Echo AudioFire 8 FireWire Audio Interface

24 bit 96kHz. Firewire. Low Latency Monitoring.

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Echo AudioFire 8 FireWire Audio Interface reviews

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26 People rated this product : * * * * * * * * * * 7 out of 10

 

2 People wrote reviews

Read all Echo AudioFire 8 FireWire Audio Interface reviews...
* * * * * * * * * * 9 out of 10

"It's a converter, and does it's job well."

Feature:
For me, connecting my mixer to my DAW to stream atleast 6-8 inputs and 2-4 outputs was all I needed, and this fulfilled those requirements very well. I WOULD like to see this model with ADAT for later expansion, but that doesn't matter really, there's still heaps of I/O. The included rack ears were great and the LONG firewire cable was a great bonus!

Quality:
This unit is solid and well-built, apart from the quality of the knobs, especially the trim knobs. They jiggle and feel extremely loose, but once again I use a mixer with this interface so don't find the need to make constant adjustments. By the feel of them though, they would fall off with heavy use. The connectors fit well into the interface. The front 2 inputs (combo neutrik) makes inserting a jack plug easy, but pulling it out isn't. I've just hooked it up to my patch bay, something about plugging a jack plug into the front combos makes me nervous. Might work better with a different brand plug though!

Value:
For what this product offers it gives great value for money! For those who don't need many preamps want rock-solid drivers with a substantial number of line-level I/O, the Audiofire 8 is definately recommended!

Desirability:
I definately want it, because I need it. As long as my gear works day in, day out, and sounds great I don't really care what it looks like unless it's pink with purple spots. The engraved ECHO logo is pretty cool though, and it's one very smooth unit in the way of materials used and the way it was moulded (no sharp corners).

Sound:
The Audiofire 8 sincerely has great converters, and honestly with converters in the mid-high end of the market there's not a huge difference between the options you have. I did my first test with an acoustic guitar recording, and it certainly came out very well, and definately transparent. The preamps aren't so great, they're kind of comparable to my Behringer UB802 mixer preamps but a tad better in the midrange, and way off the clarity of my Soundcraft pres, but I think the Audiofire preamps are okay - I have no problems using them! The Trim is a little odd though, took alot to get a good signal into my DAW. Doesn't matter too much though since I use this interface with a mixer and other pres.

Ease of Use:
Once this product is up-and-running, you will NEVER have a drop-out at all. I never opened the manual, but you don't need it! It really is plug and play - install the drivers and this thing is rock solid, even on my windows system. I did have alot of trouble getting it to work with my 4pin firewire port on my Dell laptop, but thats an issue with the Dell laptop (for anyone out there with a Dell laptop thinking of connecting it this way, you might want to remember this to save you the worry later!) I bought a firewire express card with a texas instrument chipset for about 50 dollars and now it works beautifully!

Support:
Never had to use them - I asked a question about the converters and preamps by email once and recieved a prompt and polite reply, so I imagine their support is fine.

Overall:
This product fits my needs is great, and I'm going to use this product for a long time, because it sure feels like it will last a long time. Well I'll use it until I need more I/O, which won't be for atleast a few more years. Overall the build and sound quality of this unit is very pleasing.

Submitted: 1/18/2009

Style of Music: Anything the client needs done

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* * * * * * * * * * 8 out of 10 zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.

"a good product"

Feature:
i wish it have inputs and ouput leads for each channel

Quality:
the quality is great, the only mechanical parts are the 2 volumen controls and if you leave them in a permanent possision like 3 o clock & control your volumen with your mixer this box should last you 10 years just keep a extra copy of your favorite software ( I use sonar 5 producer first choise & pro tools second choise ) 2 copies of your music producctions, a new computer every 3 years but by then your Echo will be discontinued the driver wont exist any longer for your new computer and even if your Echo still working you will end buing the new Echo model in the market,,JA JA

Value:
the price hummm bring it down

Sound:
the sound is clean and helped by my mixer

Ease of Use:
is easy to use because all your controls are in your computer and in your mixer board

Support:
not yet

Submitted: 5/10/2006

Style of Music: Latin / Techno / Reggeaton

6 of 11 people (54.55%) found this review helpful. Did you?

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Read all Echo AudioFire 8 FireWire Audio Interface reviews...

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About This Product!
Description
Docs
AudioFire8 offers the same high quality hardware and software found in Echo's popular Layla3G product, but with the addition of a FireWire interface. With the AudioFire8 you can record 24 bit 96kHz audio with low latency monitoring on any Windows XP or Mac OS X computer (desktop or notebook) with a FireWire port.

AudioFire8 is the perfect center for any professional studio, whether at home or on the road. It has 2 universal inputs with mic preamps, phantom power, channel inserts, and trim knobs so you can just plug in your microphone or instrument and record whenever or wherever you want. AudioFire8 also comes with 6 balanced analog inputs (TRS), 8 balanced analog outputs (TRS), a stereo headphone output, 2 FireWire ports, S/PDIF I/O, MIDI I/O, word clock synchronization, and 10 channels of full duplex 24 bit 96kHz recording and playback.

Free Audio Software Included
Tracktion is a radical new type of music production software - giving you a clean, intuitive, and clutter-free interface without losing professional features like drag-and-drop editing, a built-in sampler, VST plug-in support, track freezing and more... all right at your fingertips. AudioFire8 comes bundled with Tracktion version 1.

Technical Info

Hardware
FireWire (IEEE 1394a) interface with 15' cable

2 auto-sensing universal inputs (mic/guitar/line)

Meters, trim knobs, phantom power, & channel inserts

6 balanced ¼" analog inputs

113dB (A-weighted) dynamic range

+4dBu / -10dBV nominal levels

8 balanced ¼" analog outputs

114dB (A-weighted) dynamic range

+4dBu / -10dBV nominal levels

S/PDIF I/O at 24-bit/96kHz

MIDI I/O

Stereo headphone output with volume knob

Sync via word clock or S/PDIF

Supports full duplex 10 channel in, 10 channel out operation at 24 bit, 96 kHz sample rate

Rack mountable single space interface box

Heavy-duty aluminum case

32-bit / 1.6 gigaflop DSP for digital mixing

Near zero latency hardware monitoring

Software Features
Software console for monitoring, metering, and setting levels

Low-latency drivers support all major pro audio software

Low Latency ASIO 2.0

GSIF 2.0 (Gigastudio 3 w/ low latency MIDI)

CoreAudio & CoreMIDI

System Requirements
PC System requirements

Windows XP

256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended)

Mac System Requirements

Mac OS X (10.3.9 or later)

G4 or better processor

256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended)
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