Audient’s recently announced EVO 16 promises a glimpse of things to come for the interface market, but how well does it actually perform? See it and hear it as three Experts give their verdict…

Evolving The Interface

Looking at the big picture, audio interfaces with built in mic pres haven’t changed a great deal in the last few years. OK, so manufacturers may beg to differ. After all, much time and money is spent on research and development to get the very best products into studios, with affordable audio quality especially improving by the year. From the user’s perspective, however, they get a box that passes signal into the computer, firing it back out when needed. Clearly this basic functionality makes interfaces inherently ‘invisible’ in the studio; indeed the best ones should be exactly that.

Extending this logic, EVO intends to make audio interfacing to the next level of ‘invisible’. The range’s audio performance matching that of its contemporaries should be a given; EVO’s shtick is quality and devastating simplicity in use. These can be summed up in two key features: Smartgain, and new to EVO 16, Motion UI. As well as a reimagined form factor, and ergonomic tweaks, EVO finally goes multichannel with the EVO 16.

Level Setting Solved?

In a way, level setting represents the final frontier for non-engineers wanting to take control of the recording process. As well as re-thinking solutions to the perennial ‘problems’ of things like loopback, and other head-scratchers for non-engineers, Audient’s EVO line of interfaces has taken a new approach to the amount of audio engineering knowhow required when it comes to setting levels with a fresh approach: Smartgain.

For those working with analogue mic and line input signals, an accepted part of the recording process used to be paying attention to getting the right recording level into the computer. Although an awareness of why this might be was not essential on the user’s part, knowing what a good level looked like certainly was. Until now, of course; just press the green button, play, then record. Watch for yourself EVO 16’s Smartgain tech set levels and save time:

Once the engineer experiences Smartgain for themself, one thing becomes apparent: not only does it allow the user to stay focussed on music making, but also it brings to light just how much time can be consumed setting levels manually. By making an awareness of the numbers redundant, Smartgain saves the engineer time. This feature really comes into its own in a multichannel application involving bands and drumkits, making EVO 16 the natural box to put this tech into. This applies equally whether tracking live, or building up tracks layer by layer. Is it as quick as manual level setting? Perhaps not for the experienced engineer in this latter scenario, but for simultaneous multichannel work it will be for everyone.

Motion UI

Those who use interfaces’ bundled DSP mixers will always come back with wildly varying experiences, ranging from OK, to complicated, or even just plain bad. These companion applications have varying functionality comprising some or all of things like cue mixing, monitor control, or clocking, routing, or other utilities. Whatever they do, they should be stable, and easy to navigate. Too often, these windows on the interface suffer with cluttered GUIs, small text and/or metering. Combined with metering or other indicators on the hardware itself that are too dim or too small by nature, the user can be left with a worst-of-both-worlds experience that shouts “avoid”.

Audient’s approach to software and hardware control with EVO 16 hopes to improve upon this often overlooked aspect of interface use. Motion UI lets you drive EVO 16 entirely on the hardware without having to return to the computer. Centred around a clear IPS display borrowing from mobile technology, the Control Wheel lets the user navigate and execute tasks by turning and pressing. This clears up the disparate nature of moving between an app and hardware, with an intuitive MO that champions both speed and simplicity. As well as during recording, the system is also central to setup, status (such as phantom or mute), and metering. Used in concert with the programmable F button, the user can leave the DAW up on their display, and use EVO 16 in a more ‘machine-like’ manner.

EVO 16 - Other Features And Sound

The first thing that is striking about EVO 16 is how small it is compared to other 1U boxes. When asked, Audient explained that recent research showed that many users are using their interface on a desktop as opposed to in a rack, with EVO 16’s soft lines and feet reflecting this. Certainly, it’s possible to place a smaller laptop on top of EVO 16, although rack ears are available from to Audient for those needing them.

Ergonomics

Along with Motion UI, another useful ergonomic touch is the use of the eight channel buttons on the front panel. These are used to select channels for different operations, and can also be pressed and held to mute an input, or used the same way in pairs to link channels for stereo pairing. This is very useful, going some way towards further rewarding the user with a more intuitive recorder-like experience.

Sound

EVO 16’s audio performance is entirely respectable and will stand up to scrutiny in most situations. If you’re trying to record birdsong 10 metres away with an SM7B then you might be disappointed, but for everything else, EVO 16’s inputs are clean and detailed, and its headphone outputs are loud are clear with moderate loads. With 58dB of gain in hand, the inputs boast a noise figure of less than -127.5dBu (making the unit one of the quietest things in your input signal chain in most scenarios), and can tolerate a whopping +16dBu from line sources.

