EMU 1616M vs KONNEKT 24D vs FOCUSRITE SAFFIRE vs ECHO AUDIOFIRE 4

[Illicit]

Ok Im down to these 4 Audio interfaces.. Having trouble to decide which one to choose..Need one by next week!

My chain is Rode Ntk - Grace 101 - (audio interface) - XP DUAL CORE - KRK RP8

and my priorities are

- Excellent A/D convertors (main priority)
- I only need 1/2 input channels as I record one channel at a time.
- Im not experienced with interfaces so i really want plug and play, driver stabilities
Monitors output
- Realtime effects like reverb while recording (DSP)

Im leaning towards the new EMU 1616M PCI at the moment as Konnekt users are having millions of problems (and im inexperienced so imagine me!) Focusrite Saffire (the original, not LE) seems like a good interface and I think the Echo Audiofire 4 does not have the same convertors as the Audiofire 12 or 8. I really only need 1/2 channels like i mentioned.

So what do you think I should go for? below the 800 price range.

[Kompakt]

Kinda funny cuz you have a similar situation like me..

i went for the echo audiofire 2 (love it) and im planning to upgrade to the RME Fireface 800 in 6 months when i record more outputs..

i think you should go for the EMU 1616M PCI i kinda regret not getting that as some of my mates have excellent results with it

all 4 are good options tho.. dunno about saffire, and i dunno if audiofire 4 has same convertors as the audiofire 12..............dont go for Konnekt at all- its too new, lots of driver issues........ wait for a while and then think about it

[Red2112]

I ´ve been using the Konnekt 24D for four months now. It´s hooked up via firewire to my Dell Inspirion 6400 (dual core) laptop as "exclusive" DAW.

I must add that Dell is not the most stable PC for home recording, but not in my case. Because its exclusive for audio for me with only XP-SP2 and fine tuned for audio recording, so no problems for me there. Sometimes its a matter of "how and what" you have set-up on your PC. It works fine with Cubase SX3.03, Reason 2.5 and EZDrummer.

The Konnekt 24D sounds very very good, and the converters are awsome to my ears. Fabrik C and R are great sounding DSP plugg-ins, In fact if you bought them alone, they would cost you as much as the K24D.

I know the K24D is new to the market, and yes there is some issues with Intel based Macs, but its not the only Interface that has issues with Intel based Macs lately.

T.C is working hard to fix its bugs and has had three driver updates since it came out, with a mayor update due after this months NAMM show with some extras added, so stay tuned.

All I can say is that my Konnekt 24D works great in my set-up since day one. I would not post this if I had problems with it. Like anybody, I dont like to have problems with my gear, so please dont think I wanna sell you something. I´am even thinking of getting the Konnekt 8 to hook-up via firewire chain to have extra pres. I´am very happy with it Just my 0.20€ on the subject.

Good care and good luck in your quest.

[Illicit]

well i got a custom built INTEL PENTIUM D Dual Core 3.4GHz LGA775 with a Gigabyte 8VM800PMD-775 motherboard and VIA P4M800 Pro & VT8237R Plus chipsets...

Konnekt 24D has builtin DSP effects which Konnekt 8 doesnt have but i assume I can record with realtime effects like reverb with the Konnekt 8? is that true? just wondering because i only record 1 channel and therefore only need Konnekt 8.. i wont be using their preamps as well as i have a grace 101 so i basically just need the convertors and effects...

if i do get the konnekt.. do i need a good soundcard like emu 1212m or delta to connect the konnekt to? along with the texas instrument chipset offcoarse.

[Red2112]

Acording to T.C, the Konnekt 24D and Konnekt 8 are the exact same thing except for the DSP´s/Fabrik C, R, Asimilator and I/O´s on the Konnekt 24D.

The Konnekt 8 dose not have DSP´s, Fabrik C, R and Asimilator plug-in. It has less I/O´s and no Toslink. That´s the difference between the K24D and K8, other then that, they are the same thing.

If your gonna use the Konnekt 8 just for conversion, I think its gonna work just fine, as the rest of its options. For some folks, the converters are up to par with the Fireface if that makes you fell better...

The Konnekt links to PC/Mac via firewire and the TCNear driver. You can also link up to 4 Konnekts in a firewire chain. They also work as stand-alone. So you do need a firewire OCHI compelent port. My chip is not TI and it works with a generic OCHI controler, I guess if you get a TI chip based port, then more then better.

If you do get a firewire card, make sure that it´s not a combo card, as for some reason issues arise with combo cards and some PC´s.

