TASCAM US-16x08 USB Audio Interface Reviews

When I first bought this interface in 2018 I had an insane amount of issues trying to get it to work without making horrible glitching noises, but since they came out with the v4 drivers it's been an amazing interface. I love the mixer interface. The interface doesn't have top of the line preamps, but I have a few separate preamps of my own that I run into the line-ins on the back and the included preamps are still 8/10 quality just not universal audio quality. For anyone reading the early reviews that complain about drivers this interface works great now on Windows 10/11.

I have been working with this interface for six years and I don't want to change it for anything. everything is very good, hardware, drivers, dsp!!

I have a small home studio with 8 mic drum set, 2 stereo pair overheads, 3 Tom's, snare, bass, and room. Great quality for price. Nice preamp. Good software and you will have spen a lot more to gain any sound quality. Totally recommend for the drummer who needs great sound, performance, and a lot of inputs.

I use this for voice over and music recording. It's perfect for my needs, easy to use, and quick to set up.

The US-16X08 is a bargain. Such a deal, that I bought two!

I do on-location plain vanilla, real-time, minimalist recordings of mostly "legit" concerts (wind bands, choirs, orchestras ...). I might need 6 microphones maximun ... often, just a pair of microphones, as the conductor is actually my "balance engineer".

Been using Focusrite 18i20 interfaces ... one developed problems after a few years. Now I have no multi-channel backup, and there is a shortage of 18i20s or even the upgrade Clarett line equivilents. Therefore, for a little more than the price of one 18i20 or MOTU 8pre, etc., I can get a pair of these. And, I don't use SPDIF, word clock, ADAT inputs ... so no loss for me.

And they work! Loaded new Windows 10 driver in my laptop, plugged the USB cable in, opened up Reaper, picked out the inteface, and all is well. So easy a Cave Engineer can do it!

I like having all the microphone inputs and two line/instruments with gain controls on the frout panel. Makes my setup time less.

And, this unit, if unconnected to a computer, is a stand alone 8-channel microphone preamp. And, with a computer, it's a 16 channel mixer!

Only downside is that the A/D chips are only 96kHz maximum sampling. No one can tell (except your dog) ... and my clients usually can't play 192kHz recordings ...

If you are on a tight budget, money is better spent on premimum microphones, rather than the electronics, IMHO.

Buy one of these.

I have bought two of these to get 16 mic pres, with good gain staging you can use the 9 and 10 inputs to have the full 16 capability! Great set up for the folks that need a bigger input setup for a reasonable price! The Tascsm preamps have a great clean and bright sound. Overall this set up is great for those that are getting into live tracking bands in one room at once or more tonal and mic capabilities!

I have bought two of these to get 16 mic pres, with good gain staging you can use the 9 and 10 inputs to have the full 16 capability! Great set up for the folks that need a bigger input setup for a reasonable price! The Tascsm preamps have a great clean and bright sound. Overall this set up is great for those that are getting into live tracking bands in one room at once or more tonal and mic capabilities!

I was in the market for an 8 input interface. This one was affordable and had everything I needed!

Works great, no problems!

Thanks Sweetwater!

Easy, easy easy! This interface is simple to connect, setup software and record. I am using it to mic a drum kit. I would recommend this to any who doesn't want to break the bank. This is a fine audio interface with all the inputs you need to mic just about anything.

very solid peace of hardware easy to use easy to set up and the service from sweet water was great no problems...

Just purchased this. Using it primarily to record drums. I use 8 inputs for the various drums and cymbals. Also use for recording hand percussion, typically one mic at a time. Works great. Very clean sound. Connected first time to my Windows laptop and Presonus Studio One DAW. Pretty much plug and chug, nothing much to tweak. Works exactly how I wanted and needed it to work. Terrific service and fast shipping as usual by Sweetwater, even in these difficult times.

I bought this to replace my old Tascam US-1800. The old unit worked great up until my Mac system upgrades made it obsolete. The new US-16x08 is virtually the same thing, except it includes a virtual mixer that makes the inner connections much easier to see. After plugging the unit in, I had to adjust the outputs to monitor when I play, but otherwise it was ready to go. Plenty of inputs to allow me to keep all my studio equipment plugged in and ready to go while still having a few open slots to connect things on the fly or for a band session. They also improved the design by making it "shelf-friendly" with feet that grip the shelf and prevent sliding about while angling the face of the unit up a bit to see better. If you want the old rack-mount version, there are mounting brackets for that. I loved the old US-1800, and this new US-16x08 improves on the old design while maintaining a reasonable price. Couldn't run my home studio without it.

