RME Fireface 400

tengu · 26th March 2006

This company just keeps coming up with it.

I can't wait to get one of these for travel. This is exactly what I was looking for.

http://www.rme-audio.com/english/firewire/ff400.htm

Bus powered. WooHoo.

bdunard · 26th March 2006

Anyone know street price and availability?

tnjazz · 26th March 2006

May, and under 900 Euro, according to the press release.

lowswing · 27th March 2006

if only rme will do something like fireface 800 with aes instead of adat so one could really use 24in/out with 24/192...

timmcallister · 27th March 2006

AWESOME!!!!!

I've been waiting for them to do something like this. EXACTLY what I wanted.

shanghaitang · 27th March 2006

looks good. is the conversion in RME a lot better than the competition (mackie, motu, metric halo, apogee)?

bdunard · 27th March 2006

Aren't the the firewire 800's selling for $1249 to $1299. That doesn't seem like such a good deal if it is 900 euro. Maybe I got my wires crossed but I researched these a while back and I think that is what some dealers were selling them for. Maybe the 900 euro is retail. I notice the AD signal to noise ratio spec wasn't quite as good as the RME 800. Not that I could hear it but just wondering if it is the 800 just smaller.

jacko · 29th March 2006

I will be glad to exchange my FF800 for FF400

kingofswing · 29th March 2006

I was looking at the Fireface 400 (on sunday after reading the press release) just before i purchased the 800 (this week). I was all set on the FF400, until i saw a lilttle cut back on the D-A by a few db. I also noticed THD specs were slightly different, with the FF800 having the slight edge.

Other than that, the fireface 800 just seemed better for me in my studio and the extra I/O's. Plus i can rack it in my standard 19inch rack.

IMO the fireface 400 is a no brainer for the laptop user who needs a bus powered solution, with the RME sound. Plus its portable, light weight, and it still has many of the decent features of the 800, like steady clock.

tnjazz · 29th March 2006

Also keep in mind that bus powered means a 6 pin firewire port is required. So laptops with only 4 pin firewire will still need to go with some sort of external battery power (who came up with this idea of non-powered firewire anyway???)

I've only ever seen one PC laptop with a 6 pin firewire - the Dell X200 (and similar apparently). Everything else is 4 pin.

Regardless of all that, I'm going to be first in line for one of these. This is exactly what I want for my mobile solution (for small track count stuff).

Dirk

jacko · 30th March 2006

As a Powerbook user I don't complain

Got any news about the price?

dejacky · 30th March 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingofswing

IMO the fireface 400 is a no brainer for the laptop user who needs a bus powered solution, with the RME sound. Plus its portable, light weight, and it still has many of the decent features of the 800, like steady clock.

What does it mean to be a "bus powered solution?" Also, will the fireface 400 work with the firewire port on something like a Dell Latitude X1 notebook or do I need a dedicated RME firewire card?

shanghaitang · 30th March 2006

most (all?) apple computers include a 6 pin firewire port i believe

tnjazz · 30th March 2006

Yes, Mac users can rejoice, for they can use bus power with their 6 pin FW ports. PC users will need to use an external power supply.

dejacky, you should be able to use a 6 to 4 pin FW cable, but you will have to find a means to power the box because 4 pin FW is non-powered. Bus power is derived from the firewire port, meaning you don't have to plug the box into any kind of power supply. The PC powers it.

dejacky · 31st March 2006

thanks for that explanation

! It is very cool that the fireface 400 can be powered by a simple firewire port on a laptop. My next question, is will I be able to record and playback 8 channels of 24bit/88.2khz with a regular 1394 firewire port on a Dell laptop? (assuming i have a 7200rpm hard drive) What is the bandwidth limitation of this standard firewire technology and the FireFace 400? Will a 1394b port be required instead?

I play in a ban · 5th April 2006

That is a shame the converter chips are downgraded, but if it sounds great then it sounds great (and I will buy one!)..

