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RME Fireface 800 Firewire Audio Interface
RME Fireface 800
 
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List Price: $1,999.00
Our Price: $1,799.00
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Product Code: 1844

 

RME Fireface 800 Firewire Audio Interface Details

After more than 2 years of development, the time has come: RME presents the Fireface 800, a 56 channel 24 bit / 192 kHz high-end, high performance and high speed FireWire audio interface. The Fireface 800 combines the latest proven technologies of previous RME products with the fastest FireWire technology. The Fireface 800 offers the some of the best instrument input implementation to be found anywhere in an audio interface plus a high power headphone output and signal-to-noise ratios of 119 dBA - typically RME!

RME's world wide successful Multiface was the basis for the development of the Fireface 800. The Fireface 800 features 8 balanced line I/Os with software controlled reference level switching (-10 dBV, +4 dBu, HiGain), to guarantee highest dynamic range and fidelity. Apart from the levels of the Fireface 800's microphone pre-amps and the headphone outputs, all device settings are software controlled. The RME Fireface 800 is equipped with the latest A/D and D/A converter chips and all I/Os operate up to 192 kHz with a dynamic range of 119 dBA on playback.

RME Fireface 800 Firewire Audio Interface Features

  • Direct ASIO Headphone Monitoring - The Fireface 800's headphone output delivers high volume with low-impedance headphones and mirrors playback channels 9/10. In contrast to the Multiface, the Fireface 800's headphone output is capable of direct ASIO monitoring .
  • 4 Phantom Powered Mic Pres - The RME Fireface 800 has 4 discrete balanced microphone inputs with class-A stage, 48 V phantom power and separate TRS and XLR inputs, which can also be used as additional line inputs. Two of the Fireface 800's four mic inputs are permanently available as channels 9 and 10 while the other two can be used with inputs 7 / 8 on the back panel.
  • Built-In "Tube Sound" Limiter For Guitar And Bass - The FireFace 800's Hi-Z instrument input offers an unprecedented fidelity and flexibility for guitar and bass. A soft-limiter, specifically designed instruments, provides overload protection for the A/D-converter and deliberately creates harmonic distortion to emulate tube sound. Due to a soft transition and creation of harmonics, the Fireface 800's limiter can emulate tube saturation. A 'fuzz' circuit, which can be activated in addition, deliversguitar distortion. A multi-stage filter can remove low- and high-frequency disturbances and guarantees a optimal sound even when recording directly into the computer or when monitoring through a mixing console. Signals from guitar or bass can be recorded clean for optimal plug-in processing in your DAW.
  • ADAT I/O - The RME Fireface 800 has two ADAT I/Os and 1 S/PDIF I/O. When combined with two additional ADI-8 DS', you can have 26 analog inputs and outputs at 48kHz or 18 at 96 kHz. The SPDIF-I/O works up to 192 kHz, allowing 10 analog inputs and outputs at the highest sample rate, plus two digital ones.
  • Simultaneous TRS and XLR I/O - All inputs and outputs can be used at the same time. E. g., the instrument input can be used either instead of the line input on the back, or together with it. Even the jack and the XLR sockets of the microphone inputs can be used simultaneously. In this way, up to 35 signal sources can be connected to the Fireface 800 and recorded onto 28 separate tracks!
  • TotalMix DSP - Thanks to the DSP-based TotalMix mixer from the Hammerfall DSP series, all of the Fireface 800 inputs and outputs can be freely mixed, distributed and routed. With the Fireface 800, up to 14 completely independent stereo submixes are possible. Thanks to an internal flash memory, all of the Fireface 800's settings including TotalMix are recalled during boot. After making all desired settings, the Fireface 800 works in stand-alone (without computer) as a submixer, A/D and D/A converter, headphone mixer, format converter, instrument or microphone pre-amplifier, monitoring mixer and much more.
  • SteadyClock Sync - The Fireface 800 is equipped with SteadyClock, RME's latest sync and clock technology. With SteadyClock, the Fireface 800 becomes a sync reference for the whole studio. the Fireface 800's SteadyClock refreshes clock signals, removes jitter, and takes permanent care of optimal conversion quality, thus guarantees a sensational sound quality.
  • Optional LTC and VITC Sync - Via an insert slot on the back of the Fireface 800, a time code option (TCO) for synchronizing to LTC, video and VITC can be added. Thanks to SteadyClock, the Fireface 800 does not only extract absolute positions, but also a very clean low-jitter word clock.
  • Latest Multi-Port Firewire Technology - RME offers the latest technology giving the Fireface 800 unprecedented power to provide FireWire 800 ports as well as SteadyClock, ADAT and SPDIF digital PLL, TotalMix and stand-alone mode. Using an integrated 32 bit RISC processor, the Fireface 800 is flexible, reconfigurable and one the first Giga-FW interfaces available, optimized for audio with latencies down to 48 samples. The Fireface 800 has a second port for hub functionality, bi-lingual mode for full FireWire 400 compatibility, and an additional FW 400 port. Thanks to the multi-ports, several Fireface 800 can be used in parallel and at the same time on one FireWire port without any problem.