My new TASCAM US-16x08 audio interface was not being recognized by my computer. I upgraded my OS from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Now the interface is recognized and is working great! It's glitch-free with Sonar Producer X1. As a bonus, my computer's OS is up-to-date, which is essential because Microsoft will no longer be supporting Windows 7.

Kudos to your tech support experts. One of them worked remotely with my computer at the driver level, working on such arcane issues as "disable driver signing", "can't verify digital signature", and "disable integrity checks". I am impressed. My computer running Windows 7 wouldn't allow the TASCAM driver to function properly. After I upgraded to Windows 10, the interface connected right away.(And my existing programs still work with Windows 10.)

The audio playing in Sonar is pristine, free of clicks and dropouts. I think that this interface is a great value.

Many thanks to my sales engineer Ryan Gregory and Sweetwater's amazing tech support team.

Over a year working with this device and I've never had problems....clean preamps and solid drivers!

Never had any issues with this and for the price you cant get any better!

Loven it. Supper easy to use. Works greaT with imac with reaper too. Id buy again for sure!!

This is my first multi track interface and I was blown away at how easy it is to operate,, pretty much plug in and after the driver down load you are good to go !!! The only thing I had to do was on the rest of the monitor outs( the first set is already to go,), was change them to comp.1 and comp 2 to get monitor sends for the rest, Comp 1 is left channel, and 2 is right channel. Great buy !!

I've had mine probably a few months now, and its stood up to abuse from moving around, and plus it sounds really great. The level I'm using it right now is probably not to its full extent, I mostly use mine for tracking a few mics at a time into logic and then running back into my mixer. When I first got it, I was on an older windows laptop, and I will say I wasn't the biggest fan of the digital mixer on windows. Honestly, I wasn't that experienced at the time, so I'm sure someone smarter than me could use it better. However, since then I've upgraded to a Mac, and when I first plugged it in it didn't even ask me if I wanted to download the digital mixer, and it shook hands right away with logic. That being said, If you're not exactly digitally- computer tech savvy, you may have a little trouble with it. However, I love it so much that when I need more outputs to my mixer, I know I'm going to buy another Tascam box.

First off, if your computer is up to date with hardware and you know a thing or two about computers and software in the first place, you will be fine. You can download all the latest drivers and software from Tascams website. The 16x08 (saw a review of the 1800 that is a completely different product), is a FANTASTIC interface. I have used it to record studio quality tracks for vocals, drums, guitars, etc. Both via mic to guitar cab and straight input to the guitar line 9 on the interface. I have even record keyboards via the inputs on the back straight in. This little thing is PERFECT. I use Sonar Platinum and it interfaces seamlessly. I can't praise this piece of gear enough. For the price range it is amazing. Built well, tons of inputs, honestly what more can you want? Can also use it as a stand alone pre-amp. I mean... For this price, how can you not love it?

I record my drum set with 10 mics using the Tascam 16X8. 8 XLR's in 1 through 8, and 2 more from my Mackie Mixer output into the balanced 1/4" in 9 and 10. Great product at a great price from great folks at Sweetwater.

Absolutely love this interface. I had a recording session that needed more tracks to be recorded than what I had, so I bought this. I was able to hook it up and dial it in to get zero latency quite easily. I highly recommend this.

This is a great little unit, and you can't beat the price point. I was trying to decide between this and the m-track eight, and several factors led me to choose this Tascam unit, and I'm glad I did. First, this one has MIDI, and the m-track doesn't. Second, you get the eight mics and eight line inputs simultaneously in your ProTools with this Tascam unit, and you can daisy chain two of these (using the second one as a mic pre) to get 6 additional mic inputs for a total of 14, which is usually enough for live drums. The driver is effortless to load (on Win 7 Pro), and there's a real nice control panel too. I have this unit running with PT9-HD on a laptop right now, so far it's working perfectly, no issues. Two things to note: first, make sure you're not connected to the internet when you're installing the driver, it tries to check Windows Update and that's a miserable experience you probably don't want to suffer through, so just do it without the internet and your machine will be perfectly happy. And second, NOTE that it says in the manual to set your Windows power management mode to "high performance", this is in fact essential, you'll suffer audio dropouts on the faster machines (like Haswells) if you don't do this. Even with these two caveats this unit has been an amazingly positive experience so far. It runs nice and cool (compared to the m-track's Heat with a capital H), the mic pre's sound great, and my mixes are coming up faithfully at any sample rate. This is a great little unit, can't beat it for the price, I'd recommend it to my friends.

