Interface (again)

[aaronmcoleman]

Right now I'm using an M audio Firewire Solo I've had for a while, but I want something better with more inputs.

I've narrowed it down to a few top contenders:
Steinberg MR816x ~ $699 (heard it has some good pre's and great A/D conversion, and most expensive of the bunch)
Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 ~ $499 (good reviews of pre's not heard much on A/D conversion, but it's $200 cheaper and seems just as good).

Other options that have gotten more mixed, but still positive reviews are:
M audio Profire 2626 ~ $510
Presonus Firestudio 2626 ~ $499
Echo Audiofire 8 ~ $650
Firepod 10 10 ~ $350

Sorry to drag this same sort of thread up again, but I've searched this site a dozen times and gotten a lot of good info.

I want to leave this a little open ended to get some opinions, reviews, and real life experience. Basically I'm looking for info on pre's and A/D conversion. Price is not really a major factor, but if I can get something good for less that's the best.

Thanks a lot!

 

[buzzard bass]

My bother's friend has the Presonus, I got some hands on time with it the last time I visited Canada. It is a nice device and makes great recordings. He uses Cubase into a Mac, but I'm sure other DAWs and PC's should work just as well. Very user friendly, in fact this was what got me into computer based recording, before that I was a real not going there kinda guy. I never noticed any latency, I wouldn't have known what it was at the time, but I would have noticed, that's the kind of thing that drives me nuts.

 

[aaronmcoleman]

Are the pres in the focusrite saffire 40 the same as the octapre?

Also, has anyone used any of the focusrite liquid stuff, sounds interesting?

 

[PDP]

I think Focusrite stuff is the best low-mid budget gear. Its super quiet, clear and clean. I have the Saffire 14 and a VoiceMaster Pro. They sound great.

 

[aaronmcoleman]

cool, thanks.

on the focusrite saffire, i'm using reaper and don't want to have to use any other software. I've read some reviews saying you pretty much have to run the focusrite software in the background to control the I/O? any thoughts?

thanks.

Oh, and you can't bypass the pre's on the focusrite? How is that going to effect the my outboard pre's? does the Steinberg allow for bypassing its pre's?