There is a new AudioBox in town, and it is very nice indeed, especially when paired with a JackTrip Digital Bridge!
PreSonus’s AudioBox Go is compact and light, sounds great and has everything most people need in a USB interface. At only $79.95 on Sweetwater, it is also extremely affordable.
I tested this recently using my Digital Bridge and it works great! It had no problem running with a buffer size as low as 16, which equates to extremely low latency. I used the jack_delay tool to run a local loopback test with a cable connecting its output directly to its input, and here are the results (using buffer size of 32):
sudo -u jacktrip jack_delay -I system:capture_2 -O system:playback_2 -E
Latency on capture port: 32 32
Latency on playback port: 64 64
Inv 129.125 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.124 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.125 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.126 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.126 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.126 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.125 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.125 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.126 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.125 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.125 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.126 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.126 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.126 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.126 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.125 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.125 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.125 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.126 frames 2.928 ms
Inv 129.126 frames 2.928 ms
Under 3ms (stable!) is perhaps the lowest latency I’ve seen for USB interface!
When I started testing various USB interfaces about 18 months ago, it was hard to find inexpensive ones with latency under 10ms. The best specialized devices (like the JackTrip Analog Bridge) clock in at around 1ms, but it’s frankly hard to justify specialized hardware for a 2ms difference. At this rate, I expect to see $50 (likely Thunderbolt 3 or USB 4) external interfaces under 1ms widely available within a few years.
