A Budget Audio Interface I Can FINALLY Recommend For Mixing On Headphones

FINALLY.. A Budget Audio interface I Can Recommend For Mixing On Headphones

TOPPING E4X4

My name is Paul Third and I am a Scottish youtuber / audio engineer / mixing engineer / audio geek. I mostly cover audio engineering related content ranging from audio plugin shootouts / plugin comparisons (acustica audio plugins, universal audio etc etc) to actual analog vs digital / gear vs plugins plugin tests via access analog and mix analog. I even include ddmf plugindoctor tutorials in my plugin reviews so you can be your very own plugin tester and experiment and understand whats actually going on under the hood.

All of my audio blind tests involving music production software are conducted in Presonus studio one 6 which is my main daw and I also use HOFA blind test 4U as my blind test software. In terms of my audio interface I record and monitor through a universal audio apollo x6 through topping dx7 pro+ dac/amp and use an se dynacaster for all of my voice overs.

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[PaulThird]

Amir's Audio Audience Review of E2x2 (same specs at E4x4)

[KLOVOrecords]

Wow, it's interesting what happen, because Topping is very very known for it's hifi amplifiers... and now they took a step to service musicians, it's so cool!

[evilone]

I had to buy a new interface because i wanted something solid in term of headphones output for my LCD-X, so i went for the E1x2OTG. I have to say that i'm not disappointed at all, and in my DAW the perfs are even better than I expected. Living in China i paid the E1x2OTG the equivalent of 97.97 GBP which at this price range there is nothing much to say. So it is nice to see a company that care about quality which is for me a bit ironical when you know where it is coming from... ;-)

[andivax]

i have tested Topping L50 and 600$ Aune headphones amplifiers and they are not even close to stock head amp in RME UFX II.
The two main questions is Asio and stability. Typically cheap interfaces offers use Asio4All.
For the money you can get Audient MK2 series but it is working bad with planar headphones (id4 and id14 distorts sound on high volume).
Also China supports russian agression on Ukraine 💙💛 so I will definitely skip this one.
RME and UAD still the best and solid solutions IMHO

[kadiummusic]

The SSL 12 is much more expensive than this, in fact I would say it's a giveaway when you consider what you get for your money. 😎

[R-y]

Hi, great review! Would you recommend this for someone who produces/mixes/masters music on headphones or would you recommend anything else, thanks!!

[pb]

@PaulThird Can you confirm if the headphone outputs have individual level controls? A bit hard to tell based on the pictures and I really need a device with two seperate level controls (one is driving a set of VU)

[szekerespista]

Can you recomend a cheaper audio interface with 4 channel output?

[flavoursonly]

So this can power 300ohm Sen, HD600s, at early mix stages and u can actually hear the kick drum, snare, or hat loud enough to actually mix them? Because honestly my 6i6 focusrite with 100% headphone output I can barely hear the components to mix. 100% this will work?

[nantan]

I wonder what the driver support is like...

[Fwuzeem]

Slow news time I suppose. Thanks for putting it on the map, I'll give it a look

[alexbreyer]

After reading users comments the Audio Science Review page on the e2x2, which is the same as the e4x4 with just fewer inputs and outputs, I feel that Topping still has a lot of work to do to polish up their software experience. The main thing these two devices have going for them is the headphone amps, which sound way better than several pro expensive interfaces on the market. But multiple comments about how hard it was use the input gain knobs themselves (difficult to grip), paired with that the gain control was rather difficult to control and certain popular mics (87 bete) couldn't get enough gain level to power them. Others had major software bugs with the sample rate always jumping to 44.1K even if you were choosing another option. And others couldn't seem to get out of a loop of it always wanting to download updates, but those would never take. It seems like Topping is on their way to a decent product at a good price point, but they aren't ready for prime time just yet.

[asabrown]

Great video! I was thinking of getting the L30 ll to add to my 18i20 gen 2, but I’ve also been entertaining the idea of putting together a portable rig. I was coming to the conclusion that I was probably gonna have to make two separate purchases until this video. How do the L30 ll and the E4x4 compare sonically? Are they identical? Do you prefer one over the other? I use slate vsx btw, thanks 🙏🏾

[deplaag.techno]

Yess I ordered the E 2x2 today thanks for the tip!

[ayoubmisbah]

Who is better topping dx1 + audient evo 4 . Or this e2x2

[milanzeeman]

it feel wrong to order a product from aliexpress, its always been a scam site for me. and definitly that you dont get what you bought. is it safe to say that what you want from topping is what you get quility product???

[Denis-yu]

Hi Paul,
Currently I am using Arturia Minifuse 1 for HD 560S
I want to upgrade to HD 660S2 and since the Arturia amplifier is weak for them - I ordered Topping e2x2. Please tell me which DAC amplifier will be the next level after e2x2 for HD660s2? And how big will the difference in sound be and how will the sound differ?

I just listen to music and use headphones as my main Windows audio output device - no recording, playing guitar or anything like that

[robertfontaine]

I'm guessing most of us have dedicated headphones amps at this point. Am I the only one who misses Midi and Inserts. I have plenty of hardware in my little rack an no inserts means I have to add a mixer into the rack for real time audio. Software effects and the latency that goes with them is crap for realtime. My old umc404hd has terrible specs but its got the inserts and midi to hook it up with all my other gear. It would be nice to see some digital ports beyond the USB C for adding ports an devices.

[SlavaUkraineRussia]

I bought this interface. I'm waiting for delivery from China.

[olivermaier-landshut]

Man, I really regret that I had to sell my SPL 2Control, in my opinion the most useful headphone amp (stereofield control)…