Best audio interfaces for live streaming to Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Twitch [2024]

An audio interface is a device meant to ingest certain audio signals such as microphones, guitars, MIDI instruments, and other analog signals (or non-USB electronic signals in the case of MIDI) into a digital signal that the computer can then read and manipulate within the software. The audio inputs have what is called Analog to Digital Converters, or ADCs.

An audio interface also acts as an output from the computer, taking a digital audio signal and converting it to an analog signal for your studio monitors (speakers) or headphones. The conversion is done by a piece of the interface called a Digital to Analog Converter, or DAC.

It’s true that most laptops and desktops do have speaker or headphone outputs and a mic input, and for gaming or general media consumption, these are fine. But when you’re working in more creative or demanding tasks they have a few severe problems that proper audio interfaces can solve.

The first major advantage to an audio interface is that they have much lower latency than the integrated audio inputs on your laptop or desktop. These integrated audio inputs/outputs on your computer are rarely ever designed for “professional” audio use, and as such they’re designed to a lower standard. Audio interfaces are built to get the audio signal from the mic and into the computer as fast as possible, therefore minimizing the lag between when the mic hears the sound and the computer records it. The integrated mic input on your laptop isn’t meant for real-time audio, and will create a noticeable lag from when you speak to when the computer can record/play back the audio. Depending on the hardware and software, you may have a lag of up to 1 second (1,000 milliseconds) or more and this is extremely noticeable by viewers.

The second reason you would want an audio interface is that the inputs and outputs are of a much higher quality than the ones found in your laptop. Better quality components and design will give your speaker outputs much more clarity and depth as well as a cleaner, more noise-free microphone input as well as allowing the use of “professional” microphones—something your built-in mic input can’t do natively. It makes sense though, as most consumers don’t need high-quality audio I/O for playing casual games, watching some Netflix, or other non-professional uses. Most people don’t want to pay for audio grade equipment when they don’t need it.

While it’s true that most streamers do use headphones and won’t often care about having good speaker outputs, the need for a low latency and low noise microphone input is critical. You’ll want a good quality mic signal that doesn’t have all sorts of hisses or hum, and you’ll want that audio channel to be in sync with your face camera. Using onboard mic inputs means that you’ll have to mess with the sync delay between the mic and camera streams, which would also put both signals behind the actual gameplay unless you dialed in some sort of delay compensation for that as well. Definitely more headache than most people want to deal with.

Back in the day before the absolutely huge options of interfaces available at affordable prices that we’re currently enjoying some people would actually get a small inexpensive mixing board and connect it up to a small audio interface so that they could get multiple channels of mic input for cheap. Nowadays, however, mixing boards are often both a traditional mixer and an audio interface with USB connectivity.

But even with mixing boards pulling double duty with better quality than in the past, we still believe that most users don’t need this big of a device and can get away with a small, modern audio interface with often much better quality at a low price point and minimal desk footprint. Modern audio interfaces have clean, clear, low noise pre-amps (as do many modern desktop mixing boards) and are available anywhere from a single mic input up to 18 inputs while taking up very little precious desktop real estate.

Mixing boards do offer some benefits, however. Usually each channel has its own input, gain control, pad button and line/mic selector (as do most interfaces), but also contains dedicated knobs for EQ, reverb, and even compression along with a nice fader for fine volume/level adjustments. You’ll also get bussing controls and sometimes a host of on-board effects beyond reverb, eq and compression along with some more complicated features that almost no streamer would ever need.

The benefit of a mixing board is that you have physical controls you can actually touch. If you find yourself constantly adjusting your audio settings through a session (or others if you’re streaming multiple people or podcasting) it’s a decent way to go. But you can still do all of this “in the box” with an audio interface with software, and it makes it quite a bit more assured that you won’t accidentally turn something or the cat won’t walk over your mute or pad button.

It’s our opinion that most people don’t need a mixing board. Get a good two-channel audio interface and you’ll most likely be set for whatever situation in which you find yourself. But if you really have the need for physical controls, EQ, and group effects control, it’s a good option for certain people. Also, if you just really want to flex, that’s okay too.

