I had one of these Akai EIE interfaces out to try recently. It is a 44.1KHz / 16bit I/O (there is also a Pro version with higher sampling rates).
There are 4 inputs with gain control, flexible monitoring options, MIDI in & out, inserts, spare USB ports. No SPDIF. The weight of the box is heavy, giving an impression of a good solid build. It is plug and play (no driver to install). A cool feature is that the VU meters flash red when the signal clips. No software is needed to set it up as all features have switches on the front-panel (eg instrument, phantom power). The sound is not exactly neutral - it brightens things up, but in quite a nice way. The headphone amp delivers a good volume before distortion. Price-wise it is almost the same as a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14, but here you get 4 mic inputs (not 2), and no software is required.
There are 4 inputs with gain control, flexible monitoring options, MIDI in & out, inserts, spare USB ports. No SPDIF. The weight of the box is heavy, giving an impression of a good solid build. It is plug and play (no driver to install). A cool feature is that the VU meters flash red when the signal clips. No software is needed to set it up as all features have switches on the front-panel (eg instrument, phantom power). The sound is not exactly neutral - it brightens things up, but in quite a nice way. The headphone amp delivers a good volume before distortion. Price-wise it is almost the same as a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14, but here you get 4 mic inputs (not 2), and no software is required.
