[LAU] Sound quality of the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen

[Robin Gareus]

On 01/08/2017 02:04 PM, Fons Adriaensen wrote:
> I find it a bit hard to believe that Focusrite, who have some
> reputation to take care of, would produce anything that bad.

s/have/had/ I suppose, and mostly due to their pro equipment, Saffire
etc which are still good quality (citation needed).

The Scarlett series however is pretty much crap.
Just terminate the input with 200 Ohm, start jnoisemeter and start
wondering which award those "award winning preamps" won.

flat/RMS is about -61dBFS at max gain.

Don't even bother to calibrate it, those input-gain knobs have a rubber
effect that randomly wanders a couple of dBs every now and then, even
when the knob is at the rails. The same happens on the output.


> So if you want to be taken seriously, produce some measurements,
> it's easy enough.

measurements are pretty much moot; at least for the 18i6 here. That
mostly functions as book-end these days. I can't even bring myself to
give it to someone.

Since I only have one device, it could well be that it's some kind of
manufacturing error, then again Focusrite QA should have detected this
before shipping, maybe.

ciao,
robin