Some audio interfaces do have a few features borrowed from soundboards, such as the GoXLR, but in general, we’re going to focus on a select number of audio interfaces in this guide.  If you want us to do a similar guide to soundboards, let us know in the comments below.

This may refer to two different things–either a true preamp or what’s referred to as an “amp and DAC” setup.

An audio interface is a device for bringing audio in and out of a computer or other digital device. It’s a way of converting analog audio into digital and vice versa.

A preamp, or “preamplifier”, is really exactly what it says it is–it’s a component that takes a signal and amplifies it before it goes into something else.

For example, a mic requires a preamp to get the mic-level signal loud enough for the analog-to-digital converter to do its job to digitize the analog soundwaves.

A preamp also differs from a “power amp”, which is a device that takes a signal and then “powers” a speaker for output. Large speakers require more wattage (power) to drive and therefore need larger power amps to take the signal from the pre-amp (or other input sources) and get the speaker to move enough air to create loud sounds.

An “amp and DAC” setup is essentially a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and a small amp meant to drive either headphones or speakers (or both). This setup has fallen into popularity recently as a higher quality step up from onboard audio outputs and even most consumer audio interfaces.

While interfaces do sound good, certain audiophile-grade equipment may require more power or higher quality converters/amps to get the most out of their pricey high-end components.

Cloud Microphones - Cloudlifter CL-1 Mic Activator...

Buy on Amazon

TRITON AUDIO FetHead Filter In-Line Microphone...

$79.95

Buy on Amazon

Last update on 2024-11-26 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

While audio interfaces all have some sort of preamp to boost the mic signal, some mics require more juice than others. Thankfully most modern interfaces have extremely strong preamps that are capable of getting great signals from even very quiet microphones.

Some, however, just don’t have enough gain available, and you’ll need to make use of a preamp or mic activator. But to really make sense of it, we need to know about types of microphones.

I’ve put together a guide to microphones for streamers, and in that article, we discuss the main types of microphones. There’s a bit of detail that goes into it, but as a quick summary, these are:

• Condenser microphones: typically what most people refer to as “studio” mics, used for vocals, acoustic guitars, and more delicate audio sources. They require less voltage to power, will provide a stronger signal with less power, and are great for more quiet audio sources due to high sensitivity. Condenser mics typically require phantom power to work properly. The Rode NT1 is a modern favorite condenser mic.
• Dynamic microphones: Most stage and handheld mics are dynamic mics, as are broadcast mics. They produce lower level signals and require a stronger preamp to get that signal up to a useable level. They’re better at background noise rejection because of their lower sensitivity, and if the gain is turned up high enough without proper amplification you will get more noise in that signal. Dynamic mics do not need phantom power. The Shure SM7B is a classic dynamic microphone that outputs a very quiet signal.
• Ribbon microphones: Ribbon mics are more often used for instruments. They’re known for being highly detailed without being extremely bright and harsh. While they have a reputation for being extremely delicate, many modern ribbon mics are pretty tough and can even be used for rock and metal guitar mic’ing. Ribbons are typically used for brass, woodwind, strings, drums, and even room mics. You cannot use phantom power with ribbon mics, you’ll most likely destroy them. But you’ll probably never use one for streaming anyways. The RCA 44A is an all-time classic ribbon mic.

So out of the three types of mics dynamic mics are often the quietest outputting mics and require more power out of a preamp to get the right signal levels.

True, you could buy a standalone full-size mic preamp for your quiet dynamic mics and run that pre into your audio interface as a line-level signal. If you have a high-end, super expensive mic pre this is what you’d do. But most people—especially live streaming users—don’t have a need for a Neve or Avalon mic pre. Good mic pres can be expensive, however.

Thankfully, two very popular inline preamps are available for the specific purpose of amplifying the signal from a mic at a very affordable price: The Cloudlifter from Cloud Microphones and the FetHead from Triton Audio.

These devices are less of a full piece of rack gear and more of an inline booster. They provide somewhere around 20-25dB of signal gain without changing the sound of the mic and keep a very low noise floor to let you get a strong signal to the mic pre of your interface without needing to turn up the gain knob so high that you introduce noise at the interface level.

