Audient iD4 and iD14 MkII Audio Interfaces: Really the best?

[@JakobStrand]

I turned up the volume a lot when the awkward silence appeared to actually hear any noise. My ear drums got shattered when the subscribe bell rang. Sweet lord.

[@statelis]

Wow the subsribe button was so cleverly positioned at the moment that I had volumed up to hear the noise of the intterface! Genious!!!

[@erskinepatton3247]

I use my ID4 when recording with my Rode NT2A vocal mic. It really does make a significant difference. Full and warm, as well as bright but not brittle. Lovely. If it had MIDI ports it would be my ONLY interface.

[@CreativeSauce]

Sadly - a trend to omit the MIDI ports now :(

[@RonnieVaiArovo]

@@CreativeSauce In my humble opinion, Midi ports on a user interface is NOT a selling point today; looks a bit ugly and outdated to me. Sure! I can understand that SOME people might like the 5-pin old Midi interface and MAYBE need it but with External Midi devices becoming less prevalent, the need to have them melded on modern interfaces is not required or necessary 👌 So it's not saddening to me, we have USB at least which is much more versatile :)

[@gkiss2030]

@@RonnieVaiArovo Do MIDI-USB adapters exist?

[@Broken-Silencer]

@@gkiss2030 Yes. They're usually cables, with two DIN connectors for your MIDI device on one end, and a USB connector on the other end. You can buy boxes as well, the serve the same purpose.

[@gkiss2030]

@@CreativeSauce SSL2+ has them, though. I'm surprised.

[@yaBoyRome]

I got this a week ago.....super crisp with my dt 770 pro 250 ohm....them 808s and kicks with the knob all the way up gets my cans jumpin'

[@RonnieVaiArovo]

Top class review of the iD14 mk2. I bought the Apollo Twin X interface and LOVE it & also own the original iD14 and love it so much that decided to keep it. 👍👍

[@gkiss2030]

I bought an ID4 MKII next to the Twin X. :) As I use the Twin X only on my Mac, because the PC doesn't have TB3 ports.

[@LonelyRocker]

Audient makes some great products. Slick and informative review. Well done!

[@darrylthomas815]

The ID 14 MK2 kicked the crap out of my Focusrite 2i2 I've had for years. No more noise and crackling here! APPROVED!

[@shadowbanned5164]

Really?....Ive been thinking about replacing my 2i2 because the sound Im getting on the PC isnt as good as the sound inside the deluge where I build my tunes...Seems to lose a bit of the quality when I transfer it to the PC...quite annoying.

[@joshuasamplemusic]

I heard a little bit of noise, but I had to turn the volume up a lot to hear it! Good stuff! Love your reviews!

[@maxtofone]

Thanks a lot Mike for this great Audient iD4 and iD14 review. I was convinced even before watching this video that my next audio interface would be the iD14, but your great review made my choice even more solid. Thanks again and kind regards, MaxT

[@VentureNW]

Glad I was able to get your take on the ID14 MkII. Thank you! Some people were complaining about technical support with them, so I reached out to them and got responses back without issues. There is a current issue, that is actually not tied to the AI at all, but tied to AMD X570 and B550 motherboards that were experiencing the USB randomly loosing connection. This was AMD's fault, not the fault of any AI. The 3rd party motherboard companies are starting to put out new BIOS versions that fix this issue. My ASUS X570 board has a beta version of this fix out now and it seems to be moving right along, so next step is buying me an ID14 MkII.

[@titntin5178]

Always interesting, thanks for a comprehensive review. Not likely to update my presonus , but ill be looking at these if i ever do!

[@CreativeSauce]

Thanks Kevin - which one do you have?