Specs And Pricing

With EVO 16’s Smartgain and Motion UI turning a lot of heads, it might be easy to overlook the unit’s generous list of other features. Added to this, users also get access to the ARC Creative Hub upon registering EVO 16. At around £399/$499, buyers might be pleasantly surprised to see pro features such as BNC connectors for an external clock, or an IEC inlet for internal power.

• 8 x EVO Mic Preamps with Smartgain

• 2 x JFET Instrument Inputs

• 2 x Independent Headphone Outputs

• 8 x Line Outputs

• 2 x Optical Inputs

• 2 x Optical Outputs

• Multi-Channel Smartgain

• 'EVO Motion UI' Control System

• High-Res LCD Screen

• One Knob Centralised Control

• Ultra Clear Metering

• Input/Output Control

• Channel Status Indication

• Programmable Function Button

• Ultra-Low Latency Software Mixer

• Monitor Control

• Audio Loop-back

• Word Clock Output

• USB2.0 (USB-C Connection)

• 24bit / up to 96kHz

Expert Panel - Hit or Miss?

In every Expert review we ask three of our team of contributors to give their first impressions of the product. We ask them to give the product a hit or miss, based on factors such as originality, innovation, usefulness, quality and value for money. For each hit the products gets an Expert Award. One hit and it gets our bronze award, two hits gets silver and for a hit from all three of the panel it gets a coveted gold award. Of course if there’s three misses, there’s no award.

Luke Goddard On EVO 16

Reflecting a wider shift in what the role of musician or engineer actually means, Audient’s EVO range presents the next level of useability for anyone who simply wants to record. It could be argued that questions surrounding audio specs of affordable gear are becoming less relevant by the year. We’re then left with usability. EVO 16’s innovative technology and flawless ergonomics are hard to fault. It’s very hard to think of how Audient could have further improved upon the usability of this unit. For multichannel work it will save a lot of time, and for many, its rethink of the 1U interface will prove a welcome new friend in many settings. Should makers of high end multichannel boxes be worried? Not quite, but for those at whom this unit is intended, it works, and works very well indeed. HIT.

Julian Rodgers On EVO 16

The first EVO box, the EVO 4 really impressed me when it first surfaced back in 2020. Audient have always had a good reputation for making sensibly priced gear which delivers, their ASP880 has been a longtime recommendation of mine since the shootout we did between it and a Midas unit back in 2015 but with these new EVO units Audient seem to have maintained the quality while driving the price way down.

I like the flexibility of the software and the fact that it can easily be driven from the front panel. My daily driver is a (distinctly premium) Focusrite Red4Pre and I control that almost exclusively front the front panel. Having an easy to use interface with a clear and informative front panel display in a unit at this price is great.

Smart gain is clever and I’d probably use it but while it’s a useful point of difference between the EVO16 and all the other similar interfaces out there, the real headline for me is that here we have a good sounding, well specified interface which is more than up to a full band tracking session with the addition of some extra preamps via ADAT and it’s such good value. As far as I’m concerned that on its own makes it a HIT

Michael Costa On EVO 16

I’m a big fan of Audient gear. I own a Gen 1 iD14 and I used to teach at a college that had both an ASP8024 and an ASP4816. They all work and sound great. Take that as a brand endorsement before we even start.

The iD Audient interfaces have always been premium quality but not necessarily at a budget price. The EVO 16 is something else. Eight quality mic preamps driven by a clever digitally controlled command centre for US$499.

The much touted Smartgain feature has not previously interested me on their smaller interfaces for a simple guitar or vocal, but on an 8-channel device, for setting multiple levels like with a drum kit or small ensemble, it makes more sense. I am yet to test it but I assume/hope it leaves enough headroom on super-fast HF sources like ride cymbals and tambourines. For musicians who don’t want to faff around doing boring tech stuff, this can get you sorted in seconds, and you always have the option to manually tweak anything if you choose.

Also, the fabulous Audient JFET instrument inputs are on this device. The quality of these caught me by surprise on my iD14 when I first plugged a bass into it. Short of a dedicated high quality DI and preamp combination, this input really sounds great.

If I were looking for this many inputs in an easy to use, high-quality interface on a budget, there’s quite a few options these days. And I would throw the EVO 16 right in amongst them to audition.

I’m giving it a HIT on this basis.

EVO16 gets an Experts Gold Award

Audient EVO 16 gets an Experts Gold Award.