If I owned a Clarett I’d be tempted to use the Air setting all the time, though I suspect that there might be circumstances where, like the high–end sizzle that gives some capacitor mics instant appeal, it actually proves counter–productive further down the line. ADAT I/O allows you to expand your setup with up to eight extra inputs and outputs when combined with multi-channel mic preamps like Clarett OctoPre. A-D and D-A converters - Maintain the purity of analogue in your recordings and mixes, with extremely high-performance, independent A-D and D-A converters that deliver extremely low-distortion, low-noise audio with high dynamic range. Plus, you get a 3-month subscription to Avid Pro Tools Artist, access to Abelton Live Lite, and a free 3-month Splice Sounds subscription.

The earlier Saffire and Scarlett interfaces were no slouches in this respect, offering a dynamic range of 109dB for the analogue inputs and 108dB for the outputs, but the Claretts leave these figures in the dust. Unlike the 8Pre, the 8PreX also gives you the ability to switch the hardware input metering to show either bank of digital inputs instead of the analogue ins. Better yet, the bx_console Focusrite plugin is completely free for all owners of Clarett and Red interfaces. The Clarett USB range certainly brings that high-quality sound to those lacking Thunderbolt connectivity and also brings low-latency recording and the Air feature too. Btw, I did more testing with my large condenser mic, I need 95-98% gain for a signal of about -12db, and that's speaking 3-4 inches from the mic.The headphone outputs have also gained 3dB more dynamic range and 3dB lower THD, too — all of which means lower noise and more pristine low‑level details in reverb tails and room atmospheres. In this way, consumers give each other guidance My own ISA828 preamp has switchable input impedance, and in my experience the effect this has is rarely profound and often inaudible.

The greatly improved D-A dynamic range brings every detail into focus, so engineers and producers can embrace no-compromise audio quality in abundance. That translates in the real world to a marginally clearer, cleaner, and more transparent source recording, especially if tracking with generous headroom margins. Ten analogue line outputs are provided on TRS sockets at the rear, two being dedicated as monitor outputs, while a pair of independent stereo headphone outputs is available on the front. Although the need to update the Clarett range was forced by circumstances beyond Focusrite’s control, the results are impressive and well worthwhile. An iOS variant of the app is also available, offering Wi-Fi control when connected to the same network as the host computer.

the published spec is ‑106dB), which is also a very worthwhile improvement over the previous model’s ‑103dB.