I'm doing a few home studio upgrades and it's time to choose my new audio interface.

Narrowed down to the SSL 18 and the Apollo Twin X Gen 2

My main requirements are the mic pres. I understand both units can bypass the built in pres, awesome. I plan to use my tlm 103 to record a new album soon. Other than that, I'll be using my hardware synths with the new interface. Just really looking for whichever has the better (cleaner) mic pres.

Other concerns: I heard that SSL support isn't the best? But same kinda goes for UA from what I've heard.

Footnotes: yes I know one is rack and one is desktop haha. DSP not a major concern for me, honestly near the bottom of my concern list.

Any insight would be highly appreciated! Especially anyone who's A/B tested these New** units from SSL and UA

I've just replaced my Apollo Twin X MkII and Focusrite Scarlett OctoPre with an SSL18. It wasn't an essential upgrade, the UAD and Focusrite combo were great, but I'm happy so far.

My reasons were partly convenience, one box instead of two, but mostly because I found myself no longer using UAD's plugins. I did at first, and they're excellent, but I just seemed to gravitate towards alternatives over time. It suddenly seemed a bit pointless to be invested in a plaform whose USP was their own plugin ecosystem and not actually be using it.

Obvioulsy the SSL18 has far more I/O than the Twin. You'd need something like the OctoPre to expand it, though that only adds inputs, the SSL18 has in and out over ADAT. I connected it to my Push 3 last night, which has ADAT, and had instant 8 ins and 8 outs available to me! Pretty neat.

I can't really speak to A/B sound comparisons or the mic-pres as I mostly use line level sources and I wouldn't descrbe myself as an audiophile. It's all about convenience and features for me. All of these higher mid-tier interfaces sound fantastic. There's not much between them.

Oh, and I'm a brand slut. The box has got 'SSL' written on it. Hallooo! Insert laughing at self emoji. Insert wink emoji.

If you don't want the Unison Technology analog emulation of the Apollo, the SSL makes more sense. The Apollo preamps are not clean at all. The SSL interface has the incredibly ridiculous feature of being able to add distortion to the preamp signal. Fortunately and essentially, this silly feature has a bypass switch.

Aren’t the Apollo preamps clean by design so that the unison feature can add the colour needed?

Really? Apollo pres are not clean? They sound clean to me haha. So would the SSL pres be cleaner than the Apollo? Tia

the apollo preamps are not clean. cloudy is how i would describe them.

the apollo preamps are meant to work with their unison technology, where you can make the preamp sound (somewhat) like a neve preamp, or an api preamp, or whatever other models UAD have constructed. if you are looking for a straight-ahead clean preamp, look elsewhere.

the ssl preamps will be cleaner, provided you keep the silly 4k distortion-drive button in the off setting.

Some random thoughts:

With the UA stuff I felt like I’d be paying for a lot of software I didn’t want. Tape machine emulators or whatever.

I do like having easy access to a monitor volume control, so desktop boxes can be convenient.

Most of my synths are connected with USB instead of using an audio channel. Only my Moog is permanently plugged into a preamp. You might consider the routing options.

I find the SSL18 to be excellent in terms if build quality, functionality and sound quality.

The preamps are very clean, copied from their consoles. Watch the YT video - Nashville to Oxford for an in depth discussion of the tech and measurements.

The 360 software is very comprehensive and easy to use.