[@titntin5178]

@@CreativeSauce just the studio 24c for the moment. I built recording studios and studied recording studio engineering a long time back in the early 80s. Back then, editing skills involved a razor blade and some sticky tape! I was experimenting with new fangled thing called 'sampling ' and if you extraordinary amounts of cash, you could start to buy ssl all digital consoles. I shifted career and became a game animator for a long time. Only recently invested in new equipment to start making music again, and ive a lot to catch up on! I thought id start off with just two di inputs for now as im not going to doing full band recording for some time and just want to plug in a bass or guitar occasionally. I imagine ill create a lot with virtual instruments. I chose pre sonus as i wanted to use studio one, so it seemed a no brainer! Very much appreciate your videos and clearly presented work flows and im going to learn a ton from you, so my heartfelt thanks for the efforts you go to to bring us this.

[@EdThorne]

Great review, Mike.

[@jmb5706]

I love my ID 14. Going 44 next. Such a nice fat and warm sound.

[@gkiss2030]

iD4 MKII has a very nice, warm preamp.

[@gthevigilant_1811]

@@gkiss2030 Yeah the ID4 and 14 have the same Preamp. The MKII versions have the same AD and DA converters this time too unlike the 1st gen where the ID14 had the higher quality ones.

[@gkiss2030]

@@gthevigilant_1811 Thanks!

[@gthevigilant_1811]

@@gkiss2030 You're welcome 😁 Edit: Without these interfaces you'd have to spend $40,000 to buy the console these preamps originate from. That's how high quality they are.

[@ilanmetoudi]

Great review, Mike... I was thinking of getting a id44... maybe I'll wait for the mk2

[@CreativeSauce]

Right, I wonder how they will improve it!

[@ilanmetoudi]

@@CreativeSauce yeah... don't need a four channel mic interface just yet

[@jazzjames]

I have an ID44 and I cannot imagine it being better! It is amazing. I can add an additional 16 channels via ADAT so it’s a 20 channel interface. It’s great for live bands!

[@mimojapan]

Heh, I'm also using the iD4 with the Rode NT2A for stationary stuff and a "Novation Audiohub 2x4" for gigging. Both very sturdy devices and enough for my needs.

[@ChakrabortyRaja]

Hi sir, guide me on thing. I have bought Audient Id14 mkii, recently. My new ID14 is releasing so much heat. Before this I have used focusrite 2i2. It wasn't released that much heat. Please help me.

[@thomascoolberth2648]

At 2:20 pressing the rotary button on ID4 activates a "DIM function" ... what is a "DIM" function?

[@daytonabeats_db]

Thank you for the review. Now I want to buy the id4

[@EumirBethbeder]

what do you think of the sound quality compared to the older ID44?

[@madddd]

You chose the perfect place to put the subscribe button effect.

[@UpliftedProductions]

I have the iD14 mk2 and it is definitely the Best In Class for the price point. Audient did their damn thing!

[@AI-Consultant]

vs the ssl plus?

[@UpliftedProductions]

@@AI-Consultant Both are very good, it's a matter of choice, but I prefer the iD14 mk2 because of the upgraded D/A converter Audient added. I had the 1st version and the new one is so much better!

[@nash5753]

@@UpliftedProductions do you need a CL for the id14

[@UpliftedProductions]

@@nash5753 Forgive my ignorance but what is a CL? What does that stand for?

[@nash5753]

@@UpliftedProductions don’t worry about it bro. Cl is for Cloudlifter

[@victorsperber1288]

Thank you for this presentation. Could you please tell me if the Audient iD4 MkII works correctly (enough power) to use a headphone Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro in 250 Ohm ? Or, should I choose a 80 Ohm version ? Thank you !

[@CreativeSauce]

Hi Victor, I've used it with the 250 Ohm version, but volume needs to be close to 10, so I'd go for the 80 Ohm. The 'quality' difference is negligible compared to hearing what you're doing!

[@davefk]

How have you got such a quiet room? No computer fan noise etc?

