Focusrite Scarlett Solo vs Røde AI-1

[Dipypang]

Guys,

which one is better and why?

Thanks

[The Flying Sloth]

There is no correct answer to this question, they are both basic recording interfaces.
Here's some things to keep in mind and a link to my personal favourite gear in a given price bracket.
Personally I'd suggest some of the low end Behringer stuff over a Scarlett from both my personal experience and the experience of others I've worked with in the past but in the end how you spend your money is up to you,

Sloth

[Dipypang]

14 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

There is no correct answer to this question, they are both basic recording interfaces.
Here's some things to keep in mind and a link to my personal favourite gear in a given price bracket.
Personally I'd suggest some of the low end Behringer stuff over a Scarlett from both my personal experience and the experience of others I've worked with in the past but in the end how you spend your money is up to you,

Sloth

If you only have these 2 choices, which one will you choose sir?

[The Flying Sloth]

11 hours ago, Dipypang said:

If you only have these 2 choices, which one will you choose sir?

Whichever is cheapest, they do the same thing.

[kasugatei]

6 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Whichever is cheapest, they do the same thing.

This is one of the worst recommendations I've ever read here. 

In theory every audio interface is the same, but there is a reason why eg. RME costs 5-6 times as much as Focusrite comparable in features. Previously mentioned RME has drivers which are so solid that only complete OS crash will crash them. There is also a component of how electronics are designed.

Great hardware designs can easily become useless because of s**t drivers or trying to save literally few cents on production making it extremely unreliable. Also, having previousli mentioned RME interfaces for 99.9% of people here would be a complete waste of money.

 

So, my recommendation is to check user reviews on big sites like Sweetwater, Amazon etc. and do some research that way. It will help to spot common design flaws. My quick look into those 2 interfaces revealed that the difference is 20 USD between them. I'd rather pay 20 USD more to have reliable and stable device than to save some money and have completely piece of s**t device. Just to make one thing clear, since I don't have experience with any of the mentioned interfaces and I haven't done any research about them I AM NOT saying that more expensive device of two is better. My comment was a generally speaking.

 

[The Flying Sloth]

7 minutes ago, Niksa said:

In theory every audio interface is the same, but there is a reason why eg. RME costs 5-6 times as much as Focusrite comparable in features.

Absolutely,
But since he's limited the options to these specific two interfaces and neither costs 6x more than the other it's a fairly safe bet that they will perform basically identically even if I hadn't checked the reviews myself, thus entirely justifying the recommendation to purchase "Whichever is cheapest".
I appreciate your input though it did add nothing to the discussion,

Sloth

[kasugatei]

31 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

I appreciate your input though it did add nothing to the discussion,

I disagree, I wanted to point to the methodology of choosing between devices. Your methodology is pure assumption - they are in the same price range so they must perform the same.

My methodology is research - check online reviews to spot common issues if any. If both of the products have no issues, sure, go buy the cheaper of two. It can be applied to any product out there these days. All magic lies behind first two result pages of Google query; product_name review

 

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

[Fennie]

Found this on google while looking for taredowns of the AI1.
All of these replies are rather unprofessional and dumb imo. so imma compare both of the DACs Even tho its rather unnessecary

with my own personal experience with both dac's the scarlet would be my go to.

Scarlet cons are low quality interfaces that tend to be loose at times. (Fixable problem with enough patience), the ugly appearance and overall build quality.. it just feels kind of cheap.

Scarlet pros. Cleanest audio 192KHz rate and overall cheaper than the AI1, Has 2 inputs

AI1 cons Some reported it to make a hissing sound, i personally didnt ever have that problem. but multiple reviews dont lie.. 96KHz being a lower quality, Cant drive high ohm headphones. like the bare dynamics TD 770s has only one input that you can chose between line in or mic.

AI1 pros Built like tank Really high quality. its black sleek and fits in every desk has really nice interface plug that has both support for 6.35 jack and a XLR plug in one spot.

At time of writing. the scarlet is $119 and the AI1 is $129

TLDR Get the scarlet over the AI1