Focusrite Saffire (original) white noise at high gain

[fastlanestoner]

Increasing a gain pot on anything will increase the noise along with it... Sounds like your unit is fine.

[joexcm]

Ah I certainly hope so. My E-MU 0202 doesn't make anywhere near the same amount of noise at full gain though which is what made me wonder. Especially as the Focusrite is supposed to be the better interface.

[joexcm]

Any other opinions? I know it's hard to know since it's so old but I'm selling it and I don't want to sell something that's broken :/

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by joexcm

Ah I certainly hope so. My E-MU 0202 doesn't make anywhere near the same amount of noise at full gain though which is what made me wonder. Especially as the Focusrite is supposed to be the better interface.

Your emu might just have less gain. When the noise is noticeable, how loud is an input signal eg a dynamic mic level?

[joexcm]

Well the Saffire's dials don't have dB readings but officially the E-MU has a maximum level of +6.5dBV and +12dBV on its two inputs while the Focusrite has a mic gain of +13 dB to + 60 dB and a line gain of -10 dB to +36 dB but the noise is the same level whatever the input type. The noise creeps in about halfway round so around 20/30dB I suppose. That does sound quite a bit higher, would that explain it?