When you say flicker do you mean the images? They flicker on phone or on PC?

The 4i4's are nice. Could record a band live with it,
Or a 4 person podcast. If you have a mixer running into 1 channel I'm sure you could do even more insturments/mics.
Like run several drum mics into the mixer first then into one of the channels on the interface.

I got my 2i4 mainly because I wanted the real MIDI ports, and the 2i2's didn't have them. I've never even used them though lol. I've only done midi over USB really. I don't know if there's any advantage to the midi in/out ports over USB.
Even though it's a "surround" system I have them all front-facing but I spread them around on shelves/desk/dresser.
I've had the Bose system for about 20 years now.