Bought this, used it for a project, didn't touch it for 2 years, and now it's no longer functioning due to a power supply issue. Too much to repair to make sense - it's so disappointing—clearly a design flaw because there is tons of reviews that say the same thing.

This unit is exceptional and got me through several sessions. If you're looking for an option to expand your interface and possibly upgrade your conversion, this is a smart choice. The preamps are exceptional and IMO better than stock RME preamps. They really sound quite good. Very clean with just a smidge of harmonic warmth.
In all honesty, the converters aren't very good, but, they are better most prosumer interfaces converters so your mileage may very. The converters are definitely pro quality, but not as good as RME, BLA or Ferrofish. That said, these options are all substantially more expensive than this. And you could buy a BLA Revolution EXP 8x8 for about a grand and just use the Audient preamps through the superior converter. These preamps really are THAT good.
The feature set is really what made this preamp special to me. The A/D button makes swapping preamps a breeze. This unit is extremely user friendly, and if you use plugins its purpose built for you.
For the price, feature set, and exceptional quality of the class A preamps this unit is an absloute no brainer for someone looking for a higher channel count.

The ASP880 is the worst piece of studio gear I've ever purchased. Except for a brief initial period, it never lived up to the reviews and developed serious internal component issues twice. Two separate power supplies failed, and the most recent failure was the converter board. Given its track record, the cost to repair this unit a second time isn't even close to being worth it. It's now electronic scrap. A smaller Audient preamp I own ALSO had a power supply fail, so I'll never consider Audient equipment again. There are too many high-quality alternatives to consider first.

I bought this unit and was impressed by it, until it failed. Now, I am having all sorts of trouble gettiing it repaired. Audient referred me to a nice company in Los Angeles who informed me that it might cost upwards of 500 dollars to repair the unit. If it fails, you are indeed sunk. To be fair, it lasted about about 7 years. Maybe, I should not be complaining.

I loved it until it broke. It is now a brick when I need it most. It did last 7 years-I did not use it much at first. I wish I had read more reviews. We will see how Audient handles the repair process.

About three years ago I asked my sales engineer Paul Allen what he recommended for my Roland electronic kit which is their highest end kit and I didn't want to go cheap. He recommended the Audient asp 880. At first I was hesitant considering I had a beautiful API board back in the day and hade lots of high end name brand preamps that I was kinda married to. I figured I wanted to stick with those. But decided to take a chance on the Audient asp 880 because in the 23 years I've been working with Paul Allen at sweetwater he has never steered me wrong, guy is a musical genius! Point being here I am 3 years later buying my second one. I didn't even have to think about what 8 channel preamp I wanted. The Audient asp 880 delivers so beautifully crystal clear it just blew me away. My drummer absolutely loves it and whatever analog circuitry being used it gives off that old Neve vibe. Wonderful piece they you can not beat for the price! One day these might not be a brand that you can save a few bucks on relative to competitors because they are that good! We're using this one to mic up a beautiful Pearl Masters series Drum set! If you need an 8 channel pre this will not let you down and has massive headroom.

First one lasted less than a few months. Got a new one. The new one lasted Two years but I only used it once (because of covid). Hooked it up one month out of the Sweetwater's warranty and it didn't work because it wouldn't power up. Sent it in directly to audient. They "fixed it" and I finished the project I was now a month plus behind. Didn't need to use it again until today one month out of Audient's warranty. It still powers up but does not pass the signal out the ADAT 1 interface. Its hooked up the same way it was when I finished the last project.

I strongly recommend staying away from this product as this is the third one I have had. Absolutely bonkers it just sat in my studio rack, nothing plugged in or unplugged, not near another rack device that may have cause a heat source issue. It just died on me. Have a spare 8 pre from presonus, plugged it in and it works fine so its not my main audio interface.

I'm a little concerned after a long session that the Audient gets incredibly hot compared to any of my other preamps, even with ample circulation/above rack space. The pres sound great for the price range, I just can't be so sure about the longevity after researching other users' experience with it bricking after a year or two.

