"Just spent the last few hours with the Saffire and I just wanted to drop you a note to say a big "wow". It delivers everything it promises and to my ears significantly outperforms even the TrakMaster in our other studio, and as for my previous PC front end, the less said about that the better: "24 bit" it claimed; was it hell... . There's something really spine-tingling about the Saffire's EQ when treating vocals - can't put my finger on it yet, but I think I'll just leave it as being that "magic" that a good EQ should have. And the headphone outs are really, REALLY clean. Nice, and much appreciated. I should also add that the installation process was the model of simplicity - how other manufacturers could learn from you on that. Auto install, auto update, auto plugin install, auto firmware flash. Great stuff! Anyway, I know you already know all this, just wanted to say that from a user's perspective this box is every bit as good as I'd hoped, and it's not often I can say that about technology... :)" David Harman :Thanks a lot for your solution and your fast and nice support. The best and fastest customer support i have experienced. I have had a few sound-cards including the original mbox and MOTU 828 mkII and a few others but everything about the Saffire is better, the software, sound quality, design. Thanks again" Fredrik Timour "I love mine. The onboard DSP is sheer genius, allowing you to monitor with zero latency (harware monitoring) and reverb." Harmony Central Forum - anon " We use the Saffire in our setup. It works very well and the hardware effects are very useful and quite good. For it's price, there isn't a better interface. I didn't try the Edirol but I bought a Saffire two months ago. I'm really satisfied with it. Pres are great, included EQ and Compression plug-ins are great too. I love the fact that I can have two different headphones mixes. It's very stable and I'm able to work at 128 samples of buffer size without any glitches. I have a Mbox and the only reason I'm keeping it is because I need to run ProTools sometimes. Otherwise, the Saffire is way better." Apple forum - anon "The idea of the Saffire is truly great, it's exactly the right idea. Being able to bring audio in and offload some DSP functions makes the computer really like a portable studio for a first time - the computer on it's own just doesn't have the sound quality or horsepower...." Andy - Philadelphia "This is by far the best computer-audio interface for the money. I have worked with the Mbox, M-Audio firewire 410, Presonus Firebox and the Lexicon Omega, and the Saffire outshines them all when it comes to sound quality...Can't wait to buy the next computer interface Focusrite builds (more inputs please for patching!!!)" Norman Cook - WA - USA "We use the Saffire in our setup. It works very well and the hardware effects are very useful and quite good. For it's price, there isn't a better interface. I didn't try the Edirol but I bought a Saffire two months ago. I'm really satisfied with it. Pres are great, included EQ and Compression plug-ins are great too. I love the fact that I can have two different headphones mixes. It's very stable and I'm able to work at 128 samples of buffer size without any glitches. I have a Mbox and the only reason I'm keeping it is because I need to run ProTools sometimes. Otherwise, the Saffire is way better." Anon - apple forum "So far using Saffire as a audio interface it work great! The pre-amp is good without spend lot of money to get the good result and the dsp-core plugin allow you to track down without latency problem also a cool experience..but most of all, i like the saffire controller concept..And the Eq, compressor also as a bones if u haven spend money to buy high-end third party plugin..after all, i said go for it..it will be your good partner before focusrite throw out more cool Saffire stuff." "I used it at the Apple - Guitarists Seminar, where ALL the machines were running the saffire quite happily at low enough latencies for live guitar playing. indeed Mark's entire demonstration was done using a saffire.... not a single Audio glitch in sight" Quotes taken from SOS forum "Picked up the Saffire last night. This might be that interface I've been wanting for years. It sounds good and plays well with Logic, but the real story is the control software. I've never before used an interface that seemed designed from the start to speed up recording and make things simple without dumbing it down. The built in DSP powered EQ and Compressor sound good." Anon "I played a show last night with logic running through my Focusrite Saffire. I did have some drum tracks backing me, but for the most part, my setup acted as only an effects rig for my guitar. All said, the system worked wonderfully, and the crowd loved the complex, powerful sound." Willian Waldrop "Before I purchased the Saffire I considered several interfaces. I looked at M-Audio, E-Mu, Pre-Sonus and M-Box. I know I made the right choice. The support has been outstanding. My review which I will submit to Harmony Central will reflect this. Again, thanks for the support. Robert Plovanich, Austin, TX USA I just got the Focusrite Saffire and it (pre's included) ROCKS. Plus you get some DSP and plugins too..." Daniel Pool-apple forum "I hate firewire but this was to much to pass up. It was taken a little while to figure the DSP out,But after that, i got it runnin like a champ. I wish Cubase SX3 prosessed at 192kHz, boy would that put icing on the cake,,,,,,,you must get this jewel box" "I work at a music store and got to check it all out before I bought one. I just put it through the paces and this thing is amazing. Sounds wonderful... converters, preamps and plugins. On par with others in it's class (Firebox, UA-66) but blows them away for features/flexibility." Both taken from Sweetwater forum, USA I got my Saffire - and it's bloody cool. It's GREAT! - I love the plugin's - simply dynamite!!!" Michael Sumner, Canada "It's still very new to me, but so far it has surpassed my expectations! (A word for Daniel at Sound Control-whom I talked to at great length