Focusrite Clarett 8PreX wins again in second blind test

The Focusrite Clarett 8PreX 26×28 Thunderbolt interface has won two consecutive Interface Shootout blind listening tests, coming out on top of Apogee Ensemble and Universal Audio Apollo 8p. The latest Interface Shootout took place at Gearbox Records, a London-based record label with its own mastering studio and cutting facility. The reviewers were Gearbox founder/producer Darrel Sheinman, Grammy-nominated producer/engineer Michael Angelo, Gearbox mastering engineer Caspar Sutton-Jones and composer Dru Masters.

Darrel, Michael, Caspar and Dru listened to Ensemble, Clarett 8PreX and Apollo 8p recordings of Gotta Miss Someone by Olivia Trummer, which were also used for the first Interface Shootout at Riverside Studios in Berlin. For the second Interface Shootout in London, Ensemble, Clarett 8PreX and Apollo 8p were named X, Y and Z respectively.

I think Y has got a more even balance of frequencies all the way up the spectrum, so the highs are really nice and crisp, the lows and the mids are really nice and uplifting and beefy all at the same time.

said Caspar.

I love the sonics of Y. I look very much for a full low end, and it felt fuller to me on Y.

said Michael.

Clarett 8PreX offers up to 119dB dynamic range, superbly low noise, 24/192 conversion and eight specially designed mic preamps with an analogue ‘Air’ effect. Its 1.67ms round-trip latency simplifies workflows and enables plug-ins to be used in real-time.