This is a great unit with well designed circuitry that keeps the wallet happy. Used to overflow for extra drum points that exceed my normal point requirements. The DIs are clean and great for re-amping. I picked up this unit at a discount, so I feel pretty decent about the haul. I'd recommend this to anyone needing to add some channels to their rig.

Less .5 stars due to the fact there is no power switch on the unit. Seems like low hanging fruit.

Upgraded to these preamps from a Focusrite Scarlett 8 channel preamp. One problem I had with the focusrite, was that overheads, and snare would sometimes clip even after turning the gain all the way down. With the audient preamps I set the levels and I have a much more consistent result and without clipping. The sound is clean and clear, the features are far beyond what most interfaces provide. It's a step up or two in price but it's 100% worth it. When I have more money to burn, I plan on buying another one.

Great sounding pre-amps! There is definitely not a better value in sound quality for the price. AD/DA conversion is supremely useful.

However, the issue I have had, and sent a unit back for, is the same one I see other people in these reviews having, which is the unit starts blinking and then eventually smoking.

The solution is simple! If your pre-amps and your interface are not clocked properly, this critical error will occur. It's crazy that this happens, but the solution is there. Not sure how this got past their RnD department...

I think Audient should probably address this more thoroughly. Each interface has its own way of dealing with clocking, and I can understand why people think they have a defective unit.

Based on the good reviews I saw here for the most part, I bought one of these. It worked for about 3 years and then conked out. Blinking lights, no audio. Repair quote around $400. From what I hear this is not uncommon.

I have had the ASP 880 for a couple of years now and I would say it is the best value 8 channel pre on the market in terms of both quality and features. ...you get a variable impedance and variable high pass filter on all channels, professional quality preamps, two JFET DIs, and good I/O options.

These are not character preamps. I would describe them as clean and transparent. I have recorded a full drum set, vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar cabinets, mandolin, used the DIs for bass, and gotten good results across the board.

Pros:
- Great value
- Clean, professional sounding preamps
- Variable high pass filter
- Two JFET DIs
- Can double as a digital interface for analog inputs
- Sounds good on almost everything
- Very quiet

Cons:
- So far, I haven't found much use for the variable impedance switch. Variable impedance only matters for dynamic and ribbon mics and based on my tests, the different impedances provide a subtle change in EQ and mic response.
- With only 60db of gain, you may find that some dynamic and ribbon mics lack sufficient gain for certain applications. You may need to supplement with an in-line booster, like a Cloudlifter.
- The preamps are very clean sounding but this may come across as sterile or clinical in certain situations.

Don't get me wrong. i am extremely happy with the ASP 880 but I am now looking to supplement it with some additional character preamps that add a little more color or can be driven harder for some saturation.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my ASP880. I use it for recording acoustic drums (6 microphones at once), and for converting to digital (including from the single-channel Neve preamp that I use for everything else).

The preamps are clean, but not linear - it's like a turbo engine. Nothing happens for a while, and then BAM I went too far with the gain and now I'm clipping. It's tricky to set the levels in the sweet spot, but once everything is set up, it works fine. My other preamps are linear, so this really took some getting used to. For what it's worth, I prefer the sound of the preamps in the Neve over the Audient, but obviously it is only single-channel, so I won't compare them any further.

ADAT functionality was critical for me in my search for an 8-channel preamp. The next step up is 3x the price, so the ASP880 seemed like the best option for up to a thousand dollars. However, this preamp has (in my opinion) a fatal flaw that prevents me from giving it a 5-star review.

Last year, I had a gig (remember those?) and disconnected my vocal microphone and packed up my drum set, etc. The next day as I set everything back up again, I turned on my recording computer and listened to a demo version of a song that I'm working on. I'd heard the warnings about not plugging microphones in to hot power, so after I had everything physically back in its spot, I remembered that I needed to turn off the power before plugging the cables back in. At this point, I smelled something burning, and turned everything off.