OMU · 6th April 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by dejacky

thanks for that explanation

! It is very cool that the fireface 400 can be powered by a simple firewire port on a laptop. My next question, is will I be able to record and playback 8 channels of 24bit/88.2khz with a regular 1394 firewire port on a Dell laptop? (assuming i have a 7200rpm hard drive) What is the bandwidth limitation of this standard firewire technology and the FireFace 400? Will a 1394b port be required instead?

Yeah, it's cool, but only if you have a 6pin firewire port (it's the big one), not a small 4pin port, which cannot provide bus power. I haven't seen any PC laptop to have a 6pin port; all of them have that small 4pin one

.
The macs have all 6pin ports (some of the last PowerBooks even have a big firewire 800 port!). So if you want to use this with a pc laptop you have to power it with the (probaly included) power supply adaptor.
So it's not as mobile as with a mac notebook, but you can stilluse it as long as you have an AC source.

willythekid · 7th April 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanghaitang

looks good. is the conversion in RME a lot better than the competition (mackie, motu, metric halo, apogee)?

What I understand from reading lots of the threads RME beats all the alternatives in that pricerange when it comes to conversion. Apogee has much better conversion but it's also in another price league. (I have not compared them myself).

I would like to hear more comments about the differences between 800 and 400! The 400 does not seem to have the "soft limiter" and "speaker emulation filter" that the 800 does. In your opinion, is that a big or a small minus for the 400?

/wtk

I <3 The Beatle · 9th April 2006

Any word on pricing yet?

dejacky · 9th April 2006

will I be able to record and playback 8 channels of 24bit/88.2khz with a regular 1394 firewire port on a Dell laptop? (assuming i have a 7200rpm hard drive) What is the bandwidth limitation of this standard firewire technology and the FireFace 400? Will a 1394b port be required instead?

OMU · 9th April 2006

Firewire 400 = 1394a
firewire 800 = 1394b

I play in a ban · 9th April 2006

Where can I buy a 1/2 rack for this thing

dejacky · 10th April 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by OMU

Firewire 400 = 1394a
firewire 800 = 1394b

I understand that, but it doesn't answer my question tutt . will I be able to record and playback 8 channels of 24bit/88.2khz with a regular 1394a firewire port on a Dell laptop? (assuming i have a 7200rpm hard drive)

OMU · 10th April 2006

I didn't do that, but I think you can.
You should check the manufacturer's web page for the technical specifications.

respirator · 10th April 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by tnjazz

Yes, Mac users can rejoice, for they can use bus power with their 6 pin FW ports. PC users will need to use an external power supply.

dejacky, you should be able to use a 6 to 4 pin FW cable, but you will have to find a means to power the box because 4 pin FW is non-powered. Bus power is derived from the firewire port, meaning you don't have to plug the box into any kind of power supply. The PC powers it.

Free product idea: Make a cable with 6 pin FW in one end and 4 pin FW + USB (power only) in the other. Bam-da-da-bam, powered FW for PC laptops.

hammerfall · 10th April 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by dejacky

I understand that, but it doesn't answer my question tutt . will I be able to record and playback 8 channels of 24bit/88.2khz with a regular 1394a firewire port on a Dell laptop? (assuming i have a 7200rpm hard drive)

Yes, this should work just fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by respiratior

Free product idea: Make a cable with 6 pin FW in one end and 4 pin FW + USB (power only) in the other. Bam-da-da-bam, powered FW for PC laptops.

Not gonna work. USB bus power spec is different form FW bus power. FW spec is 30 volts, USB is 5 volts. I'm not a big fan of bus power anyway, though. Short the pins when you're plugging it in and ... poof, magic smoke.

audionoobie · 11th April 2006

For 60 bucks you can get a PCMCIA card for your laptop that has both 4 and 6 pin ports. The FF400 will definitely be my next purchase...just upgraded my laptop to 2GB RAM. Can't wait to do away with my M-Audio Duo....Only downside of the 400 is that it has no preamps...looks like I might have to keep the Duo around after all :(

harold716 · 11th April 2006

The FF400 has 2 mic pres.

AdamJay · 11th April 2006

or...

just get an intel mac w/ 6pin firewire and run windows

expensive solution, but this is gearslutz, right?

littledoodler · 12th April 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by hammerfall

Yes, this should work just fine.

