Hello group,
Please forgive me if you feel the subject has been thrashed to death,  but I am very curious to know your opinions as to the "best" FireWire audio interface.
 
I recently converted from an echo Layla PCI interface that had been my mainstay for almost 10 years.  I moved to an M-Audio FireWire 410.  It works very well and is far more stable than the aging Echo interface , but I would like to have more mic pre's.  I've been looking at the presonus systems and the group opinion seems to be to hold them in quite high esteem.  I like the idea of having eight high quality mic pre's.
 
What other FireWire audio interfaces do you have great success with and highly recommend?
 
Thanks, Dan
 
 
 

Lynx and RME are very well respected audio interfaces and Lynx is a little bit higher end than RME. So Lynx is your best bet, but be prepared to pay for quality
 
CJ

Thanks CJ.
I have a point to start my research.  Appreciate your quick reply.
Thanks, Dan

 I have a Focusrite Pro 40. I can't tell you if it's better our worse than other firewire interfaces because it's the only one that I've ever owned.
 I can tell you that it's been a rock solid performer for me and I'm very satisfied with the sound quality. The price is in line with the Presonus stuff. 
 I'm on Windows 8.1 x64 with the latest Focusrite drivers installed.  

Time to consider ditching firewire.  THis would be a good opportunity to consider moving to USB.
 

Really, I'm curious as to your reasoning?  Is it because FireWire is now an obsolete technology?  I know USB three is very fast, but it is still a serial interface, and subject to interrupts.  FireWire, as I understand it, is more like a parallel interface, bidirectional and asynchronous.
 
Thanks, Dan

Really, I'm curious as to your reasoning?  Is it because FireWire is now an obsolete technology?  I know USB three is very fast, but it is still a serial interface, and subject to interrupts.  FireWire, as I understand it, is more like a parallel interface, bidirectional and asynchronous.
 
Thanks, Dan

Dan,
 
Yes, Firewire is a dying technology. I question how long M-Audio will choose to support it.  Will it still be functional in Windows 8.2.3.1?  I was surprised in the support issues just between 8.0 and 8.1.
 
As to parallel or serial, everything is actually serial, some protocols just move more than one bit at a time. I typically consider asynchronous to be the lesser of choices (synchronous is slower but less error prone) and USB has always been bidirectional (as is Firewire).
 
Glen

Gcolbert: who said firewire is dead..!
 

Apollo and UAD-2 Satellite require one of the UA-qualified PCIe-to-FireWire 800 adapter cards listed below. Built-in FireWire ports on any Windows computer are incompatible.

FireWire device connections while powered (hot-plugging)  are not supported.Whats that tell ya !

FW?  The Orpheus is probably the "best" integrated FW interface available - at least by price.  Prism has a cheaper version, I think, since the big O is about $5000.  Lynx is next, although their FW is a bit glitchy from reports.  I don't know if they still make their FW card, but the USB works good.  Plenty of pros use Lynx.  Mytek and some of the boutique converters used FW, too.  RME is probably the next step down, along w/ TC Electronic.  I use the 48, and it has great converters (esp. the DA) and is a complete system; 12 AD/10 DA and dual ADAT and Spdif, surround, DSP.  The FW drivers are good now, even if nothing to write home about.  There is also the Apollo, which is right in there from what I've heard.  Most people can't tell the diff in the conversion between any of those.  You need ears, experience and the monitoring environment and even then it is not the deciding factor.  Even for lower-priced units.  Conversion is really good these days, even for the bottom feeders.
 
As far as FW itself, it is going the way of the dodo but about as slowly.  I don't know about OS's, but if FW is working in 8 (I use Win7) you should be good to go for the next few years.  However, if I was buying a top of the line interface I'd go w/ USB since that will still be viable 5+ years down the road.  Most mice and keyboards use USB, along with every peripheral, so it ain't going away.
 
@