interfaces DON'T WORK with Linux, or have problems, someone should make a video on which interfaces work do with Linux, and/or how to get them to work with Linux. (It's a driver/kernel problem, apparently.) Most DAWS work with Linux. The interface manufacturers stubbornly refuse to deal with the problem or pretend it doesn't exist. Now, I would watch that.
Is behringer ADA 8200 worth to plug adat with Audient id 14 mk2 as.. ASP 800 is expensive.. What ill be the difference in sound quality.. Waiting 4 ur reply.. Sir.
Thanks for the well presented video and information. Question - our band needs are relatively simple and we like to do recordings in our jam space. We are looking for a recommendation for a near zero latency affordable interface for patching a guitar into a pc and running plugins such Neural Amp Modeler. Real-time modeling that is very low or zero latency is what we are shooting for. Does either the iD14 MKII or the MOTU perform well from that perspective? Would we be better served by something like the Focusrite 4i4 3rd gen? Also curious about products such as the Axe I/O which seems really tailored toward guitarists. Appreciate your thoughts. regards, Craig
Tried the Antelope line and sent it back hella quick cuz software was bugged. My Audient AudioFuse Studio is killin - which I picked up (partially based on your review). I also stared w/ Antelope based on your review - so I appreciate you owning the early praise and change of opinion. Keep killin it JD
I've been running my Scarlett 18i8 3rd gen without an issue. Lot's of in's and out's, realible and built solide. Focusrite is a steady unit with an easy user friendly software.
Friend thanks for the video... I think this interface has no On/Off button ? and without talking you get any static or white noise ? and This on video setup you were using with Cloudlifter too ?
I own an Apollo. And you left out the MAIN REASON to own an Apollo. And that is NOT the dsp power. It is the Unison technology that allows you for to emulate a large number of preamps and (which is the most important) guitar amps. And you can play these amps without latency. If an audio interface doesn’t have that, it is practically useless for me, because I have a rather good timing which I won’t let be destroyed by playing through latency all the time. The only interface that allows for that also being a lot cheaper is the Steinberg U- C line. But the amps provided aren’t sounding so great and will have to be replaced most of the time.
