Audient Horizon

Audient today announces the launch of Horizon, a new flagship Thunderbolt 3 audio interface range for the professional studio market. Comprising three interfaces - the Horizon 8P, Horizon 16 and Horizon 32 - the range delivers 32-bit mastering-grade conversion, sub millisecond round-trip latency and a scalable architecture that grows from a single unit to a 200 × 200 I/O facility, all on a single macOS driver. "Horizon has been five years in the making; the most significant R&D investment we've ever put into a product range," says Andrew Allen, Chief Product Officer at Audient. "We spared no compromise at component level, and the result is best-on-the-market audio and latency performance. This is a modern system built for modern workflows."

Horizon is built around a high-bandwidth Thunderbolt 3 architecture that delivers 0.99ms round-trip latency at 192kHz - fast enough to track through native plugins with no perceptible delay, no proprietary DSP chips and no locked ecosystem. "As Apple Silicon and modern host processing get more capable, the value proposition of the DSP walled-garden model continues to diminish," Allen explains. "Engineers no longer need to lock themselves into proprietary plugin ecosystems to get pro-level performance. Horizon's native architecture is built exactly for this shift, and we expect it to land well with customers who've been waiting for a credible alternative."

Every Horizon shares the same core platform, engineered around a specific studio workflow:

• Horizon 8P - for the tracking studio. A 24-in / 32-out interface built around eight Audient Console Mic Preamps with ORBIT Control variable impedance. The same discrete Class-A preamp design from Audient's flagship ASP8024-HE console, now in a single rack unit - for studios recording bands, drum kits, vocal sessions or orchestral ensembles with real analogue character on the way in.
• Horizon 16 - for the hybrid studio. A 34-in / 34-out interface built around 32 channels of mastering-grade conversion via four industry-standard DB25 connectors, plus a dedicated stereo mix-bus path. For engineers whose analogue character lives in the outboard rack: boutique preamps, stereo processors, summing workflows.
• Horizon 32 - for large-format hybrid facilities. A 50-in / 50-out interface with 64 channels of analogue I/O across eight DB25 connectors. For commercial studios and large project studios connecting multiple outboard racks, summing consoles or multi-room setups from a single 1U unit.

"In a session, the interface should get out of the way," says Allen. "We designed Horizon so engineers can focus on the performance, not the routing - and we redesigned the software from the ground up, paying close attention to the user experience. Whether that's using ORBIT Control on the 8P to shape a ribbon mic at the analogue stage, or streaming an entire console through the Horizon 32, the hardware stays invisible and the workflow stays fast."

The Horizon architecture supports up to four units daisy-chained on a single macOS driver, with a system maximum of 200 × 200 I/O when configured with four Horizon 32 units. Every model shares the same core specification, including digital recall of all input gains and system settings, ADAT expansion, BNC Word Clock I/O and selectable reference levels for calibrating I/O to outboard analogue equipment. Every Horizon is housed in a 1U all-metal chassis with fanless thermal design for silent operation in critical spaces, and backed by a three-year warranty.

The Audient Horizon range is available from 14 September 2026 through Audient dealers worldwide. The prices are:

• Horizon 8P: £2,199 / €2,499
• Horizon 16: £2,199 / €2,499
• Horizon 32: £2,799 / €3,299

www.audient.com