[@norbutvstheworld]

I have been building rock solid DAWs for people since 1998. One thing you all never discuss on any of these review channels, is what is most important to me! And that is, the LATENCY of the product in question, it would be good if you all could do proper technical reviews and list actual technical data .. I have not changed my Recording Interface since 2011 because I've not found an interface with better Latency.. Latency is basically the time it takes to go from your instrument to the recording software via the Interface! I use an ESI 1010e, I get a Latency of 0.500ms..

[@gumpy6299]

Why is latency the big game changer for you, and not like pre amps and that. I’m sure you’d be able to record your guitar with other interfaces just fine, it’s not like your gonna be like “ohhh I hate this interface, it’s 0.000017 seconds slower than my one, therefore it’s useless”

[@RuelMoralesMusic]

The converters and the preamps are more important than the latency. You don't always have to direct monitor yourself when recording your playing. Also, you can change the buffer sizes with these audient interfaces to get a lower latency if your computer can handle it.

[@somerudedudeeee]

Am I missing something or does the id14 not have the "monitor mix" function that the id4 has? I feel like this is too useful of a feature for them to leave out of the 14... maybe its hidden in the scroll control options?

[@youssoubarro1671]

Thank you for your help 😇

[@Dmaccabees]

Thanks for the intel 🔥💯🔥

[@kaskas55]

Hi, can you also plug a guitar at the back inputs of the ID4? Thanks for the review

[@DavideMarzola431]

Great review !!! A question: Audient declare that 1-2 analog outputs are dedicated to Balanced TRS Jack Connectors, but nothing about 3-4 output ports. Can you gently verify if they are balanced or unbalanced? Thanks a lot. A greeting.

[@Nino5i]

Hello, I have a question. Why audient ID 4 has 4 knobs on the top while audient ID 14 has 3 knobs if it is supposed to be bigger, it should have more knobs

[@genuinemember5766]

SSL 2+ or ID14 mkii ??

[@tonylancer7367]

Is it true that the volume output from the Audient can become uncomfortably loud, even on the 250 Ohm version of the DT 770s you have?

[@perfectalpha]

If you're on USB-C 3.1 the answer is yes, they can. I have it 1 notch right now below highest on my DT990s 250 ohms and I would rate it very powerful. On the hardware, I have it 1 notch below maximum. In the Cue Mix I am using, I have it 9/10. So there is still extra power because my DAW isn't set to max either. I just turned on the song "Feel It" by Breath Carolina & Sunstars and if you can't feel it, you're definitely deaf. You can feel the headphones thump. It isn't distortion loud or crazy peaks loud, it's just LOUD. Of course, you probably won't use all that power but it's there if you want it. These headphones can take this type of power. I have to lower it down on the 58x Jubilees and X2HR's from Phillips. The headphone amp is definitely a go.

[@rayharris8113]

@@perfectalpha Yep I can vouch for that with a pair of DT770s and a Sennheiser HD6XX (250&300Ohm). I also have a RME Fireface 802 (USB 2), and looking at comparisons of other contemporary interfaces also with USB C, these headphones out are a real cracker and stand up to much more expensive units. Honestly I'd bought 2nd Lake People G103 Headphone amp but really don't need it now - I can barely hear the difference.

[@gkiss2030]

​@@perfectalpha Is there a way to hear both the mic input monitoring and the music playback at the same time? Might be a stupid question, though, because the monitor mix knob should do exactly that (when set to about halfway)...

[@TNTpyros]

What should i choose? The price here in Sweden is 15 dollar between EVO 4 and ID4 Mkii (more expensive). - I have Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro 250Ohm headphones, AKG D5 microphone and Edifier 1855DB speakers. I want the device to drive them all for gaming, listening to music and watching videos. - I want to switch audio source between Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro and Edifier 1855DB easy, which one is the best for that? - I want to drive my AKG D5 microphone to a good level without having to go 90-100 % gain. - Can you mute/unmute microphone quickly on iD4 Mkii? How do you do it?

