Im looking for a new usb audio interface/headphone dac. The Tascam US-122MKII i have at the moment does not have updated drivers for osx 10.9 and tascam is being really slow with their updates and since i use the interface 90% of the time this is not going to work. So i need to get a new one that has better support for their products when new os's come out Windows or OSX. Price range is 100-200. It needs to have at least one XLR input and one 1/4 jack input and a headphone output. I have recently got the focusrite scarlett 2i2 and its great but one of my guitars that i have with high output pickups is clipping even with the gain at zero.It appears to be a problem with this interface upon further investigating after discovering the issue so this is not going to work. i use headphones to listen to music and do most of my recording. Also i use Logic Pro to record if that matters any help would be appreciated.
Switch the focusrite to line instead of instrument (instrument input max gain is -3 dBu, which is why you get clipping), but the input impedance will load down your pickups too much at that point (unless you use active EMG's, those always go into the line input). To fix the load, plug a buffered pedal (like a Boss tuner for instance) between the guitar and the line input. The buffer will load down the pickups just like an amp would, with an input impedance of 1 MOhm, and will send out a low impedance signal to the interface (typically less than 100 Ohms).
i would do this but unfortunately it results in a massive tone drop.