Firebox or Inspire as standalone mic preamp?

[mkraus1970]

I'm trying to decide between a Presonus Firebox or Inspire as my interface for my fledgling DAW. One thing I can't figure out is if either could double as a standalone mic pre that I could hook up to my Iriver IFP 895. I know there are more practical/portable preamps for this purpose, but it will be awhile before I can justify another purchase. I know the inspire has no external volume controls, but I was wondering if it would still put out an unadjustable signal. The firebox seems like a better bet - is it possible to plug it in to the AC and use it as a standalone mic pre?

[cawhite12]

I don't think the Firebox has that support quite yet. Presonus just recently released a firmware update for the firepod that allows it to do that if you are not synced with the Firewire, but I don't think the Firebox can at this time. You should contact Presonus and ask them, they would know better than anyone here.

[darrvid]

It would rock if you could, (they need to release a new damn driver for the firebox. btw, if you've seen my firebox woe posts, I narrowed it down a driver issue. Need to do slight more troubleshooting, but it's in my sights :P ) but you cant use it as a standalone pre. You cant even route audio through the line ins/outs for that matter. It needs a firewire connection. But, it does work while my comp is booting up and not in windows yet, so it seems like it has all the capablilites to do so, but something is stopping it.

[mkraus1970]

Thank you both so much for taking the time to respond to my question. I'll email presonous and if I can get any information about when and if the firebox will ever have a standalone option, I'll post it here.