RME Fireface 800 Firewire Audio Interface Specifications

  • Input AD: 8 x 1/4" TRS, 4 x XLR Mic, 1/4" TRS Line, all servo-balanced. 1 x 1/4" TS unbalanced
  • Output DA: 8 x 1/4" TRS, servo-balanced, DC-coupled signal path. 1 x 1/4" TRS unbalanced
  • Input Digital: 2 x ADAT optical or SPDIF optical, SPDIF coaxial (AES/EBU compatible)
  • Output Digital: 2 x ADAT optical or SPDIF optical, SPDIF coaxial (AES/EBU compatible)
  • MIDI: 1 x MIDI I/O via 5-pin DIN jacks, for 16 channels low jitter hi-speed MIDI
  • Dynamic range AD: 109 dB RMS unweighted, 112 dBA
  • THD AD: < -110 dB (< 0.00032 %)
  • THD+N AD: < -104 dB (< 0.00063 %)
  • Crosstalk AD: > 110 dB
  • Dynamic range DA: 116 dB RMS unweighted, 119 dBA (unmuted)
  • THD DA: < -103 dB (< 0.0007 %)
  • THD+N DA: < -100 dB (< 0.001 %)
  • Crosstalk DA: > 110 dB
  • Input/Output level for 0 dBFS @ Hi Gain: +19 dBu
  • Input/Output level for 0 dBFS @ +4 dBu: +13 dBu
  • Input/Output level for 0 dBFS @ -10 dBV: +2 dBV
  • Sample rate internally: 32, 44.1, 48, 64, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 128, 176.4, 192 kHz
  • Sample rate externally: 28 kHz - 200 kHz
  • Frequency response AD/DA, -0.1 dB: 5 Hz - 21,5 kHz (sf 48 kHz)
  • Frequency response AD/DA, -0.5 dB: < 5 Hz - 43.5 kHz (sf 96 kHz)
  • Frequency response AD/DA, -1 dB: < 5 Hz - 70 kHz (sf 192 kHz)

RME Fireface 800 Firewire 24-Bit/192kHz FireWire Audio Interface System Requirements

  • Windows 2000 SP4 or Windows XP: Full ASIO multi-client operation of WDM, MME, GSIF 2.0 and ASIO 2.0. WDM (DirectSound) with stereo and multi-channel support. Full hot-plugging. Up to 3 units operational.
  • Mac OS X (10.3. or up): Core Audio, Core MIDI. Up to 3 units operational. OS X driver expected October 2004.

What We Think - RME Fireface 800 Review

RME has solid drivers, and offers a very good sound for a great price. There are some interfaces that cost less for sure, but when you run RME for 3 years straight as I have with zero issues with hardware or software or drivers…you tend to stick with it. Totalmix is a very cool internal mixer for setting up headphone feeds, unbelievable flexibility...you can literally route any input or output anywhere at anytime.

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Average Customer Review: 4.5 of 5 		| Total Reviews: 4 Write a review.

  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
Fireface 800 November 3, 2010
Reviewer: joachime from Sweden  
Great audio interface with lots of features. Solid drivers and software utilities. Good quality on A/D and D/A converters. Works great both on Mac and PC.

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  1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 
Very Good Interface June 23, 2010
Reviewer: Jonathan Cohen from Pennsylvania  

The conversion is very good.  Monitorin sounds much clearer through this interface, and low level mix details are easy to hear.  The preamps are very clean, although a little noise does pop up with the gain turned all the way up.

The gain law on the preamps is a little weird.  There seems to be a dead spot around the middle, follwed by a big jump in gain around the end of the turn.  Also, the lack of an external monitor level control starts to get annoying, as the only way to turn down the monitors is to go into the DSP mixer and turn down the outs.  I sometimes hve to do this even with the volume on my material turned almost to nothing.  Also, RME's SteadyClock re clocks external signals, so the Fireface basically has to serve as your master clock.  This isn't to say that the Fireface's clock is bad, although there are better clocks out there, such as in Black Lion's mods, Apogee, Lucid, etc., but this limits the number of digital systems you can have synced to Word Clock.


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  0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 
Great interface January 18, 2010
Reviewer: Anonymous Person from Umea, AC Sweden  
The good and the bad:
+ Very stable drivers, good conversion, lots of connectivity, direct monitoring, good support.

- The preamps sounds a bit flat and dull (but I have really nice preamp to compare with). It's can't be externally clocked without modifications.

Overall it's a very good interface.

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  1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 
RME is gold in your hand January 12, 2010
Reviewer: Jean-Francois Ouellet from Montreal, QC Canada  
I have this card for 2 years now and I never regret the day I bought it.  Easy of use, versatile, fast response, drivers up to date, great sounding converters.  This is definatly THE card you need to start up your studio.

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