# Focusrite Scarlett 2i2

9 Hacker News commenters recommended Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a good-value USB audio interface that works plug and play with Mac, iPad and iPhone. Some Linux users report setup problems with PipeWire.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong quality for the price (2 comments): "Scarlett 2i2 has been amazing for me, I'd say unbeatable in terms of quality/price ratio." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47537720)) "Scarlett series is also good enough." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48779088))
- Plug and play over USB-C (2 comments): "It works for me plug n play with my scarlett devices." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579575)) "It works over USB-C with my iPhone, iPad and Mac." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47537646))

## What people warn about

- Needs JACK on Linux (1 comments): "Scarlett works, but requires JACK, and I never got it working properly with Pulse/Pipewire" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46578932))
- Ships with read-only .lnk storage (1 comments): "this device includes a read-only ~100KiB USB mass storage device filled with .lnk files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49517578))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [ETH-68 Ethernet Audio Interface](https://hackerapproved.com/p/eth-68-ethernet-audio-interface.md): 12 recommend
- [Creative Sound Blaster](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sound-blaster.md): 10 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Focusrite+Scarlett+2i2+3rd+gen&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://focusrite.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Focusrite Scarlett 2i2", https://hackerapproved.com/p/focusrite-scarlett-2i2/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).