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Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 vs Focusrite Scarlett 18i20

Product Comparison: Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 vs Focusrite Scarlett 18i20

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Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 Audio Interface with Four Focusrite Mic Preamps

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Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (1st GENERATION) USB Audio Interface

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General Specifications

Brand

Focusrite

Model

Scarlett 18i8

Scarlett 18i20

Origin

China

About the Product

Our latest generation 18-in, 8-out USB interface is ideal for multi-instrumentalists, producers and small bands who want to record audio from a wide range of sources such as drums, guitars, keyboards and vocals. It's our most comprehensive desktop interface, giving you four mic preamps, round-trip latency as low as 2.74ms*, class-leading sound quality, and two separate headphone outputs, so you can give different monitoring settings to two artists, or an engineer and artist.

Our latest generation 18-in, 20-out USB audio interface can handle just about anything your band or studio can throw at it. Beautiful and rack mountable, it gives you loads of I/O, pristine sound quality, separate stereo headphone mixes, extensive expansion options and round-trip latency as low as 2.74ms*, all in a 1U space.

Key Specs

Form Factor

Desktop

Rackmount

Control Interfaces

XLR or 1/4" Combo, 1/4" TRS, RCA, Optical, SPDIF, MIDI

A/D Resolution

24bit/192kHz

Number of Preamps

Simultaneous I/O

18/8

18/20

Form Factor
Number of Preamps

What customers say about "Key Specs"

Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 Audio Interface with Four Focusrite Mic Preamps

The control software is great and you can create multiple screenshots for controlling all aspects of the input/outputs.
Pre-amps are professional and having two headphone outputs is a great feature.
The driver seems stable and hasn't caused me any issues so far. The sound is really nice as I can hear a lot more detail that I couldn't hear before in my older M-Audio interface.
DO NOTE: this does not have a full 18 inputs, you have to get external device to ADAT or wordclock in to open all inputs. (Octopre for example)
Won't let me record at a higher sampling rate (48khz and above) without transposing the recorded track/vocals up to 2 semi-tones higher (i tried recording vocals at 48khz and it turned into chipmunk voice)

Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (1st GENERATION) USB Audio Interface

The rack mounted 18i20 serves my needs impeccably. I use outboard processing gear and everything is accessed through a patchbay so all the ins and outs are accessible without having to reach around back.
I got this on sale, and I'm absolutely blown away by the quality! It sounds awesome on drum recordings, the latency is definitely the best you'll find in a USB interface, and the Focusrite Control software is really useful for creating monitor mixes!
The routing options are perfect for what I need, clean pristine sound all around I love this thing and the quality will have me adding the Scarlett OctoPre for an additional 8 inputs.
I have had my Focusrite 18i20 for about the past 6 months and is remarkable. I can plug my guitar in and have it produce a rich tone. with the 18 in and 20 out, I can record a choir with keyboards, guitar and as many instruments I choose to use. it is a great interface.
My most surprising finding was that the built in audio of my 6 year old Dell laptop handled multiple audio apps simultaneously with better latency than the 18i20 did. Kinda sad, really when you consider the price of this interface.
The headphone amps are nothing special. They drive my low-impedance (around 60 ohm) cans just fine, but I doubt they would be able to push much higher-impedance headphones to a loud volume. Also, they're pretty noisy. It's not noticeable when recording drums.

Size & Weight

Height

2.6 in.

1.73 in.

Width

9.02 in.

19 in.

Depth

7.56 in.

11.25 in.

Weight

3.7 lbs.

7.21 lbs.

What customers say about "Size & Weight"

Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 Audio Interface with Four Focusrite Mic Preamps

Right out of the box the Focusrite 18i8 is build very well and the cool red color is great.
High capability in a compact package. Great sound quality. Sophisticated options.
So much functionality in a small package. The interface program is a bit tricky at first, but simple once configured.
Its not bulky and very easy to use.

Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (1st GENERATION) USB Audio Interface

Exactly what I was looking for. I love the sturdy construction and the meters on the front.
Looks and feels very professional. Not bulky and easy to mount.

