Blog 11 | Our Favorite Audio Interfaces



August 05, 2024 - Posted by Mash Maximus

Are you in the market for a high-quality audio interface to take your audio production and recording to the next level? Look no further! At Pro Audio LA, we pride ourselves on offering a comprehensive selection of top-notch audio interfaces from industry-leading brands like Lynx, Apogee, Prism, Merging Technologies, Avid, Burl, RME, Metric Halo, and more. Pro Audio LA is your one-stop-shop for all things interface connectivity, so contact us today to discuss your new interface purchase or upgrade. Our in-house cable shop can make you customizable break-in or break-out panels as well as any combination of digital and analog cabling you might need to get your interface all hooked up. Now, back to the post!

In this blog post, we'll explore the best audio interfaces categorized by their connectivity types. We will split up this blog post into 3 parts with the first one being USB. The following is a list of our favorite USB interfaces categorized by connectivity.

Part 1

USB Audio Interfaces:

RME Fireface UFX+
The RME Fireface UFX+ is a versatile USB and Thunderbolt interface featuring a whopping 94 channels of audio and rock-solid performance. With ultra-low latency and stellar preamps, it's a top choice for professionals. RME has been around for decades and their interfaces are often used as testing devices by their competitors, when testing their own products! That should tell you all you need to know about RME's quality and reliability.

Metric Halo ULN-8
The Metric Halo ULN-8 is a portable, high-end USB interface known for its top-tier A/D and D/A converters, ultra-low latency, and extensive I/O options. It also gives you access to Metric Halo's excellent Plug-ins and software that are powered by their own built-in DSP/FGPA processing as well as MH-Link, which is a zero-latency way to connect multiple Metric Halo devices together or to a Gigabit ethernet network. ATMOS monitoring capabilities also come as standard.

Thunderbolt Audio Interfaces:

Cranborne Audio R5008
8 Channel 500-series chassis, analog summing mixer and USB audio interface with expandability via ADAT. What more could you ask for?!? Very few products combine this many useful functions into one chassis. Want to get into analog hardware? Start with the Cranborne Audio R5008 USB. Get some of your favorite or most recommended 500 series modules and start tracking right away! We love it and cant recommend it enough!



Lynx Aurora (n) Series
Lynx's Aurora (n) series audio interfaces offer USB connectivity and exceptional sonic quality, making them perfect for recording and mastering. You can configure your Lynx Aurora with many combinations of inputs and outputs, ranging from 8x8 to 32x32. There are Mic preamp and Digital options including AES and ADAT. Really solid conversion and exceptional reliability make Lynx Aurora's every professionals favorite, including ours - we have a 24x24 TB3 version connected to our SSL 916 AWS console!



Part 2

Network Audio Interfaces (Dante, AVB, Ravenna: There are a number of excellent audio interfaces that connect to your computer via a network, often using the ethernet port, through a network router or a dongle for most recent laptops.

Lets start with Ravenna:

Merging Technologies Horus, Hapi or Anubis
Merging Technologies is a producer of high-end audio interface with Ravenna connectivity, which is an audio networking protocol that uses AES67 encoding and allows its devices to be connected to any computers on the network. Some software installation is required. The Merging Technologies Horus is the flagship, with its modular chassis, precision and flexibility, offering outstanding conversion and routing capabilities. Combine I/O cards to get the channel configuration you want, install the Merging drivers and get incredibly high sample rates and access to audio perfection. The Hapi is the same as the Horus except for its smaller size and consequent lower channel configuration options. The Anubis is a small desktop 4 channel interface that is known for exceptionally high sample rates and conversion quality. A favorite amongst mastering engineers and smaller broadcast controllers. Speaking of which, Ravenna's AES67 complaincy means that their interfaces are a no brainer for live boradcast setups that require connectivity on multiple platforms over numerous networks that can sometimes span huge geographic distances.

Dante interfaces:

Lynx Aurora (n) Dante
Lynx's Aurora's do it all. You can configure your Lynx Aurora with Dante connectivity, if you wish. All its other features remain the same as their USB or Thunderbolt variants.



Burl B80 Mothership
Burl is known for being one of the best sounding converter brands in the professional and audiophile world. The B80 Mothership is their flagship modular converter. Similar to some of the other brands mentioned in this blog post, you can customize the I/O to your liking. Integrate Channel I/O as well as mic preamps and even monitor controlling functions in your B80. Listen to Burls proprietary analog electronics and listen for yourself why Burl interfaces are so coveted.