Bought this to record drums. I was a lil concerned because a handful of reviews said they had driver issues and it never really worked. But I decided to roll them dice. I'm glad I did. Works very well. It's awesome that you can eq and add compression and panning from interface going into your DAW. Yes, the unit looks basic and the knobs are not as easy as some models but it doesn't affect anything. I would buy it again.

Had it for about a year now, great device! I use all the inputs for my synths and it has never given me trouble. The inputs on the front are xlr on this model and I feared they would not accept line level inputs, but they adjust automatically so happy days. You don't need 8 DI's!

I don't use the dsp but rather just use my daw. Mainly because there is a bit of a learning curve. I initially decided on a Tascam because they seemed to support their hardware better than presonus and focusrite.

I was ready to upgrade my 2-channel USB interface and was initially looking for something with four inputs. But it quickly became obvious that at the prices those go for nowadays, I could add another $... and get the Tascam and get 16 inputs. Plus it has MIDI I/O. No-brainer. Now I can keep multiple devices plugged in at all times and simply switch templates in Logic for quick recording whatever I want without plugging and unplugging anything. This thing sounds pristine, as long as you keep your gain setting below ~2 o'clock. Knocking off a half a star because the MIDI seems to disable itself from time to time for no apparent reason. Simply switching it off and on fixes that though.

The Tascam 16x08 is an excellent "bang-for-the-buck" interface for a home studio. Coupled with Presonus Studio software, I've been able to produce some excellent recordings in short order. Inputs 11-16 are "line in-only," but I coupled a Presonus Digimax preamp setup with these channels and they work perfect for keyboards, extra percussion tracks, re-amp setups...even vocals. It may not be state-of-the-art, but it certainly met my needs for production purposes. The routing is excellent and straight-forward as well. This is a really good set-up for basic production! I was impressed with the compatibility with the Presonus products! Sweetwater was also excellent with their product support (as always) and answering questions I have about setting this up for my studio.

Have been using this product with both pro tools and sonar for about 6 months now and have had no major issues. It is flexible yet pretty simple to use. No problem with midi or multi tracking. I think, based on the negative reviews last year, some users may make the mistake of plugging this unit into the USB 3.0 port. I made this mistake early on and experienced a mess. Simply plugging into the 2.0 port, as designed, cleared up any issues..... I think this should be mentioned in the documentation.... A great tool for a fair price! I'm very glad I bought this unit.

Until the (now really solid) Win10 driver shipped in September, I would have agreed with the reviewers complaining about software support. Under Win7, I had decent results. Mostly. But the glitches were irritating. Fast forward to the Win10 release. The existing driver failed. Once Tascam released their official Win10 driver (with a couple of follow-up updates, like the one for Reaper), I've been very happy. The current Win10 driver (v1.04) is very stable. I'm able to run at the lowest buffer setting (64) with no pops or clicks.

I did not need optical i/o nor S/PDIF nor 192 KHz recording, so the US-16x08 fit my needs perfectly. The only reason I give it 4.5 stars instead of 5? Only one headphone amp. Two would be great. Two, with the ability to feed separate mixes to them, would be fabulous.

I have had this unit for under a year. I have been using it as a audio-interface unit with Mac-Pro-Air and Logic Pro program. The compatibility has been seamless. The unit looks good and is ergonomically designed. It is a great value for a home project studio. As a pre-amp/mixer it works perfectly with my Korg SV-1 keyboard and Roland KC-150 keyboard amplifier. It has sufficient headroom in this capacity. It has significant flexibility to incorporate multiple inputs for a growing band/studio.

I looked around at different interface mixers and then I was introduced to the TASCAM US-16x08 by Parker at Sweetwater and I have to say this was the right decision for both my small studio & my budget. I've used this mixer for several months now & it performs beautifully with a great quality sound and capable of mixing a whole group of a live performance ( for both live or recorded music).

Just for the record (get the pun??):


I owned a Tascam US-2000 for over ten years that I bought new from Sweetwater.

It worked perfectly on Windows and I never had a single problem with it. No latency, no glitches, nothin.

It also had more features than this later model did.

