# Looking for suggestions for a firewire mic-pre/interface



## soss (Apr 21, 2014)

I'm familiar with some of the pro audio interfaces out there, but I was wondering if anybody makes one for measurement purposes. That is all I will be using it for. Something with an IEC power inlet would be ideal. 

So far I'm considering a used Presonus Firestudio or Focusrite Saffire. But maybe there's something with less channels (I only need one)? And something for under $200? 

Thanks for any suggestions.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

What OS are you using? If OS X, using on-board audio or a simple 2-channel USB card is recommended (for more info on REW and OS X see this thread). Regardless of OS, acoustic measurements place low demands on audio interfaces, even the most modest soundcards should be more than up to the job.


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## gazoink (Apr 17, 2013)

For measurement you need at least a quiet, low distortion front end. I owned a USBPre (1st gen) it was fine for measurement, had almost instrumentation grade inputs for both mic and line level, but playback was flawed. The current USBPre http://www.sounddevices.com/products/usbpre/ is supposed to be a winner, but pricy. I have a Firestudio Project, which I cannot recommend for measurement. I also have an Motu 4pre which is a good measurement front end, but causes problems if you use REW with Mac OS X, though there is a work around. I'd like to try a Focusrite Forte, they should have ironed out their driver bugs by now, and but it'll probably have the same issues with OSX. The Forte would at least provide some ability to measure higher than 20KHz, if that's at all interesting.

The Focusrite 2i2 look promising, 2 channels in/out, so not OS X issues, and 24/96 capable. For $200, not bad. 

I don't consider USB mics because I need the option of doing line level tests with the same device. I don't see an advantage to Firewire for measurement purposes.


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