How much better is a fireface's SOUND, than a profire, REALLY.

darthjujuu

darthjujuu

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My digi002 is gone, and I am now faced with a very difficult decision.


my main question is, REEEALLY realistically how much better does a fireface sound? I'm not using anything else for conversion/clocking at the moment, either. Just an interface and a digimax D8 going in ADAT.

i DO NOT care about being protools compatible so much as I care about the SOUND of the interface, as 98% of my work is done in Reaper except for some DI editing where I need elastic audio. weening me off of that and forcing me to slip them would be better anyway. ....i think.

i COULD afford a fireface400, but itt'l put a big dent in me financially and could be construed as...irresponsible.

coming from the digi, I know i'd be happy with a profire, but if the all-around sound of a fireface is THAT much better that I'd feel satisfied and never need to upgrade, then...should I just go for it?

OR is the difference in sound (as far as just preamps/converters/monitoring) negligible to the point where saving $600 is most definitely worth it for someone like me who barely makes rent every month?

Also, I have a digimax D8 and an m-audio DMP3, so I can live with only 12 preamps instead of 18.
 
haha thanks anssi, for not using lmgtf.com like i would've. i still hafta ask here though, because I only trust YOU GUYS and not pretentious gearslutz, heh.

it's a difficult thing to ask, because i KNOW the fireface sounds better, and i know all the technical specs/differences, i just want someone with a very discerning and experienced ear to tell me "yes the fireface has better converters and preamps... but you will still be happy with a profire and the difference is negligible for what you're doing and how shit-poor you are."

unless that isn't true, in which case i want someone to say:

"if you're mixing at a professional level, then you simply cannot compromise on sound and the difference in conversion/preamps/stability in the fireface is worth the price gap entirely. don't waste money on intermediate gear when you know you'll just need to upgrade."

or, both, and a debate to ensue. IS IT WORTH IT is the meat&potatoes of the question.
 
from GS threads, if anyones curious as to how my research is going:

"after doing some more A/B testing between the two (and being satisfied that they sound essentially identical in the areas I care about - mostly DA conversion)"

"The RME AD sounded airier and more spacious to me, especially on acoustic instruments, and the DA imaging sounded bigger and wider (for lack of better terms!) to me in a friend-assisted blind test. But while I thought the RME sounded BETTER, it didn't sound $1000 BETTER! (based on current MAP pricing) If my decision was based on conversion alone, I'd go with the Profire for the price any day!"

"That being said, the drivers, the Totalmix interface and associated features, and the quality conversion as a package make the Fireface well worth the money I paid for it."

seems like the huge price gap is more towards the limitlessly flexible routing the fireface offers, that the profire lacks a tad. i'm not HUGELY concerned with routing.

i shall be purchasing the profire. w00t.
 
I am in the same boat as you, choosing an interface.

Although I've decided to go the other route.
Buy the RME and be broke as fuck for the foreseeable future.

As I see it, if I didn't get the RME now I would eventually buy the RME anyway.
And in my eyes the RME has a longer future ahead of it VS a cheaper less high quality interface.
 
DONT - GO - CHEAP

you'll regret it, trust me.
for me it was also between the profire 610 and the ff400, and i went for the profire....it'll be satisfactory for my needs i said myself.
wrong. WRONG.
a) you can't reamp with the profire 610. line out level is too low
b) inferior conversion. rme conversion might not be top notch, but certainly will be sufficient for a veeery long time. when i plugged in the fireface right after the profire i instantly noticed more detailed highs, tighter low end, more detailed midrange, and most of all vastly improved imaging. A/D quality is great too.
c) totalmix kicks ass. period
d) ff400 is very easy to integrate into a higher end studio situation. if you plan on updating your gear sometime in the future the ff will still work great as the core of your setup. it has adat i/o, midi, spdif, and whatnot, whereas the profire only has spdif iirc.
e) and last but not least, rme drivers are rock-fucking-solid, and you actually get some support from rme unlike m-audio.

needless to say, i returned my profire for a ff400 and NEVER LOOKED BACK.
 
Having bought the RME fireface 400 myself, im really, really glad i did.. it's quality for a good price, and it's worth it... go for it.
 
btw, you can get an used ff400 for like 600-650 euro. so it's not that much more expensive than a profire really.
 
darthjujuu said:
my main question is, REEEALLY realistically how much better does a fireface sound?.
Click to expand...

Not as much as it should. The on-board preamps and DI unfortunately let the FF down. The conversion is on par, and the reliability of the drivers and hardware is next to none. It's one of those things. I wouldn't bother with an FF unless pairing it with a high end mic pre, it's the reason I actually got a Multiface which doesn't waste my time with bullshit on board DI and pres that I'll never use. It's possible to outgrow all these things. Now the Multiface with its lack of sufficient ADAT outputs is getting replaced by a RayDAT card, which to me represents the ultimate foundation for a fully modular rig. Everything that's great about RME - rock solid drivers, rock solid hardware, great routing software with no mediocre converters or subpar pres wasting money.

Having said all that, whenever clients ask me what recording rig they should buy for themselves I always default back to the Safesound P1 and FF400 combo. It gets decent results for the money. Hard to argue with.
 
fwiw, the pre's are certainly not worse than any on board interface pre's. the DI isn't too shabby either, although the countryman 85 get's better results.
so the question is, do you want mediocre pre's and mediocre conversion, OR mediocre (but perfectly usable) pre's and DECENT conversion?
obviously the multiface/raydat/whatever allows you to pair it up with much better components, but at a smaller scale you have the very same possibility with the fireface, too, but you also get on board stuff that doesn't cost a fortune and is perfectly fine, although not *great*.

i haven't found a significantly better preamp than the stock ff ones in the sub 500€ range.
 
For scratch tracks, trigger tracks or stuff like that, the're absolutely perfect.

Cool to have these ones, anyway.
And the price/benefit is ace for the FF(atöeast in Germany)!
 
sorry forgot to mention that, guize... i meant the profire 2626.

AND keep in mind i'm coming from a digi002 board + digimax + DMP3

so presuming i buy new, it's either a total of 18 pre's + m-powered support, not the greatest routing, and...better sound that what i had before, for $699

or

12 pre's, the best conversion in my price bracket, routing power that i wouldn't really know what to do with (i never record full bands) for almost double at $1299

like i said, i'm not so concerned about protools, routing, or having tons of preamps, my MAIN concern is if the SOUND alone is justified in paying double.

..although i'm probably getting a profire today o_o
 
I can't justify double the price from what ive heard. Im ordering a Profire once the funds arrives in my account from selling my current interface.
 
still don't see where you guys get the double-price thing from.

new profire 2626 = around 550 euro
used fireface 400 = around 650 euro

i wouldn't hesitate one second to get rme stuff used. it's built to last.
 
I went from an RME Fireface 400 to a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 and noticed no quality decline as far as sound is concerned. The drivers aren't as stable, though, and you can't get the latency quite as low.
 
+1
I don't wanna miss especially the drivers and compatibility.
Zero problems! The Firepod was a big mess, with it's drivers, for example.

But, I don't wanna convent you...
 
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