Firewire Interfaces

[Nate]

I've had this ongoing dilemma for some time now - with the slew of new firewire interfaces coming out into the market now, I'm not sure which one offers the best quality for its price range.

The ones I am considering right now are:

Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 i/o
Presonus Firestudio
MOTU 896HD
MOTU 8pre

I want 8 mic pres with some expandability options (ie. ADAT, S/PDIF not as much). Have any of you had experience with these interfaces and can attest to the mic pre and AD/DA converter quality?

I've also heard of RME fireface quality (but they don't have 8 mic pres) and also the new Mackie 400F, 800R, and 1200F (although the 1200F is a bit out of my price range and the 800R does not have firewire)

For the mic pres, I'm looking for clean and clear - any colouration I will get from another single channel mic pre in the future.

Thanks for the help

Nate

[SorenP]

I dont know what your software situation is but as another option you can get just the hardware part of the firestudio. It's called the FirePod and is just the 8pre's in a rack. Very clean, nothing fancy, straight forward

[Jared Kubokawa]

I vote MOTU if you can afford it, they are by far superior in A/D conversion and no driver issues at all. Not that anyone uses Vista, but the day it came out, there were drivers up on MOTU's site for their products. That means they worked how many months in advance? They are an awesome company with great driver writers.

But, you would already need a DAW because one doesn't come with the interface (Cubase, Logic, Protools, etc). Buena Suerte!

[abarnett]

The saffire seems to be PC oriented and runs really well with XP. I would think about my OS whenever buying an interface.

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by abarnett

The saffire seems to be PC oriented and runs really well with XP. I would think about my OS whenever buying an interface.

Yea, contacting the software manufacturer before you buy something like that can help avoid the trouble of returning something that doesn't even work with your setup.