Audient EVO 4 USB Audio Interface

Audient has packed the EVO 4 with quite a lot of functionality for such a small box. It has far more use cases than I will probably ever scratch the surface of... but that's okay because it didn't cost me an arm and a leg to get all the extras. The cheapest XLR to USB interface you can really find that's worth getting is probably the Blue Icicle which is half the price of the EVO 4 - but all it does is convert and amplify the analog signal to digital. With the EVO 4 you get that plus a second XLR input channel, a JFET instrument input, and 1/4in TRS stereo out for speaker/headphone monitoring. Additionally, you can mute the channels by long pressing the numbered buttons. The smart gain feature is a great innovation for getting levels set up quick during your sound check without having to worry about the possibility of clipping. I occasionally will pick up one of my two guitars, so it is nice to now have a device that makes it very simple to record if I ever find myself improvising something that I'd like to remember how to play later. My primary use is just as the interface for my XLR microphone for communication purposes while online gaming and it comes crystal clear through the preamps on this device with low to no background noise being picked up. I don't have any kind of sound treatment in the room I use it in and the sound from my PC tower fans are not even noticeable recording at 75% to 80% gain. The same set of LEDs around the digital knob in the center relay various information such as volume control, monitoring L/R balance, and when your input device is in use - the levels it is reaching for the channel you selected. If it lights up the right most LED then you are probably getting clipping and have the gain set too high. Audient provides access to the compact DAWs Cubase (PC/Mac) and Cubasis (iOS) LE 2 and some VST synthesizers if you register your product on their site, which is a nice set of freebies for some aspiring songwriters or producers to add to their arsenal. The only complaint I know people have is that you can't use speakers and headphones for monitoring at the same time, because plugging in headphones will automatically mute the speaker output channels, but this doesn't really affect me personally for how I'm going to be using it. You get 2 recording channels but it's worth noting that the EVO 4 creates an input selection that mixes those together as 1 channel for you if you'd like, plus provides both mono and stereo loopback channels for recording your PC's audio output. The 1/4 TRS JFET input routes only to channel 1, and it takes priority over XLR port 1 and thus automatically mutes that signal when in use. Overall, I don't think you can go wrong with this unit if you just need to record a couple of mics for a podcast, or vocals and an instrument for your original music or a cover song. It may be overkill if you want to use it for something like teleconferencing for work because let's face it, most people aren't going to notice how much better your microphone sounds than everyone elses'. But hey, someone might and they can be your second new best friend, after the EVO 4.

I purchased the EVO 4 for truly silent guitar practice. Setting it up could not have been easier. I plugged into my Macbook opened up an amp sim and started playing. It was that easy. The auto gain feature seemed to work well. It took a minute or so to complete the process and sounds great with the sims I've tried it with. I can practice in silence when needed. The EVO is small enough that I'll probably bring it on my next trip so I can some playtime in.

The Audient EVO 4 is an amazing interface for its price. Super clean preamps, zero-latency monitoring, and a compact design that fits perfectly on a small desk. The Smartgain feature is very convenient — just press one button and it sets the input level automatically. Build quality feels solid, and the sound is transparent and detailed. Ideal for producers, vocalists, and musicians working from home. Highly recommended!

Use case: Main PC audio interface: gaming, music, movies, comms, screencasting. Pros - Nice clean mic preamps (tested with condenser +48v and dynamic mics). - Software is being updated and added. Evo control is great. - Digital volume control let's us control the same volume knob with the OS media controls and viceversa. HUGE advantage from this digital interface over analogs. - Headphone amp is pretty decent: tested with medium and low impedance headphones and it worked perfectly. - Doesn't heat up after constant use. - Clean audio all over. I used to have some an intermittent static hizz running through my equipment when I connected my devices directly to the computer. Mainly because of not having a grounded electric grid here where I currently live. With the interface I get no hizz at all which is a godsend. Cons - It's so lightweight that it turns over backwards when applying little pressure to the top side of the knob (cables weight are pulling it backwards) - Only 1 output at a time, speakers or headphone. It would've been perfect if an extra button was included, even if it's only on the EVO control (software). As a gamer we usually go for speakers for casual gaming and leisure but for competitive gaming have to put on the headphones to be able to hear footsteps. Having to connect the headphones to do go back and forth is a huge hassle. PC users need a reliable audio alternative, we are used to realtek's constant driver problems and I know many would pay to get rid of it. I'd recommend this product to my friends if it had this particular feature. - Gain is too low on some dynamic mics (behringer XM8500). Recommendations - For mic input select the mono (1-channel) input as your operating systems input. (Mic | Line | Instrument) - The loopback feature is great in case you need the audio you output through the interface to come back as a separate input channel. You'll need a DAW to monitor it though.

