Focusrite Clarett 2Pre: Review

  • My general impression is the Clarett in many ways is quite an improvement over the Saffire. But I have been very frustrated and lost a project so I'm kind of ready for something else rather than keep beating my head agains the same product. Human nature I suppose.
    (IF Focusrite gave me a Clarett and it worked for a year w/o problem, I'd pay 125% of it's original price for it and wax all about it, but until I can see stats on failure rates, I just can't trust the QA/QC of their units) I know this probably isn't "fair". But unlike the Kemper where there is no other unit on the market like it, there are MANY Audio Interfaces on the market.


    Currently I'm out $1050 in Audio Interfaces (NOT counting the $600 the new Audient iD22 cost) so this hasn't been a cheap experience.


    BTW, the claims by CLARETT are essentially 1) Thunderbird and 2) low LATENCY.
    I've found that the Apogee had similar Latency via USB.
    However, the Audient is SLAYING both Apogee and Focusrite latency over its USB. I can Input Monitor with ZERO detectible latency to my hearing!


    I've never had an audio interface that can do that. Impressed already. More to come as I work with it, in another thread...


    Bottom line, I'm not saying "don't try the Clarett", this is just a personal experience of twice bitten and shy. BTW, despite months of problems with returning the Saffire, their Customer Service offered Free Return Shipping
    of the unit to be fixed, so they have shown caring. Everyone makes mistakes, it's how you correct them that says something about you. They've been very nice to deal with on a correspondence level.

  • Well, it's either a tragedy or comedy but the Audient's Channel One is DOA. All other I/O works fine. So back it goes.
    Also, had an issue with the Digital clocks not matching (I'm converting SPDIF to ADAT but I'm hearing pops and Sweetwater said the clocks aren't matching perfectly)


    I wonder if I'm getting all the returns since Christmas stock is low? lol


    So I put on order from Sweetwater an Apollo Twin DUO with a bundled bluebird mic. Let's see how that goes. I HATE the idea of a large dongle. But a lot of those plugins are either bake-able (EQ or Compression just like i do with my LA610) or I'm sure I can split and go dry and wet recorded. I hope. We'll see. They offer a 2 year warranty.


    That said, the price keeps going up on this journey. I should have just gotten another Apogee One and been happy until it breaks! ;)


    At least I'll get to use the EMT 140 that Ingolf likes! (see, there IS a silver lining in every cloud!)


    I'm jinxed, but I leave that all behind in 2016.

  • Thank you very much for posting this review. I was literally minutes away from buying one, but searched for some reviews first. I had no idea about the dodgy reliabilty and poor build quality/QC. You've saved me making an expensive mistake, I will explore alternative thunderbolt interfaces. Thanks again.



  • Just want to clarify something here: Thunderbolt is made to daisy chain. A Mac will probably have two ports for simplicity, but, with pretty much any Thunderbolt device, you'll have two ports. One is an "in," the other is an "out." And whichever one you choose is up to you. You won't use "both" of your ports and be left without one, because the next device in the chain will provide another port.


    That said, I think Apple screwed themselves on getting into Thunderbolt, and they're realizing it and moving away. You can see their new Macbook has a singular USB3 connection designed to do everything. No Thunderbolt! I believe that Apple, the only real company that uses Thunderbolt, is rethinking it. For the consumer, this means the USB format is great, and now it can do even more, like supporting larger displays or powering their laptop. However, this also means that people who have invested time and money in Thunderbolt products (I have a hub and an LG ultrawide display, both Thunderbolt) might be screwed. I'd love to pick up a Clarett, but I'd feel safer going with a USB3 device. It's hard to predict technology though, and maybe the Macbook is just designed to be a device for non-power users (it does have pretty crappy specs), but I think this year will really decide which direction, if they decide to make a choice at all, they will go.

    Guitars: Parker Fly Mojo Flame, Ibanez RG7620 7-string, Legator Ninja 8-string, Fender Strat & Tele, Breedlove Pro C25
    Pedalboard: Templeboards Trio 43, Mission VM-1, Morley Bad Horsie, RJM Mini Effect Gizmo, 6 Degrees FX Sally Drive, Foxpedals The City, Addrock Ol' Yeller, RJM MMGT/22, Mission RJM EP-1, Strymon Timeline + BigSky
    Stack: Furman PL-Plus C, Kemper Rack

  • So that's why the Clarett interfaces only have ONE port? ;)


    Poor design choice on Focusrite's part. Just use it as your last device in the chain.

    Guitars: Parker Fly Mojo Flame, Ibanez RG7620 7-string, Legator Ninja 8-string, Fender Strat & Tele, Breedlove Pro C25
    Pedalboard: Templeboards Trio 43, Mission VM-1, Morley Bad Horsie, RJM Mini Effect Gizmo, 6 Degrees FX Sally Drive, Foxpedals The City, Addrock Ol' Yeller, RJM MMGT/22, Mission RJM EP-1, Strymon Timeline + BigSky
    Stack: Furman PL-Plus C, Kemper Rack

  • Hi all,


    Harmonious - I'm sorry to hear that you were put off the 2Pre from this review. The problems that db9091 encountered are very unusual, we're not aware of any consistent issues with the Clarett 2Pre either from our own extensive testing or as reported by our customers. Should you change your mind and purchase one and then run into problems, we would of course do everything we can to help.


