Audient EVO 16 £399.99 PC MAC

Good value is hard to come by right now, but if you want to tickle your bargain sensors look no further than Audient’s new EVO 16

Following in the footsteps of the two-in two-out EVO 4 and four-in four-out EVO 8, you would expect that EVO 16 offers an eight-in eight-out configuration – in the analogue domain, it does. But it also features two pairs of optical connectors that can connect to SPDIF or ADAT hardware running at up to 96kHz. This means that, with the necessary additional hardware, EVO 16 actually has the ability to handle a total of 24 channels of I/O at 48kHz, or 16 channels at 96kHz, which is pretty impressive at this price point.

All eight of the analogue inputs can take mic or line signals via XLR/Jack combi sockets, and the first two, located on the front panel, can also take hi-z instrument inputs. The remaining input sockets are on the rear of the unit, along with the eight balanced jack outputs, aforementioned digital I/O ports, and a BNC connector for sending Wordclock signals to external hardware. The interface also packs a pair of headphone amps that drive the two independent 6.35mm headphone sockets that are located conveniently on the front of the interface.

The mic preamps included in EVO 16 deliver a clean, balanced and undistorted sound, with punchy mids and a solid bottom-end response. Conversion quality is similarly robust and satisfying, especially considering the price of the interface, although better can be found around this price point if you are willing to sacrifice I/O count.