How Much Should I Pay for an Audio Interface?

By Pat Brown

Pat Brown does a compares two audio interface – Presonus Audiobox USB and and Duran D-Audio on a couple of key specs. Worth the money difference?

The consumer electronics marketplace has conditioned all of us to expect electronics to be low cost and high quality. Some of the latest USB interfaces are sold at commodity prices. I recently compared a consumer and pro USB audio interface on some key specifications.

• The Presonus Audiobox USB has a noise floor of -73dBFS*. It’s frequency response magnitude is 20Hz – 20kHz +0 -6dB. There are no line inputs (but unbalanced TS instrument inputs). All inputs and outputs have pin 1 problems. Loopback requires a cable. Street price is $150USD.
• The Duran D-Audio has a noise floor of -92dBFS. It’s frequency response magnitude is 20Hz – 20kHz +-0.5dB. Fully balanced mic and line level I/O is free of pin 1 problems. Loopback is internal and software controlled. Street price is about $800USD. You be the judge. pb