[@rjc4991]

1. Id14 mk2 compatible with iPads?. 2. Can we custimerize d id button in id4 jus like id14?. 3. Is d volume knob in id4 is same as id14 or is it comparatively less sensitive?.

[@JASHNeQALAM]

Hi! I'm looking to get an Audio Interface for recording Audiobooks and Voiceovers. This is a home set-up with a Windows 10 laptop, in an untreated room. So, Can use only Dynamic Mics like SM58 or Rode Procaster. CLEAN PREAMP GAIN and LOW NOISE is prime requirement. I've shortlisted the Audient ID4 MK II and the MOTU M2. Both are at same price here in Mumbai, India. The additional mic input in the M2 is useful in case i decide to work on two person narration or interviews. Which would you recommend? Also, i have an option of very sparingly used ID4 (old version) for half the price! Thanks in advance!

[@CreativeSauce]

Its hard for me to say, as I haven't used the MOTU M2. I would say most interfaces at this price point don't have as clean pre-amps as the Audient in my experience. That's going to be VERY important to you if you are using something like the SM58, as you will likely need to have the gain very high, if not full. That's not something I'd want to risk, so don't buy the MOTU unless you have tested it on this front. If you really feel you will be recording 2 voices, then I would wait and get the Audient ID4 MK II. Sorry I cant be clearer :(

[@JASHNeQALAM]

@@CreativeSauce Thanks for your prompt and helpful response! That tilts the balance in favour of the Audient. I'm assuming you meant the ID14 MK II for two mic inputs. A new one would be out of my budget, but i have just been able to find a sparingly used (from a friend) ID 14 Old Version for low price. Seems the best way forward?

[@playerone2772]

Can this play hifi lossless audio without an amp?

[@hesammusic3750]

Hello my friend . I have been using Focusrite 18i8 2nd sound card for 8 years. Do you think that if I buy the Audient Id14 Mkii sound card, the quality will be better? How about the vocal recording quality? thank you

[@ShadyGabe]

I’ve used a Scarlet Solo Gen 2, so I have some experience with Focusrite. That being said, absolutely yes. Vocal quality will be clean and high quality. You won’t be disappointed.

[@BryanMcPherson]

I can't hear anything after jacking up my volume for the silence and getting blasted by that bell.

[@dunar6772]

I would have preferred to also hear the voice or something during the increase of gain.

[@tshev]

Prefer id4 because it has more knobs, but it is nice to have a 1 more audio input. iD4 is good, but the iD14 could have been better. SSL2+ has nailed the hardware UX, but iD14 has a much better performance.

[@Tony-kc5fi]

The id14 mk2 looks great but can anyone tell me if I can set it up like this: Can I plug my main stereo monitors into output 1&2 then a single sub speaker into output 3? Control the volume for outputs 1&2 with the volume knob Then click it down(main volume knob) to control the volume for output 3?(clicking again to return back to controlling outs 1&2 Can you set it up in the software to do this..? Reason is I do the majority of my mixing on the stereo monitors and occasional put some through the sub to check the bottom end.. Currently routing my existing interface through a small mixer where I achieve this control via an fx send out to the sub dialing this in when I need it. Looking for a simpler setup where I can loose the mixer and do it all from the audio interface.

[@larry5680]

Hello I am just starting to learn any DAW stopped on your way downloaded cakewalk. Thank you very much for your videos. Interested in the question of how to insert delay not for the whole song, but only in the desired words? Bless you.

[@shadowbanned5164]

My advice would be to join a forum like the Reaper forum and ask your question there if you haven't worked it out yet.

[@MrNobodyx41]

Is one of the best interface but kill the support don’t work in Ventura why ….????

[@takamusicbatu]

How the preamp compare withn EVO audient?

[@simonebarbella4118]

What about latency? Can i record with fx without any delay?

[@tamermehanni9389]

Audient id4 or Evo 4 or volt 2 thanks

[@cianbrady1557]

Would this much of an upgrade from the audio box?

