Hi all,

I'm a bedroom musician making electronic music (House and D&B). I am just about to purchase my first pieces of more serious equipment. I'm looking for advice on which Audio Interface to get.

I do have a special consideration – whether or not the Audio Interface can and should drive headphones, which are to be used for composing and late-night mixing. I have been looking at getting the Sennheiser 600HD for their supposedly flat frequency response. Although they aren't so bass-heavy, they are supposedly as good as it gets when mixing in headphones. The thing is, that they are high-impedance (300 Ohm), and are usually recommended to use with an amp/DAC. My question is if the Audio Interface itself can run the headphones, bypassing the need for a dedicated amp/DAC for just the headphones. From what I've read online, it is not necessarily so easy as to get any audio interface as some bus-powered versions will not provide enough power. Perhaps there are also other problems related to noise levels, colouring of the sound, etc.

Some other considerations:

• It should be able to provide input for a Subpac, whereby I'd like to feed it the low frequencies only. If that's something that can be done within the Audio Interface software, it would be great. The Subpac uses a 3.5 mm input, so guessing I could adapt from a 6.35 mm (second?) headphone output.
• It should work with 2x Genelec 8330A and 7350A monitors, but that's probably the least of concern.
• I should be able to hook up something like an Elektron Analog Keys synth down the line.
• Overall excellent latency and driver support. I'm on a MacBook Pro 15" 2017, so USB-C or Thunderbolt works.

I have to admit however that I'm a total newbie when it comes to Audio Interfaces, as I've been producing solely with headphones and a MIDI keyboard + VSTs prior. Today for instance I started looking at the Focusrite Clarett 4Pre with USB-C, as it seems to have enough power to run high-impedance headphones. But a bit uncertain about if it's a good general entry-point into the market, if it has good enough latency, and if there indeed are other variables that I'm not thinking of. Also not confident if the accompanying software can do low pass filtering. In the end, I lost myself in this (for me) very technical discussion which seems to suggest problems with noise levels and harmonics. So I need some advice to steer me in the right direction.

PS: If connecting headphones through the audio interface is a bad idea, do I need to get both a dedicated headphone amp and DAC, and which ones that gives the most neutral, non-coloured audio at a cost-efficient price?

Thanks very much, appreciate any advice!

I have the HD600 and they are one of the flatest headphones out there. If you use the Sonarworks Ref plugin, it shows the freq response of nearly every make of cans available and adjust the mix accordingly. The HD600 have a couple dips but they're really small in comparison to a lot of the others. These headphones do wonders on percussive sounds and just generally a great choice.

I use these cans with a Steinberg RT2 interface (pretty generic interface) every day with the volume about half way with no issues. I've also owned a Grace headphone amp (top of the line) and there are slight differences in headroom but for someone starting out your $ would probably be best spent elsewhere, mics, preamps, monitors, etc..

Can't speak to this specific interface but if the Steinberg sounds good the Focusrite will be fine for now. Learn your software and your questions of latency, LPassing, etc. will become more clear for you. I think a headphone amp can be a choice for a later time after you get up and running.

The Focusrite Clarett 4Pre headphone out will drive them. IT's spec'd at a max +15dBu, so you'll max at about 102dB SPL. If you want more you'll need to add an amp or find other headphones. Honestly, I don't care for for the HD600, I don't find them all that neutral. No headphones are "flat", and that's not even the goal.

• Should work fine
  
  Quote:

  Originally Posted by 191919 ➡️
• It should work with 2x Genelec 8330A and 7350A monitors, but that's probably the least of concern.
• I should be able to hook up something like an Elektron Analog Keys synth down the line.
• Overall excellent latency and driver support. I'm on a MacBook Pro 15" 2017, so USB-C or Thunderbolt works.