Since the ASP880 is always on (no power button), and I normally keep phantom power engaged on the channels that I use with my condenser mics, phantom power was engaged on a channel with no microphone plugged in to it while I was setting up. That blew the channel: now I owned a 7-channel preamp. For context, I have owned an audio interface for over 7 years that has phantom power. I've done this exact same thing before with no issues - I had no idea keeping phantom power on without a mic connected *could* be an issue with a piece of audio gear. However, Audient decided not to put in a safety circuit in the ASP880 to protect the unit from damage. My audio interface *does* have this safety circuit. I assumed at this price point that all serious audio gear did.

Now you might be thinking that I'm a dumb***, and you're probably right, but (1) I'd never heard that I shouldn't do this before, and (2) this never happened with my Steinberg audio interface that has phantom-powered preamps. I realize now that this wasn't the best practice, but the engineer in me is appalled that the unit doesn't protect itself when there isn't a load. Maybe this is standard for all other preamps, but it shouldn't be.

Sweetwater service took good care of me, which I'm very thankful for, but I spent ~$40 to insure it during shipping and went without the preamp for over a month, so this experience soured me on the ASP880. Thankfully, it is repaired now and working fine. Since then, when I have my bandmates or other musicians over, I have to remind them not to unplug any microphones without consulting me first, because the Audient is fragile.

Despite my annoyance, my drum recordings are sounding better than they ever have. This is probably the best 8-channel microphone preamp for the price, and I'm especially happy with the A/D converters.

Very warm sounding preamp with tons of headroom. So easy to get great sounds with this unit. Sounds so good I had to buy two! For recording drums this unit is top notch.

Check this out..

I'm trying to build out my home recording studio. On the recommendation of an engineer friend I buy The 880 through Sweetwater.

I get it in the mail in November, plug it in, hook all my mics into it and turn it on.. after about 10 mins it shuts off never to work again.

Send it back

Get the 2nd unit.. little less than a month later smoke starts coming out of the top with a burning smell and 2 channels stop working.

Send it back

Get the 3rd unit. 5 days or so it starts smoking out of the top.

Send it to audient for repair...

Get it back... turn it on.. 3 days later two channels stop working and it smells like it's about to catch on fire.

Finally sent it back for a refund.

It's not my power.. I have tons of stuff set up in the same room. In fact, after the last one went out I finally plugged my cheaper focusrite interface/preamp back in in it works fine.

This story is true.

I bought this to connect to a WMD Performance Mixer DB25 balanced out for multitracking a eurorack setup. The sound is superb and gives me plenty of gain to work with (typically need 10-16db to get a good recording). The HPFs help remove some of the harder to identify rumble that comes from analog voices too. Only problem is that the unit lasted 2 months before completely dying out of the blue. One day it simply powered off never to power up again, and shortly thereafter I discovered a lot of people having the same problem with a costly repair involved. Luckily it is under warranty for me but if a preamp at this price point isn't going to work more than a year that really is ridiculous.

I picked up the Audient 880 to expand my Roland VS700 to 16 inputs because the Roland VS Expand had too many driver issues. The Audient 880 was easy just a pair of ADAT cables and bam it works! The sound of these mic pre's is amazing particularly on drums. They reach a nice saturation point around 42db which brings out some nice "warmth" and attack. The selectable impedance is very cool lets my mic's take a little more gain for added pre color. A well laid out front panel with dedicated hands on controls. The two 1/4" inputs on the first two channels are super convenient when recording guitars since I don't have to unplug my drum mic's on the back panel. This makes me want more Audient products in the future for yet more and more inputs! Thanks Sweetwater yet again!!

I bought this unit from Sweetwater and use it in my studio on most of my recordings. This unit replaced a pair of Sytek MPX-4Aii 4 channel preamps (with all Burr Brown channels). The Syteks had an amazingly clear sound, but they stripped the natural "color" of the sound, which made for "cold" recordings. The Audient on the other hand does not do that, and it keeps the sound reasonably natural.

I really appreciate the variable impedance on the Audient channels, which significantly alters the sound. For mixing in my studio I do "analog summing" using the RMS Folcrom passive summing box (which needs ~ 40db of gain on its output) and when tracking I run the Folcrom through a pair of the Audient's channels with the impedance switched to Medium. When it comes to mixing I then run the mix through a Rascal Two-V preamp.