These devices work by accepting phantom power from the audio interface and using that to boost the signal from the mic in a clean, transparent method. The science gets a bit interesting, but it’s not necessary to cover it in detail. You just need to know that it will take a quiet mic signal and boost it.

However, as we said before, most mic pres in modern audio interfaces have plenty of gain to get useable signals out of an SM7B or other similar quiet mic. If you were to use a Cloudlifter or FetHead with a capable preamp you’d introduce more signal noise and degrade the quality of your mic signal.

Be sure to check the compatibility of whatever interface you end up choosing with your dynamic mic. It’s possible that you won’t need a Cloudlifter or FetHead, but if you’re not getting enough gain out of your signal chain, you’ll know the fix.

The majority of audio interfaces are geared toward a specific subset of users focused on recording and audio engineering. As a result, you’ll find that choosing one may be a bit of an exercise in learning new terms and concepts. But thankfully most streamers don’t actually need anything terribly complicated and aren’t going for “mission-critical audio quality”.

Whenever anyone asks us what they should be looking for in an audio interface at a bare minimum for a normal, no-frills setup, here’s what we usually suggest:

• At least one XLR mic input
• Strong, clean preamp
• Strong headphone out with volume control
• Signal meter (or at least signal/clipping lights)
• Balanced 1/4″ outputs or XLR outputs for monitors (if you use speakers)
• Well-built connectors, knobs, and buttons
• Excellent drivers for low latency and software control

Many interfaces have more features than just this, and some people do need an interface for multiple uses, but as for just basic live streaming audio, this is the starting feature list I suggest.

But what does that all actually mean? What are these features and how can they help you? Or what if you have a more complex need for your stream? Well, let’s get into some more detail into audio interfaces themselves.

It’s very likely that even the basic list above may be unfamiliar to you, and that’s fine. The audio world is definitely a bit different, and there are a few things that do need some explanation. And like we mentioned before, most audio interfaces have more features and more complex features.

It’s worth touching on not just these basic features but also some of the other options you may find. You’ll have a better idea of what it is you’re looking for and, more importantly, why you’re looking for certain features. So with that said, let’s get into it.

Input types

There’s really just one type of mic input you’ll be wanting, and that’s an XLR input. Most interfaces have at least one input that’s a combo-style input that supports three-pin XLR connectors and 1/4″ instrument/line-level connectors.

If you’re running some sort of other external audio sources you may need to use a second input either with that combo jack or a stereo RCA line-level input. But those needs aren’t terribly common.

Mic preamps

While the input is the physical connector that receives the mic cable, behind that is a preamp, or “pre”. The preamp is a device that takes the very low-level signal coming from the mic and then amplifies it before it goes through the rest of the signal chain and to the computer.

Because its job is to take a quiet sound and make it louder, the quality matters. It’s hard to make something big out of something small, and usually, that involves a loss of quality once a certain threshold is met. Just like you can’t enlarge a photo too much without making it pixellated, there’s a finite amount of amplification that can be applied to a quiet signal before noise begins to be introduced into the signal.

Thankfully even inexpensive pre-amps these days are incredibly good, and most of the top choices of audio interfaces have excellent low-noise high-quality preamps with plenty of power to drive most mics on the market.

One note about mic pre’s, however, is that some mics are hungrier than others and require more power. This is especially true for dynamic microphones, which require more powerful pre-amps. If you’re going with a classic dynamic mic like the Shure SM7B, you’ll absolutely need a powerful mic pre, or some sort of booster like a Cloudlifter or FetHead.

But again, even many affordable mic pres are powerful enough to drive the hungriest mics in this category without needing one of these devices—in fact, adding a Cloudlifter or FetHead into a signal chain that doesn’t need it will degrade quality, not increase it.

Headphone output

You’ll definitely be needing a good headphone output, as most streamers (especially game streamers) rely on headphones for in-game audio while not causing feedback from their voice mic.

Just like the mic inputs, headphones rely on pre-amps to drive the speakers in the headphones. Depending on your headphones, they may need stronger pre-amps, and more thirsty headphones will assuredly need stronger pre-amps.

