TL;DR: Audient's first Thunderbolt range is here. Horizon 8P (€2.499) is 8 console mic pres with ORBIT impedance control, Horizon 16 (€2.499) is 16x16 analogue I/O over DB25, Horizon 32 (€3.299) doubles that to 32x32. All three share 32-bit / 192 kHz conversion at 133 dB, 0.99 ms round-trip latency and a 1U metal chassis. macOS only. On sale from 28 September 2026, 1 to 2 weeks delivery from Soundium.
Introduction
Audient spent 5 years building an interface that doesn't run plugins. That's the interesting part. While most of the flagship interface market sells you a DSP ecosystem and the plugins to fill it, Horizon does the opposite: it hands the processing back to your Mac and spends its budget on converters, preamps and connectors.
"Horizon has been five years in the making; the most significant R&D investment we've ever put into a product range," said Andrew Allen, Chief Product Officer at Audient. His reasoning is blunt: "As Apple Silicon and modern host processing get more capable, the value proposition of the DSP walled-garden model continues to diminish."
Three models launched at once, and they split cleanly by job. One records people. Two move signal in and out of an analogue rack.
Watch It in Action
The Three Models
Audio Interface
Audient Horizon 8P, €2.499
The tracking one. 8 genuine ASP8024-HE console preamps with 75 dB of gain, 2 JFET instrument inputs on the front panel, and 24-in / 32-out over Thunderbolt 3. The feature worth the money is ORBIT: a relay-based variable impedance control that switches the load a microphone sees between 2.8 kΩ, 1.2 kΩ and 220 Ω. That happens in analogue, before conversion, which is precisely the thing a plugin can't do afterwards. Monitor control, talkback and 2 headphone outputs are built in, so this replaces 3 boxes rather than 1. The trade-off: 8 analogue inputs is your ceiling before you add ADAT or a second unit.
Audio Interface
Audient Horizon 16, €2.499
No preamps at all. 16 channels in and 16 out of analogue I/O across 4 Tascam-pinout DB25 connectors, plus a dedicated stereo mix-bus path so your print path doesn't steal 2 of those 16. Total I/O lands at 34x34 once you count dual ADAT. It costs the same as the 8P, which tells you exactly what you're choosing between: microphone character, or channel count into your rack. The trade-off: 4 D-Sub looms are a real cost on top of the box.
Audio Interface
Audient Horizon 32, €3.299
Same idea, doubled. 32x32 analogue I/O across 8 DB25 connectors, 50-in / 50-out in total, which is enough to keep a console, a summing box and a full outboard rack permanently patched. For €800 more than the 16 you get twice the analogue I/O, so if you already know you'll outgrow 16 channels, this is the cheaper purchase. The trade-off is the same one, times 2: 8 looms.
Real-World Reactions
"Overall, the Horizon is a particularly flexible system that lets you scale up your studio gradually as you grow. The straightforward nature of the Horizon's design is bound to appeal to musicians and engineers alike, as it will be well-suited for any size studio specializing in tracking, mixing, or analog summing."
Stefan Wyeth, gearnews
"In a session, the interface should get out of the way."
Andrew Allen, Chief Product Officer at Audient, via audioXpress
Gallery
Horizon 32 rear panel: 8 DB25 connectors, dual ADAT, BNC word clock in and out.
Horizon 8P front panel: 8 preamp channels, 2 JFET instrument inputs, Motion UI display.
The Motion UI display meters every D-Sub bank from the front panel.
Who It's For
- Horizon 8P if you record people and want the analogue front end to do real work.
- Horizon 16 if your preamps are already good and the interface is the bottleneck.
- Horizon 32 if a console or a full 19-inch rack lives permanently in the signal path.
Who should look elsewhere: Windows users, because there's no Windows driver for the Horizon range. Anyone who actually wants the DSP ecosystem should stay with UAD Apollo, since Horizon deliberately doesn't have one. And if you need 8 preamps and 32 line channels, you're buying 2 units, not 1.
Quick Specs
- Conversion: 32-bit / 192 kHz, 133 dB dynamic range, ESS ES9823PRO and ES9039
- Round-trip latency: 0.99 ms at 192 kHz, 64-sample buffer
- Host: Thunderbolt 3, forward compatible with Thunderbolt 4 and 5, macOS only
- Total I/O: 24x32 (8P), 34x34 (16), 50x50 (32)
- Expansion: up to 4 units chained, 200x200 I/O on one driver
- Chassis: 1U all-metal, fanless, 48,3 x 33 x 4,45 cm
- Warranty: 3 years
Pros & Cons
- ✅ Converter spec at the top of the class, without a plugin subscription attached
- ✅ Sub-millisecond latency makes native monitoring genuinely usable
- ✅ Fanless, so it can live in the control room
- ✅ Scales to 200x200 without changing driver or workflow
- ⚠️ macOS only
- ⚠️ DB25 looms are an extra purchase on the 16 and the 32
- ⚠️ No onboard DSP, so your Mac does all the work
Where to Buy
- All 3 models are listed now at Soundium, with 1 to 2 weeks delivery from our distributor.
- Audient puts the range on general sale from 28 September 2026.
- 3-year warranty, 14-day money-back, DPD pickup point delivery.
Final Thoughts
Horizon is a bet that your Mac is now fast enough that an interface doesn't need its own computer inside it. If that bet matches how you already work, mixing natively with the plugins you bought rather than the ones the interface rents you, this is the most converter and connector you can get for the money. If you live inside a DSP ecosystem, it isn't for you, and Audient is fine with that.
Still Unsure?
If you're weighing the 8P against the 16 at the same price, tell us what's already in your rack and we'll tell you which one is the smaller purchase. Get in touch.
Soundium