The Audient does well on most sounds (like drums), but I don't use it on vox/gtr/bass, which I send into more expensive preamps. I have never used the A/D converter built into the Audient (I use an Apogee AD-16X), so can't comment on that. I would say for the money, the ASP880 is probably the best value out there. If you get one of these and some good "color" preamps, you would have a solid setup for tracking full bands.

This unit sounded pretty good when I first got it, but quit working and it's MADE IN CHINA. To get it repaired you have to send it back to the UK. Very dissapointed and feel cheated because they conveniently left of made in china on the pictures of the back. Now I see why.

This is the second Audient ASP880 preamp I have purchased from Sweetwater. I purchased my first one following a recommendation from my Sweetwater Engineer Nick LaMendola. I was so impressed with the quality, functionality and warmth of this pre amp that I had to have a second one to get 8 more channels. You get a lot for you money with these preamps. If you are still on the fence, checkout Sound on Sound reviews for this preamp. You will not be disappointed. Thanks for the recommendation Nick!

Wanted to expand my apollo 8p to 16 preamps and for the price you can't beat this product. I bought this device primarily for drum tracking. I use my apollo preamps for the drum shells, the audient for cymbals and overheads. It merries nicely with the 8p, no clocking/sample rate issues whatsoever.

I was looking for an 8 channel preamp/converter to expand my Apollo 8 to 16 channels. I have had the Focusrite, Presonus, Motu and several others in the past and was never satisfied with the quality. I wanted something that would be on par with the preamps and conversion of the Apollo and was convinced that it did not exist. I explained what I was looking for to my Sweetwater rep Ryan Sloan and he recommended the Audient ASP880. I could not believe that I had not seen this unit before as I had been all over the Sweetwater website. The price point was a little more than I was wanting to spend but after researching both the ASP880 and Audient I realized that it is a fantastic value for what you get. After getting the ASP880 and using it for the first time I was blown away! The preamps sound amazing and the quality is awesome. I wanted it mostly to record drums and with the high pass filters on every channel it is perfect for that. The only issue I had was with clocking through the ADAT cable with the Apollo. When I connected the word clock to the Apollo everything clocked perfectly. Another awesome feature is that you can just use the preamps separately if you want to use your converters. The preamps in this unit alone are worth the money.

I generally wait about a year to write reviews on products. Iv'e found out you don't know what you've got until about a year or two with it. As far as the ASP880 is concerned the unit sounds great I use it for drums. It has fast transients, its punchy ,tons of headroom and a nice touch of warmth. Thats the up side. Now the downside. The adat door is larger that all adat cables I can found. Which means they don't fit in snug, so if you're in a room like mine where the floor gives we clients stomp their feet you're going to have problems and you have to cycle thru the sample rate bottom several times to get it to lock. Other than that the unit is great.

This is a full featured 8 channel Mic preamp with warm analog sound. I am currently using this preamp to record directly into ProTools via ADAT light pipes through an RME Babyface Pro interface. I am delighted with the quality of sound I am able to record using the ASP880...quite amazing...and at a very competitive price point! Definitely a very nice addition to my Project Studio.

I received my Audient ASP880 (thanks Ryan) and used it two nights in a row to record drum tracks. This is not the first time I have recorded drums - but using the same mic's I always use (not placebo) dang did the mic's sound noticeably better running through the ASP880.

It was easy to set my gains, pads, HPF and the recording was on. Utilizing the Audients ADAT connectors to my I/O and it was seamless.

Only reason I am not giving this a "5" is haven't recorded anything else but drums. However, if the difference of my coming vocal recording is comparable or better (which I'm sure it will be) - I will repost this review with a five.

Enough said - WHAT R U WAITING 4!!!!

The ASP880 was the perfect solution for expanding my number of preamps via ADAT. My main interface is a Focusrite Red4Pre. It has 4 great on board analog preamps and the ability to receive 4 more analog inputs via DB25 connection or 8 new ones if you bypass the Focusrite's 4 preamps to line in mode.

