Focusrite Saffire PRO 14 Reviews

Ben T.
from RI
April 9, 2013Music Background:
Musician

Very Impressive Interface

I've been very impressed with the Saffire Pro 14. After using a couple other products in the same price range, this is by far the most solid (performance wise) and easy to use unit. This is the first time I've used firewire instead of USB and I am very happy with the switch. The unit's design is concise yet functional, just the way I prefer it. The two inputs on the front are the ones I use the most, and I can plug my monitors and sub into the back outputs. Simple, reliable, speedy. Can't imagine a better buy for the price.

Jud Nichols
from Florida
January 17, 2013Music Background:
Musician, Engineering and Producing Student

1st time buyer from Sweetwater and It Was AMAZING!

Not only did I get the product I ordered in a very quick amount of time but the customer support was very exceptional. They called me to see if i had any problems or needed any help with getting my Focusrite Interface set up. Plus it was really cool that they sent candy with my package. IT WAS SUCH AN AMAZING SURPRISE! From now on I will only order my gear from Sweetwater.com

John Traugut
from PA USA
November 13, 2012Music Background:
One-time concert pianist/vocal accompanist turned EE

Great Basic Gear

This is one solid piece of basic gear to interface your audio and your computer at 24/96k ! Qualty of build and sound can't be beat! Better than 0.001% distortion plus 2 mic preamps with 48V phantom power.

The only drawback, for some, is the Firewire interface. Those cables are stubbornly stiff and I don't think the plugs are all that swell, not that USB is anything to write home about mechanically , either.

I would prefer a somewhat more substantial and flexible power supply wire, but other brands are no better. The impressively small 12V/1.25A wall wart produces impressively small hum that's 115dB down on a spectrum analyser.

Robert
from Atlanta, GA
March 8, 2012Music Background:
Songwriter, Performer

Love It!

This interface is low end price with big end sound. I used to use an Mbox Mini, after that I used a Digi 002. The Pro 14 was less expensive than either of my previous interfaces and had better pre amps and converters.

First of all let's talk about the pres. The pres are nice and clean. They also provide a good amount of gain without adding much noise.

I also love how much it can push my speakers. I've tried other interfaces that can't wouldn't provide as much volume to my speakers but the Pro 14 does great.

The midi inputs work great. Very responsive.

The only thing I don't like about this interface is that I had to load the MixControl software from Focusrite to get it to work. I haven't used the MixControl much. I may like it once I get to know it a little better.

Overall its a great interface. Can't see myself upgrading for a while.

Jon
from Minneapolis, MN
June 15, 2011Music Background:
Recording artist, producer, studio musician

Best in its class

A Pro 14 replaced a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS soundcard at home, and a Lynx II soundcard was replaced with a Pro 40 at the main studio. No comparision in fidelity, noise floor, features. I'm really impressed and very pleased with both units. And the "streaming" Firewire protocol versus "packets" data transfer with USB/Ethernet makes a huge difference.

Rick Saxby
from Columbia, TN
June 8, 2011Music Background:
Just a guitarist

very good

good piece of gear. Does what u need. no Complaints I'm happy w/ the purchase. not diapointed at all.

Bryan
from VA, USA
May 25, 2011Music Background:
Recording Engineer, Producer, Composer

Nice

I never got so much bang for my buck. This think does everything I need it to and then some. Manufacturing is good solid quality.

from Long Island, NY
May 7, 2011Music Background:
semi-pro musician

Excellent, full-featured sound module

This is an impressive sound module. I was replaced a reliable but dated Aardvark system. I wanted to avoid USB due to potential bandwith issues and opted for Firewire. I had originally planned to get a similar Firewire module but I called Sweetwater to chat with them first before placing the order. I'm glad I did. The Focusrite hadn't really crossed my radar screen but I took a serious look at it after the SW rep suggested the device, did some more research and then decided to purchase the device.

The device has an excellent build quality and is cleanly laid out. Three green status LEDs indicate connection status. I would have liked to see an LED for midi activity, but this is very minor.

The first thing I noticed when I hooked it up was that there was no noise when the gain is turned all the way up. Even with a pair of headphones on the monitor out cranked all the way up there is almost nothing to be heard. Very impressive.

