The Focusrite Clarett 8Pre USB is an Audio Interface compatible with both PC and Mac. The Clarett USB range has been designed to deliver high performance microphone pre-amplification with transparent audio conversion, in a low-noise, low-distortion lightweight unit. The dynamic range of the Interfaces in this series is 119dB, and users have the choice of either USB bus power (3A @ 5V 15W USB Type-C ports) or the included 12V power supply.
Focusrite Clarett Interfaces offer AD/DA Conversion of superb quality, 24-bit/192kHz, which produces a rich and clear signal path. The Clarett 8Pre USB is an 18-In, 20-Out device. Two Mic/Line/Instrument inputs can be seen on the face of the unit with a further six on the rear, and are capable of recording anything from hot guitar pickups to professional Condenser microphones. The Gain pots are encircled by Gain Halo meters – visually showing the level of the incoming signal and whether it is clipping. A further eight channels can be added at any time via the ADAT input and addition of multi-channel preamps such as the Clarett OctoPre. The 8Pre USB also features two Headphone outputs with volume control, 8x Line outputs, MIDI I/O, S/PDIF I/O, ADAT I/O and two Monitor outs (with Anti-Thump technology).
Clarett series Interfaces record with super-low latency and each channel can enable “AIR” mode to replicate the analogue sound of Focusrite’s classic transformer-based ISA preamps.
The process of choosing a USB interface just got harder, thanks to the arrival of another very strong contender. The USB Claretts offer the same excellent audio specifications as their Thunderbolt cousins, in a more universal connection format.
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Wow! Blows my old Saffire 24 out of the water by a mile. It’s solid and sounds amazing with or without air. As for latency. What latency.