[@victorbarnes6898]

I would love to consider Audient products but they don't know what midi is. What's it cost to implement? $2?

[@modernmusicstudio303]

Great video! Seems like the ID14 is living up to the expectations!

[@bhaveshsorathiya3912]

Thank you.. sir

[@michaeltrenier]

I went with the Antelope Discrete 4 over the ID44. It took months to decide but so far I’m blown away coming from a Motu 4Pre. Great video

[@VentureNW]

that's really not in the same price class @ $1k... I was, however, looking at their Zen Go Synergy whatever though.

[@gkiss2030]

@@VentureNW They have horrible customer support and drivers, as I heard.

[@delinquense]

I heard a bell when you played the sound from the Audient.....

[@RonnieVaiArovo]

LOL & A rather LOUD bell to add........Almost hurt my ear drums..........................nice joke bro

[@rjc4991]

Id14 mk2 is ios compatible?

[@CrazyDriverSwed]

Too bad they don't include Eventide plugins anymore. :(

[@gkiss2030]

Well, I got lots of software with my iD4 MKII. Cubase 11 LE and Cubasis 3 LE included!

[@theycallmeakid6992]

Id4 or id14 ? Is there any vocal quality difference between them ... I'll buy one of them in future for home studio nd going to use 1 mic only please tell me ?

[@baleDELgavilan713]

I think they are the same im not sure

[@h1de]

It's alright. Watch video and read comments for buyers justification 😂.

[@Design475]

How accurate are the meters for setting your mic gain? Do you trust the meters or did you need your DAW for accuracy?

[@eranddroory9987]

Thanks for the vid. It would have been nice if you did a round trip latency test as this interface is notoriously slow compared to other audio interfaces. A buffer size of 256, for example, is very different among interfaces. As many will use this for recording virtual instruments, I'm sure it would be useful info that this device acually has a latency twice as high as a Focusrite Scarlett at the same buffersize, well at the old version did.. 😊

[@rayharris8113]

Didn't Julian Krause do one I seem to remember? Or at least showed some comparative figures anyway?

[@gthevigilant_1811]

Julian Krause tested these MKII updates and the round trip latency is average compared to everything else (not slow). Input latency is great though and big improvement over the 1st gen. How many people read your comment and took it as facts? These are new versions and you should've led with the fact that the 1st gen was slow but instead you sounded like you knew what you were talking about.

[@juergen_b]

It has ADAT but no MIDI. This may be a deal breaker depending on your needs.

[@VentureNW]

If you need just midi, get an Motu M4, if you want midi, ADAT AND SMUX get a Motu UltraLite Mk5. These things are tiny fit on your desk, while everything else sits in a rack. Lots of MIDI to USB boxes out there and cheap, so not really a deal breaker, imo.

[@juergen_b]

Right, there are many low price MIDI to USB cables that should do the job. Why would you need MIDI in the audio interface anyway? Maybe to avoid clock issues?

[@CreativeSauce]

I feel like adding MIDI with a cable, is both easy and affordable, whereas adding ADAT? Not even possible. Beware though, I bought some cheap USB to MIDI cables off eBay (several), and they were all terrible... not usable.

[@masterofreality230]

Get it from Thomann even if you live in the US! lol

[@covetedpixel3238]

They don't use the same preamps as used in the consoles, I see this misinformation spread everywhere, except by Audient itself. The preamps used in the ID series (actually as described in their written documentation): "are BASED on the designs used in the consoles" the designs of the preamps are similar, but not exact, to accommodate the slightly more inexpensive components used in these preamps, and manufactured in China as opposed to the higher quality components used in the consoles. So you are making it sound like you get the same exact preamp in the ID package. (Not just you, but most of you KZbinrs)

[@CreativeSauce]

The actual words from Audient on this from thier website... "Every iD interface features the Audient Console Mic Preamp, the same discrete circuit design found in our renowned recording console the ASP8024-HE". What am I missing here?

