M-Audio Firewire Audiophile 2496 Audio Interface

Compact, FireWire-compatible audio/MIDI interface that takes the legacy of M-Audio?s award-winning Audiophile line to the next level.

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M-Audio Firewire Audiophile 2496 Audio Interface reviews

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58 People rated this product : * * * * * * * * * * 6 out of 10

 

9 People wrote reviews

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

"Great audio interface at a great price!"

Feature:
The warning about not connecting to your computer when its turned on is dissapointing. FireWire is supposed to be hot pluggable. But, with my laptop, it works fine if I just close the cover so it goes to sleep, plug in the M-Audio box, turn on the box, and then wake up the laptop. Everything else works as advertised. The hardware controls are simple and the software interface provides lots of control. IMPORTANT - I read a couple of the reviews below that complain of problems. Dont' pay any attention to them. The person with the hard drive problem is talking about a problem with the Live Delta software, not the M-Audio box. The software is supplied as a bonus, but this box can be used with any audio software. The Live software manual does indeed talk about limitations with slow drives and offers several solutions. The person with the upgraded Mac is kind of in the same boat. He's complaining about a computer problem, not a problem with the M-Audio box. It is well known that one thing you give up when you upgrade a Mac's processor is potential compatibility. I learned this the hard way years ago when I tried to save money by upgrading a Mac. A lot of software would not work with it.

Quality:
Top notch. Small, easy to take with you, travels well, accepts a bit of knocking around without complaint.

Value:
Awsome for the price. This box is the key component in my home recording studio. Plus, it comes with a limited version of Live Delta which is an extremely versatile and powerful program that can be used for multi-track recording, live DJ clip-sessions, and much more. It took me a week to go through this software and learn all its ins and outs, and when I was done, I sprung for the $225 upgrade to the full version. The box cost $150, so for $375 I had a powerful hardware/software solution for a home studio that cost less than the price of the software alone ($500). A great deal!

Sound:
Excellent! Its a 24-bit interface and is up to its specs. I use it for studio recording doing track-at-a-time recording and a high end studio mic, and this box introduces nothing - just as it should!

Support:
Only had to call once. It was just something I needed help understanding. They were very helpful, very polite.

Overall:
This box, along with the included software, makes for a very powerful studio recording solution. The ability to time-warp recordings to match beats without changing the pitch is a phenomenal aid to getting professional recordings. The connections and routing capabilities of the box makes it very flexible and able to easily fit into your recording needs.

Submitted: 2/27/2005

Style of Music: Acoustic Folk

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* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

"I know audio and this is a gem of a product for the right system."

Feature:
I use a Mackie 8 channel mixer, Kenwood MDisk recorder, Sony DAT, and it works flawlessly with all.

Quality:
Not bulletproof, plastic knobs, would NOT change cords over and over, set it up with Quality cabling (I use all AR Master series) and LEAVE it alone. Jacks are NOT very hefty but not cheap either.

Value:
I paid $150 on EBay 2 years ago and consider it one of my best purchases.

Desirability:
I honestly really like the look of this unit but SEXY??? Give me a freak'n break!!! I like the tops graphic and really love the blue led.

Sound:
I have been in the Pro Sound profession for 20+ years now and have used several other M-Audio and competitive products and this ranks up there with ANY of them! MUST have FAST drives preferably Sata 300. And good cpu power (I am using AMD Athlon 64X2 5000+) I use XP and have ZERO problems, NEVER had a pop or a crackle in 2+ years!!!

Ease of Use:
NOT plug and Play but simple to figure out, I say this but I have used several other M Audio products so I am accustomed to this, Some may have a problem innitially.

Support:
Never have had to use them since I have a lot of experiance with both Audio and PCs. But have heard from a few colleages that they SUCK!!!

Overall:
I HIGHLY reccomend this unit!!! BUT as I stated earlier if you have so so drives and a run of the mill pc...LOOK ELSEWHERE....

Submitted: 5/31/2007

Style of Music: Dance (for work but I HATE it) Rock & Alternative suite my personal taste...

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About This Product!
Description
Docs
FireWire Audiophile is a compact, FireWire-compatible audio/MIDI interface that takes the legacy of M-Audio's award-winning Audiophile line to the next level. 4 x 6 audio I/O combines with powerful on-board mixing in a mobile package that's perfect for live performance, home recording, and digital DJ work.

Stereo headphone output with A/B switching between assignable sources allows precuing for DJs and mobile musicians?and the assignable aux bus is perfect for creating dedicated headphone mixes and effect sends. You also get zero-latency hardware direct monitoring, ultra-low latency ASIO software direct monitoring, and 1 x 1 MIDI I/O. FireWire Audiophile even has AC-3 and DTS passthrough for surround sound playback.

Features

4 x 6 24-bit/96kHz I/O

2 x 4 analog operation (RCA)

Digital S/PDIF (coaxial) I/O w/ 2-channel PCM

Digital out also supports AC-3/DTS surround sound

Headphone output with dedicated level control

Flexible software-controlled mixing of hardware and software I/O

Aux sends on all channels and aux output assign allows for dedicated headphone mixes and sends to external effects

User-assignable front-panel level control (output, input, software return, aux send)

Zero-latency hardware direct monitoring

Low-latency ASIO software direct monitoring

Momentary switch for A/Bing two software-assignable headphone sources or switching ASIO monitoring on/off

1 x 1 16-channel MIDI I/O

Power on/off switch with indicator LED

Powered via FireWire bus* or included DC power supply

Two convenient high-bandwidth FireWire ports

Rugged steel construction

Technical Info

Specifications

Frequency Response: 20Hz-40kHz +/-0.40dB, 96kHz sample rate

Dynamic Range: 108dB A-weighted

Signal-to-Noise: 106dB A-weighted

Compatibility

ASIO 2

MME

Sound Manager

DirectX

Mac OS X Core Audio / Core MIDI

Minimum System Requirements - PC

Pentium III 500 MHz or higher

128 MB RAM

Windows 2000 (SP3)/Windows XP (SP1)

DirectX 8.1 or higher

6-pin FireWire port or adapter

Minimum System Requiremennt - Mac

Macintosh G3* 500 MHz or higher w/OS 9.2.2, 128 MB RAM;

G4* 500MHz w/OS 10.1.5 or OS 10.2.6 or greater, 256 MB RAM (OSX)

* G3/G4 accelerator cards not supported; native FireWire ports required
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