Rock on

I've been using this interface for a little over a year now, so here is my experience with the Tascam US-16X08

The Good:
- 16 simultaneous inputs at an affordable price! I bought this to track a full band all together, and it fits the bill.
- High resolution recording at 96k/24bit. Budget interfaces often leave you stuck with 44.1k/16bit, so this is a big advantage.
- Rackmount design is convenient, and it only takes up one rack space.
- Save 9 mixer scenes/templates which is great for different recording situations

The Bad:
- USB connection is dicey. When booting up my system, I often have to restart the interface a few times to get a USB connection.
- Gain knobs are very small and close together, so they're kind of annoying to work with.
- Digital mixer routing is confusing, as digital mixers tend to be.
- Only 8 mic inputs, so you'll need preamps for the other 8 inputs.
- Only 1 mix out, meaning you can't provide separate headphone mixes for the performers. Technically, the interface has 8 outputs, but there are no analog busses to send to those outputs simultaneously, so unless you're able to monitor your DAW with very low latency, those extra outputs are not useful.

Overall, I definitely recommend this interface for anyone wanting to record a lot of tracks simultaneously. I bought a Behringer ADA8200 to use as a preamp for the other 8 inputs, which allows me to record 16 mics at once. If multiple headphone mixes are a dealbreaker, you'll need to spend a lot more for a mixer/interface with multiple aux sends, but otherwise this thing should be up to the task.

This is a pretty down-to-earth piece of equipment. Fairly easy to understand. And even the introductory software is just a breeze to work through! I only wish that all of the inputs were on the back so you didn't have to use your microphone designator to run your patch cords to. But other than that... It is a great and valuable piece of equipment needed in every home studio! Also have to give a shout out tool Caleb Berry and all of the Sweetwater team! You have got my band(HEAD FIRST) total business!

I must preface that I got my used, so perhaps you should consider that while reading my review. Despite getting it second hand, mine was in great condition, it honestly seemed like new.
I've only had this device for a couple months.
My first impression was that I didn't like how the gain knobs felt. The resistence was kind of high, so turning the plastic knobs felt like a chore compared to the Behringer U-Phoria umc404hd I bought prior to this unit.
Again, I am fairly new to the audio production side of the industry so I don't have extensive experience with other interfaces.

For the price range, this seemed like a no-brainer. Having 8 mic preamps, and 8 addition line inputs is very nice. Yes, you can record all 16 analog inputs on their own tracks in your DAW at the same time. That question seemed to come up a lot while researching this, so I figured I'd put that out there.
While there are only 8 inputs and mic pres, you can always use an external mic preamp or a mixer with it's own preamps to utilize all 16 channels with microphones.
This device seems to be capable of much more than I initially thought, as ai discover a new feature everytime I look up a review or demo of it. I haven't used the MIDI I/O.
I wish there was more than one headphone jack on this device for easier 0 latency monitoring, you can even see a perfect space on the device for another headphone gain knob, almost as if the device is mocking you.
It does come with a Digital Mixer software that has EQ, a compressor, and I'm sure a couple other features. The Digital Mixer is very cool conceptually, and I can see it being great for a live show, hiwever I use my DAW to record live shows anyways and jist route the main outs to the line outputs on the back of the device, so I have no use for the Digital Mixer yet. Make sure all the faders are set to unity gain and nothing is muted or panned, because everything that goes into your daw first goes through that Digital Mixer.
The cool part about the Digital mixer is the routing, you can change how the outputs work, whether you want the computer signal only coming through the headphones or main outs, and for easy direct monitoring, you can have the master bus from the mixer going directly to headphones, then mute input monitoring in your DAW.

Downloading the Drivers was easy enough HOWEVER, much like what happened to the the M-Audio Fasttrack Ultra, the drivers are ONLY available online, and it's 100% possible for Tascam to eventually remove the drivers from their website, thus outmoding this device before it's supposed to not work anymore. All it would take it releasing an updated driver that doesn't work properly, choosing to never update it again, and removing the older working drivers from their website, permanently ending this devices career.

It seems that this device had a ROUGH start, everyone before 2019 seemed to have issues with the drivers not working properly or something related, but I got mine in 2020, and the drivers work just fine, the device never needs to be unplugged to reset anything so far.

I have experienced audio glitches, like a static sound or brief clipping sound during playback and/or recording. I'm not sure if thats my PC or what, but it has yet to affect the actual recordings. When I have an audio glitches, usually I close and reopen my DAW, and the actual tracks have no glitches in them.
I love the fact that if I upgrade at some point, I can keep this device and use it as an analog 8 mic preamp.
The rubber padded feet for desk use are at a nice incline and feel very sturdy (I think they're aluminum?), and it came with rack-mounting clips if I choose to put it on a rack.
Unlike some devices that can run just off the usb, it does not work without the external power supply plugged in.
I do seema to get audio distortion from the headphone gain knobs much earlier than anticipated, meaning I can turn it to the 2 o'clock position and get some audio distortion, as where my last interface I felt like I had a lot more wiggle room with the main outs/headphones knob. Maybe that's a problem with my PC or my headphones but I have noticed it more than once.

