opinions as to "best" firewire Audio Interface

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
 
 
 

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

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

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 !

Firewire isn't "dying", it's only dropping in popularity. "Dying" makes it sound as though it'll just suddenly stop working one day.
 
Like the belief that XP would stop working when Microsoft stopped supporting it. Or that all the elevators were going to stop working at midnight on 1/1/2000. This isn't like the transition to digital television, where every analog-only receiver did indeed suddenly stop working. Your Firewire interface will continue to work until it doesn't, and in the meantime it will outperform USB by a small margin.
 
At any rate, many manufacturers nowadays are offering interfaces with both Firewire and USB, so you can protect yourself from any sudden obsolescence, real or imagined.
 
As for the "best" interface, well, even if you could get a consensus you probably couldn't afford it. Not unless you've got 4 to 8 grand to blow. Fortunately, there are many models that are plenty good enough for $500-1500. You can't go wrong with RME or Lynx, as stated above.
 
I've recently become an unexpected fan of Focusrite after having to "settle" for a cheaper unit after my MOTU suddenly crapped out. As it turned out, the Focusrite (Saffire Pro 40) has been a fine interface, and in some ways an improvement over the MOTU.
 
Audio interfaces are pretty durn good these days across the board. So good that you might as well choose them based primarily on features (number of ins and outs, S/PDIF, MIDI, etc.), followed by manufacturer reputation and by what you can afford. 

Hello,
 
I agree with the statement that Firewire is not as popular.  It is still however,  a viable choice.  As with most technology, its honeymoon is short but its usefulness is unique to individual preference and how long it is used. 
 
On a different note, I use the Zed R16 mixer. It has the firewire interface. It is an impressive piece of equipment with more than respectable conversion, excellent preamps, highly useful eq, analog summing capability and great build quality.  I would personally compare it to some of the best names out there (Not calling out anyone in particular) in overall sound performance ... dollar for dollar value without reservation. I think it is one of the best buys out there. A different approach to an interface , been around a bit (2008) but highly effective, versatile and useful... My two pence.....

Focusrite. FireWire devices run on thunderbolt. Not dying then and faster than USB 2 devices (still haven't heard of a USB 3 device yet or thunderbolt, has anybody else?).

Love my M-Audio NRV10. Very comfortable, stable and high-quality sounding thing. I don't think that USB is suitable for pro audio.

imo the new uad apollo (firewire and thunderbolt)interfaces are in the same row with rme and lynz .
My focusrite saffire pro 40 (good sound, good preamps) is running really good  here,
but rme and lynz aso deliver interfaces with shorter latency.
There one has to pay for.
 
Have fun
 

Hi Rodan,
I can't speak to some of the brands out there but there are quite a few that I can. Here's my .02
 
Lynx (I own an Aurora 16) - It's great and clearly it has staying power. I always used mine with either an AES or MADI card so I don't know anything about how it performs via firewire/USB. Drivers have historically been pretty good. For you though, the bad news is that it's only a converter. Lynx doesn't make mic pres (that I know of), so since you said you're looking for something with more pres I'm not sure why anyone is suggesting this.
 
MOTU - The last MOTU I owned was an 896HD...I had it modded by BLA and it's still around in a "straight through" configuration for when I need a few more mic pre's. I've liked my MOTU gear OK...they seem to sound pretty good, but their drivers can be a bit quirky (safety buffers and whatnot...check here for an example but you can search for more: http://forum.cakewalk.com/Rolling-Back-MOTU-Drivers-m1529725.aspx).
 
RME - I own an RME HDSPe MADI fx card. It's only MADI so I can't talk about how RME is regarding conversion or mic pre's, but I hear good things. What I can tell you is that from a driver and support perspective RME is flat out amazing. They fix their drivers when you report legit bugs, their software toolset is fantastic and their onboard mixer/router is the best I've used.
 
Antelope - not sure why this hasn't come up yet. They're a bit high in terms of price, but they sound great (if anyone can tell the difference between my Orion32 and my Lynx they have better ears than I do) and they work. If you're looking for good sound and mic pre's I'd wait a bit and pick up one of the new Zen Studio models. 12 mic pres, DSP fx...what's not to like?
 
Finally, IMO you'd be well served to not worry about the USB vs Firewire stuff. Having used both kinds of interfaces I can't say that there is much difference, and anything past USB 2 has more than enough bandwidth to do as many channels as you need. How do I know? Because my Orion32 is USB2 and does 32in/32out (when I'm not using it via MADI as I usually do). Find the feature set that works for you and worry about connectivity to your computer after.
 
Good luck,
Dean

Amen Tom. Amen!

It's not a connoisseur's choice, but for a long time, my main interface was a Presonus FP10 (aka Firepod). They're discontinued, but you can pick them up on eBay for about $150 or less. 8 channels, combo line and mic sockets on all 8, integrated (good) DI pre-amps on two channels, straight-through analog output for every channel. Firewire-only. Really low latency, clean as a whistle.
 
I've still got a couple in my mobile recording rig, just used as pre-amps. As others have alluded to above "best" is very expensive. But if you're looking for bang-for-the-buck, no fuss, very flexible, these are worth a look.

As to Firewire as a standard, I'm loosely in the "it's on the way out" camp. Not on the way out for any good reason, of course. It works great. But it never caught on as a mainstream format, and it's never bedded into the audio world in the same way as (say) ADAT or AES/ABU did. So I expect it to be less and less supported, driver-wise, which is something worth bearing in mind.
 
Luckily, we're all on PC, which is slower about these things. Apple have already dropped it as fast as a hot brick. You can get FW devices working on the new Macs, but it's painful and expensive. And it'll get that way on PC before too long, I think.
 

Jim Roseberry
 
Generally speaking, the more you spend, the better the converters and the lower the noise-floor.
 

This is a very good point (which I realise somewhat contradicts my cheap-and-cheerful Presonus suggestion). But I'd stop worrying about the connection format, and spend more time thinking about the audio components. All of these things *work*, in terms of taking input sources and getting them on your hard drive. Firewire vs USB has no impact on audio quality. But converters and pre-amps do, hugely.