I use a Toslink cable and a word clock cable to link the ASP880 and the Red4Pre. I have tested both protocols of master/slave clocking and am happy with both results. The converters on the ASP880 work well and are very stable and accurate. With my setup, I prefer the Red 4Pre to be the master clock source. The great thing is though - it is easy to toggle and calibrate these adjustments. The front panel of the ASP880 is well laid out and intuitive. There is no menu diving. Settings for all 8 channels are accessible right on the front panel with nice contrasting colors on the buttons to immediately show what is going on.

Recording with the ASP880 has been great. The preamps have an extremely low noise floor, yet they are not 'clinical' sounding. They have a nice sound that can be warm and glued, somewhere in the middle, or bright and punchy. The three settings on the impedance levels for each of the 8 preamps are probably my favorite feature. Being able to quickly test out either the low, mid, or high levels with the flick of a switch is great for being able to audition different tones for microphones, synthesizers, drum machines, digital keyboards, and guitars. I haven't hooked up a full drum set to the ASP 880 yet, but other reviewers have strongly attested to that task being the sole purpose for acquiring these excellent rack-mounted unit.

If you are looking to expand your number of preamps via ADAT, I strongly recommend looking at the Audient ASP880.

Where do I start...

How about here: As the owner of a medium sized professional recording studio & post production facility, I've had a chance to see many pieces of equipment come and go. Over this period of time I've seen all of the following 8 channel pres come and some go: Focusrite ISA828, True Systems Precision 8, Seventh Circle Audio (w/ Neve 1073 clone/modules in all slots), Focusrite Octopre MKII, Millennia HV3D, and the Grace Design 908.

I'm not exaggerating when I say it's my favorite out of all those listed above, with some notable praise for a few of them intact. Specifically, the Precision 8 is neck and neck with the ASP880 - But it's over twice the price. The Millennia also is a great product, but also falls into the pit of being prohibitively expensive - plus it does one thing - super clear - although it does it really well. For the money, the Octopre is also a smashing value at just under $500 and is also a one trick pony - however the quality of the pres are great considering the price, nearly as good as that of the ISA series. They're clean, don't have tons of gain, and might be a little sterile at times. They are great for upping your channel count quickly for little cash. I've tracked some very decent tracks on those pres.

Now, back to my favorite - the ASP880.

The pres are super clear and impart a lovely color at higher gain levels and/or Hi-Z settings; it's the kind of color that stays out of the way and doesn't mud up the mix when stacked - I'd describe it as coloration without sacrificing clarity or bite and is rich with plesant harmonic overtones. At lower gain settings, the preamps are clean and clear - definition for days, never sterile. The JFET DI's sound fantastic and are among the best in my studio for DI. I would readily describe the quality of the preamps themselves as on par with many popular single or dual channel reamps costing in excess of $1000 per channel (or even more).

So the real moment when my head explodes is when I combine the quality of the preamps sound, the versatility, 8 channel count, two great JFET DI's and... yep, you read it right: Burr Brown Op Amp driven Analog to Digital converters... say WHAT?

::Head explodes::

Seriously, go buy one.
I recommend you deal with Sweetwater sales rep Jake Longardner; He's a pro and he will go out of his way to accommodate your requests and needs there at sweetwater. I'd never buy from another. Plus if you're not a fulltime audio pro like me, and want to learn more about the best gear for your next project, Jake knows his stuff front to back! Give him a shout.

Also, do yourself a favor and demo one of these great 8 channel preamps; Audient is an awesome company and I'd encourage you to support them by purchasing this unit if you're in the market for a great 8 channel pre. I hope they stick around for a long time and keep creating great products well into the future.

Best of luck to you in your recording adventures!