[@VentureNW]

I'd agree with CS here... same design... same design for 20+ years. However, you don't have all that other circuitry in this tiny thing, that you would have on an ASP8024 desk. Also comparing $300 to $42000+ - bang for the buck, you can't beat this. The M4 is good and is a bit cheaper, but no ADAT and I don't think their preamps are as good as these. Only other thing I heard was that using the line inputs doesn't bypass the mic preamps... not so sure on that front input, however.

[@music_creator_capable]

Good day!

[@joegrint6280]

Ha ha - I thought you were going to say 'built like a brick s***house' there for a moment then realised it might not be a term used over there (especially not in polite videos!)

[@bitshred]

The preamps for the ID4 are dead quiet. They are a step up from the Scarlett series. That said, unfortunately the DAC are a step down. I was very disappointed on playback of music. :( It was noticeable as soon i fired it up. I'm surprised there isn't more comments on that. It's definitely a nice unit though. Just didn't appreciate the step down. I ended up getting the over priced Apollo twin X .

[@gkiss2030]

Is this for iD4 MKII?

[@upstairzstudio8480]

I still love my Apogee Duet 😅

[@MustacheVerra]

lol @ that awkward moment. Anyway, thanks for the review. ;-)

[@dboytheoriginal2626]

so these arent much better then the focusirite 2i2? maybe they are similiar?

[@VentureNW]

@Kristina Scherer pre-amps... don't forget those

[@gkiss2030]

@@VentureNW The iD4 MKII preamp smokes my Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen's preamp.

[@TheMicrofox]

Unfortunately it does not work well in Windows 10, possibly a driver problem. Crackles all the time, and does not wake up with Windows from snooze. Maybe they have an updated driver in the meantime, my experience is from March when it came out.

[@rayharris8113]

I use it on the notorious Dell XPS 7390 laptop with Win 10 Pro. Not a pop or a crackle on sight. Some of my Amp sims pop and crack at 128ms so I dial it back to 256ms. ID14 mkii has zero latency monitoring on the inputs if that helps? I don't really detect a difference when I record/overdub between that and recording via the Fireface via Total mix

[@kevinkeegan2979]

I have this over a month now, horrible experience. The software is useless, doesn't work. The hardware disconnects every 2 minutes. Even if I restart my computer 10 times, its the same. It drove me crazy. I had emailed the technical support back and forth (over 25 emails) their final verdict? contact the dealer and replace with another one....really?

[@VentureNW]

Are you using this on a PC or a Mac? If a PC, what motherboard are you running?

[@gkiss2030]

I don't have any of this issues on Win 10. Zero.

[@ateezinmyheart5856]

What OS do you use? It should work fine on win 10 64 bit

[@akmakeabeat]

Are there still issues with software or drivers on Windows ? I’m thinking of buying id14.

[@keghams]

@@akmakeabeat I don't know. I returned it and got SSL2+ instead and I am super happy.

[@JoseFlores-be8bw]

Hay Eye hav won of dose!

[@stupidusername38]

Not sure why these have a good rep as I've read so many negative comments about hardware failure in as little as 6 months from purchase

[@matetarjanyi8168]

Because these reviews don't talk about longevity. The new MKII has yucky cheap plastic inputs that wobble like crazy. The chassis itself is really nice, but other than that, it feels like a toy (the first gen did not). The sound is great, but Audient didn't hit it for me with this one.

[@stupidusername38]

@@matetarjanyi8168 which is why i've learnt never to be an early adopter. Always wait for the user reviews as the bugs and issues will be identified and you'll see how good the company is in fixing them.

[@VentureNW]

Links to failures? I am only seeing a constant complaint about USB connection drops, which was actually caused by AMD X570/B550 motherboards, that they are finally addressing with new drivers. Curious, let me know... longevity is important for sure.

[@akmakeabeat]

@@VentureNW did you get it? How’s the drivers on windows now?