Universal Audio Volt 1 USB Recording Studio

Before eventually settling on the Universal Audio Volt 1, I tried Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen, Motu M2, Røde AI-1, and Steinberg UR12. Each of those four interfaces had its own pros and cons, but neither of them stood out as the clear winner. Their flaws were too significant for me to tolerate and far outweighed the positives. Having tried the most recommended options and been disappointed by all of them, I had almost given up hope, but then, I decided to try one of the Volt series interfaces, which were relatively new at the time. I had never heard anything about Universal Audio before, so I had absolutely no idea what to expect. To my surprise, the Volt exceeded all my expectations! Firstly, the build quality was excellent: the unit was light, but it had the right amount of heft to give off an impression of quality. Also, the entire unit, except for the grey plastic front panel, seemed to be made out of powder-coated steel and aluminum! Secondly, the design had a sophisticated retro aesthetic, and the color of the aforementioned aluminum matched the color of my MacBook perfectly! Thirdly, every knob and button was placed intuitively, and I especially liked the on/off rocker switch on the back. Another great feature was a couple of signal level indicator LEDs, the uppermost of which turned red whenever the audio was clipping. Also, speaking of LEDs, the buttons were transparent and had a different color LED inside them, so it was simple to tell which of the functions were on without having to read the labels above the buttons — even in the dark! As somebody with myopia, I appreciated this feature a lot. Now, to the sound quality. Since I am not a singer, I only tried recording my electric guitar, and the results that I got were truly professional quality. Lastly, the built-in headphone amplifier was more than powerful enough for my 47 Ω headphones with a 96 dB sensitivity. As far as I can recall, I never had the headphone volume knob on my Volt 1 set past 12 o'clock. So, to sum everything up, the Volt 1 is an excellent budget interface that has an unsurpassed price-to-quality ratio.

I will compare with MOTU M2.
VOLT 1 arrived today.
Both products are of very high quality and each of them is a leader in the market!
I bought a second sound card for the kitchen, mainly for headphones.

Packed better than mota. And whoever smells the box, it’s better to buy VOLT for sure)))

About headphones - Fostex T60RP with VOLT plays better!
The VOLT's headphone amp is much louder.

Noise - no guitar noise, none of the cards I have. No matter how you turn it on, no matter how you turn it on.
Probably on VOLT the instrumental input at the 0 mark is a little more powerful. But the overload, when hitting the strings, is achieved approximately the same for both.

I have Motu for 3 years, there are no problems on Windows, I don’t use poppy.

The only motu, once a year (maximum 2), the sound disappears. Treated off / on. (Because I turn off monitors with a power filter.)
There are no other problems.
Once I tried the MSI B550 A-PRO motherboard (like a good one), with it the motu had falling off, it fell off almost constantly). (I have an asrock X470)

If you do not read the characteristics and do not watch reviews. BOTH cards are good! For MY ears and VOLT headphones, I like it better.
I also really like that VOLT can be turned on from the power supply.

Update:
I noticed that both at the main volume and at the volume of the headphones, the balance between the left and right channels does not match in some positions!
MOTU M2 has no problems with this, there is digital adjustment.

So I purchased this interface for when I'm traveling for work, so I can leave my SSL 2+ at home. I work in video/audio production so it helps to have a more portable solution. And it means I can throw my guitar in the car when I'm in hotels for a few nights and work on my own stuff.

All I can say about the sound quality, is it's great, certainly everything I need.

Sounds great, and although it's a shame there's none of that sweet sweet DSP, at this price you'd be a fool to expect it. The midi ports are a nice touch too, I've found them surprisingly useful, although your workflows will vary.

Also, its aesthetically very pleasing, and the metal chassis has a nice bit of weight to it. Feels like a much more expensive bit of kit than it is, if you care about that sort of thing!

If you need a small factor audio interface, you won't do much better for the money.