Verdict
Light , approachable and surprisingly have - rich , the Evo 4 is unadulterated for nursing home studio beginners — there ’s just a svelte smash to a distich of audio quality constituent compared to the company ’s best .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Audient Evo 4 is one of the good audio interface for someone starting out in home recording , podcasting or cognitive content creation .
At first , it seems chasteness is the solitary hook . The Audient Evo 4 is light-headed on dials and thickening , is small , and has a clean feature that sets you levels mechanically to forefend clip – splendid for beginners .
However , it ’s actually a lot less restrictive than some other poser you might buy at the cost . This is a 2in/2out interface , better than the capable but single - input Focusrite Scarlett Solo . These inputs can be mics , ancestry ins , and there ’s a consecrated “ instrument ” input , for greater flexibility than is offered by the recent Focusrite Vocaster course . And it ’s more portable - favorable than the Audient ID4 Mark II .
The main reason to pause is that sometimes you ’ll often retrieve the Audient ID4 sell for only slightly more on-line . While I have few major complaints about the Eve 4 ’s raw sound calibre , that step - up model has more extremely regarded pre - amps .
Audient sells the Evo 4 on its own for around £ 103 or as part of the Evo Start Recording Kit bundle . This sell for up to £ 195 and includes a basic but comme il faut pair of full - size earpiece , a electrical shock mount , XLR cable system and an impressively sturdy SR1 condenser mic .
Design
The Audient Evo 4 is a credit card brick . While it is n’t made strictly for portable use , its footprint is smaller than that of any audio interface I ’ve used in old age .
It ’s not actually clear which part is meant to look upwards at first glance . The top acid holds that big volume telephone dial , so when you put the Audient Evo 4 on a desk , the earphone and guitar inputs face you .
The Audient Evo 4 is a 2in/2out user interface . In this case that mean you get a duet of 6.35 millimetre sockets for studio monitors on the back , and a duo of combi XLR/6.35 mm sockets for mike or , for example , hooking up a guitar amplifier .
There is an instrument socket up front too , in the main for electrical guitars and freshwater bass , but you ’ll only ask to use this if you are flat connecting — no adenosine monophosphate . This replaces “ input 1″ on the back in use . it ’s not a sneaky additional third input .
However , you should definitely use it for verbatim guitar stimulus . It produce a dramatically better phone than using the rearward strain stimulation , presumably because of the “ harmonically rich JFET cat’s-paw input circuit ” Audient spill the beans about on its website . Clarity and dynamic image seem much improved when dealing with the single coil pickups of my Stratocaster guitar .
you could also use the Audient Evo 4 with more platform than you might guess . It works on Mac and PC without installing any extra software , and you’re able to stop up it into an iPad for purpose with apps like Garageband . I tried it with an older iPad Air and a USB - C to USB - C overseas telegram . No number .
This create the Audient Evo 4 the perfect fit for someone who might want to use their tablet as a melodious sketchbook while on holiday , or even while on tour of duty .
Audient ’s space - saving panache does mean the volume knob has to take on a whole bunch of duties , though . It ’s a loose - turning dial with 19 white LEDs around its perimeter . Those LEDs might tell you the ball-shaped volume floor , the level of inputs 1 or 2 , headphone output volume or the monitoring gadget premix for one of the inputs . Or roleplay as a VU beat for your input , to show you when you might be get confining to prune .
All that stuff shown on one curing of LEDs has the electric potential to confound , and some may prefer the consecrate dials of the Audient ID4 . However , that ’s not how I felt using the Evo 4 . Once you get your top dog around a few basics , it ’s always pretty obvious what the LEDs mean , take a leak this port seem uncluttered rather than puzzling .
Features
This is a highly beginner - friendly interface , and Smartgain is the skilful example of why . It ’s represented by the larger green button .
fight the green button , followed by the ‘ 1 ’ or ‘ 2 ’ button that represents the stimulant you require to record and then press the green button again . This kicks off Smartgain . You then babble at your loudest or strum away on a guitar and the Audient Evo 4 will mechanically set the channel level to avoid clipping . It ’s a mini soundcheck that avoids busted takes , and takes less than 10 minute .
The Evo 4 offers 48V phantom big businessman , for those who plan to utilize condenser mics that require it . And the little “ fader ” button to the right side of the ascendancy panel represents the other tasteful feature here . It ’s a ironic / wet signal controller , letting you take how much you pick up of the in the raw signaling from your guitar / mic , and how much from the output through your recording software .
Hold this down and it switches to “ monitor pan ” , which I only realised when read the manual of arms to check I had n’t missed anything . This permit you pan off the admonisher provender of the two inputs exit and right to as nifty a degree as you choose .
The Audience Evo 4 has hidden depths . However , you ’ll need to download the PC / Mac Evo software to get your hand on one of the most active feature , Loopback .
This let you turn outputs into an extra lot of two-channel stimulant — handy if you require to tape game audio or the feed from someone on the other closing of a Skype call while recording your own mic sound recording on a freestanding track . I advocate taking a look at Audient’sown videoto see more on how it go .
The more I dig into what the Audient Evo 4 can do , the broad its appeal became . At this monetary value solid performance with two inputs is enough , but there are extra for streamers and podcasters too .
Performance
Is the bleak carrying into action near enough ? I recollect so . When you max out of the input story for the wrinkle remark , there is a tenuous but noticeable haphazardness layer . However , I ca n’t really think of any normal situation in which you ’d want to advertize the pre - A that hard . At more unconstipated volumes the Evo 4 sounds clean , and I was in particular ingrain by the quality of the instrument input — it makes the raw provender from an galvanising guitar sound a lot like that of a clear channel on a guitar amp .
However , there is one problem — interference . When pushing the pre - amp pretty hard I could hear an odd tick sound , which seemed to be exacerbated by associate to a USB - C Thunderbolt hub rather than plume up to my MacBook directly . And when mind with my phone next to the unit , switching from Wi - Fi to mobile internet inclose another form of ticking / clicking noise .
I ’m not hint the Audient Evo 4 is unshielded — lots of family may never notice this likely impression . The atomic number 13 and steel case of the Audient ID4 should help reduce this further , though . It ’s the obvious pick for sound quality purists , but only has one microphone input , where the Evo has two .
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Should you buy it?
: It work out across batch of platform and , unlike some at this level , two separate input channels .
It has the same preamps used in the company ’s high - end consoles and the alloy shell is more resilient .
Final Thoughts
The Audient Evo 4 is a simple - attend user interface that is easy to use but has greater feature film and tractableness than you might imagine .
With two inputs and outputs , and five ways to plug in transcription gear include a character tool socket , most kinsfolk should n’t find out themselves trammel by the potential here too soon . The auto input level feature is perfect for beginners , and the software extras nod to streamers and podcasters .
The fictile build is n’t remotely as impressive as the much tougher Audient ID4 ’s , though , and likely does n’t help the slender susceptibility to hearable electromagnetic preventive , which can become audible at high preamp volumes .
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FAQs
This user interface can power headphones but its loudspeaker output are made for powered speakers .
Yes , the two stimulus epithelial duct can be muted severally .
It proffer 58dB gain for its two inputs .
Full Specs
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