I'm sure as I get more experience recording that I'll have more complaints about this device, but currently as someone new to recording it's got a lot going for it.
It's nice having it advertised as a 16 Input device that actually has 16 analog inputs. So many other devices in the exact sa.e price range advertise 14-18-20 different inputs but count the MIDI I/O, the Digital I/O, ADAT I/O, and the spdif as inputs. I'm sure that "counts" but it's nice to see this device has 16 analong inputs in addition to the MIDI I/O. If Tascam wanted to get as cheeky as their competitors about it, they could easily rebrand this as a 17 In 10 Out.

Final thoughts, I've yet to push this device ti it's limits, but as someone who needed to record more than 4-6 inouts at a time, this was no brainer considering the price.
Being limites to 16 inputs with no way to expand is unfortunate, however by the time I need more than 16 inputs I will have long outgrown this device, as others have said.

It also has pretty good resale value despite it's age in 2020, so if you did get this, you wouldn't be significantly in the hole whenever you finally upgrade.

I've owned this interface for two years now. Previously I had my first Focusrite 8i6 which I upgraded for more imputs. At the time I wasn't even an audio student, just a hobby musician.
Bought this interface when I started studying looking for something that would let me mic a drum set. Imagine my surprise when I found out this is the ONLY interface that offers 16 real imputs. No ADAT, SPDIF, etc. I've since used it to mic entire bands with low latency. Multiple outs allow you to set up different mixes other than the stereo out (which has one headphone out).
The pres aren't that great. After 3 o'clock there begins to appear heareable white noise. This usually isn't a problem, but beware of SM57s that require a bit more drive. It has 2 instrument imputs with regulable gain, so it's like it had 10 pres for me. The 6 line imputs can be pushed using the DSP compressor's makeup, or you could simply connect more pres. So, hardware-wise, this interface is one of the best.
On the software end, things were buggy at first. As many early reviews said, this thing was unstable on 2016. Ever since, Tascam released new drivers that work fine with Windows 10. If you want to make it work, it will work. I've used it with Nuendo, Cubase, WaveLab, Pro Tools 10 and 12. No issues there.
Between this one and Focusrite, I think Focusrite has better drivers with lower latency. At 44khz, US 16x08 has huge latency settings. 10ms in and 4ms out at 128kbps. So you may consider using it at higher sample rates if you want DAW monitoring. It has DSP monitoring with virtually no latency at all, but then you don't hear any plugins you may have added.
Don't let this turn you down. Pres and latency are a problem at almost everything in this price range, so between this one and other brands, I'd stick to US 16x08 for the I/O. With it you can really learn how to mic a drum set, record a full band, try M/S configs, all of it with no problems at 96khz/24bit.
By the time you begin to really hear what's "wrong" with Tascam 16x08, you will be ready to move on to a higher quality interface like Audient, RME, UAD. These units move in a different price range and have better converters, pres, drivers, etc. and are just what you may need for a more proffesional home studio down the future. I've upgraded to an Audient ID44, so only 4 analog ins for me now. I don't miss US 16x08 because I've moved on from my initial "want to record everything" need, I may get more imputs with an outboard octopre in the future just to get that feel again though.

Conclusion: A great interface for audio beginners, students, and just people with lots of I/O needs.

Empecemos por la relación calidad/precio que es impresionante por la cantidad de entrada y salidas y por los DSP (EQ y Comp), muy útil para para grabar en vivo, muy practica para trabajar en el estudio, la probé en Win10, OSX e IOS con un iphone 5c y funciona de maravilla con Garage Band y Aplicaciones IKmultimedia. Grabo constantemente MIDI y nunca tuve problemas. Lo único que me gustaría es mas versatilidad de ruteo interno en su software de control.
En cuanto a los problemas que eh tenido son todos por culpa del DAW y/o del sistema operativo (win) y sus protocolos y drivers USB, cuando hay muchos dispositivos USB conectados suele haber problemas (sobre todo HDD externos) en fin esto varia mucho según la placa madre y sus drivers..

Perfect for what I need. Records 16 tracks simultaneously, Works well with adobe Audition 3. Very easy install. I use the Mackie 1604 and 3204 mixers to use all XLR inputs! This can work as a stand alone unit also. Preamps are very clean. The only down side is you can only use one at a time, but you very seldom need more than 16 tracks at a time.