You dont need another sound card like the Emu 1212m to connect to. The Konnekt it´s self is a sound card/Interface and it´s connection is done via firewire transfer protocol to PC.

If you do have any doughts, I suggets you contact the T.C support team with your PC config. and intention. They have answerd and help me in the past and are of great help. I also recomend you download the Konnekt manual from there web site to get a better picture of what the Konnekt can do or not.

How do you plan to hook-up your hardware reverb to the Konnekt? Dose it have S/PDIF I/O or Toslink? As I don´t know if you can use your hardware reverb as send/return or Insert on the Konnekt, you should ask T.C. I use my T.C M-One XL via S/PDIF I/O on the Konnekt 24D.

Hope it helps,

Good care.

[Red2112]

Other then the above, you could also look for a dedidcated hardware converter like the RME ADI-2 and get a Toslink card for your PC.

Cheers.

[dickiefunk]

Echo and the Konekt have the best converters out of this bunch!! I've got the Layla 3G (same converters as the Audiofire 12) and the results are stunning! To get any real improvement in converters you would need to look at the newer Lynx gear!

[schwarzi]

i don't think so. the audiofire 2+4 have AK 4620 ADA converters, the same like the fireface 400 and multiface and not like their bigger brothers the audiofire 8+12 they have the CS-4272, they have almost the same specs, but are they sounding same?
tc says the konnekt 24d + 8 has some converters from akm, but which exactly?
i would like to know it.
maybe someone has unscrewed his konnekt stike ?

[EgyptionRing]

On their site they say the chips are a colaboration between TC and AKM. I suppose they are a modified version of a good AKM chip.

[schwarzi]

i hope so. when i got mine, i will have look inside and will post the "secret akm converters of the tc | k24d/k8" here.

[tbrault]

Schwari,

Did you end up getting to open up your box and look under the hood?

I'm very interested to see what's in there.

Thanks,

Tim

[retro]

PDF here from TC Applied Technologies...

http://www.tctechnologies.tc/DICEII_Short_Spec.pdf


Some of the main features of the Dice II include:

- A total of 96 FireWire audio channels at 96kHz Sample Rate
- Two Sample Rate domains each featuring an on-chip PLL
- AES receiver/transmitter handling 8 channels in each direction
- ADAT receiver/transmitter with S-MUX support for 96kHz
- Glueless connection of AD/DA converters (more than 16 channels in each direction)
- Glueless connection of a high number of commodity DSP processors
- ARM 32 bit RISC processor
- IEEE 1394 Link Layer Controller

pic's of inside....

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/...0&d=1163451764

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/...1&d=1163452131

Video discussing Dice II...

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shown...m?newsid=2945#

[schwarzi]

Originally Posted by tbrault

Schwarzi,

Did you end up getting to open up your box and look under the hood?

I'm very interested to see what's in there.

Thanks,

Tim

no, will get mine in the next days......

[Acoustic Cloud]

Originally Posted by schwarzi

maybe someone has unscrewed his konnekt stike ?

Schwartzi, I think we have "all" unscrewed our "Connects"

[schwarzi]

Originally Posted by Acoustic Cloud

Schwartzi, I think we have "all" unscrewed our "Connects"

[ticctacc]

Has anyone noticed that the konnekt 8 ad 24d does not have a seperate headphone vol the master vol and the headphone vol are the same i just bought the konnekt 8 it sounds good but no seperate vol for headphone what year is this 1972 i think i'm going with the saffire i think it sounds just as good and has a seperate headphone jack for us musicans with speakers and headphone and vocal booths

[Acoustic Cloud]

hey tictac join the club my echo audiofire doesnt either i think its ridiculous that aNY company thinks that you have a 2 room setup or are using a mixer i cant see any other reason why this is not implemented into every interface cheap or expensive is it that much more money to do this i mean even the firebox does this locally with real knobs i dont get it

[ticctacc]

Acoustic Cloud i'm glad you feel my pain why would they do that and the box sound very good and the software is nice as well the manual sucks but besides that it would be cool, but no headphone vol ???

[soundpilot]

So what did the secret AKM converters end up being?

How do these really compare to one of the Emus, or an Apogee Mini-Me?

[Acoustic Cloud]

Thats a very good workaround. My problem with that is introducing another wall wart into the equation, which I shouldnt have to deal with.

Im using the blue MPatch right now, and its nice to have a mute button and a knob to work with, but I would rather not have the extra interconnect cable just for volume separation.

I am a hardcore signal chain minimalist, can you tell?!?!