Hello, I am looking for an audio Interface for the purposes of monitoring outputs to mix tracks in Audition. Most of the products I see available are heavily weighted towards sending a signal into the computer for the purposes or recording. However my primary focus is discrete audio output. As a minimum I will require 6 channels (in order to mix 5.1) but 8 or even 10 would be a bonus for future proofing (if ever I wanted to dabble at 7.1 mix or something else crazy). I'm not an audiophile so I'm not 'in tune' as I'm sure all of you are, so I'm looking for something tangible I can understand rather than: "just spend $2000 on RME ###### that's the best.". Additionally I have no delusions of grandeur about mixing 5.1; I don't need any lecturing please I'm just looking for guidance and attempting to outlay my goals so that you can better understand and inform me, even if I use the system for only 3 channel to start with it's nice to have that future proofing. Secondary to that, I also would prefer to not have unusable inputs/pre-amps/ADC/DAC etc, I may perhaps use this for one or two channel recording (but I certainly don't need 32 channels like every unit seems to have). I do have external mixer/recorders (background of independent motion pictures/digital recording), but in the off chance I want to record Foley on the system or who knows, have a musician friend come over and play around it's a nice feature to not lose sight of. If there's an audio output only device, I would certainly trade off the ability to input for the dedication and simplicity, but I'm not finding that anywhere. Lastly, it would be great to have at least one headphone 6.3mm (1/4 TRS) or at least 3.5mm off the front panel, separate dedicated volume knob for phones and main monitor outputs (all of them in one dial). I will just have this on a desk not in a rack but I can work with/custom make any solution so that is not an issue. For connectivity, well that's a whole other topic in itself, I use Windows PC and my current editing system has USB3, esata, (and I believe a FireWire something, I don't use it), however I'm not adverted to going with Thunderbolt or PCIE if that's required. Alright I believe I have covered everything, thank you for your time. P.S. I will also be looking at getting some powered monitors, any suggestions/recommendations would be appreciated.
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