FireWire 800/400 + Focusrite?

H

Har

New member
Hello there. I am going to buy a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24DSP interface, which will be working along with Shure SM7B or Shure Beta 58a. Right now I just need to choose which FireWire to use and I have no idea. Is there any difference between FireWire 800 or 400? And most important is 800 for every computer with FireWire? (got ACER 7730g)

There is no big difference in prices between FireWire 800 or 400, so if there's at least minimum possibility to have less latency/ better sound quality I'll buy 800. But as I said, I don't know does it even work with Saffire, or my laptop. Thank in advance for answers!



P.S. what is better for Focusrite interface - windows XP or windows 7/64?
 
Firewire 800 is faster but Focusrite recommends Firewire 400 for Saffire audio interfaces. You can read it here: Saffire Product Troubleshooting - Connection Difficulties .: Focusrite Answerbase

So you will be using Firewire 400 connections for your Saffire Pro 24. I am using Saffire pro 40 with Windows XP SP3 and it works perfectly ok. According to their compatibility chart here: http://www.focusrite.com/downloads/os/?product=147#

Windows 7 is supported but I cannot say if this is better than Windows XP as I do not try it. Why not try asking Focusrite support for the optimal OS?
 
400/800 has NO effect on latency or quality.

400/800 only difference is CAPACITY. (think of it as a water hose. 800 is twice as big.)

FW400 can stream over 100 simultaneous channels.
FW800 does twice that.
(You dont see many fw800 interfaces because few studios need it. FW1600 and 3200 were approved but no one needed them.)

Where FW800 shines is if you are going to daisy-chain firewire drives or effect processors on the chain.
Otherwise don't worry about it.

You DO want to worry that your computer has TexasInstruments firewire chips.
Cheap computer use non-compatible chips (Ricoh, etc) that work well with drives and cameras but not with audio interfaces.
ONLY use TexasInstruments firewire chips or you're asking for trouble.
 
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!


I guess my computer isn't cheap kind. I'll just buy ExpressCard FireWire 1394a 400 ;)
 
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