Fireface400 v 002R?

[Bulls Hit]

Anyone with experience with either or both of these units?

After 3 years of sterling service my firepod's firewire chip has crapped out, so I'm looking to 'step up'.

The 400 & 002 are both around a grand. The fireface drivers are supposed to be nice & stable. I'm sure they'd both do the job, but is one appreciably better than the other?

 

[TyphoidHippo]

Never used a Fireface400, but I've worked with both a 002R and a Fireface800...

The Fireface800 is awesome...it is really getting "Up There" with the big boys as far as it's converters go. Not sure if the Fireface400 has the same internals as the Fireface800, but if it does - it is a spectacular piece of equipment that pretty much nothing in it's pricerange can touch.

The 002R on the other hand is a really not-outstanding device for it's price. I hear that if you spend another $800 getting Black Lion Audio to mod it, it can be a pretty nice interface, though....but why bother if you can get a Fireface for so much less total investment? Unless you just really wanna work with ProTools and don't mind the crippled LE version, I guess....

Hope that helps!

edit: P.S. You might wanna check out some opinions on GearSlutz, too....equipment in this pricerange is much more often discussed over there.

 

[Bulls Hit]

Hey thanks Hippster, good info.

Yeah it's really the hardware comparison(converters, clocks, drivers etc.) I'm interested in. I've always thought ptle was a pretty cynical digi joke with only 32 tracks

 

[Soundmind??]

Protools make some good stuff for high end studios, the budget stuff isn't that impressive. You will get more bang for your buck by avoiding PTLE and going with Cubase, Sonar, or other software that will recognize any ASIO system, and not just their product line.