For the money, it does exactly what it claims to do. I'm running Win7/64, on an i7/4770k desktop system. It's no slouch in performance even if it's a couple years old, and I wanted to replace an aging and frequently problematic Tascam US-1800. Drivers for the 1800 were always dicey at best, but I was willing to take a chance after talking to my Sweetwater rep and discussing the pros and cons of giving it a shot.

I can say this much: install was simple. Drivers were quick to install, and firmware easy to update. Surprisingly, the unit I received (with a relatively recent production date) still had original firmware installed.

Works without a hitch or latency issues, and offers real-time monitoring if you're so inclined as well with a well-though-out control panel. I haven't used the control panel for the built-in channel effects and whatnot, simply because I'd rather do it in post-production than while recording and committing to same, so can't comment there, but I can say it's everything the 1800 wasn't in terms of ease of use, setup, and latency. It even functions as a general Windows sound device for gaming and other things with no issues.

The one caveat I do have that may apply to other versions of Windows other than 7 is that you're offered *two* audio devices in the Windows control panel. Select the "US-16x08 MIXER" versus the "US-16x08" for that function - the latter only works as a 7.1 surround device and can cause all sorts confusion as a system device. Also, in the included mixer software, *mute* every channel you don't currently wish to have live monitoring, so it doesn't bleed into system sounds or if you're live-monitoring through your DAW's controls versus the soundcard. This is doubly true if you're trying to figure out "why is it noisier when I'm recording compared to the end result!". However, don't mute the master channel - you'll have no outboard sound at all then!

A little bit of configuration, along with being able to save "scenes" in the software mixer, make the software more of a pain to set up once and then not have to deal with it in the vast majority of cases.

I've done multiple recordings in the couple weeks I've had it with all 16 channels engaged at 24/96 - latency at 256 samples and using DAW monitoring versus live input monitoring was flawless and delivered the promised latency (less than 3ms) when I tested loopback. I was able to run it as well without incident at 128 with all 16 as well, and just didn't see any noticeable feel/improvement to warrant the change. For laptop users and the like, YMMV, but...for a well-built desktop DAW....it is pound for dollar the best thing in the price range and then some.

Preamps are functional - not great, not "inspiring", but neutral. If you want that, run more expensive pres into the front of the thing and call it good. Also, it's true XLR inputs on eight channels, so you'll need XLR to 1/4" adapter cables if you want to run it to 1/4" gear on some or all of those channels - not the combo Neutrik stuff, but...well...at this price point, you're paying for channel count and function, not frills.

Compared to the old US-1800 it replaces, it has several major advantages:

-Phantom power is on hard-switches (versus pushbuttons that were easy to on/off while turning the unit on/off on the 1800), same with the power buttons. They're recessed a bit as well, so you won't be hitting them while turning the unit on and off like I did with the 1800!
- True 16 inputs. This, again, is huge. There's no magical SPDIF or digital only I/Os that artificially jack up the channel count. Same with the 10 outs - they're legit analog outs.
- Drivers haven't crashed or bugged out once, even when I've tried to make them conflict with other USB devices on the system that sent its' predecessor into tailspins.
- Haven't lost a single take to latency or underruns, even if the unit has been left on the whole time.

It was this or a much, much higher-priced unit - I legitimately need 14+ inputs on a regular basis, and....Tascam delivers in the digital realm again.

This interface is great, it does everything that I need it to do. I am using this interface to feed the four inputs on my DDM4000 and as a sampler coming out of Output B to capture everything on the master fader. I tried using compression on two inputs on the 16X08 but the signal was distorting. Besides that it's a champ.

I upgraded from my older Tascam to the new one.

Yes, it is an excellent device for my home studio. It serves all of my purpose for recording music with 8 phantom powered xlr inputs plus two additional 1/4" line in.

I would give it a 5.0, however, there is an issue I'm having with the new device I didn't have with the old. I believe it is a driver issue and hopefully will be fixed with future driver upgrades. For some reason I keep losing audio output. I will be playing back a recording and then get an error message and then the sound quits working. This will happen across various platforms playing audio from Reaper or even media player. It seem random.

For reference, I installed this on a BRAND new clean windows10 computer, with a very fast processor.

I can get the audio working again with either pulling the USB cord out and plugging it back in, or turning the Tascam off and back on. Sometimes if I have I have the media player open and Reaper I can get audio by closing out on of the software then it works on the one remained open. Additionally, I hear clicking sound in my studio speakers when I switch from playing audio from Reaper to audio from Media player or other software. This leads me to think it is the function of the driver.