HELLO EVERYBODY,
IVE GOT THIS BADBOY PAIRED UP WITH A FOCUSRITE CLARETT 8 PREX INTO A MAC WITH PROTOOLS 12. THE AUDIENT PREAMPS ARE A LITTLE EASIER AND FASTER TO USE THAN THE CLARETT PRES, WHICH ARE ALSO VERY GOOD (READ MY REVIEW). THIS AUDIENT BOX IS SOO GOOD SONICLY AND LOGISTICLY THAT IVE ALSO ORDERED THE ASP800 TO WORK ALONGSIDE THESE TWO BAD MOFOS. HAVING THESE 3 BOXES WILL GIVE ME 24 CHANNELS AT 48K OR I CAN STILL DO 16 AT THE FULL 96K, AND THEN HAVE THE HMX AND IRON FOR ADDED COLOUR WHEN TRACKING,MIXING, OR EVEN MASTERING. SO I TRULY FEEL THAT THERE ARE NO LIMITATIONS WITH THIS AUDIENT GEAR WHEN PAIRED WITH A QUALITY INTERFACE. THE CONTROLS ON THE FRONT HELP ME TO FIND THE SOUND I WANT FOR EACH OF THE MICS THAT GO THROUGH IT. ITS TAKEN SOME TIME, BUT NOW IVE TRIED THEM ALL OUT AND AM GETTING MORE AND MORE FAMILIAR WITH HOW THEY WORK AND WHAT THEY DO FOR MY SOUND. ITS A VERY VERY WELL MADE PIECE OF GEAR THAT RESPONDS WELL TO THE TOUCH. I MOSTLY USE A SHURE SM7B IN ADDITION TO; SM57'S, AUDIX D2'S D4'S AND D6'S, & SENNHEISER 421,609,&906 DYNAMICS, SE 2200'S, 5P'S AND A PAIR OF X1-D CONDENSER MICS, AS WELL AS A SE VOODOO PASSIVE RIBBON MIC, AND ALL OF THEM HAVE WORKED FLAWLESSLY BETTER THRU THIS THAN ANYTHING ELSE THAT IVE OWNED OR HAD OPURTUNITY TO MESS AROUND WITH.

EVERYTIME I'VE TRACKED DRUMS THROUGH THIS, THEY HAVE ALWAYS COME OUT VERY PROFFESIONAL SOUNDING AND READY FOR MIXING AND MASTERING (BETTER TO MY EARS THAN USING EASYDRUMMER2, AND I REALLY LIKE THAT PROGRAM, BUT NOTHINGS BETTER THAN REAL DRUMS). I REGULARLY USE THE 48V PHANTOM POWER, PHASE, AND A/D SWITCHES FOR DBX 160X'S ON KICKS AND SNARE, AND I HAVE ACHIEVED EVERY SOUND THAT IVE WANTED; FROM HAWAIIAN FOLK TO HIPHOP, JAZZ, ROCK, RAP, AND DETHMETAL. IVE BEEN STOKED! IM STARTING TO REALLY UNDERSTAND HOW IT ALL WORKS AND NOW SPEND MOST OF MY DRUM ENGINEERING TIME, TUNING DRUMS RATHER THAN SETTING UP MICS AND LEVELS AND SUCH. THANKS ALSO TO THE EXCELLENT AUDIX, SENNHEISER SHURE AND SE KICK AND OVERHEAD MICS THAT I USE TO CAPTURE MY TRUSTY DOUBLE BASS DW MAPLE COLLECTORS (AKA THE SILVER STALLION) AND ZILDJIAN K'S. I CAN NOW RECORD DRUMS THAT HAVE THE SOUND I DESIRE RATHER THAN MAKING COMPROMISES. IT SOUNDS THAT GOOD!