    The MacBook (cheapest in the range) is the only current Mac product that does not include at least one Thunderbolt port. Though it's difficult to speculate on what might develop in future, Thunderbolt has numerous advantages over USB 3 (bandwidth, the potential for lower latency, daisy chaining) and the new Thunderbolt 3 standard uses a 'C' type connector (similar to USB 3.1). You can connect Thunderbolt 1 and Thunderbolt 2 devices to a Thunderbolt 3 port - it's backwards compatible.


    The Clarett range does indeed only have one Thunderbolt port. It can therefore either be placed at the end of a Thunderbolt chain (we have tested with it as the 6th in a chain and found no dip in performance) or on a second Thunderbolt port if your other Thunderbolt devices also only have one port.


    I hope this clears a few things up, if you have any questions about the Clarett range (or any of our products) feel free to ask on here or contact us directly here: http://focusrite.com/answerbase/contact-0


    Best,
    Jack // Focusrite Technical Support

  • "Last in the chain" has been a popular excuse for many years and for pretty much all daisy chain capable port technologies.
    It never worked nicely! There's just way to many gear manufacturers who keep telling you "put our device last". That ain't going to work, that's not good user experience. Do you think I would rip my daisy chain apart every day when I want to connect another Thunderbolt device in the middle to keep the Clarett (or the Apollo Twin Duo or a Blackmagic Intensity Thunderbolt, ...) at the very end of some chain?


    And sure someone will tell you: Go for the other port then, you should have 2 on your computer. Wow, really? You smell it already? So good to have more ports, right? So I hook up my portable Thunderbolt SSD on the first port and the Clarett on the second port. And now? Where do I connect the UHD display? And where do I connect my Blackmagic Intensity? Should I get more ports?


    Daisy Chaining is a joke and will never work well for the end user. But imagine you could buy a 6 port Thunderbolt hub (providing you with 6 actual Thunderbolt ports) .... life could be so easy ;)

  • That's certainly a valid point if all of your devices only have 1 Thunderbolt port, though as I mentioned above, if some of them have two you should have no problems connecting a Clarett at the end of the chain - this will not impact performance.


    I will pass your feedback on to our development team for consideration for future products. If you have any further questions/queries just let me know.


    Best regards,
    Jack // Focusrite Technical Support

  • Yes, the OWC Thunderbolt Dock started going bad.


    The Clarett shipped working fine and may/may-not have developed I/O issue after a few days.


    Now, was it the OWC device? Hard to say.


    The Saffire that went bad was on a PC, never used with Macs.
    The Clarett came working and the I/O stopped working. Could be it or OWC. I needed a working interface fast so I returned it.
    The Audient ID22 came with Channel 1 dead, so it wasn't the Dock. Channel 2 worked fine for almost 2 weeks on the dock before I returned it.
    The Apollo came fine and worked fine with the Dock (until the Dock died, haha) It's been working fine connected directly to the iMac.


    In hindsight, I should have tested the Clarett with another Mac to see if the Dock was the issue, not the Clarett. My MacBook is too old (no Thunderbolt)


    My reason for returning the Clarett and not getting another one had more to do with my experiences trying to get the Saffire Pro 24 fixed. It was a hassle just getting an RMA (mistakes, not intentional, and they spotted me free shipping as a "thank you". But it is coming up on a month for turn-around. So that could be shorter. I don't need it though, and told them this, so maybe they put my on the slow track to service other customers who need their audio interfaces faster? Who knows.


    Bottom line, give the Clarett a try if you loved the Saffire. It's entirely different than the Saffire. Better in every way. Knowing what I know now, I like the Apollo better, but it's also almost double the price. The Audient ID22 was also very good. So many good interfaces and all their mix control software has gotten better than just 2 years ago's choices. You almost can't go wrong.

  • Hi all,


    Harmonious - I'm sorry to hear that you were put off the 2Pre from this review. The problems that db9091 encountered are very unusual, we're not aware of any consistent issues with the Clarett 2Pre either from our own extensive testing or as…


    Jack, I take your points. I accept that db9091 may have experienced problems due to his other hardware or other individual issues. I've just bought a high-end MacBook Pro and was considering the Clarett as my interface for my new home studio. I was perturbed to read db9091's account of the Clarettt crashing his Mac, not something I need! I will still consider the Clarett. I am in England and have heard good things about Focusrite's support. If I do decide to buy, I certainly hope they would help me resolve any manufacturing problems or other issues.

  • Yes, that happened the first time. I intentionally did it 3 more times over the next few days and it did not happen again, so I wasn't able to re-create the situation.