ESI U22 XT Review | Reviewer's Revival

ESI U22 XT [Exciting, Deep] Review

Get outta here!

Do you really expect me to believe that an audio interface costing only $110 (USD) / $147 (CAD) is worth looking at, let alone actually being enticing enough to try out? That’s ridiculous, right? After all, I’m not a young padawan recordist who’s easily impressed with the cheapest box that my monthly allowance can afford. I've been a professional musician and audio producer for bla bla years . . . started with a 16 track Tascam .  . bla bla.

Ok, ok. I’m just teasing – God bless the younger folks who want to get into recording and music producing – we all had to start somewhere. As a matter of fact, yours truly was only 13 years of age when I “bounced” my first three mono tracks down to a single track; making room for three more ‘live’ tracks on my father’s Phillips 4-track reel-to-reel recorder (circa 1973). For those of you whom are of the millennial generation or even younger - the iGen youngsters - you are seriously more blessed than you might realize. Old guys like me didn’t have nifty contraptions such as: snappy i5 or i7 laptops, multi-track DAW software, and portable audio interfaces when we started out. If I would've had access to a decent laptop, a good-sounding, low latency audio-interface and a FREE bundled starter DAW, I’d have been totally stoked!

Well guess what? This article is devoted to just such a scenario.

ESI’s entry point USB 2.0 audio-interface is prime example of when NOT to judge a book by its orange-y/copper cover. This tidy-looking little box is equally at home in both MAC and Windows setups and like most devices in its class; it features 2-In/2-Out I/O. Expected appointments, such as 48v phantom power and Mic/Line/Instrument connectivity, are at the ready. This sound card delivers an acceptable bit depth and sampling rate, coming in at a maximum of 24bit/96 KHz.
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