Founded in the U.K. in 1997, Audient is a well-known manufacturer of both premium and entry level recording interfaces, as well as full-featured large-format recording consoles, and microphone preamps. Recently released, the Audient iD48 is their top-of-the-line 24in / 32out USB-C audio interface. Built around the company’s Class-A analog console mic preamp design, the iD48 offers eight microphone preamps and two high-impedance guitar-type inputs on the front panel, and is intended to be the front end of your favorite DAW.
Audient microphone preamps are known for delivering clean, transparent, and detailed sound, providing an accurate translation of the source signal with minimal coloration and feature 68dB of gain, offering plenty of amplification for various microphones and recording situations. The front panel features monitor functions that indicate this interface is designed to be the master section-Main and ALT speaker selection is available, as are two headphone controls, stereo metering and more.
The rear panel features additional inputs and outputs. The eight microphone input connectors allow either XLR or 1/4” sources to be connected. Two pairs of ADAT optical connections add 16 digital inputs and outputs. Eight balanced analog channel inserts are available via two DB25 connectors. Alternatively, these connectors can be used as eight ADC inputs and eight line outputs.
Controlling the iD48 is Audient’s iD Mixer software. The app defaults to a Mix page with faders for the microphone preamps, and digital inputs. The faders only control monitor level and don’t change the recording mic preamp gain—the gain is accessed through the front panel hardware knobs. The mic inputs feature analog controls that affect recorded audio—available here are a 100 Hz high pass filter, a -10dB pad, a +10dB boost. An ADC (Analog Digital Convertor) path control in this area switches three modes: mic, ADC direct, and mic insert. The first enables the mic direct to the preamp, ADC direct bypasses the mic preamp and is useful to record a line level signal, and mic insert is to record with an external hardware device like an EQ or compressor. The app supports four discrete stereo headphone mixes and controls all of the digital inputs and outputs and monitoring.
The Audient iD48 continues the tradition of high value, transparent and neutral sounding interfaces. It is a professional level interface capable of master recordings and highly recommended. $1,299
