Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Ranked 3 of 3 audio interfaces by recommenders
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.
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.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong quality for the price
“Scarlett 2i2 has been amazing for me, I'd say unbeatable in terms of quality/price ratio.”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Apple discontinues the Mac Pro with no plans for future hardware” “Scarlett series is also good enough.”
Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “24-bit/192kHz music downloads and why they make no sense” Plug and play over USB-C
“It works for me plug n play with my scarlett devices.”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too” “It works over USB-C with my iPhone, iPad and Mac.”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Apple discontinues the Mac Pro with no plans for future hardware”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Needs JACK on Linux
“Scarlett works, but requires JACK, and I never got it working properly with Pulse/Pipewire”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too” Ships with read-only .lnk storage
“this device includes a read-only ~100KiB USB mass storage device filled with .lnk files”
Comment from 1 Sep 2026 in “Haiku R1/beta6 has been released”
Other audio interfaces people recommend
The two most recommended other audio interfaces, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ETH-68 Ethernet Audio Interface | 12 | 3 | 80% | 1 | — | — |
| Creative Sound Blaster | 10 | 5 | 67% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Focusrite Scarlett 2i2This page | 9 | 1 | 90% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
All 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“this device includes a read-only ~100KiB USB mass storage device filled with .lnk files”
“it now causes a kernel panic on boot if a Focusrite Scarlett is connected”
“Scarlett series is also good enough.”
“a USB UAC 2 audio driver for Haiku that works with Focusrite Scarlett devices”
“Scarlett 2i2 has been amazing for me, I'd say unbeatable in terms of quality/price ratio.”
“It works over USB-C with my iPhone, iPad and Mac.”
“It works for me plug n play with my scarlett devices.”
“Scarlett works, but requires JACK, and I never got it working properly with Pulse/Pipewire”
“these days the Scarletts are fine”
“the same interface today works fine with PipeWire, without needing to tweak anything.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.