There’s also the matter of the headphones’ impedance ratings, which dictate how much power they need at what resistance in order to get the expected volume and quality out of them.

For example, most inexpensive headphones are less than 25 ohms impedance and have no issues being driven by cellphone headphone jacks (remember those?) and other consumer-grade portable audio devices.

Higher-end equipment in the prosumer range (DJ headphones, studio headphones) are usually around 25 to 70 ohms or so. Most modern phones that still have headphone jacks can drive these, they just may not get too loud depending on the phone. Pretty much any audio interface can also get these the power they need.

If you’re in the market for some really nice headphones such as the classic Beyerdynamic DT-880s, however, you’ll be looking at 200 ohms and higher, averaging around 250 ohms. This will require a bit of extra research to make sure that the interface you choose can support this big of a load on the headphone output.

Phantom power

This is only required for condenser mics but is worth knowing in general. Condenser mics require extra voltage to work properly, and phantom power provides 48v of power to the mic.

Some audio interfaces have one switch to provide power to all the inputs at once, some have individual per-channel switches, and some don’t offer it at all on the very low priced devices.

For interfaces with more than one mic input, the individual switches are useful if you’re running a condenser along with a dynamic mic or ribbon mic—phantom power can damage ribbons and sometimes dynamics after prolonged exposure.

In all honesty, this isn’t even applicable for most streamers, however. Unless you’re streaming musical performances, you probably won’t be using condenser mics at all, and especially not ribbon mics.

Pad and Inst/Line buttons

Each input on your audio interface will usually have at least one of these. The Inst/Line button toggles the input sensitivity to one of the two signal levels—line, or instrument. If you’re plugging in a guitar to go direct, you’d set it to Instrument. If you were connecting a keyboard, synth, or other similar devices, you would usually use the Line setting.

The Pad button isn’t on every interface, and, like the Inst/Line button above, for most streamers, it isn’t even necessary. But it’s a useful thing to be knowledgeable about. Basically, the Pad button will decrease the input gain by a set amount. It’s primarily used for particularly high-gain (or “hot”) signals like specific guitar pickups.

For example, I have a Schecter guitar with EMG 81 and 85 pickups, and with most inexpensive interfaces the signal is too loud and will clip, even with the channel gain turned all the way down. The Pad button just turns down the gain on the channel by a set amount of decibels so that I can get a usable signal without being too hot and end up clipping.

As I mentioned, it’s not usually something that will come into play for streamers, it’s good to at least know what they do in case you need them later.

Input signal metering/clipping indicator

Being able to see how much of a mic signal is coming into the interface and out to the computer is critical. Some audio interfaces have little meters to varying degrees of detail, and some just have signal and clipping lights.

A signal light shows that it’s receiving a signal from the mic and sending it out of the device. This is usually a green indicator to show that, yes, your mic is working properly.

The clipping light indicates that the signal that is coming into the device is too loud and is exceeding the limits of what the interface can handle before clipping—or, distorting the signal and having the peaks get chopped off. Most interfaces show this with a red light that lights up when the signal clips.

Some devices like some of the Focusrite family have a combination signal/clipping indicator. The ring around the gain control knob will light up either green or red, depending on the state of the signal.

Other devices, like the new MOTU and SSL devices, have actual meters that will give you a visual representation of the signal coming in, giving you a better idea of what exactly is being processed. Larger, more professional devices also have these, but very few small interfaces have true meters of any quality.

Yes, you do have meters in your software, but being able to see exactly what’s coming from the mic and out of the interface is pretty helpful in many situations, especially if you can’t see your software meters at the time. It’s not a deal-breaker, really, but it’s definitely on the nice-to-have column.

Power supply and power button

Many of the current crop of small desktop audio interfaces don’t require an external power supply. They’re “bus-powered”, or derive its juice from the USB port it’s connected to. That provides up to 500mA (or 0.5A) of power. Some devices can run on this, others like more power, and connecting a separate power supply may be necessary for larger devices.

Along the same lines, an increasing number of audio interfaces don’t even have a power button or switch. This means that they’re powered up whenever your computer is powered up—or connected to a live power source. This may not be an issue for you, but having your audio interface powered up 24/7 can contribute to a shorter lifespan of your device.