before making my purchase-his patience and expertise was invaluable!!)" Mac Bulman, Sheffield, England "I used to love my Mbox until now. i got a Saffire for work to use to teach music Tec to students at NACRO. I have been a sound engineer for 10 years and have dreamt for the day were you have a external I.O. with D.S.P. compression, EQ, Reverb MIDI and 2 headphones outputs (very important). I took home the Saffire to test it out with a friend Jim hows a song writer (attached jpeg) and a Mbox owner as well. We recorded Bass (Saffire I.O.),Guitar's,Vocels (AT4040) ,V-Drums (MIDI) then to Audio after a bit of edit) on logic 7 on a G4 Mac laptop. i love the fact that you can record vocals with compression it makes such a differences, And with no latency. And that you could monitor the V-Drums throw the Saffire while recording the MIDI wich is cool. Thank you for making the Saffire it is an excellent product. I will be selling my Mbox shortly and replacing it with Focusrite Saffire thank you." Samuel J Booth, London, England "Best sounding digital compression and eq i've ever used. The shrink and float features are invaluable." Stephen Berg, California, USA "Having used it for a good session over the weekend and tonight its almost laughable that i used to consider my ozone as a quality s/c....the difference is staggering... just going over some old mixes(not that old) and finding discrepancies was a bit of a shock....no word of a lie i was amazed how poor id mixed some tracks with my ozone, some of them sounded very weak, esp. the top and bottom end.... i didnt expect this...i always thought it was a bit of a myth A/D D/A conversion ? how wrong could i be! i burnt to disc a version of a track id mixed with my ozone and compared it with against the same track id tweaked using my saffire. i then played them one after another on my denon hi-fi and had a good chuckle to myself this is a quality product" Taken from the Future Music forum "About time - a decent spec unit from a top manufacturer for under £350! Very impressive unit. There's been a lot of hype prior to the launch of the Saffire and after reading some rave reviews in both Sound On Sound and Future Music I decided to buy one. It's exactly what I was looking for with the right amount of IO for my needs. Very stylish and compact without being too 'fussy' and looks great next to the white and silver of my iMac! Feels sturdy enough and yet it's takes up hardly any space. Top marks for the Saffire Control software - very useful and thankfully easy to use (other developers should take note) and the plug ins are a nice bonus. Only been using it for a just over a week so time will tell. Overall I think it's a great bit of kit for the money - I reckon you're on to a winner!!!" Paul Wassall - Cheshire - England "I've owned a Digi 001, a MOTU 828, a Firewire 410 and a Mbox. The Saffire is better than any of those. Great job!" Meriol Lehmann - producer - Quebec "Thank you for producing a truly fantastic product. It is the 3rd audio interface I purchased for use with my dell laptop - inspiron 6000. I tried the m-audio audiophile and the drivers were terrible! Then I tried the presonus firebox which I liked for the most part, but it did have intermittent audio clicks and pops. Then, on a whim, I purchased your product hoping that all of its hype might live up to it. What especially sold me on your unit was the built in effects to limit the cpu drain caused by using vst for the basic like eq and compressor. Wow, your unit sounds great and is quite honestly ROCK SOLID!! I have not had a click or a pop. I had lowered my expectations thinking that those glitches were a fact of life with laptop recording. But, you have proven me wrong. Thank you!!! Now I cann finally spend time recording and not trying to get my setup working!" Stephen Theriot - LA "Thanks so much, Oliver (Tech Support). I just love this unit. Honestly, I really do almost weep when I listen to the sound it produces compared with all my rack gear from five years ago. If you ever release a portable flash recorder model for field recording or podcasts, please let me know." Fred Leo "Well, I really wasn't expecting a mass-market product to sound like this. On replay, there is a superb level of detail, and the high end in particular is clean and very well presented. The mic amps need some special comment! Although I wouldn't say they are 'neutral' in sound (in a way that something like the Grace201 is), what you do get is the wonderful and very useful sound of a great discrete transistor style design (I have no idea if it actually is or not). It does indeed sound like the ff green pre I have, which I have always liked due to the somewhat flattering colour it adds to some sources. Having this in a firewire box is fantastic. On my current project I made some great vocal recordings with the Saffire - I couldn't initially believe the results were musically more pleasing than the normal channel I use. This was a shock, given the price difference. One final thing to add, and congratulate you on, is the way the Saffire allows you get musical results from your session performers. By not having the usual faffing around with DAW interfaces regarding monitoring and foldback reverb issues, you can get straight down to the job in hand. This has a considerable human effect on the people in your session! Great to see design extending beyond the engineering." Ambrose Field Composer, and three-time Prix Ars Electronica Digital Music Honorary Award Winner "I wanted to thank you for the great publication. It has refreshed my love of recording. Thanks to a review in your magazine (Tape Op), I found the right gear for my budget and am loving my Focusrite Saffire interface. Using this portable interface with a laptop has turned me into a portable studio. The sound from my Focusrite Saffire interface is righteous! I love what I hear from this equipment. Restoring vinyl, recording instruments, vocalists or narration - they all print beautifully. My complaint is there aren't enough hours in the day to record." Scott Stover - Letter to Tape Op Magazine