9 Best Audio Interfaces Under $500 Shootout – Take a Listen!

Your audio interface is the heart of your home studio. Unless you have other expensive outboard mic preamps and converters, it is a major factor in how good your recordings will sound. That’s why it’s critical to have the best-sounding audio interface, even if you don’t have a lot of money to spend. But how can you know which interface to buy? Or which one sounds best to you? Or can you even hear the difference between a $100 and a $500 interface? That’s what we wanted to find out. So, we started by putting together a list of our best and most popular interfaces under $500.

Here are the interfaces we chose:

• Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
• Universal Audio Apollo Solo
• Audient EVO 4
• Mackie Onyx Producer 2-2
• MOTU M4 4×4
• PreSonus AudioBox USB 96
• Solid State Logic SSL2+
• Steinberg UR44C
• Zoom UAC-2

We really wanted to see what differences (if any) we could hear, but we also wanted to give you the chance to hear for yourself what these interfaces under $500 sound like. So, engineer Shawn Dealey and I collected them in Sweetwater Studio A and brought in Nick D’Virgilio, Don Carr, and Jacob Dupre to record vocals, guitars, and grand piano through all these interfaces so you can hear them firsthand. We think the results are very revealing and the differences aren’t subtle. Take a listen to these recordings and see what you think. All the mics and their placement stayed the same, plus the levels were carefully calibrated, so any differences you hear are a result of the differences in preamps and converters.

Singing Voice

For singing voice, we had staff engineer Rachel Leonard set up a RODE NT1-A, and Nick D’Virgilio sang along to a track from his new album Invisible. The mic was patched directly to each interface with no EQ or compression applied to the vocal track, but we added some sweetening using the awesome-sounding Apogee Clearmountain’s Domain plug-in on the included preset for Bryan Adams’s classic recording “Run to You.” There are two clips: The first is Nick singing with the track, and the second is Nick soloed, without the backing tracks.

Sound Clips

Spoken Voice

For podcasters and voice-over artists, the sound of spoken voice is paramount. For this recorded sample, Nick D’Virgilio reads into a Shure SM58 dynamic microphone. Hear it here with no processing.

Sound Clips

Acoustic Guitar

Don Carr performed on a Martin D-18 Authentic 1939 Aged acoustic into a Neumann KM 184 small-diaphragm condenser microphone and a Mojave Audio MA-201fet large-diaphragm condenser microphone, each routed directly to the interface.

Sound Clips

Electric Guitar

Don Carr performed on a Gibson Les Paul Standard ’60s that we recorded into Pro Tools and then re-amped with the Radial SGI Studio Guitar Interface through a Friedman Dirty Shirley 40 head driving a Marshall 1960AX 100-watt 4×12 cabinet with Greenbacks and miked with a Royer R-121 and a Shure SM57 running directly into each interface so that you’ll hear precisely the same performance in each of these clips.

Sound Clips

Grand Piano

For these samples, Jacob Dupre provided us with a MIDI file that we fed to the built-in Disklavier system on Sweetwater’s Yamaha C7 acoustic grand piano so we could mic the piano and have it play the exact performance each time for consistency. Sweetwater Studios also offers this service to customers who create MIDI performances at home and would like to hear them recorded on a real acoustic piano. The piano was miked with two AKG C414 XLII large-diaphragm condenser microphones.

Sound Clips

Click the Download Pro Tools Session button to download the 24/96 Pro Tools session file with high-resolution WAV files.

Audio Interfaces

Now that you’ve listened and decided which interface sounds best to you, here are some of the details and links to the product pages where you can learn more about each one.

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Generation

One of the most popular and affordable interfaces among Sweetwater’s lineup of USB interfaces, the Scarlett 2i2 3rd Generation has proven itself as a dependable and fuss-free interface with just what you need to get started. This 2-in, 2-out interface offers dual mic inputs, dual DI inputs, phantom power, main outs, and a headphone out with a separate volume control. It’s about the easiest interface to set up and operate. Add in the Air control (auditioned separately here so you can hear what it does), and you’ve got a winner.