IVE RECORDED MY OWN VOCALS ON MY OWN SONGS AS WELL AS A FEW OTHER DUDES THRU THE ASP880 AND ONE OF THE FOLLOWING; SM57,SM7B, SE VOODOO1, SE 2200 2C, SUPER 55, AND A JUNKY OLD BEATDOWN SM58, AND I HAVE ACHIEVED BETTER RESULTS THRU THE ASP880 THAN WITH ANYTHING THAT IVE PREVIOUSLY USED, AND IN MY OPINION EVEN BETTER THAN THROUGH SOME OF THE LARGE CONSOLE STUDIOS IN THE HOLLYWOOD/L.A. AREA THAT IVE SESSION'D AT.
I'VE RECORDED MORE THAN A HAND-FULL OF FEMALE VOCALS THROUGH MY AUDIENT BOX, AND JUST ABOUT EVERYTIME I HAVE BEEN VERY EXTREMELY WELL PLEASED. THEY HAVE ALL COME BACK MULTIPLE TIMES AND GO ON AND ON ABOUT WHAT I OFFER THEM, SO THATS COOL I GUESS. TRACKING ACOUSTIC GUITARS WITH A PAIR OF SE 2200S HAS SUCH AN ORGANIC SOUND AND FEEL THAT IT HAS BECOME AN ABSOLUTE JOY, SAME WITH UKELELE. THIS IS SAYING ALOT AS I AM PRIMARILY AN ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYA THAT USES LOTS OF EFFECTS AND GAIN!!! SPEAKING OF GUITAR CABS; I USUALLY USE 3 MICS ON A SPEAKER, EITHER: SM57,D2,906, 421, AND THE VOODOO RIBON TO ACHIEVE JUST ABOUT ANY SOUND I CAN THINK OF. IVE ALSO USED THE 2200'S AS ROOM MICS FOR ADDED AMBIENCE. IVE GOTTEN MUCH MORE COMPLEX WHEN DOING GUITARS AND THE CONTROLS ON THE FRONT PANEL OF THE 880 MAKE THIS ALL POSSIBLE WHILE AVOIDING PHASE ISSUES.
THE REALITTY IS THAT, IM A MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST SONGWRITER THAT WORKS WITH AS MANY OTHER MUSICIANS AS POSSIBLE, AS LONG AS ITS FUNN. SO LAST WEEK, IN AN OUT OF THE ORDINARY KINDA WAY. I TRACKED THIS CHICKS VIOLINS FOR ANOTHER CHICK THROUGH THE ASP880 USING THE SE LDC'S AND MY VOODO RIBBON MIC, I PLAYED WITH SOME IMPEDENCE AND HPF SETTINGS AND SET THE GAIN HOT BUT NOT TOO HOTT AND AND IT WAS AN AURAL EXPERIENCE THAT WAS ALSO EXTREMELY VERY WELL PLEASING. FINGERING THE SENSETIVE CONTROLS ON THE FRONT-PANEL IS A LITTLE DIFFICULT SINCE ITS A LITTLE TIGHT BUT WITH CARE AND FAMILIARITY IT HAS BECOME MUCH EASIER, ENJOYABLE, AND QUICKER TOO. I DI'D HER SYNTH WHILE I WAS AT IT AND AM WAITING FOR HER TO BRING HER OTHER FRIEND TO COME JOIN THE FUNN TOO.
ALL IN ALL THE ASP880 IS HELPING ME TO MAKE RECORDINGS THAT ARE MUCH BETTER QUALITY THAN JUST DEMO, THEY ARE ALBUM READY, AS LONG AS THE PERFORMANCE IS THERE. THE ONLY LIMITING FACTORS ARE MY PRO-TOOLS, ENGINEERING, AND PRODUCTION SKILLS, AS WELL AS MUSICAL TALENT.
TO SUM IT UP; I CANT THINK OF A BETTER 8-CHANNEL STUDIO SOLUTION FOR MY MUSICAL NEEDS.
IN FACT I FEEL THAT I NEED THE OTHER AUDIENT BOX TOO!
WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS TO A FRIEND?
HECK YEAH
ENJOY!

I have this unit along with an ADL600 preamp which was $2000 for two channels of audio. Although, obviously this unit isn't a tube preamp, it doesn't trail my ADL at all in quality. I can even run an SM7B into this pre and get good gain before noise ratio. The direct ins for instruments is exceptional and crisper and more in your face than any I've heard before. I run strait to an Apollo but I've also read the burr brown converters are stellar. Couldn't recommend this unit more. Was going to use for drum tracking but would absolutely put my lead vocal through this unit any day of the week.

Amazing sound quality with every mic my studio has. Direct inputs sound great, and impedance switches allow you to get the right sound every time. My only wish is that it had a on/off switch. You wont be disappointed.

I've put this pre against Millennia and Avalon and I really had to liisten carefully to motice the difference.
Love it.

