Presonus Firebox

It was time to equip the new Mac with a decent audio interface, something that would allow me to hook up a good microphone.

In my case, that’s a R0DE NT1-A, a nice studio condenser mic which requires phantom power.

I had a few requirements regarding an audio interface:

• External. The components in a computer generate a great deal of electrical noise; this noise gets introduced into an analog signal unless it’s well shielded. Thus, the inside of the case is quite a hostile environment in which to run analog/digital converters, making an external interface a compelling choice.
• Low-latency headphone monitoring. An entertaining party trick is to have someone speak into a microphone while they’re monitoring their own voice with a slight delay. This has the odd effect of causing the victim to dramatically elongate vowel sounds, which is fun to hear. However, it’s no fun at all to do anything serious with, so a low-latency headphone hardware monitor is key.
• Firewire connectivity. Perhaps it’s just me, but I’ve had the worst luck with USB audio devices; it seems as if I’m always tripping over some bug in the chipsets. The pros have been using Firewire for this sort of thing for years, so the kinks have been worked out.
• At least one Mic preamp input with 48V phantom power.
• At least two line inputs or an effects send/return; there’s a lot of very cool analog signal processing equipment available, but it’s all line-level.
• Finally, zero driver hassles. In the PC world that we’ve recently escaped, the dominant vendor in the sound card landscape can’t seem to create a reliable driver despite years of trying. Every so often, a young, vibrant, and forward-thinking company with solid, reliable drivers would spring up, only to be acquired by the dominant vendor, who would then return us to our regularly-scheduled blue screens of death. (Incidentally, this vendor finally appears to be teetering on the brink of demise; don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, chumps….)
• Cost should not be of a magnitude sufficient to generate The Look from my Lovely Wife.

Now, even with this somewhat restrictive set of requirements, options are hardly limited; ask any musician and you’ll learn that there’s just no lack of gear to spend money on. Armed with a list of my possible options, I ventured forth to Guitar Center, our local audio Mecca, there to fondle the possible choices.

I quickly settled on the Presonus Firebox.

While several gear choices met the requirements, the build quality of the Firebox was a differentiator for me. I’m a sucker for metal, which the Firebox possesses in quantity, while many competitors were mostly plastic.

Hates plastic. Hates it, we do.

However, the clincher on the Firebox was the fact that it’s a ‘class compliant device’. To the uninitiated, ‘class compliant’ should be equated with other two-word combinations, such as:

• tax refund
• winning ticket
• free beer

In short, it means that there are no drivers required for the device. Let me go over that again.

There are no drivers required for the device.

They’re built into the OS; you just plug the unit in and it all works out instantly. Words cannot properly convey my feelings on this topic after reflection on just what it was like to rebuild a Windows machine after a sound driver ‘upgrade’ went bad.

There’s a lot to like here. A total of six inputs, including two with mic preamps. It’s a 24bit/96K interface, which is certainly good enough for my needs. On most machines, it’s actually completely powered from the Firewire bus; a supplemental wall wart power supply is provided for those machines with inadequate bus voltage. Seems to have excellent A/D conversion, at least to my ears, and the monitoring has no detectable latency. Also, the headphone volume does literally go to 11, though I suspect that a depressed skull fracture and/or cranial implosion could be expected to occur in the 7-8 range.

I think the one downside to the unit is the relatively low gain of 45db provided by the mic preamps; this is apparently a Firewire voltage limitation. That’s a decent amount of gain for most mics, but it’ll be marginal for some of the quieter ones. In my case, I had to nearly max the gain to accommodate my mic.

Street price on these is presently hovering at around $300 US.

I’m quite pleased with mine. Presonus produces an array of form-factor equivalent analog equipment such as a preamp and compressor which stack with this unit, thus leaving the door open for further gear acquisition. Apparently, they’ve studied my buying habits…..

Tags: Audio