As someone without extensive experience with audio equipment, I found the Evo 4 to be surprisingly user-friendly. The setup process was straightforward, and I was able to get everything running without much hassle. I use it with my Shure SM7B, and while the built-in gain control is helpful, you’ll still need a Cloudlifter or similar inline preamp to get the best results. The interface is intuitive, and the build quality feels solid for the price. Overall solid the Evo 4 is a pretty solid choice for the price point

This is my 3rd interface in 20 years. My first was an M-Audio Mobile Pre, and the second was a UA-25ex by Roland. When I get something that works, I use it until it no longer does. The UA-25 was great for it's time, but it has never had support for Windows 10 (no official drivers), and was dropping out several times on a daily basis. I have a decent PC and it shouldn't have been a problem. While searching for a new interface, I came across overwhelmingly positive reviews of the Evo 4, so I picked one up, and have no regrets. For context, I make beats and record vocals, and use Studio One as my main DAW. One of the main, if not the only, complaints that came up in every single review I watched was the build quality. Honestly, it isn't bad at all. It isn't steel like most of the more well known, or even common interfaces these days. It's plastic, but sure doesn't feel like plastic. My Mobile pre was plastic, and you could tell it was plastic just by looking at it. I've plugged both my XLR cable/mic into it, and headphones, they all snap in very nice and secure. The Evo also feels really heavy. It has a nice weight to it. So please don't let the complaints of the build quality turn you off. The device drivers are working well, which is probably the most important thing to me next to the sound quality itself. Both the Mobile Pre and UA 25 stopped receiving driver support and ended up giving me trouble. I have not had a single drop out, and have done some recording as well, with no issues at all on the Evo 4. There is also companion software which can be used to update the firmware. This is a modern interface indeed. Hopefully, they will continue to support the device on future versions of Windows. Feature wise, the interface has a couple of punches that I like: smart gain, which automatically sets the gain of an input based on the incoming signal, and smart mute, which mutes the main output when headphones are connected. I tried out the smart gain, and got great results. It was also really easy to do: push the green button, then the input channel you are recording into, and the green button again. It will then set the gain, which you can adjust when it's finished. I like the smart mute, as a solo artist, because I was always forgetting to turn off my monitors before recording vocals. I could see how that would not benefit an engineer, or any case you needed to monitor on speakers while someone else had headphones in. The sound quality is great. I don't really know much about pre amps, dac, and all the technical stuff that goes into an interface, so I had to take what reviewers said about it, and it's definitely a selling point across the board. Especially for the price. Input monitoring works fine, with controls to mix the signals. The other interface I was looking at had input monitoring, but no mixing control, unless you bought the next version up. Finally, the overall design of the device is interesting as mentioned. There are no dedicated knobs. Just one knob that will control the signal based on the button pressed. I was concerned I wouldn't like it as it so not traditional to any other device on the market, or one I was familiar with. However, it is so easy to use, and will not be a problem. I also like the big dial on the top, that also has led lights that act as a gain meter to both input and output signals. So I have no complaints on the design. TLDR: For the price, this interface is unbeatable. You get great sound quality, with an excellent feature set. More than enough to get you started and stay within a tighter budget. Build quality is fine, despite reviews. Of course steel is always better than plastic, but this feels very premium. This is my first Audient product, but I would definitely buy from them again.