Also, more lights on in a dark room may be an issue if this is also your bedroom or you just find tiny LEDs distracting. So if you absolutely need a power button, keep this in mind when shopping for a device.

Monitor speaker outputs

For most streamers, this won’t even matter, since headphones are often the main output method. However, if you also like to listen to music, watch movies, or play games without headphones when not streaming, you’ll want a good set of speakers on your desk, and studio monitors are a great choice.

Unlike the mic inputs and headphone outputs, there are no pre-amps on the monitor outputs. Studio monitors these days are usually actively powered—meaning they have their own amplifiers in each speaker. Either that or you have passively powered speakers connected to their own special power amp driving them. Either way, the power doesn’t come from the audio interface, so you don’t need to worry about that.

Most studio monitors have XLR and/or balanced 1/4″ inputs along with unbalanced or line-level RCA inputs (those are listed in order of most to least quality, by the way). Audio interfaces on the very low priced side of things only have RCA connectors, but most in the budget/mid-range has balanced 1/4″ outs.

Some have actual XLR outputs if there’s the space for it, and this is definitely the most desirable. XLR connectors resist wear and tear much better. They have less of a chance of getting ruined by being removed and reconnected along with just the general weight of the cable pulling on the connector stretching out the contacts inside—the phenomenon known as “jack sag” that plagues 1/4″ and other similar connectors so much.

While XLR monitor outputs aren’t critical, at least balanced quarter-inch outs are. If you have more than one set of monitors (as is common in audio engineering), you’ll want a device with multiple sets of outputs. But like many audio interface features, this is most likely never going to be a requirement for streamers.

Build quality

While this doesn’t directly affect the quality of your audio, it does affect the longevity of your audio interface and helps reduce issues operating your equipment.

While streamers aren’t normally going to be throwing their audio interface into a gear bag to take on the road, build quality matters. Primarily revolving around the quality of the knobs, switches or buttons, and ports.

Poor quality mic/line jacks will fail sooner or can introduce artifacts like popping or buzzing. Knobs that are loose, sloppy, or inaccurate can be frustrating when trying to control your audio levels.

It’s not a flashy feature, but at least having a solid build quality is not one to overlook.

Software and drivers

This often gets overlooked just like build quality, but for those who have experience with audio interfaces, they know this is critical. Basically, if the software and/or device drivers for a device are poorly written, the device itself can malfunction and often just be unusable.

You’ll want to be able to easily control the bit depth and sample rate of a device via the driver software. Usually, settings of 24-bit and 48kHz are good starting points. You can record at a higher sampling rate (modern interfaces go up to 192kHz) but you’ll put a load on your CPU by doing so.

Very few devices these days offer higher bit depths than 24-bit, but 32-bit recording is starting to show up in very new devices. They have the cost that comes along with cutting-edge technology, but there’s huge promise in 32-bit recording primarily in gain staging and reducing digital clipping. It’s too much to get into here, but just know that usually you’ll be looking for 24-bit. For now.

Latency

Latency, however, is mission-critical. This is basically the time it takes to go through the interface, into the computer, and back out of the speakers.

You can affect the sampling rate and the buffer size to change the latency. The smaller the buffer and higher the sample rate, the faster it is for the signal to enter the mic and preamp, get converted to digital (A/D conversion), get through the computer, back out to get converted back to analog (D/A conversion) and out of the speakers or headphones.

Unfortunately, the smaller the buffer size the harder the CPU has to work to ensure that buffer is constantly filled to not drop audio frames, so to speak. You can counter this by increasing the sample rate (say, from 48kHz to 192kHz), but this also introduces issues at times.

Basically, through the combination of these settings and the quality of the software/drivers mentioned previously, you’ll get either very low latency at a given setting or, well, not so low. Not all devices are created equal, so you’ll want to keep that in mind—especially if you plan on doing more complex things with your interface like recording music.

Thankfully all of the devices we’re going over today have at least acceptable latency and drivers for almost all users. You won’t have to worry about any of these choices negatively impacting your experience, but just know that it’s something that does need to be paid attention to.