Under $500? I think the 2i2 is probably gonna be near the top of your price point, The Apogee Duet is just under $600 and is probably what I would consider top quality in the entry level audio interface department. You really should be fine with the 2i2 until you're ready to drop a grand or two on something like the Apollo Twin or a rack-mounted interface.

Can I ask why you're upgrading from the 2i2?  Does it not do what you need it to?  Or do you need more inputs/outputs?  (Obviously, if this is the case, Scarlett has larger versions). 

piggybacking off of this, i have a stupid question. i've never used an external audio interface, just the built-in soundcard on my pc. is there that much of a difference in sound quality between the two, or are interfaces more for recording stuff?

I've done both before. I don't think you can't get a good quality by using the built in sound card on your pc. All of the guitar covers I made in my youtube videos were recorded using the built in sound card on my old mac.

The whole point of the audio interface for me is so I can easily switch between instruments. I already have my bass, guitar, and microphone setup into my scarlett so if I want to record something I can just open up an audio track in logic and hit record. It's also a lot easier to do gain staging with audio interfaces because they come with knobs to adjust the gain of the input and signals that will tell you when you're clipping. Not to mention that I own a condenser microphone which can only be ran underneath 48v phantom power which is provided by my scarlett.

So yes. Interfaces are more for recording stuff. I don't think you can plugin in studio monitors without them either. Take that last statement with a big grain of salt.

piggybacking off of this, i have a stupid question. i've never used an external audio interface, just the built-in soundcard on my pc. is there that much of a difference in sound quality between the two, or are interfaces more for recording stuff?

There's some interesting stuff I was reading a couple weeks ago about sound cards, but more about how they relate to converting analog signal to digital. A lot of mastering engineers avoid clocking and jitter issues when working in the digital domain by investing in an external DAC which can be more beneficial in that sort of context than using a computer's built in sound card which can introduce a noticeable noise floor. Doesn't really apply to interfaces though..

Just to clarify, the quality of the sound card matters only for recording and output to speakers (AD/DA converters). So comparing to a GPU is not very accurate, except in the case of DSP chips, where the benefit is reduced CPU usage.

Quote from: Arktopolis on May 09, 2016, 02:52:44 pm

except in the case of DSP chips, where the benefit is reduced CPU usage.

Bingo

But that doesn't help with VSTs at all. It's more like playing games that are built in the graphics card...

oh wow, didn't expect so many replies! well to clarify some things: i mainly want to upgrade because the stereo image is kinda wonky at low volumes(ie. the right is much louder than the left). I don't really like using headphones for a long period and I have to turn it down at night. also upgrading my equipment always inspires me to work on more music haha