Audio engineer here. I've used audio interfaces back in school and see them all the time. I bought this one because it fit my needs the best, but I can't really recommend this for most people. How is the build quality? It's pretty bad honestly. If you've used an interface made out of metal before and this sucks compared to that. This thing noticeable flexes in on the front when I grab the interface to pull an XLR cable out of the back. The plastics feels like it's good quality enough to handle it, but it's definitely not confidence inspiring. I bought it just for personal use so I'm fine with it but I can't imagine this lasting long in a bigger studio environment. Overall it feels good but just not studio grade. Is this good for someone who plans on messing with the knobs a lot or changing inputs a lot? Absolutely not. There's one knob. There's buttons to change what the knob sets, but some of the settings are super unintuitive to get to. For example, to pan the inputs for direct monitoring in stereo, you have to HOLD DOWN the monitor button and then rotate it (but then you can rotate in either direction to flip them). Seriously? Audient please just use a button like everyone else, because even though I can adjust the pan mix for direct monitoring it still sends two separate signals to L and R on my computer. It's pretty much useless. I recommend anyone considering this look up the manual online and see if they can live with all the controls. The drivers include an app where you can adjust everything on it through software luckily. Having to memorize the secondary features of each button is bit of pain honestly. Oh, and if someone handed me this in a studio I would have no clue how to operate it. Calling the interface modern is honestly a bit of joke imo. How's the smart gain feature? It's fine. Honestly the fact that there's leds around the dial to indicate input volume makes this feature kind of useless for anyone that isn't new to this. But it works. Takes a quite a while to finish calibrating though. If anything this is pretty nifty but not really a good selling point. How's the headphone amp? It's fine. A lot of youtube reviewers said that this has one of the better built in headphone amps and I do agree with that after testing with a few pairs of monitors and other headphones I have. How are the drivers? I can only speak for Windows 10, but installation was a breeze. Pretty much forced me to register it pretty much immediately though. Not great when I just wanted to test it before I registered it. Everything sounds fine. Setting the output gain for headphone jack changes the volume in Windows for better or worse. edit: I forgot about the latency. It's low. Can't go below 128 samples on buffer size without artifacting for some reason (i7-6700HQ) but round trip latency is still under 10ms so it's fine. How about size? This thing has a smaller footprint than most interfaces and has a top adjustment knob. Though if that's the only thing you care about I'd get a Komplete Audio 2 instead because it's much more usable. This is actually one of the main reasons I bought this because I'm trying to outfit a really small home studio. Sound input quality? Up to par with everything else. I have no complaints. I don't have a bunch of fancy microphones here to test it but it seemed fine with everything I tried. Line inputs that can be used in stereo are nice, and I think this is one of the cheaper ones that can do it if you want to record something through a stereo breakout cable or something. Value? If you plan on using only one XLR input, get something else. If you're comparing this against something that has two XLR inputs, I'd spend a little more for better build quality. The value only comes in if you really want a decent headphone amp at a certain physical size and don't plan on using it for more than yourself and maybe one other person. Boiled down this is a budget 2 input interface that's cheaper than most of them (without going for the super cheap ones) but is still fully featured and doesn't compromise on any of it's inputs or outputs or software support. Will I be keeping it? Yes. I like it for what I want to do, and for me it's a good value because it has the best compromises for the tiny studio I'm building. But again it's not everyone. Who is this good for? - someone who wants a good headphone amp built into the interface but doesn't want to shell out for a Motu M2 - someone who doesn't want to change their settings often and would prefer a small set-it-and-forget-it solution that they can adjust the volume from within their OS - someone who wants an interface that takes up little desk space

Was considering the Elagato Wave XLR as it has a mute button, and excellent reviews, but it only works on Windows 10. This has two input channels, which I thought was a bit over engineering for single microphone usage. Not planning on joining a Zoom meeting in stereo, which is the only use I have for it. I run my output through my PC to a BOSE speaker, have not tested the headphone or audio out channels. Easy to set up, Windows 7 recognized it immediately, and the Smart Gain feature is awesome. Labeled channel one as RODE, and channel two as SM7 (Shure). Build is a little cheesy, see Julian Krause's review on Youtube - he takes the lid off and pokes around inside. Many competing interfaces are (or appear to be), solid metal such as the Focusrite series. Why it's better to have two input channels for a single microphone: If I'm using the RODE Podcaster on channel one, I simply select channel two, and it's muted!! This allows for sound testing before a meeting, selecting the other channel, and not worrying about saying something inappropriate into a hot mic. A career saver. You will thank me later. Only draw back I have after a month of service, is extracting the cable from either port. Seems very difficult to get out. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. The cable on the other end easily pops out of the Rode or the Shure.