 The much anticipated Audient ID 44 Mark II is here and I have a question for you, was it worth the wait? Hi folks, I'm Mike and I hope you're well. In 2021, Audient upgraded two of their most popular interfaces, the ID4 and the ID14, to their Mark II versions. And since then, many have been asking, when will the ID44 Mark II be here? Well I'm pleased to tell you, that day has arrived. And I'd like to know from you in the comments below, whether it's been worth the wait. But first of all, let's find out all about it, starting off with the specs. The ID44 Mark II is a 20 in 24 out audio interface, with sample rates up to 96kHz and a bit depth of 24. At the rear, we see the four analog inputs for the Class A Audient Console mic preamps. The first two of these have sends and returns for outboard gear, something I'll discuss later. Next we see our four line outs, of course we'd normally use the first two for our monitors and the others could be used for alternative monitors or something like guitar re-amping. Further on, we see a word clock out to maintain sync with other digital gear, and to connect that gear, we have two ADA ins and two outs. We connect to our computer via the USB-C port, but we do need to power it with the supplied power brick. At the front, we see two quarter inch instrument inputs that override the rear inputs when in use. These J-FET inputs will add a little analog colour to instruments like electric guitars. This model has two headphone amps, the first one having dual outputs being 3.5mm and quarter inch, and the second one being a quarter inch. These two amps can receive individual mixes. On the top left of the unit, we see our preamp controls, with each channel having a gain knob, a phantom power switch, a 10 dB pad and a 100 Hz high pass filter. It probably goes without saying, but all buttons and knobs feel sturdy and good quality. On the top, we see our main encoder to control volume, engaging the ID button turns it into a scroll wheel so we can adjust things like faders or panning in our door. We also have dedicated dim and cut switches. At the top, we have volume controls for our two headphone amps, and below this three customisable function switches. These can be used for things like muting, face flipping and monitor switching. Finally, we see a button to engage torque back. To change the settings for these buttons, we need to make use of audience software. The mixer in the software allows us to create a master mix and four Q-mixes made up from our preamps, Aida ends and door outputs. This enables us to create separate mixes for our outputs and headphones. From within here, we can also assign functions to our function buttons and adjust various other settings for the interface. Amongst these settings are those for the interface's loopback feature. So loopback is a feature we've seen a little bit more of recently. It enables you to record or stream audio from different applications on your computer, and then you can mix them with microphones or instruments that you have plugged into the interface. Really handy for creators, like me. So as I mentioned earlier, channels one and two both have sends and returns. This is handy for connecting up outboard gear like EQs and compressors. Now while I was experimenting with this, I found that what I could do was do a send from say channel one, run it through something like a reverb, but return it to channel two. Now what's the point of that? It means you end up with two channels of audio, one wet signal and one dry signal. You can either record both of them into your door or just record the dry signal. You don't have to commit that reverb, however, the singer can have it in their headphones as a little bit of comfort reverb while they're performing handy. So apart from the obvious styling changes and the additional headphone connection, what else has changed? You know, this ID range of audio interfaces is already well known for its great preamps and analog to digital conversion. And it's here where Audient claim to have made even further improvements with a nine decibel improvement in total harmonic distortion. But regardless of how you feel about these changes, the price remains the same at six hundred and ninety nine US dollars. I'd love to hear from you in the comments down below how you feel about this new version of the ID 44. Is it something you're going to be considering purchasing? Have you owned a previous interface from Audient? We'd love to hear all about that. Now, if you feel that this interface is still outside of your budget or you don't need this many inputs, then I highly recommend you check out this video here where I do a rundown of the ID for an ID 14 mark to enjoy.