Not gonna work. USB bus power spec is different form FW bus power. FW spec is 30 volts, USB is 5 volts. I'm not a big fan of bus power anyway, though. Short the pins when you're plugging it in and ... poof, magic smoke.

any prices available?

26th March 2006	#1
tengu Lives for gear Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 669 Thread Starter	RME Fireface 400 This company just keeps coming up with it. I can't wait to get one of these for travel. This is exactly what I was looking for. http://www.rme-audio.com/english/firewire/ff400.htm Bus powered. WooHoo.

27th March 2006	#4
lowswing Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 1,446	if only rme will do something like fireface 800 with aes instead of adat so one could really use 24in/out with 24/192... __________________ Guy Sternberg Engineer, Producer LowSwing Studios, berlin www.lowswing.de

5th April 2006	#16
I play in a ban Gear addict Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Jersey Posts: 465	That is a shame the converter chips are downgraded, but if it sounds great then it sounds great (and I will buy one!).. __________________ The painting was a gift Todd.......and I'm taking it with me.

11th April 2006	#27
audionoobie Gear interested Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5	Options for wintel laptops For 60 bucks you can get a PCMCIA card for your laptop that has both 4 and 6 pin ports. The FF400 will definitely be my next purchase...just upgraded my laptop to 2GB RAM. Can't wait to do away with my M-Audio Duo....Only downside of the 400 is that it has no preamps...looks like I might have to keep the Duo around after all :(

11th April 2006	#29
AdamJay Lives for gear Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 2,825	or... just get an intel mac w/ 6pin firewire and run windows expensive solution, but this is gearslutz, right? __________________

26th March 2006	#2
bdunard Lives for gear Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: nashville Posts: 724	Anyone know street price and availability?

26th March 2006	#3
tnjazz Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 1,809	May, and under 900 Euro, according to the press release.

27th March 2006	#5
timmcallister Gear addict Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: oregon Posts: 421	AWESOME!!!!! I've been waiting for them to do something like this. EXACTLY what I wanted.

27th March 2006	#6
shanghaitang Gear addict Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 402	looks good. is the conversion in RME a lot better than the competition (mackie, motu, metric halo, apogee)?

29th March 2006	#8
jacko Lives for gear Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wroc?aw, Poland Posts: 718	I will be glad to exchange my FF800 for FF400

29th March 2006	#9
kingofswing Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,129	I was looking at the Fireface 400 (on sunday after reading the press release) just before i purchased the 800 (this week). I was all set on the FF400, until i saw a lilttle cut back on the D-A by a few db. I also noticed THD specs were slightly different, with the FF800 having the slight edge. Other than that, the fireface 800 just seemed better for me in my studio and the extra I/O's. Plus i can rack it in my standard 19inch rack. IMO the fireface 400 is a no brainer for the laptop user who needs a bus powered solution, with the RME sound. Plus its portable, light weight, and it still has many of the decent features of the 800, like steady clock.

30th March 2006	#11
jacko Lives for gear Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wroc?aw, Poland Posts: 718	As a Powerbook user I don't complain Got any news about the price?

31st March 2006	#15
dejacky Gear nut Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 144	thanks for that explanation ! It is very cool that the fireface 400 can be powered by a simple firewire port on a laptop. My next question, is will I be able to record and playback 8 channels of 24bit/88.2khz with a regular 1394 firewire port on a Dell laptop? (assuming i have a 7200rpm hard drive) What is the bandwidth limitation of this standard firewire technology and the FireFace 400? Will a 1394b port be required instead?

9th April 2006	#19
I <3 The Beatle Gear addict Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 322	Any word on pricing yet?

9th April 2006	#21
OMU Lives for gear Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Romania Posts: 638	Firewire 400 = 1394a firewire 800 = 1394b

10th April 2006	#24
OMU Lives for gear Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Romania Posts: 638	I didn't do that, but I think you can. You should check the manufacturer's web page for the technical specifications.

11th April 2006	#28
harold716 Gear nut Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 102	The FF400 has 2 mic pres.

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