Reserved.

The RME UFX is a good box. The pres a basically the same as the high end digital RME pres. RME uses a driver system the resets if it crashes, so the most you lose is the size of the buffer. In the last ten years, I had one crash, and I lost about a tenth of a second--on another interface I would have lost a lot.

The RME totalmix system is great, and it has been imitated by many. But not as well--basically, it is an easy digital patchbay.

RME comes with an extensive realtime set of tools, like a bitmeter that shows you if you are really recording 224 bits, and a complete test suite for your DAW. If you need to isolate a problem, you can do it here in seconds.

RME clocks are very accurate. You can use this as a front end to a Tascam DR 680, and then you will have a stable clock. Another thing to consider is that you can plug a USB drive into this thing a and record to it. Without a computer. If you want something with some real high end stuff inside, consider a Mytek, Grace preamps and a firewire card.

RME has real phantom power, not fake phantom power. On my FF 400, I measure 50 volts which is great for some of my dual capsule, high end mics. A lot of other stuff measures in the 30-40 volt range.

Using ASIO, you can connect the RME directly from your DAW. Move the virtual slider, and you will see the RME do the same.

OTOH you can get a Mackie blackbird for $400. If it crashes, you can just play the piece over again, or spend the money you saved on a Tascam DR 680, and then using it as a backup, you won't have to do it over again :)

The Mackie Onyx Pres are absolutely fine. The Blackbird is a bit on the heavy side for field work, but plug it in and it is a standalone 8 channel pre with excellent converters. It is amazing you can get something like that for so cheap.

I rarely use my high end pres. They are nice for certain things, but if you are setting up a full video shoot, you don't want piles of boxes and cables. The difference in sound quality is there, but it is slight. In the studio I will roll out a stereo Audio Upgrades pre or the Grace to anchor the main pair in a mix. I would say that of all the features these boxes offer, the crash resistance and recovery of the RME is the one that is the most important. Plus they have a ton of gain. 40 on an RME is like 50 on my other stuff, and after you use digital pres, gain or trim pots, with the gain jumping and crackling, seem like a relic from the 60s.

I have a 10 year old Echo Audio Layla 24/96 8in/8out AD/DA. It uses a PCI card interface. No mic pre's but the inputs are TRS and fully balanced. Echo still has driver support and I just installed 64bit drivers on Win7.

It sounds very good and they can be picked up for around $200.00 s/h.

I don't know but as the prices have come way down since I bought my Layla the newer G3 may make more sense.

I purchased my Layla brand new and here in Australia it was around $2.2k (yikes!) when I bought it in 2003.

I assume the 3G's convertors, being newer, may be better but I really have no complaints about the sound quality of the Layla 24/96.

Of course the other thing is the G3 has a pair of mic inputs so that is a definite advantage though there has been some reports of the phantom power failing.

My main concern would be ongoing driver support and while Echo Audio has been excellent in keeping the older models functioning with driver updates I guess you can't expect them to keep doing it forever.

@pundit

I really want to ask to move out of topic discussion of very old things.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev It is VERY incomplete. :) We just started the list. But by putting it up at the start, people are getting a chance to start contributing right off the bat.

Firewire is the most popular audio interface method used in project studios today for mid to high level interfaces. I want to add more of the USB, PCI and Thunderbolt options, of course, but if I'm starting off with the ones that most of my colleagues use, then it will naturally begin with Firewire.

Why don't you suggest which ones you would like to add?

@Vitaliy_Kiselev Firewire cards can be added for about $30 to most desktops. You can even pick one up at Best Buy around here that works perfectly with the audio interfaces I've tried.

Very few mid to high level interfaces support USB - out of the ones I have listed and Mytek are the only two. That is part of what makes them unusual options.

I'd be happy to divide it up into two topics - one for the entry level interfaces (usually <$1,000) and one for those above.

(Fixing it now).

The higher end thread is now up at http://personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4818/mid-to-high-level-professional-audio-interfacesrecorders-pres-and-converters-for-studio

@Vitaliy_Kiselev That is why each description includes a minimum amount of IO and sampling rate, etc.

The mid-level systems mean that you have to be able to record a 5.1 mix (input and output) relying entirely on the interface provided, at 192 KHz (the highest normally used for audio recording sessions outside very, very specialized 384 KHz systems). The converters and pres are of sufficient quality that they are not really considered to be a limiting factor, but not of such a high quality that that pros generally argue about them sounding "the best".

High-level systems must offer the ability to mix and record at 7.1 (the highest number of channels currently demanded in film work) and at 192 KHz and offer converters or pres that professionals would argue are "the best". Some of these can be found in high end studios (for instance you'll find several Benchmark Audio converters at Abbey Road Studios).

I'll try to sub-divide entry level further, but the basic idea is that while they are of sufficient quality to do professional work, there are still limitations to the converters and pres that are noticeable in comparison to the mid and high level systems.

I'm trying to think of a better way to title it to make it clearer.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev

Actually, it would be entry level. The converters it uses are noticeably lower quality than those in the mid-level interfaces and it supports 96 KHz as opposed to 192 KHz. Even the Tascam US-2000 would still be entry level.

I suppose it would help for me to really spend some time coming up with a better way of communicating the differences at each one (possibly even changing the lines slightly). I'll see what I can do and focus on that first rather than adding to the list.

Entry level http://www.phonic.com/en/firefly-302-usb.html