• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 Audio Interface Reviewed and Measured

Jimster480

Major Contributor
Joined
Jan 26, 2018
Messages
2,868
Likes
2,022
Location
Tampa Bay
A friend of mine has a 2ti focusrite and he hasn't had problems with it AFAIK.

The performance is nothing to write home about and my UMC202HD works flawlessly.
 

restorer-john

Grand Contributor
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
12,525
Likes
38,116
Location
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
I have no complaints in terms of performance of the 2i2. It's a very useful interface and has a fabulous headphone amplifier.

The 18i8 looks to be a fantastic value product- just a pity the drivers and Windows fail to play nicely together.
 

Fluffy

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Sep 14, 2019
Messages
856
Likes
1,421
I also have a Focusrite Scarlett-2i2 2nd gen and I never had any driver issues with it. it serves as a dac/volume control for my active speakers, and occasionally I use it to record narration for videos. In those functions it's fine but the internal headphone amp is pretty bad (Hifiman HE4XX I had easily clipped on it…). The only real issue is that the volume knob got pretty crackly by now and I often need to turn it back and forth a couple times to get a smooth volume change during play.
 

Matias

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
5,010
Likes
10,756
Location
São Paulo, Brazil
Wow I also have 6i6 2nd generation and it works perfectly, just installed the driver on the first day and updated since then, never had an issue, works fine on my Windows 10.
 

Matias

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
5,010
Likes
10,756
Location
São Paulo, Brazil
@amirm I think even without having USB working, could you test SPDIF input, analog outs instead? This is standalone, no computer needed.
 

FrantzM

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 12, 2016
Messages
4,303
Likes
7,626
Hi
O.T .. just a bit.

This is IMHO one of the main issue with many manufacturers... Making these work shouldn't be that difficult. I am presently into a maddening issue. I am trying to use ROON, which I love, with now a Lenovo Tiny M93p as the core... I simply told ROON to be the Core .. fine! My laptop "sees" the Core but now the Khardas doesn't work with the same ROON software with which it was working before!!! Oh! Another DAC which is ROON-approved, an iFi nano, no longer is "seen" by ROON ...I haven't, yet, been able to make either one of these work. Other Audio services ( Foobar, Spotify, YouTube , etc) work with the Khardas and/or iFi .... the PC can be easily set as the default Audio Device ... Roon has to be one of the better written software out there. So what are the issues? What are the problems? Why is it so darn difficult after all these years of PC as being a Personal Computer. It's been more than 40 years ... since the advent of a PC on everybody's desktop or Home .. what gives?
Other friends have had their iFi nano work with ROON with no issue. They had Dell... Need I purchase a Dell? The more this kind of things goes on, the more we won't see any penetration of computer Audio in the mainstream... when we have such a plethora of great products out there? Even more than decent loudspeakers at more than decent prices ( JBL LSR 3xx, Khali, Vanatoo, Elac, etc ...)? There needs to be more studies done at those levels: Integration and ease of us are key. They're at prehistoric levels in my opinion
Peace
 

SIY

Grand Contributor
Technical Expert
Joined
Apr 6, 2018
Messages
10,359
Likes
24,661
Location
Alfred, NY
Guess behringer is a better choice? It's cheap, didn't kill the computer in the past measurement, so not bad?
I never saw measurements of 404hd,1820 though.

I posted some- DAC portion is very good, but low maximum output. ADC/mic preamps were OK, not great.

FWIW, I've used a Scarlett 2i2 with three different computers and had zero driver issues. My #1 driver problem has been with CEntrance ASIO drivers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SDC

diegooo1972

Active Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2019
Messages
179
Likes
178
It seems that you may have an invalid, old or corrupted wdf01000.sys file on your system.
This can happen installing many different audio driver.
I'm sure you already tried that but I' telling you anyway just in case.
Automatic file check in windows may help you. Dism and SFC.
Run CMD as administrator
The commands for DISM are as follow.
Use

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image followed by these switches:

1] /ScanHealth: This checks for component store corruption and records that corruption to the C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log but no corruption is fixed using this switch. This is useful for logging what, if any, corruption exists. Use:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
This could take 10-15 minutes.

2] /CheckHealth: This checks to see if a component corruption marker is already present in the registry. This is merely a way to see if corruption currently exists. Think of it as a read-only CHKDSK. Use:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
This could take less than a minute.

3] /RestoreHealth: This checks for component store corruption, records the corruption to C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log and FIXES the corruption using Windows Update. Use:

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
This operation takes 15 mins or more depending on the level of corruption.

To carry out these operations you have to open an elevated Command Prompt. First, you have to check if there are corruptions and it the corruption or image is repairable. If yes, then you can use the /RestoreHealth switch to fix the corruption.

About SFC again run CMD as administrator.

SFC /scannnow

Forgive me if this is useless. Just a guess.
Maybe this can help others too restoring default windows 10 files.
 

maty

Major Contributor
Joined
Dec 12, 2017
Messages
4,596
Likes
3,156
Location
Tarragona (Spain)
It is faster to reinstall an image copy of the OS, if you have been careful to create it. Created before installing and uninstalling so many audio drivers!
 

daftcombo

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
3,687
Likes
4,067
I have a 2i2 (2nd gen), and the DAC is not that good.

The ADC is good, although not in the same class as an Asus Xonar Essence or DX.

I have a 2i4 2nd Gen, used as an ADC to rip vinyl (occasionally) and as a DAC on a daily basis on my main rig (I love the volume knob and the possibility to feed two sets of speakers at the same time).
I'd like to know if any upgrade to another DAC with volume control would audibly be worth it.

The headphones out doesn't seem so good though. Here also, would like a measurement!
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,302
Likes
233,656
Location
Seattle Area
@amirm I think even without having USB working, could you test SPDIF input, analog outs instead? This is standalone, no computer needed.
You can't select inputs on the device itself. So I can't do that (tried on old computer).
 

splattened

Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Sep 15, 2019
Messages
65
Likes
112
Location
St. Louis
@amirm I think even without having USB working, could you test SPDIF input, analog outs instead? This is standalone, no computer needed.
You do need to hook the device up to a computer and use Focusrite Control to control the routing of inputs to outputs. The SPDIF input isn't necessarily routed to the analog outputs.
 

starfly

Senior Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 6, 2019
Messages
353
Likes
287
Been using a Scarlett 2i2 Gen 1 here. For a long time it would sometimes crash my system. I read a tip somewhere that when you connect these devices through a USB hub, they become more stable. I did that and it has been rock solid since.

Still looking for a better desktop audio interface that has a good DAC, plays nicely with WASAPI so sample rate can be changed on the fly (as it is, Scarlett only supports ASIO mode and it doesn't work very seamlessly when changing sample rates). But they're hard too find, or too expensive (such as RME). Or driver support is terrible. Focusrite is one of the better ones out there in terms of driver support.

Most of these USB audio interfaces also tend to have high output impedance headphone amplifiers.
 

diegooo1972

Active Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2019
Messages
179
Likes
178
Yep the usb power is of the essence.
I have 2i4 2nd and never had problem but this 18i8 use a lot more power.
Power can crash a driver sometime.
 

splattened

Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Sep 15, 2019
Messages
65
Likes
112
Location
St. Louis
These larger interfaces have a dedicated power supply and don't use USB power.

I briefly looked at Audient interfaces as an alternative, but they advertise their sound as having "analogue warmth to add a bit of character" which sort of turned me off.
 
Top Bottom