Universal Audio Apollo Solo

The Universal Audio Apollo Solo USB-C interface for Windows is not only the least expensive entryway into Universal Audio’s fine line of audio products, but it’s also the launching pad into the sonically rich universe of UAD Powered Plug-ins and a host of optional sounds. With two Unison preamps and the digital converters that have made Universal Audio famous, this interface allows you to achieve professional-quality results at entry-level pricing. Featuring dual mic/line inputs along with a DI/instrument input and an informative display with single-knob control, the Apollo Solo will get you started with emulations of classic preamps — accurate plug-in emulations of the finest analog outboard gear of all time, including compressors such as the Teletronix LA-2A and UA 1176LN, EQs such as the renowned Pultec EQP-1A, and amps like the Marshall Plexi and Ampeg SVT-VR.

NOTE: This interface is Windows only and requires USB 3 (not USB 2) to interface with your computer. For Mac users, there is a Thunderbolt 3-equipped Apollo Solo that specs and sounds the same.

Audient EVO 4

The innovative Audient EVO 4 is tiny if space in your workspace is at a premium. The sleek and simple operating surface belies the power within this USB-powered box that offers dual mic inputs, a JFET instrument DI, phantom power, 24-bit/96kHz sampling, and Mac/Windows/iOS compatibility. Add in loopback functionality and the Smartgain automatic level-setting feature, and this minimalist-looking interface offers amazing power and sound at an affordable price.

Mackie Onyx Producer 2-2

The Mackie Onyx Producer 2-2 2-in, 2-out USB 2 interface features Onyx mic preamps and dual hi-Z inputs. Add in 24-bit/192kHz resolution capability and MIDI I/O along with Tracktion T7 recording software and Mackie’s DAW Essentials Collection with EQ, compression, effects, and more, and you’ll have everything you need to start making music or podcasting.

MOTU M4 4×4

The MOTU M4 4×4 USB-C interface offers four inputs and four outputs instead of the typical two in this price range, so you can hook up two mics (or guitar and bass) plus your stereo keyboard all at the same time. The M4 includes MIDI connectivity, 1-touch hardware monitoring, and comprehensive metering for all four inputs and outputs.

PreSonus AudioBox USB 96 – 25th Anniversary Edition

The USB bus-powered PreSonus AudioBox USB 96 offers dual Mic/Inst inputs, MIDI I/O, USB 2.0 connectivity, and Mac/Windows capability. Add in Studio One Artist software, including the Studio Magic plug-in suite and over 6GB of third-party content, and you’ll have what you need to succeed with this very capable interface.

Solid State Logic SSL2+

The Solid State Logic SSL2+ 2-in, 4-out interface comes from one of the industry’s foremost console makers whose decades-long track record for making hits is second to none. SSL brings its expertise and superior circuitry to an interface that will fit on your desk. With the push of a button, you can add the “4K” magic from those consoles to your recordings. We recorded with and without the 4K button engaged so you can hear the difference. It comes bundled with SSL Native and other software.

Steinberg UR44C

The Steinberg UR44C USB-C 3.1 interface offers superlative 32-bit/192kHz sampling and twice as many D-Pre Class A mic inputs (for a total of four) along with dual line inputs for a total of six simultaneously recordable inputs. Including MIDI and Mac/Windows/iOS compatibility and a download of Cubase AI means you’ll be ready to start recording right away.

Zoom UAC-2

The Zoom UAC-2 USB 3.0 2-in, 2-out interface offers dual combo mic/line/instrument inputs and features MIDI I/O. Zoom has become a major player in the portable-recorder industry and now brings that expertise to this desktop interface. All parameters of the lightweight Zoom UAC-2 are controllable via the MixEfx software application.

In Conclusion

I hope you found these sound clips as enlightening as we did. Although I’ve auditioned dozens of interfaces over the years, I’ve never listened to so many interfaces at this price point before. It was a unique opportunity to hear and see exactly what you get and what you’ll hear when you invest in a USB interface under $500. If you decided which you prefer or if these just made you more curious about options in this range, then call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700.

Additional Resources

• Audio Interface Buying Guide
• 2020 Best Audio Interfaces for Your Home Studio
• Best Audio Interfaces for Podcasting
• 7 Considerations When Choosing an Audio Interface
• 3 Signs It’s Time for a New Audio Interface