I have this unit in the rack right next to a RME Fireface UFX, and it is just as clean and open as the more expensive unit, but also a great compliment for added character in my studio. Doing a drum kit with this is the perfect exercise for this piece. I couldn't be happier with the purchase of this mic pre.

Great Unit!

- Built Very Solid.
- 2 Jfet DIs
- A/D is Top Notch, Really....
- 3 Input Impedance choices.
- Inserts on all 8 Ch. (most boxes don't even bother).
- Mic Pres have lot of Tone, and are Transparent.


I was expecting the Mic Pres to be clean and transparent along with good A/D, but what comes out of this 1U is nothing short of PROFESSIONAL. This Pre has the perfect amount of character and weight, but is still transparent and open. For 6 months now, I've been tracking with the ASP 880 80% of the time! With the Apollo (with/BLA Mod) it allows me to use this awesome unit and add a 1176 / La2a / Studer on the way in before printing.

I believe this unit and the iD22 are a killer combo, if 10 channels are enough for you don't think about it twice! As a 8ch mic Pre and A/D it's a DREAM COME TRUE!

Fantastic value for the money. Solid construction, and no issues as of yet. Perfect for drums! Very glad I purchased this.

This thing blew me away. I can hardly believe they can make a product this high quality for the price. The preamps and conversion are crystal clear with plenty of headroom. The impedance switch gives your mic or instrument 3 different flavors. Very handy to have the high pass filter on board, and does much more. I'm very happy with mine, stands up to much higher priced preamps in my opinion/experience. And Sweetwater is always a very pleasant place to purchase gear from.

Are you kidding me….? This Audient unit you is ridiculous…ridiculously awesome! I hooked up one of the Bluebird mics I bought from Sweetwater to the new Audient running into my digi 002r….oh my goodness…smooth, smooth, smooth and detailed….it is a definite wow! Thanks so much to Paul x1246 for steering me in the direction of getting this. I will have awesome quality front-end conversion and solid state pres for years to come. Paul knows that I take a lot of time to decide when I buy things - but that’s because I want to make sure of my purchases - I like to have stuff that lasts. I always appreciate that he always just take it in stride and patiently answers all of my questions ahead of time (even with 50 emails back and forth!)…and he also makes sure to never push anything just for a sale but to make sure that he can give me a solid recommendation for my needs. New life was just breathed into my 002r and when I get ready to change computers down the road I will be able to hook this up to a new interface - which I’m sure Paul will help guide me with when the time comes.

I’m so excited - it is really amazing….I sang through it, no EQ, no comp, de-essing or anything and it sounded 10x’s better than what I had been trying to achieve using all of that. No plosives, no s', absolutely no harshness….record quality. The vocal sounded just the way you would want it in a mix without hours of frustration. I also used the DI's for my keyboards - wow! Clean but warm at the same time with punchiness. I debated between this and the 2 channel Mico which only has one DI. I am so glad I went with this. Updated converters, two DI's, 8 amazing pres, straight A/D input if you want to use other pres....incredible. I've used SSL, Neve, Fern, Avalon - all great stuff. This is the real deal folks right up there with the big boys - also the same preamps and converters as in their $50,000 console which if you know how well the Audient consoles are liked out in the field is amazing at this price. You will not at all regret this purchase. It will instantly make your tracking a ton easier. 5 stars is easy to give this unit...

Also, as always, Paul never ceases to amaze me with his expert advice and service. Have a blessed and Merry Christmas!

I decided that I would not review this preamp before doing at least ten to fifteen tracks through it. I must say, the more I've used it the better it sounds. With anything new to your studio you have to figure out where it fits. I've used this exclusively on drums and it just shines. Very fast transients, fat,warm and punchy.I also own Apogee converter so I really have the best to compare the converters too. They are not far behind. So for the money you can't beat this preamp..

Bought this to use the studio with my RME ucx. Just recorded some full band demos with them and it tracks and sounds beautiful. Taking off half a star for lack of a on/off switch, but I've got it plugged into its own surge protector so I can keep it plugged in. Bottom line, if you're looking for a 8ch adat mic pre that is a big step up from most of the other options, this one is worth it.