The best interface on the market

[acappa]

Hey, as many of you have already seen, I´m moving from homestudio to semi pro studio, I have the chance of building it in my new home and I´m studying what pieces of gear I have to improve, one of them is my interface.
What I need: at least 4 decent preamps with good converters and 16 ADAT I/O also reverb or compression thru DSP would be fine.
What I have: Liquid Saffire 56

I have taken into consideration the following:

RME FF800
Motu 896
TC Konnect x32

I work with Sonar 8 PE and PC. please post your thoughts!!!
Thankss

 

[FarBeyondMetal]

Liquid Saffire is a pretty damn good interface. Out of those I would say a FF800 would potentially be more stable, but I don't think in terms of sheer performance it will be that much better. Maybe somebody else disagrees though?

 

[joeymusicguy]

fireface 800 is really sweet

you're not going to find very many dsp options built in though.

 

[JeffTD]

FF800, definitely the most stable/best drivers and I'd say the best conversion without going Apogee or Lynx.

 

[acappa]

To be honest I have no problems with Saffire, no sync dropouts, stable drivers, very good mix control, it´s just that, may be with Millenia/API/SSL pres and RME converters the saffire is out of place.
For the money talk, FF800 is 500 € aprox more expensive than saffire...don´t know if it deserve it and if it´s worth it.....

 

[JeffTD]

Why are you asking for advice on which interface to get if you think your current one is already sufficient? Obviously you feel the need to upgrade for whatever reason.

 

[acappa]

Why are you asking for advice on which interface to get if you think your current one is already sufficient? Obviously you feel the need to upgrade for whatever reason.

Yeah, I feel the need to upgrade because I feel that pres and interface are not in the same "high end range" it´s just that.

 

[Kazrog]

RME beats or at least equals Apogee in the shootouts I've heard. They're both in very close competition for the same slice of the market.

To really upgrade from there you would have to go with Prism Sound or Lavry, at considerably greater expense. The FireFace 800 is the best interface that most mortals can afford. I'd also be willing to bet that RME's drivers are the best, period, at any price.

 

[Wolfeman]

Your thread title is kinda misleading, because if you wanted the best interface on the market you would be looking for something that no one on this forum owns(most likely).

'Best' is subjective, it all depends on your own needs and budget.

I would say the SSL Alpha-Link is the best all around AD/DA package, so long as you have your own pre-amps.

If you are talking about something with pre's, well then you are in a whole other ball game.

 

[crillemannen]

Yeah, if you want a high end interface with really good mic pre's then i would say Metric Halo ULN-8 which is probably the best interface on the market, It has onboard DSP but it has only 8 ins. but then again it will cost you allot of money

But you can go buy a mid range interface and do as i did, buy a preamp with really good A/D conversion and perhaps buy some D/A just for monitors. Will probably cost you less then go with SSL alpha/Lynx whatever. But then again it will cost you either way if you want to go really high end.

How much are you willing to spend??

Good luck

 

[AboutBlank]

The last thing I've heard about the TC thing is that the drivers totally suck, dunno if the prob is fixed now.

I think a FF is the best price/benefit interface, a no brainer.

I#m totally pleased with this unit, no probs since I#ve got it.
But you know, "the last 10%...blablabla..."

 

[acappa]

Thanks for your replies

How much are you willing to spend??

The money is not "really" an issue, I want to make the things right, not changing something in a year and stuff like that.
My idea is to get 8 pristine preamps (Millenia STT-1, API 3124 and SSL Xlogic VHD, plus TLAUdio PA-1 I´ve already got) good 8 converters, minimum
RME ADI 8 QS and probably a summing desk, that´s all.

 

[crillemannen]

Ok,

If money as you wrote isnt an issue then i can recommend the one i bought: Crane Song Spider. It has everything you need. 8 mic pre's, 10ch of A/D, crane songs famous tape effect. It has it all, retail price is 8000$.

If you want to go the middle way (but in the end you will probably pay more for the same quality) there is of course:

API 3124+
API 512c Lunchbox
Neve
Focusrite RED1, you can get these pretty cheap nowdays.

 

[Wolfeman]

Yeah if you are already going to have preamps, and money is no roadblock, go with an awesome AD/DA converter like the SSL Alpha with the PCI interface card.

 

[Mikaël-ange]

Yeah if you are already going to have preamps, and money is no roadblock, go with an awesome AD/DA converter like the SSL Alpha with the PCI interface card.

I need to search about this, really. M Wagner and Daniel Bergstrand had already made the jump on it (cubase and PT user). Sound interesting