Interfaces

Analog Inputs

4 x XLR-1/4" combo, 4 x 1/4" (line in)

8 x XLR-1/4" combo

Analog Outputs

2 x 1/4" (monitor out), 2 x 1/4" (headphones)

8 x 1/4" (line out), 2 x 1/4" (monitor out), 2 x 1/4" (headphones)

Digital Inputs

Optical, SPDIF, USB

Digital Outputs

SPDIF

Optical, SPDIF

MIDI I/O

In/Out

What customers say about "Interfaces"

Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 Audio Interface with Four Focusrite Mic Preamps

The input XLR’s are professional as well as the ¼ jacks in the back of the unit.
Two stereo headphone outputs, two mono monitor outputs, one stereo SPDIF (RCA jack), one MIDI (5 pin DIN). This makes five outputs unless you are going to split the headphone output into two channels and plug it elsewhere.
Fantastic audio interface. Even as somewhat of an amateur in working with recording equipment, I was very easily able to get used to and start using the Scarlett.
Plenty of gain, low noise, and lots of connectivity options (8x analog (4 XLR), digital i/o, MIDI, optical). Two headphone outs in another nice touch.
Levels, routing and digital capture can be set only via Focusrite MixControl software which means it needs a computer connection via USB. As it is clear from the above, everything digital hinges on that USB connection. The only other output usable for digital recording is SPDIF (two channels only)

Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (1st GENERATION) USB Audio Interface

Just what I needed! Plenty of In's plenty of Out's for all my Analog gear......and my future gear.
My fear from past experiences with audio interfaces was compatibility/connectivity issues. But I had no problems with this one. Great sound, great functionality, quality build and the included routing software is helpful. Also, it comes with a good set of plug ins and more are offered every month
I chose this because I needed the eight separate pres each with its own channel, plus the USB connection allowed me easy and flexible routing without having to mess with adding another FireWire port on my computer.
I love the headphone monitor outs as well, very clean and accurate, better than my ultralite.
Love every feature it has,dual headphone jacks as well as the 8 line outs for more headphones or monitors.

Features

Extras

Two newly-designed instrument inputs, now with increased headroom, Class-leading digital conversion at up to 24-bit / 192kHz, Super-low latency* lets you perform and produce using effects in real time, with no need for DSP, Two independent balanced analogue outputs for connecting studio monitors, Two discrete headphone outputs with dedicated volume controls, Expand up to eight additional analogue inputs via ADAT, Remote control from iPhone or iPad - Download the free Focusrite iOS Control app, Includes Pro Tools | First - Focusrite Creative Pack and Ableton Live Lite, All the additional software and loops you need to start recording

Eight Scarlett mic preamps with plenty of even gain, exceptional headroom, low noise and minimal distortion, Two newly-designed instrument inputs, now with increased headroom for seriously hot pick-ups, Class-leading digital conversion at up to 24-bit / 192kHz, ADAT expansion ports allow you to add an extra eight analogue inputs and outputs, Ten balanced analogue outputs, including a dedicated stereo pair with anti-thump circuitry, Focusrite Control software to easily configure your monitoring and routing setups, All the additional software and loops you need to record, Remote control from iPhone or iPad - Download the free Focusrite iOS Control app

Power Supply

12V DC

AC adapter

Phantom Power

Yes

Bus Powered

OS Requirements - Mac

Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or OS X 10.11 (El Capitan)

OS Requirements - PC

Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit), 8.1 and 10

Phantom Power
Bus Powered

What customers say about "Features"

Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 Audio Interface with Four Focusrite Mic Preamps

The large volume knobs and the headphone controls are solid and easy to get to.
18i8 is a unit that can be updated with more tracks, a very nice feature.
Very cool to have a "mute" speaker switch for us that record in the same room that we mix.
Insulation of the unit and drivers was a breeze.
Sound great but the program that comes with it doesn't work with Mac yet. That was really disappointing.

Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (1st GENERATION) USB Audio Interface

The interface is exactly what I hoped for. I bought it so I could record live drums at home. It sounds great. All the free software downloaded and works. No issues whatsoever. Plug it in. Do what it says on the box and it is so much fun recording!
I have a gen 1 unit and the main reason I chose the unit is because of the save to hardware ROM feature. It gives me the ability to route a backup signal to a remote hard disk recorder so IF my laptop were to go down I am still recording, and it has saved me more than once!
This Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (second gen) is my new favorite interface. Many more outs and ins than my last device. Runs very smoothly on USB 2.0 without a hitch and with near perfect latency.
The best thing is the very flexible monitoring: 5 independent stereo mixes are possible, all controllable from the computer and/or remote controlled using (free) iPad and iPhone apps.
It does have one unusual characteristic--the taper in the pots seems odd. I adjust them to where they're almost loud enough, then if I move them another 1/8th inch, they're way too loud.
It likes to switch itself between buffer sizes randomly, causing even more problems when working in my DAW.

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

2 year(s)

Certifications

FCC, CE

Other Information

Manufacturer

Link

Manual

Download

MSRP

309.99 $