Virtual Studio: Buy, Build, or ?

You've decided you want a JackTrip Virtual Studio (VS) device, but there are several ways you can get one:

• Buy it from Amazon, fully assembled. You will also need to buy a power supply for it. This is the easiest and safest route, and provides good sound and low latency.
• Buy the parts and assemble it yourself. This will only save you a small amount of money, but if Amazon is out-of-stock on the assembled devices, and you know how to use a screwdriver it can be fun building your own device.
• If you already own an audio interface, like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 or the Behringer UM2, and want to use it, you have two choices:
  1. Take the analog output of your audio interface, and plug it into the mic input of the VS device. You will then use your audio interface for the microphone (and other inputs), including for adjusting the input volume, but you will use the RCA jacks on the VS device for your headphones and adjust their volume using the JackTrip web app.
  2. Alternatively, you don't have to use a stock VS device. It turns out that the audio board (HiFiBerry DAC+ ADC Pro) is the most expensive part of the VS device. Instead, you can assemble a regular Raspberry Pi and plug your audio interface into it.
• Finally, if you need to save money, you can assemble a Raspberry Pi, and plug in an inexpensive audio adapter (also called an external sound card) into one of the Pi's USB ports.

It is actually pretty easy to assemble a Raspberry Pi with either an audio interface or an audio adapter. Instructions for doing this are in "Building a Low-Cost Virtual Studio device".