PreSonus Quantum 2626, 26x26, Thunderbolt 3, Low Latency audio interface with software bundle including Studio One Artist, Ableton Live Lite DAW and more for recording, streaming and podcasting

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The Gain knobs are staggered in their placement. Instead of the top row controlling channels 1-4 and the bottom 5-8, it alternates from the top to bottom diagonally. I found this confusing at first, especially when reaching for a channel while simply glancing to the side. But I got used to it.

According to PreSonus, the unit has the “lowest round-trip latency of any audio interface available.” They say it can be under 1ms round-trip, depending on your setup. That seems right in the ballpark based on the performance I was getting. I don’t have the statistics available to compare it to other Thunderbolt 3 interfaces, but I can say unequivocally that it’s the fastest interface I’ve ever used. Only a single Thunderbolt port is present here too, making it far more challenging to take advantage of device daisy-chaining, particularly if you have a notebook with only one or two Thunderbolt-compatible ports. Following the lead of other makers, there’s no computer connection cable included in the box. Sure, some users might need additional adapters to use with legacy ports but the vast majority would use a Thunderbolt-compatible USB-C

Computer system requirements:

Discrete components. We only use genuine transistors, resistors, and capacitors rather than use op-amps that can add noise, coloration, and harshness to a signal. Our discrete design delivers ultra-low noise and transparency. When it comes to audio interfaces, PreSonus have a long history of adopting new protocols. They were among the first few companies to make a Firewire interface (the 2003 FireStation, which was also the first to make use of Yamaha's mLAN protocol), and more recently they've been keen early proponents of both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt. Their first interface to use the latter was the PreSonus Quantum, which took full advantage of Thunderbolt's data transfer speed to provide remarkably low latency. You can read our glowing review of it in the September 2017 issue. The Quantum is still available, but is now part of a range of Quanta that includes the Quantum 4848 (a no-frills but high-I/O-count device designed to work with analogue consoles) and the subject of this review, the Quantum 2626. Quantum Mechanics The front panel includes eight XLR/TRS mic/line inputs, where two have Hi-Z inputs, with corresponding gain controls and two-tone LED metering. Is the Quantum 2626 the exact same audio quality and specs in terms of mic pres, A/D conversion, D/A conversion, S/N ratio dynamic range, etc. Is there any additional sound quality benefit of getting the original Quantum, in any way?

Also missing, but not of as much consequence, is individually assignable 48V phantom-power. Phantom-power is assignable via bank control switches. Input channels 1 through 4 are on one bank phantom-power circuit and input channels 5 through 8 are on the other bank phantom-power circuit. Hi there everyone. I am planning to buy a Quantum interface and am trying to decide between the original Quantum (26x32) and the recently released Quantum 2626. The PreSonus Quantum 2626 is so close to being the perfect computer audio interface, it hurts! I had to rate the 2626 4.5 Stars, versus the full 5 Stars, since it is not equipped with recallable XMAX preamplifier circuitry as its' bigger-brethren, the Quantum, is, or its' predecessor, the Quantum 2, was. The Quantum 2626 works with any DAW, but you get additional integration when using Studio One. The Cue Mix feature, in particular, allows you to create cue mixes and adjust channel levels and pans for them from inside the PreSonus DAW. And That’s Not All Not only does the Quantum 2626 come with a copy of Studio One Artist, but also an exceptionally generous third-party software bundle called the Studio Magic Suite.An update from presonus would be great because I'm seeing quite a few people with this problem on various forums and it took me a while to actually notice, so I'm guessing there are more to come. I plan on monitoring & recording live-looping performances with multiple instruments, some of which already have latency ( e.g. Line 6 Helix), so I need the interface latency to be as low as possible. ADAT Optical/Dual SMUX inputs/outputs: 16x16 channels at 44.1 or 48 kHz; 8x8 channels at 88.2 or 96 kHz The software by PreSonus (Studio One) has an easy interface and a highly intuitive control system. This DAW's clever native low-latency monitoring system will ensure that a small buffer setting is applied to the live inputs to avoid dropouts or latency.

By the way, would you be interested on this article about 5+ Ways to Connect a Mixer to an Audio Interface?

Do I really need this?

To preface, I'm now a pretty simple setup, and I'm usually working on demos or other projects, podcasts, videos, etc, and on the music side, at the most I'll have a few people in the room. I am in no way running any kind of complicated studio from home. PROS: Fast performance makes latency a non-issue; all inputs on front; gain controls on front; hardware Inserts; expandable via ADAT and S/PDIF; generous software bundle; cue monitoring integration with Studio One; excellent value PAE Seth wroteQuantum Series DOES NOT have hardware leveling mixing. At no time have we ever advertised otherwise. People are lying if they say otherwise.

Find this article interesting? You will want to read about Difference Between Preamp + Audio Interface too. The first two inputs offering either mic or instrument levels, while inputs three through eight alternate between mic and line, depending on the type of connector that’s plugged in. Preamp gain controls appear next, and sport simple tri-colour LED metering to show activity and clipping on each input channel. Unfortunately though, that’s about it – there’s no pad and there’s no high-pass filter here, in either hardware of software form.Both these buffer sizes let me run quite CPU taxing sessions and monitor via plugins. But if you’re willing to keep things simple, the 16-sample buffer setting in Studio One 4 delivered a whole 1.27ms round-trip latency.