I do believe I will see this resolved with driver upgrades. Everything else is great, no problems with audio input quality at all.

I was hoping to score an affordable, rack mounted interface for my home studio. Once I received the unit, my first impression was that the interface felt cheap. The knobs don't turn nice and smooth like I thought they would. When I connected this to my PC, I had to go through the fun task of getting the drivers to work. Part of this process includes downloading their program that "helps" you route audio where you need it to go. I found this to be pretty clunky and not very user-friendly. I did get it working with my DAW and was able to record some test tracks. Audio quality seemed ok. Trying to use this as my main audio interface for my computer seemed to be pretty difficult. Audio sometimes comes from my computer through to my headphones. Using a mic plugged in for chats like Discord didn't work at all, no matter how many ways I tried to get it to work. Ill be sending this back and going with something like the Focusrite or Presonus.

This product has caused numerous blue screens of death on multiple computers when used with JamKazam. Otherwise functions reasonably.

1. talking normally into mic and it sounded over driven. Gain at 1:00.
2. Headphone gain set to 1:00.....sounded over driven.
3. could not get mic gain above 60% on input meters in Cubase 10. No compressor on input channel.
Mic is MXL V67

4. knobs are plastic so your fingers slip when you turn (this does not happen with Focusrite 2i4, they have rubber knobs, cool)
5. all 16 inputs were seen by cubase without having the driver app open.
6. Love the (8) XLR and separate (8) ¼" Line inputs.

No one commented on the TASCAM forum.
Have to return and probably get Focusrite 18i8.

On the Mac OS side everything works 90% of the time. Sometimes the interface will keep disconnecting and you have to restart your computer. On Windows it works maybe 30% of the time. I can only get audio to play inside a DAW. Nothing else will work. No iTunes, no internet browser, nothing. I've called and email TASCAM many times with no responses. They tell me they have forwarded my emails and calls to the right department and I have yet to revive an answer. Just don't buy anything from TASCAM...they treat their customer bad and don't update the driver ever.

I was really hopeful with this one, i have loved Tascam products for years. All the specs were right everything sounded like it would be perfect. I have had the US-1800 for years and have loved it. The preamps were clean there was practically no latency, it was a total work horse. The US-16x08 NOT SO MUCH! Thankfully i got it before they raised the price or i would have been really pissed at myself. The preamps sound cloudy and noisy. The latency is a struggle, you have to keep changing the sample rate depending on what you are recording or mixing. When you turn it down enough to be able to record you get clicks and pops. Sad to say save your money and buy something different

I'm throwing this expensive hunk of junk away. It has spent nearly a year in the shop between 3 separate complete failures of the motherboard. Tascam service is simply horrible, it takes them forever, they've blamed me for each time the SAME THING has happened, siting power surges, though I have multiple levels of surge and brown out protection in my studio. It's been installed the entire time I've used it meaning I never unplug it, move it, or for the most part even change what's plugged into it. If you want something that might just outlive the warranty this piece of crap is for you, but if it goes bad just toss it. The service people are incompetent and non-responsive. I'm never buying another piece of Tascam gear, which is a shame because I've owned many pieces of their equipment since the 80's and have never had a problem until this thing and working with their service departments has soured me on the brand forever.

On Windows 7, Windows 10, and MacOS Monterrey I've had issues with this thing. For years now. Switching to their drivers doesn't help and I know all about making sure sample rates match and adjusting to a larger buffer size, etc. There are always issues with this thing. Not worth the money, look elsewhere.

No matter what you're told this preamp will not work in conjunction with one more with any type of PC or non-Apple/iOS device for any DAW!!! Don't make my mistake, if you want a beginners preamp get that and hook it up it should work, I haven't been able to get it to work with anything even audacity yet so far though, hence the title… Beware or buyer beware I should say!
S from CA

The USB drivers caused my PC to blue screen three times. Any time it was plugged into my computer and turned on, my computer just didn't run right. The cpu was idling around 3-6% and it would shoot up to 100% randomly every few minutes. When I turned off the interface, the problem stopped. Tascam's customer service wouldn't even email me back, the Sweetwater techs tried to help. Just bad usb drivers. Made the interface completely unusable for me. Fought with it for about a week. Shipping it back. Not even worth it.

