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True love for great sound unites us.
Blog
True love for great sound unites us.
If you're trying to get into home recording, podcasting or streaming, one of the first tools you’ll need is a good audio interface. But how do you decide which interface is right for you? And what features do you really need to start recording or streaming?
In this blog, we’ll talk about what makes a good audio interface, break down the differences between CONNECT 2 and CONNECT 6, and discuss when each one might be the right option for you.
There are a lot of things to consider when shopping for the right audio interface, so here are a few aspects to focus on in your search:
Inputs and outputs (I/O)
Make sure the audio interface has the necessary I/O for your setup. For example, If you plan on recording your vocals and an acoustic guitar with 2 XLR microphones, then you’ll need an audio interface with two mic preamps that have phantom power like the CONNECT 6.
However, if you only need to record your voice for a podcast then an interface with a single mic preamp like the CONNECT 2 might be the perfect fit.
When it comes to outputs, a headphone output and a pair of balanced speaker outputs are all you need in most cases.
Both CONNECT 2 and CONNECT 6 have that covered. However, in other cases, you might need additional options like a dedicated mobile phone output for streaming or a stereo aux output for portable speaker devices (both featured on the CONNECT 6).
Features
Beyond I/O, other features might be very important to you depending on your setup. If you want to have more routing, mixing and loopback capabilities for streaming, then CONNECT 6 would have just the right feature set.
But if you’re looking for a simple solution that produces a polished sound with minimal setup, CONNECT 2 might be the perfect choice, with its simple one-click compressor and denoiser effects.
Specifications
When it comes to specifications, some of the qualities you should look for are a transparent frequency response, high dynamic range, low total harmonic distortion, low self-noise, low latency, available sample rates, and the amount of available preamp gain.
With certain low output dynamic microphones, a low noise floor and high preamp gain can be vital to getting a great sound.
Both CONNECT 2 and CONNECT 6 have low-noise, studio-grade mic preamps with 72dB of gain to power even the most gain hungry microphones like the SM7b.
If you want to learn more about preamps, check out our blog "What is a preamp?".
User interface
The user interface is equally important to consider when buying an audio interface. Do you want more tactile control, or do you like the flexibility of using a software application?
CONNECT 2 offers a lot of controls directly on the device via an intuitive touch-based interface.
Whereas CONNECT 6 offers a more streamlined single knob control with a bigger reliance on the CONTROL CENTER software to adjust other parameters.
CONNECT 2 is the most user-friendly audio interface. Here are some of its unique features that it offers:
CONNECT 6 is an audio interface with game-changing flexibility for creators and musicians. Here are some of the key features that set it apart:
Both CONNECT 2 and CONNECT 6 are fantastic tools for capturing great audio. If you have any other questions about our audio interfaces, please reach out to us on social media or through email.
LEWITT audio interfaces