Both are audio interfaces, $720 against $699. This page puts them side by side on the only three things a maker can be held to — power, output impedance and noise — and then asks the question that actually matters: which headphones do they treat differently?
The Audient NERO reaches 100 dB on 559 of the 567 models here, the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th gen on 553.
| Specification | Audient NERO | Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th gen |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 86 mW | 55 mW |
| Power into 150Ω | 23 mW | 27 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 13 mW | 27 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 7.4 mW | 14 mW |
| Output impedance | not published | 11 Ω |
| Output noise | not published | not published |
| Price | $720 | $699 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 559 | 553 |
A figure marked not published is missing from the maker’s own material, which is not the same as being good or bad. Where one of these two publishes a number and the other does not, the comparison on that axis cannot be made at all — and saying so is more useful than guessing.
6 headphones reach 100 dB on the Audient NERO but not on the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th gen — HiFiMAN HE-6se V2, HiFiMAN HE6 Remastered, HiFiMAN Susvara, 3 more.
553 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both. That is a power count and nothing more; whether either source suits a given headphone also depends on the two lines above.
Each has a page of its own with every power figure traced to what the maker published and a full headphone list: Audient NERO and Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th gen. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.