New interface sanity check

[CwC Studio]

Hi folks

I'm looking into a new interface setup for my logic rig and am hoping for a little sanity check and to see if anyone has experience with these.

I've narrowed my options to these:

1. Focusrite Red 16Line

2. UAD Apollo X16

3. Focusrite Clarett+ 8pre with a Clarett+ OctoPre (it's half the price of the others)

 

My needs are very simple; Good transparent conversion. 16 channels of in/out for recording and hybrid mixing. I don't really need or care about inbuilt preamps as I use external pre's 95% of the time. I'm moving further away from software as time goes on so onboard DSP and plugin packs I will not use. Really, all that's needed is enough line level i/o, good sound quality and reliability performance with reasonably low latency.

Some questions for the group:

1. Does anyone have experience with the converters and sound quality of the Focusrite Red series in comparison with the Clarett+ series. The specs put them very close and I'm unsure if the double price tag of the Red will realistically be heard.

2. Is it better to go for a single unit rather than 2 joined via ADAT (I believe there's always going to be a slight delay over ADAT) or is that overthinking things? (one thing I can't have is timing or clock issues - that kills a session)

3. Is there any benefit to the UAD unit if I'm not interested in their software eco system? (I'm kind guessing sound quality between the brands will be on par)

 

Any experience and insight you can offer is most appreciated!

[David Nahmani]

I have experience only with the UAD Apollo X16 and the Focusrite Clarett+ series, not with the Red 16. However if budget wasn't an option then I would opt for the Red 16. In my experience, it's generally much easier and more reliable to deal with a single unit than two devices connected via ADAT that have to communicate and sync together, so that'll be one less headache. 

[CwC Studio]

Thanks for the reply David. I have the same experience running adat connected devices. It can get in the way of creative sessions making sure things are synced or  thinking about which ins and outs to use depending on which device they are on. For me they really just need to be a set and forget piece so the pace of a session can go at full steam.

Cheers