I’m having a hard time choosing between these two soundcards. I know they are both really good and the quality of sound is awesome too. I have equipment to produce music and all I need now are studio monitors and a soundcard. I’m not going to be recording any guitars or anything that I need to plug into the audio interface. I just need something that is going to improve my sound quality and maximize the monitors potential. With that being said…what are your opinions?
Personally I’d go for the audio 2. You claim not to need inputs so the the only real difference is a few midi buttons and midi in/out. Doesn’t really seem worth doubling the price to me.
Alrighty…before I make a purchase I have one more question. I know that the audio kontrol 1 is an older card and the audio komplete 6 is a newer card, will the sound be any different because it is a newer card? Should I just save more money and fork out the 100$ and get the komplete 6?
I have an AK1 too. I second getting a card that has more features than you think you need right now (if you can afford it). It’s way better to get a creative spark and have what you need right at hand than to say “oh crap, I wish I’d bought…” If you are on a windows machine, I would not recommend the AK1, as widows users have had all sorts of issues with drivers, show stopping dropouts and/or massive wall-of-noise distortion freak-outs. I’m not talking about latency issues either, but major software problems. On a Mac the AK1 is solid, very nice sounding card. Balanced outputs are the bomb, nice preamps, lots of monitoring options.
But, that said, the AK1 is as good as phased out now. NI support is next to non-existent. I would definitely look a the Komplete 6. Looks to be a very nice card, with all of the good things about the AK1 included.
yes i have a pc tower and a pc laptop…so im gonna stay away from the audio kontrol! thanks for your help man i really appreciate it! plus with the komplete 6 its brand new and up to date..
Wait, what? I own monitors that have unbalanced RCA ins - maybe they’re not top of the line, but clearly such animals do exist.
In fact, I have Powered PA speakers (Wharfedale EVP-15X & 15XB’s) that have unbalanced RCA ins. The difference between balanced and unbalanced is mostly about long cable runs, innit? If you’re doing long cable runs in your studio, you’re doing it wrong.
Yeah… Sure maybe i’m totally wrong about balanced outs… that’s just what i’d come to understand about running studio monitors direct off a SC.
I got KRK VXT4s. They take just XLR or 1/4" jacks rather than RCAs. I know you can get adapters but i just assumed that the best fit would be balanced 1/4" outs.
I’m pretty sure if that’s more of a pro solution than RCAs.
I think OP should get a Kompete 6. It’s the new ting and it’s got all you’d need. It looks sexy as hell too IMO
Nope. They also cancel out electrical interference from nearby electronics or cables. Even if your cable runs are less than 2 feet, if you’re doing any kind of serious outboard processing and/or using a patch bay…it doesn’t take much until you have cables all over each other.
It’s rare to see unbalanced cables in a studio, even if they’re only 2-foot patch cables.
For a modern in-the-box EDM producer, it doesn’t matter that much. But if you’re going to spend several hundred dollars on decent monitors and the acoustic treatments to be able to tell the difference between them and not crap bookshelf speakers, it’s probably worth running balanced cables those last few feet.
Anyway, The Komplete Audio 6 looks like it fits the bill, but I’m not convinced it’s actually enough better to justify its cost.
First, it likely has exactly the same converters as the Audio 2. If he’s using a Macbook or MBP, it’s also likely to have the same–or very similar–converters as his laptop’s internal sound card.
Second, if he doesn’t have a well-treated room, he’s likely not to be able to hear differences in the analog sections.
Third, I haven’t seen/heard anything to actually imply that there’s anything wrong with the analog output section of the Audio 2, though the size does imply that it’s not as good as it could be. Same with laptop internal sound cards.
Fourth, he seems not to be recording…which wastes a lot of the functionality of the KA6.
Fifth, there are much better interfaces available for about the same money.
Sixth, if he’s going for convenience of leaving something plugged in and having analog volume controls and a headphone amp, the Audio 2 fits the bill…just add a stereo DI box to go to the monitors.
If he only needs one good output pair, I’ve heard good things about Avid’s new MBoxes…apparently they’re real interfaces now. The Mbox and Mbox Pro benchmark very well, and the MBox Mini costs about $250 and is likely to have the same level of electronics…with 2 basic inputs and one stereo output pair, plus a headphone amp duplicate of the main outputs. As long as he’s not monitoring a different signal than he’s sending to the monitors, that might actually work better. And if it’s the same electronics that are in the Mbox and Mbox Pro, it’s supposed to sound a good bit better than anything NI makes, based on benchmarks.
I’d seriously consider that one as well, but a lot of that is that while the Audio 2 is perfect for what it is, I haven’t been specifically impressed by NI’s sound cards. They use normal prosumer level Cirrus Logic converters (very similar to those in the Macbook and MBP’s internal sound cards as well as Pioneer’s CDJs and Mixers, last time I checked), which are fine but not exactly high-end. And while I haven’t taken them apart, I seriously doubt they’re doing anything impressive in the analog domain on input or output.
There are very compelling alternatives to the KA6 for about the same price, and when you get into the $500 to $800 range, you get a lot more for not that much more money.
Caveat lector: I don’t actually own any of these interfaces except the Audio 2 DJ and Macbook/MBP internal cards. And I’m not a professional when it comes to recording/production. But I have heard some very good interfaces. My money would not go to NI for any sound card they make except the Audio 2 (as the cheap, small, portable, 0x4 card it was designed to be) unless I was running Traktor Scratch. There are too many better options available for the same money or a little bit more.
