Pre-amp quality on Echo Audiofire Pre-8?

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rio452001

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Hi there,

As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm looking at upgrading my audio interface from 2 x Delta 1010s, to two Echo Audiofires (either 8s or 12s, or one of each).

I'm now considering whether to go with the Audiofire 8, which has 2 mic pre's and 6 line inputs, or the Audiofire Pro-8, which has 8 pre-amps.

I'm wondering about the quality of the pre-amps in the Audiofire products, compared to my "pro-sumer" pre-amps at home.

I may use a total of 12 to 16 tracks when recording drum beds along with "scratch" tracks for guitar, vocal, etc. My "best" pre-amps are probably ART DMPA and MPA Golds, followed by DMP3s and BlueTube DPs, for about 14 channels; I thin have another 4 channels of old Blue Tubes, and 2 channels from an old Behringer pre-amp... I then have other pre-amps from mixers etc I can use when I have to.

Does anyone have any idea as to the quality of the pre-amps in the Echo Audiofire Pro-8?

My impression is that they're likely to be superior to most of my existing pre-amps, but I'd be interested in any input anyone might provide.
 
Hi,

I had the older Echo Layla 3G which has the same preamps as the Audiofire 8 and the pres were passable but nothing great.

The M-Audio Profire 2626 interface is said to have slightly better preamps than the DMP3 and the conversion is a step up from the Delta 1010.

I personally love the Focusrite Saffire Pro interfaces. I found that the pres are better and the conversion is a slight step up. Have you considered the Liquid 56?

Another excellent option would be the Steinberg MR816. This is said to have the best conversion this side of Prism, Lynx and Apogee interfaces.
 
Can't comment on the preamps, but I'll take the opportunity to say I use an Audiofire 12 with outboard pres, and I'm pretty happy with it. I got it used and it was *much* cheaper than some other A/D and interface things I was looking at.
 
dickiefunk said:
Hi,

I had the older Echo Layla 3G which has the same preamps as the Audiofire 8 and the pres were passable but nothing great.

The M-Audio Profire 2626 interface is said to have slightly better preamps than the DMP3 and the conversion is a step up from the Delta 1010.

I personally love the Focusrite Saffire Pro interfaces. I found that the pres are better and the conversion is a slight step up. Have you considered the Liquid 56?

Another excellent option would be the Steinberg MR816. This is said to have the best conversion this side of Prism, Lynx and Apogee interfaces.
Click to expand...

Yup. wanted to chime in

i just got the steinberg interface and am very happy with it.

much better IMO than the profire 2626 i had before
 
It looks like the Steinberg interface has some good reviews here. I've been looking for an upgrade to my ProjectMix I/O.. I have just spent some good money on a Preamp rack from seventh circle audio and I feel like I would be doing them an injustice by running them through the converters on the project mix that are known to be crappy.

I have posted in the Digital recording/computer forum regarding upgrades and came to this forum hoping to have some advice about which Seventh Circle preamp module I should pick up next but found this thread, and this interface that may be the answer to my conversion question!

So this Steinberg interface has some of the best conversion you can get per dollar? :) Noticeably better than the ProFire 2626? (that was the interface I was looking into :eek:) And is the ability to daisy chain interfaces only an option with Steinberg software like Cubase or can the daisy chaining open up the 48 channels for any DAW? (ProTools 9 specifically for me)

I have finally worked up a good analog front end with my microphone and preamp upgrades, but I feel that my interface is going to ruin all the hard earned sound. :mad:

Sorry to half hi-jack the thread, this interface seems nice! :o
 
samth3mancgp said:
It looks like the Steinberg interface has some good reviews here. I've been looking for an upgrade to my ProjectMix I/O.. I have just spent some good money on a Preamp rack from seventh circle audio and I feel like I would be doing them an injustice by running them through the converters on the project mix that are known to be crappy.

I have posted in the Digital recording/computer forum regarding upgrades and came to this forum hoping to have some advice about which Seventh Circle preamp module I should pick up next but found this thread, and this interface that may be the answer to my conversion question!

So this Steinberg interface has some of the best conversion you can get per dollar? :) Noticeably better than the ProFire 2626? (that was the interface I was looking into :eek:) And is the ability to daisy chain interfaces only an option with Steinberg software like Cubase or can the daisy chaining open up the 48 channels for any DAW? (ProTools 9 specifically for me)

I have finally worked up a good analog front end with my microphone and preamp upgrades, but I feel that my interface is going to ruin all the hard earned sound. :mad:

Sorry to half hi-jack the thread, this interface seems nice! :o
Click to expand...

it's hard to say... while i can see a marked difference between the profire and the steinberg i'm not sure how much of that has to do with the steinberg's preamps. i only have a couple external pre's which i don't often use.

unfortunately i don't think you can completely bypass the steinberg pre's without a workaround, this may kill this piece for you...

you might be better off with a stand alone converter if you already have a few nice pre's.

i mainly bought the steinberg for the pre's and conversion which IMO has lived up to everyting it's advertised to be.
 
hmm standalone converters are what i'm afraid of though. They are so ridiculously expensive! At least the ones I have looked at are :( like the Lynx Aurora, and Apogee stuff. Is there anything better in the <$1000 price-range? I have a good wordclock (Black Lion Audio Microclock mk2) that I feel has taken some of the "haziness" that is common to cheap/improper conversion and jittery clocking out of my ProjectMix I/O, but I have heard some recordings done on a ProFire 2626 and I feel that they have the upper to my setup.

Also, if I have a standalone converter, don't I still need an interface of some sort to get that digital information to ProTools via firewire or something else?

Perhaps I could do some kind of mod to bypass the preamps entirely :) (which scares me to death to even think about :eek:)

I wish BLA still did ProjectMix mods.. I've been trying to get them to do just one more! haha
 
Thanks to everyone for chiming in... I looked at the Steinberg interface (I use Cubase, after all) but decided I wanted something closer to a straight AD converter. I wouldn't call my pre-amps great by any means, but I like the idea of being able to use whatever external pre-amps I can buy, rent or steal (figuratively) and not being stuck with the proprietary pre-amps in the interface.

I'm really just a hobbyist and mainly recording my own bands, and friends, for myspace or limited release demos, etc. I usually record 10 channels of drums, plus guitar, bass and occasionally vocals, so I'm usually looking at 12 to 16 tracks to records beds, and then usually overdub the vocals and guitar, sometimes bass too.

I went with 2 Audiofire 8's as a compromise-- it lets me use my two DMPA's with SPDIF connections for 4 inputs, plus 12 straight analog ins, plus 4 proprietary pre-amps built into the Audiofire. I considered the AF12, and would have gone with 2 of those, if it had some kind of digital in.
 
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