Focusrite Saffire LE FireWire Audio Interface

Ultra-low latency. 6 inputs. 8 Outputs. Suite of Saffire plug-ins.

Overall User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10

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"You can't go wrong with Saffire LE when it comes to FireWire Audio Interface"

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
 
 
 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
It has a decent set of features. I honestly have not gone through them all in detail but from the looks of it, looks like has everything you would want from an audio interface device. One of the nicest things in my opinion is the drivers for this device. It's a very light install 1.8 MB and the mixer UI on it is superb. This was something important for me and honestly many of the others lacked this appeal.

Quality:
It's built pretty solid. I especially like the firm feel and smoothness of the knobs. The face appears to be plastic but the body seems to be aluminum.

Value:
You can't beat it for the $250 I paid for it.

Desirability:
You shouldn't really look at the visual aspects of a sound device. What good is it if it looks pretty but sounds horrible? Overall though, I like the simple look of this. Straight to the point with not too many useless features.

Sound:
The first time I listed to my electric/acoustic recording through this, my ears melted. it captures the sound as crisp and smooth as you can imagine. I've always plugged it into my Crate amp and thought I was getting everything. The sound quality on this is excellent to say the least.

Ease of Use:
It's pretty straight forward using this device. If you're in windows, I suggest you all together disable your onboard sound card and have everything go through this. It might be a little confusing since windows wants you to choose a primary sound device for recording and playback and the individual applications also allow you to choose. This might be a little confusing for some.

Overall:
I did a lot of research before choosing this audio interface. I looked at many of the other audio interface devices in the same class but this just had everything I was looking for. I looked at the Firebox, Edirol and a couple others but one of the most important things for me was the software and drivers. So many of the devices out there use bloated software drivers. Ever wonder why a sound driver is 50 MB? Complexity is the enemy of software! The drivers for this thing are only 1.7 MB! very light weight and to the point. The mixer UI is beautiful as well. This is something most of the other devices were lacking in my opinion. Besides the drivers, the next most important thing is sound quality and boy does this deliver. The sound from this is so smooth crisp and warm that you'll wonder how something so small and inexpensive can produce it. I decided to go with a firewire version since I travel with my laptop and a PCI device wouldn't work for me. Just keep in mind that everything I've stated here is my opinion and I honestly have not compared this to any of audio interface besides my onboard sound card. One thing I'm pretty sure about is my ability to distinguish sound quality so I can at least say with confidence that the sound quality is superb for the price.

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"Transparent sound, great deal."

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
 
 
 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Sound:
the sound of this thing is really good: transparent and clear. and it works with my external firewire drive (all into one port on my macbook). It is connected to a pair of Genelec 8020a via Balanced output and it sounds very good. it is bigger than I thought though, and it's not a really good-looking piece of gear. but it works well so who cares.

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"Solid audio interface for the Mac (OS X 10.4.10)"

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
 
 
 
Feature:
I would have liked an on/off switch as macs always have the firewire bus powered even when asleep. The device also can't work in standalone mode and doesn't support 192Khz like it's big brother the Saffire.

Quality:
Well constructed and feels sturdy. The pots feel a little dry. The included SaffireLE Control panel works great. Switching between frequency rates is done in software and takes a few seconds to reboot the box. It doesn't support 192Khz either.

Value:
For $300 you get a rock solid hardware interface that transparently works. Even the Sound on Sound guys liked it. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul06/articles/saffire.htm I don't bother with the bundled effects since they require web page authentication and there are tons of compressor and reverb VST effects on the market that color the sound more to my taste.

Desirability:
I wouldn't say it's got a lot of lust but it does do exactly what I purchased it for. I haven't seen anything released since in this price point that beats it.

Sound:
I only use this to drive a pair of studio monitors and ocassionally my headphones. Under OS X 10.4.10 it functions without a problem and sounds much better than sound out of my macbook's onboard out.

Ease of Use:
On the Mac, just download the drivers from their homepage and go.

Support:
Driver updates happen fairly often. There's Vista support if that's important to you but they don't support 64-bit windows of any flavor.

Overall:
My biggest complaint is lack of a power button. Given Focusrite's track record with the Saffire line I have no doubts there will be OS X Leopard drivers when Apple releases it this fall. The sound quality is excellent and if you have the speakers it'll even do 5.1 surround. I'll replace it when another product comes on the market with better specs but I don't expect that for a few more years.

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Focusrite Saffire LE Customer Review

Overall:
* * * . . . . . . . 3 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
I Want It:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
 
 
 
Feature:
Great

Quality:
Crahes all the time in Sonar. Cubase runs OK.

Value:
Bought it for 400 not worth it.

Sound:
great

Ease of Use:
OK

Overall:
Make better drivers please.

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