Had a US 1800 brand new. Never could get it communicating on USB port. Tried different PC's, downloaded current drivers, customer service are idiots that could only suggest to send unit in for min 100 repair. Obviously a made in China defect. My bad for assuming it was my computer and let warranty run out. I'll never purchase again

garbage. constantly makes fart sounds on playback, and even effects the incoming audio. midi ports do not work, half the time the inputs dont even work. i hate this so much. i paid $300 for a paper weight. DONT BUY THIS! ill be looking to get rid of mine soon enough.

Short story:
- Customer support simply do not reply.
- Drivers have more bugs than Windows ME had.

Long story:
I own the 16x08 since almost two months now. At first it seemed the only audio interface on the market that delivers as much I/O as it advertises. No additional hardware (ADAT stuff) is necessary to benefit from the full 16 inputs and 8 outputs. This is great, but the drivers are awfully buggy. Buggy to the point the US-16x08 is barely usable for me. I contacted the customer support few days after I encountered the first problem with it. I've been writing to them twice, waited for a month and still got no answer from them. (Apart from a confirmation email...)

First problem: Every single buffer underrun you encounter while editing your tracks permanently adds some latency to the mix. For instance, when I load a VST instrument into my DAW, the CPU spikes a bit and it most of the time causes a short buffer underrun (that's FL Studio). After such a buffer underrun, anything that comes out of the 16x08 is delayed by a few milliseconds. If you are playing previously added VSTi through a MIDI keyboard for instance, you'll start to feel that it responds slower than before. The effect is even more dramatic with live monitoring of a microphone. If you encounter additional buffer underruns, more delay is added to the mix to the point where your actions in the DAW are audible SECONDS later! This is unacceptable. It is possible to "reset" the latency by closing the device. (Set your DAW to use another sound card for instance...)

Second problem: Sometimes, you there are some audio glitches (crackling). And these noises are even altering your recordings.
(Another US-16x08 owner experiences this also, see youtube v=oxWC_muVs8I)

Third problem: Sometimes, more rarely though, the MIDI I/O ports stop functioning. The only thing I've found to make them work again is to reboot the computer, which points to another driver issue I guess... When this happens, often the audio distorts as if a digital gain was applied and makes everything clip.

I experienced these issues with two different computers, both running Windows 10 and the latest TASCAM drivers v1.04 with FL Studio DAW. Moreover, I could recreate the first issue in Ableton Live 9 trial version. In FL, loading a reasonably large instrument plugin will certainly create the problem. With Ableton Live it is harder to create buffer underruns in order to trigger the first mentioned problem, but still possible if you use aggressive buffer sizes.

I purchased this unit back in April of this year and it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride when it came to Tascam's US-16X08.

First the good stuff, construction and design wise? This unit is solid, the knobs don't feel like they are going to break loose, the chasis feels like a nice solid audio interface and the amount of inputs and outputs on this thing is great. Preamps low noise and when it works it worked great.

Now the negative... Tascam only just got down to releasing drivers that made the 16 x 08 function as a full audio interface for Windows 8.1, keep in mind we're in Windows 10 territory now and sure enough, the drivers don't work for Windows 10. I understand adjustment periods and working out transitional pains but the company has been less than responsive over these issues and keep in mind... this past July they JUST got the thing working for Windows 8.1 all in all the software support is HORRID.

Customer support is non responsive... their social networking reps are equally terrible.

As much as I loved the unit when it worked, the "when it worked" part is the operative term here and let's face it. It's an audio interface. NO DRIVER SUPPORT.. NO INTERFACE.

With all this in mind.. one star.... Sweetwater? You're awesome. I love you guys..you give me candy... but I'm afraid this unit is a horrible recommendation.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS UNIT UNLESS YOU LIKE TO HEAR RIDICULOUS LATENCY AND DIGITAL CLIPPING NOISES. I tried to use this unit to run live music through the computer so that I can use VST plugins to process the sound. With only one mic channel active, the units makes digital clipping noises at a low latency level, so I raise the buffer size, but then the latency makes it useless for live music processing. I can't get this thing to opetate at any setting without digital clipping noises. I also have a MOTU audio interface that works flawlessly when I use it for live sound processing.

If good customer service is important to you, then also stay away from Tascam. The us-16x08 is advertised as including two DAW applications: Cakewalk SONAR X3 LE and Abelton Live Lite 9. I contacted Tascam and they sent me redemption serial numbers that were already registered to someon else. I contacted them again about it and someone at Tascam questioned me as if I was lieing about Tascam being advertised with the DAW software. Why would they send me redemption serial numbers in the first place and now question me about it?

I returned this item back to the retailer where it should stay. The product is garbage and the customer service is the worst I ever experienced.