Ferrofish A32 Pro
The Ferrofish A32 Pro Dante includes everything the A32 Pro has to offer - 32 channels of AD/DA and ADAT conversion, plus 64 channels of MADI I/O along with 64 channels of Dante I/O. That's 386 channels total! In our opinion, it is one of the best value in Dante interfaces.



Focusrite RedNet A16R MKii
You know Focusrite. There is a good chance your first interface was a Focusrite Scarlett or if it wasn't, you knew about it! They have been in the interface game for a very long time and make some of the best interfaces out there, with expansive functionality and channel counts. The RedNet series of interfaces are their flagship products meant for professionals and high-end studio applications.





Sound Grid Audio Interfaces:

Waves SoundGrid Impact Server
Waves SoundGrid technology is a game-changer for real-time processing. The Impact Server provides the power you need to run Waves plugins seamlessly, with ultra-low latency.

DiGiGrid DLS
DiGiGrid DLS offers SoundGrid connectivity for users who demand robust real-time processing and recording capabilities. It seamlessly integrates into your existing studio setup.

Burl B16 BMB4 16ch
Since the Burl B16 and its older sibling, the B80 are modular, you can outfit them both with the BMB4 card which makes them Soundgrid interfaces. Connect to your computer via an ethernet cable or network switch and use Waves Soundgrid as your connectivity and routing protocol. Boasting some of the lowest latency numbers in the field and the ability to host Waves plug-ins in real time, its extremely enticing for the user who wants Burls unparalleled conversion and audio quality while running Waves immense library of plug-ins.

Part 3

Thunderbolt Interfaces:

Most modern computer, especially Apple computers, use Thunderbolt connectors for charging and peripheral connectivity and since we all love our Apple computers, Thunderbolt interfaces are the easiest and fastest options for most of us. This list can be very long but we have limited it to a handful of the ones we think are the best. While there are many incredible Thunderbolt 2 interfaces like the incredible Apogee Symphony MK2, we will limit this list to the newest Thunderbolt 3 options.

Universal Audio Apollo x8P
There isn't much to say about the Apollo series of interfaces as they are ubiquitous in any modern studio or production setup. We love UAD plug-ins and their legendary hardware. The Apollo series of interfaces gives you the perfect number of I/O as well as DSP processing to run those amazing UAD plug-ins. They really are the best all-round interface for Thunderbolt. While the entire range of Apollos are amazing and are designed to suit every user's needs no matter the size of their studio or channel count requirement, we chose to focus on the x8P. It it a 8x8 interface with 8 physical built-in Mic preamps, 8 line inputs and 8 line outputs. It even has 2 dedicated monitor outputs, so you don't have to use any of your line outputs freeing them up to be used with analog summing or going into a patchbay for clever routing.

Focusrite Red 16 Line
Like its Dante partner that we mentioned earlier, this Red 16Line interface boasts Pro Tools HD, Thunderbolt and Dante network connectivity all in one device without any additional option cards. 16 line inputs and 16 line outputs as well as 2 dedicated monitoring outputs, just like the Apollo. It also comes with 2 dedicated mic preamps built-in with 63dB of clean gain. It is simply amazing!



Avid Pro Tools |HDX Thunderbolt 3 MTRX Studio Desktop system
We saved this for the last because you knew it was coming. No list about interfaces would be complete without mentioned Avid at least once. We all use Pro Tools even if we hate it. What better way to get HDX and a nifty 16x16 I/O than from the folks who bring us Pro Tools. Boasting some of the lowest latency figures and most powerful DSP processing, the MTRX studio coupled with the HDX card in a compact desktop mountable chassis is the way to go If you want to stay all within the Avid family. If you already use Pro Tools, you just have to plug in a couple of cable to get up and running. There is a similar rack mountable version as well with a sleek looking rack mountable chassis - if that's your jam.



The world of high-end audio interfaces is vast and exciting, with a multitude of options for various connectivity types. While this is not by any means an exhaustive list, you can hopefully narrow your search for the next interface upgrade by referring to this list. Whether you prefer USB, Thunderbolt, Dante, or Sound Grid, Pro Audio LA has you covered with an array of products from industry-leading brands like Lynx, Apogee, Prism, Merging Technologies, Avid, Burl, RME, Universal Audio and Metric Halo. Choose the interface that best suits your needs and take your audio production to new heights with the exceptional sound quality and performance these interfaces offer. Visit our website to explore the full range of options and find the perfect audio interface for your studio setup. While you are at it, contact us about the complimentary cables we offer with any interface purchase! Your music deserves nothing but the best, and Pro Audio LA is here to help you achieve it!