RME FIREFACE 800 COMPATABILITY

Hey K,

I remember an issue on Fireface and Imac aluminium (since Apple change the firewire on those)
make a shearch in the forum to be updated on the subject.
Anyway the 800 is a great interface.
My advice is to test it.
Cheers,

Jorge

im using RME 400 and there seems to be some problems with the new IMAC 3.06 which i bought recently.
click the treads below in regards to the firewire chipsets which seems to be not compatible with the RME400.

http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=974

http://rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1475...?

i'm trying my best to get around this issue too for now.

**** was so excited getting the new imac to work with logic 8

😟

gdluck!

I just bought an RME FF400 and had to return it because it would not work with my Mac. Look on the RME website under "support", and you will see multiple long-running threads about this topic. The bottom line is that RME says the problem is with the Apple FW interface. I have an email from RME where they state they can go no further and that Apple is no help. I can post if you wish.

the problem with the FF400 and theimac relates more toward the buss powering from the agere fw chipset. This is irrelevant with the FF800.
The FF800 is absolutely fantastic value IMO. Perhaps you should try before you buy.

perhaps. (this stuff is pretty complicated). BUT, the FF can be externally powered,
and when so powered by an external power supply, it STILL didn't work.

The OP was asking about the FF800, which cannot be bus powered.

I would strongly recommend also checking out the Metric HALO units. I owned an RME FF800 for a while, and it is a fantastic interface with great flexibility and converters, but if you can get buy with fewer connections, you can go with the Metric HALO ULN-2, which has pre-amps that rival boutique amps costing (by themselves) as much as the whole Metric HALIO interface.

If you need a lot of connections, you can go with the 2882, which has more I/O, but preamps only as good or slightly better than the RME unit.

I will tell you that after using the RME for a couple of years, I auditioned the Metric HALO and like it better...but that is just MY preference.

BTW, if you check it out, look at the EXTENDED version (that is what I have). The 2d card is astonishing, and particularly, the "character" settings are to die for.

I have a modest home studio, and this track was done COMPLETELY with Metric HALO and Peluso and Rhode mics. The compliments that I received on the guitar sound were better than the tracks on another song that I did with API pres. Go figure.


http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=6664479&q=hi

Oh...one more thing...if you are DO decide to go with RME, and you DO look at used units, consider purchasing units made AFTER July 06. I believe these units have the A-K 4396 converters...mine had them...and oh yeah...worth verifying...the FF400 uses combo AD/DA converters...it is a TOTALLY different box than the FF800.

Best,

Mark

Um, sorry but I have a Fireface800, I was thinking of upgrading to a new Macbook Pro - will it work ok or not, I'm not sure what is being said here re that issue.
thanks for the elucidation
James

The FF 400 uses a combined ADDA chip (AK 4620), while the FF800 has separate chips (5385/4395).

S/N and THD for AD are almost identical, DA specs are marginally better on the FF800.

The preamps, however, have been slightly improved on the FF 400.