I did have some initial trouble with noice coming from the Firewire line. This was digitial noise originating from my old music computer that coupled to the outputs on the Focusrite. I tried a stand-alone sound card but that didn't help. When I installed it the focusrite in my newer office machine, however the noise was gone. I wound up replacing the old music computer (I was going to do it anyway) and replaced it with a modern Gigabit/Intel IC5 machine; no noise and it works great.

The fidelity on this thing is phenomenal. Again, I don't spend my days in a recording studio, but this device sounds far and away better than anything else I have ever owned.

I run it at the fastest latency settings (about 3 ms in and 5 ms out) in Sonar on the new machine and it doesn't hiccup, even with all four analog inputs AND the SPDIF being captured. Pretty impressive.

The driver software is very reliable and easy to use. The ASIO drivers have not given any trouble whatsoever.

Overall this has been a great piece of gear and has brought my sound production to a new level.

Timothy Rocker
from Atlanta
September 9, 2012Music Background:
home studio guy

impressive little box packs a punch

I tried the Pro 14 out after returning an Impact Twin. The saffire box was plug and play! The sound is great and has clarity and definition -- a significant step up from my older Echo Mia soundcard. Some problems in my mix were exposed in more detail and more easily resolved. The saffire mix control may cause a bit of confusion at first, but you can find easy-to-follow tutorials on YouTube. The only con for me is that the headpone output is a bit weak for my 250 ohm cans. You may need a headphone amp if you have high ohm cans. The good thing about Focusrite products is that, unlike some other companies, they keep up with driver developments and updates. Not to mention some of the goodies the come along with the pro 14 (vst plugin suite). And now I know I can buy from Sweetwater with confidence as they lived up to their no hassle return policy. Overall, I'm pleased as punch. This box is a tremendous value. Love it.

Greg
from Minnesota USA
April 19, 2011Music Background:
Guitar player, Home studio engineer.

It does the job and then some!

This thing is awesome Focusrites reputation is well deserved, the pre amps sound great and give me enough gain to get my ribbon mic up to a suitable level without distortion. Mix control gives you an amazing amount of flexibility for routing and especially monitoring, it lets you set up a mix of direct and the output from your DAW so you can hear your tracks and yourself without latency.
The only thing I wish the phantom power was switchable on each channel rather than global. Ignore Ableton live it is a very limited version and almost useless.
Over all this is probably the best interface you can find in this range for a home studio or any studio for that matter.

from
February 1, 2011

Great Quality, Great Price

The construction of the Saffire Pro 14 is high quality. Everything from the knobs to the input jacks seem to be well constructed. It’s important to me to have rigid construction because it can withstand the rigors of clumsy users and the hazardous mess that a home studio can quickly turn into. It’s powered over firewire, however the people at Focusrite also provide a power supply with a few adapters for use in the US, Europe, etc. That’s a classy move to consider a wide user base. It comes with plugins as well as a mixer that is used in standalone. The mixer software also allows a number of different mix settings, routing, loopbacks, and output scenarios. Loopback is awesome because it counts as a separate set of channels, which provides a lot of flexibility.

I only have a few discrepancies with the interface, for one there is no power switch. I would like to be able to power it off with a switch, but you have to get the 24 model for this convenience. Also, I had to start up the mixing software before the interface would output audio when I first set everything up. I wasn’t aware of this and it seemed a little odd. It’s no big deal, just something to be cognizant of while doing the initial setup. Sometimes it just stops working if my computer goes to sleep, but never while I’m working on music. It only did this twice so I’m not sure how prominent this is, or if it’s even my OS and not the interface.

It’s a great interface at a great price. I really like that it’s constructed of metal and that it produces quality sound. It seems to me that you don’t sacrifice quality when buying the lower end models from Focusrite, which is something I’ve been victim to in the past. The built-in mixer helps out a lot because it provides you with features like sample rate, level control, etc if you just want to jam a bit without ever opening up the DAW!

Iman
from Jakarta, Indonesia
January 8, 2011Music Background:
Musician, Music Producer and Sound Designer

Magnificent

This is THE best audio interface you can get for the price. I love the preamp as with other Focusrite's Preamp that utilizes it's years of award winning pre's. The preamp sounds very clear, does not colour your sound. It's what-you-hear-is-what-you-get thing.

Worth it!

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