This is why magazines don't do shootouts
Our latest gear review not only identifies the best low-cost interfaces for use with dynamic mics like Shure's SM7B. It also got me accused of:
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using an interface improperly
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lying about the test parameters when requesting loaner gear
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being paid by a competitor to do a hatchet job
None of those things is true, but from a few hardware manufacturers' perspectives, these are all preferable explanations to the wildly unlikely possibility that their gear got beat in a fair test.
It was a torture test, no question. We recorded a low-volume source (male voiceover) through a famously, or some would say infamously low-output microphone, the Shure SM7B.
Why on earth would we use a 1976-era microphone to test preamps and interfaces in 2012? Reasonable people might ask that question. So might unreasonable people, especially when their interface doesn't work well with low-output mics. The answer is that the SM7B kicks ass on just about any source you point it at.
But it needs a really clean input channel: 50-60dB of clean gain for a low- to moderate-volume source.
All of these interfaces probably sound great with condenser mics, or on high-volume sources like guitar cab, brass, kick and snare. But our evaluation was specific to the very challenging, yet common home studio task of recording VO, vocals, or acoustic guitar with a low-output dynamic.
As you can see in the photo at right, we had preamp/interface boxes on hand from Focusrite, Mackie, Centrance, Apogee, Avid/M-Audio, and Presonus. A couple of them sounded really good. The rest revealed their noise floor.
The review was written by Nashville producer Jason Miller, who had a great response when I told him that I was getting pushback from a couple of the manufacturers. "If they want better reviews," he said, "tell them to make better products!"
The article provides a blind listening test, so you can audition the tracks with your ears rather than your expectations. Or, you can download the WAV archive to hear the original audio tracks, either raw or processed, through your own converters and monitoring chain.
If you're a fan of the SM7B or any other low-output dynamics, including ribbon mics, and you need a portable audio interface, check out Jason's review. A lot of factors go into any purchase decision, but Jason can answer the most important preamp/interface question: does it sound good when it needs to?
Visit the SM7B Audio Interface Shootout.
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