RME fireface 400

I highly recommend a Fireface 400 or an 800, which is what I use. I was amazed at the sound quality improvement. It stands out head and shoulders above anything by M-Audio. And, as a bonus, the drivers by RME are rock-steady. It really is plug n play or fit n forget. Money well spent!

Did you know that M-Audio is an anagram of A dum IO?

And Evian water is "naive" spelled backwards.

In a world gone mad...

it's worth the price tag

And Evian water is "naive" spelled backwards.

In a world gone mad...

The mad go Pro (somewhat quoted from Hunter S. Thompson)

I'd take a listen yourself before buying it. I was set to buy one, but when I did a comparison with a cheaper box I just didn't hear much improvement.

Possibly, but when you consider how flexible Total Mix is, and how rock solid the drivers are... well. The cheaper boxes are not up to RME standard.

I used to have a Motu896 which is not a 'cheap box'. I was blown away by clarity, and depth of the fireface 800 in comparison to the Motu. I have since sold the 800 and acquired the 400 which sounds just as great ! There are some hot contenders: i hear presonus is one. But RME has a very cool 3 year guarantee where they replace the unit no questions asked if you have the slightest problem. No need to send it in and wait for it to be fixed.

Er… hang on, guys. The OP is using a Firewire Solo right now. So it seems that he's happy with just two inputs. Why would he need the RME stuff with a huge number of I/O options, all of which he's paying for? Why not get something with limited I/O but great quality? Maybe an Apogee mini-DAC is all he needs ($700), if in the box VI stuff is all he's recording?

Dave:

What needs to be asked is how many inputs do you need at any one time? What are you recording?

Oh, and one more thing…

In your quest for better quality, have you already got your monitoring sorted, in a reasonably well-treated room, with good speakers?

Without actually knowing what you're listening to, you might get better return on your money to tackle these items first, before you worry too much about your interface.

Possibly, but when you consider how flexible Total
Mix is, and how rock solid the drivers are... well.
The cheaper boxes are not up to RME standard.

Depends on what features you need, the material you're doing, and how much of a difference you hear. I wouldn't pay that price just for solid drivers, that's not something only found in pricey boxes. For me, there were cheaper options that I found just as good as the RME stuff.

Just use your ears, there's no "best" box for everyone.

totally do monitors first... Almost all audio interfaces do very little to improve your sound quality, they simply add inputs and outputs for you to connect to other things. Where you get into audio quality changing with interfaces is in the very high end gear (TDM...).

So you think it would be better to do the monitors first?

Yes, I do. Until your monitoring is sorted out to the best of your abilities (and budget) you're flying blind.

Just another thought - as you only need two inputs, have you thought about this:

http://www.mindprint.de/cms.php?scr=products&mode=1&r=p&pr_kat=7&trio=spdif

Some time ago, tbirdparis suggested this as an alternative to a firewire based solution, and it made a lot of sense to me - use optical and forget iffy drivers and latency. Not to mention that it will save you a lot of money.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may05/articles/mindprinttrio.htm

I cant say it no better RME 400-800,

is the Favorite around here it seems,

Rock solid, Stable,Transparent Value for money.

Rated R..
No sorry! Rated Pro...

I wanted to buy the 003, and after researching
the only thing that came close was Apogee 800, dont even mention, anything else,

unless its the Lavry Black or Prism or D.A.D..

Best Firewire of all time, it has Tco/Word-Clock/video ins/outs.


Fr.BlayZay.

Realy there is no Short-Cuts, when it comes to Monitoring and recording stuff!

Therefore Mic/Soundcard/Mic-Pre/Near-Field-Monitors
/Headphones/Compressor/Great Room.
And Good EARS!

One doesn't works well without the other, Dig!

To be in it, you have to be on/it.


Fr.BlayZay.