M-Audio FW 410 good for 5.1 monitoring on Mac?

[Martin Pauly]

I am looking for an audio interface for my iMac for 5.1 surround sound monitoring, to be used with Final Cut Studio and Logic Pro. I don't have the monitors yet, but one thing at a time...

Searching in this forum has brought up many posts written over the last year or so that seem to indicate that the M-Audio Firewire 410 is a popular choice for this. Is this still the case today, or are there other solutions that I should take a look at?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

- Martin

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

The MAudio is still a great choice. PreSonus has some great options, Echo is still one of my faves. Their drivers are simply stable no matter what.

[Martin Pauly]

Originally Posted by Douglas Spotted Eagle

Echo is still one of my faves. Their drivers are simply stable no matter what.

Thanks, Spot - I assume the AUDIOFIRE8 would be the unit to look at from Echo? Stable drivers are important, no doubt. I recall reading that the M-Audio FW 410 didn't exactly shine in this area, but that was in posts made over a year ago when companies may have still been struggling with Apple's move to Intel CPUs - so maybe this doesn't apply anymore today.

So far, we have:
- M-Audio Firewire 410 - street price around $250
- Echo AUDIOFIRE8 - street price around $500

- Martin

[Steve House]

I have an AudioFire8 and will testify that it is an excellent unit.