Akai Professional EIE PRO 24-bit Audio/MIDI Interface with USB Hub

I got this interface a few weeks ago and have been using it regularly for home recording ever since. My experiences with the product so far have been nothing but positive. The specifications for the EIE Pro seem almost too good to be true upon first glance. The maximum bit depth and sample rate capabilities are definitely on the professional end of the market, there are 4 hybrid connectors for easy connection of multiple microphones and quarter inch cable inputs, and the unit looks and feels very solid and high-quality. This interface seems like a great deal when you see the specifications, beautiful design and modest price tag, but how does it hold up hands-on? From my experience so far, it can produce some great results. The audio quality is clean and unadulterated when using any sample rate or bit depth setting. The latency is much better than I expected when running it through my Macbook Pro. I use Logic Pro 9 and I have been using the second smallest buffer setting with no artifacts or distortion. The face of the EIE Pro is easy to navigate and set up for any common recording application and the driver seems to work without a hitch. I really enjoy the mixing dial component for mixing signals going into and out of the computer through the headphone output. The EIE Pro is perfect for my recording needs, but it does have some limitations to its greatness. To start off with, the VU meters can be much harder to monitor than an LED strip. This isn't a huge annoyance because you can monitor input levels in most DAWs, and the VU meters do alert you of clipping with a cool flash of red, but LED strips to gauge signal strength would have been preferable for me. Another minor annoyance is that phantom power is paired off into the first and last two channels. You cannot switch phantom power for an individual input. Similarly, the VU meters must be assigned to the first two or second two inputs. However, all three of these minor annoyances I have with the unit are easily explained by Akai wanting to make a compact and affordable product. I can't complain too much about that. All of these features work flawlessly. Overall the Akai EIE Pro is a great buy for the money. I can't say with any certainty that it would function adequately in a professional environment, but I can't think of a reason why it would not. This unit seems to be designed more for home studio recording because of its price and manufacturer. I can testify that it works more than adequately for that.

Have had this for a year no problem's whatsoever. I am a Pro at what I do (producer/engineer/Musician 20 years) and I get GREAT quality recordings every time. Most times its not the interface its the producer/engineer..

I first hooked the interface up, installed the drivers and software, and was greeted to a raunchy hiss when I first plugged my headphones in. After their tech support laboriously (after spending maybe three hours on the phone) directed me to install the updated firmware, which I did, the unit worked fine for about a month - until I updated my Mac to OS Mavericks. Four months have passed since Mavericks has been released, and Akai has yet to release a working driver. There are hundreds of people on their tech support website complaining, and there has been no help. Buy a Focusrite Scarlett, if you are looking for an interface within this price range. Do not buy this product.

AS of October 31, 2013 this IO will not even be recognized by IOS 10.9 Maverick. DO NOT BUY until this is fixed. I bought a brick at the moment.

I think the EIE Pro is my new favorite laptop interface. There are a lot of them out there these days, in a variety of configurations, and they all have their place. the Tascam US-144 or Scarlett 2i2, for instance, are high quality, dual analog input converters which are bus-powered, not needing to plug in to anything but your laptop, which is handy for truly portable recording. The MOTU Ultralite, or the newer 4pre, or even the insane Track16, are great for highend A/D converters, multiple I/O, hybrid USB/Firewire connectivity, and software-based mixer desk controls with massive DSP channel strip capabilities. And then there are the bigger but compact rackmount interfaces like the Mackie Onyx Blackbird, or any number of Tascam, Focusrite, M-Audio, Presonus, or MOTU units, which have oodles of I/O, and a satisfying 120V rocker on/off switch. But what do you do when your laptop only has two USB ports? One of them hosts your interface, the other has your MIDI controller or a mouse. Where do you plug in your iLok for all that awesome software your i5-equipped, 750GB lapjob is capable of running now? The EIE series from Akai has that covered. In addition to 4 analog combo-jack pres, 4 balanced 1/4" outputs, a headphone jack, 4 insert points, and a pair of 5-pin DIN MIDI sockets, the EIE I/O (hee hee) and EIE Pro (wait, that's not funny) both have a three port USB 2.0 hub built in. Yes. On top of that, these little beasts are built like gear out of a WWII bomber cockpit, with heavy guage sheetmetal housings, analog VU meters, and lots of solid little toggle switches. The fact that a compact portable like this has 4 preamps for two and a half Benjamins is reason enough to buy it, but the integral USB hub really sets it apart from the other boxes out there. The only caution I would offer is that the driver is made by the same company which makes Tascam's drivers (Polytec from Germany), and I have not had 100% compatibility with every computer I've tried installing their drivers on. Acer laptops and netbooks in particular seem to have problems. My Lenovo and Mac laptops seem to be just fine, however.