Rme ff800 vs 003+

[Raoul23]

Just woundering how much better the RME FF800 is compared to the 003+ would i notice much difference in quality with the pre amps etc. Does it have a better word clock than the 003+

Some one informed me that the word clock makes a difference to the quality if they are right how is this

At the mo ive have a TL audio 5051 which im using with a SM7b and feeding that in to the 003+. If i was to feed it in to the fireface would it sound alot different.

Thanks for your help in advance

[albee1952]

By reputation, the RME should sound better, but there is a certain functionality(in PT, especially during recording) to the 003 that is still worthwhile(if you are deciding on WHICH interface to use). If the RME has a lightpipe output, I would simply feed that into the 003 lightpipe input, bypassing all the input analog part of the 003.

[Raoul23]

Originally Posted by albee1952

By reputation, the RME should sound better, but there is a certain functionality(in PT, especially during recording) to the 003 that is still worthwhile(if you are deciding on WHICH interface to use). If the RME has a lightpipe output, I would simply feed that into the 003 lightpipe input, bypassing all the input analog part of the 003.

are you talking about the low latency functionalbility in PT with the 003. I just dont want to lay out £1000 and not really hear much difference in quality i would just be happy with the 003+ if that was the case
thanks for your view

any other opinions would be much appreciated

[paulmellors]

I've just moved from a 002R to FF800 and for me it is different again in quality. Obv the 003 does have better clocking than the 002 but the clock on the FF seems vastly superior.

I just think it sounds better. Only downside is no 32 buffer setting, but runs happily at 64. I think this is a worthy compromise.

Paul

[Raoul23]

Originally Posted by paulmellors

I've just moved from a 002R to FF800 and for me it is different again in quality. Obv the 003 does have better clocking than the 002 but the clock on the FF seems vastly superior.

I just think it sounds better. Only downside is no 32 buffer setting, but runs happily at 64. I think this is a worthy compromise.

Paul

How does clocking improve the quality im a novice on things like this, could you explain this to me


thanks

[kaiserpathos]

I just got a ff800, upgraded from a PMIO (which is now just my HUI mainly) - so for me the difference is even more noticeable than a move from a 002r might be? Setup was a breeze, and oddly my outboard ADAT Digimax 96k sounds better hosted on the ff800 than it did on the PMIO. Didn't expect that at all, maybe due to the superior clocking, I dunno.

Re: buffer samples -- For me, quality beats record-latency. 64 samples was less of an issue for me than the improvement in pres & converters over my PMIO. If recording a track or two at-a-time w/ zero plug-ins, or maybe w/ Eleven LE now and then, 64 samples doesn't seem like it would be all that distracting. YMMV, esp if used to low-lat monitoring. I used to have to record at 128 samples on the PMIO under PT8, and so I'm happy with the 64 samples given the other "gets" with the ff800.

[albee1952]

Since I usually record at 64 without the Low Latency feature, I will have to take a good look at the RME. Still trying to decide how much I need to control surface though(but with the issues on the 003 controller, it may be just as well). Thanks for the hands on reports

[paulmellors]

Originally Posted by Raoul23

How does clocking improve the quality im a novice on things like this, could you explain this to me


thanks

I haven't really got the time to explain clocking at length. There's an enormous amount of reference material out there to read.

It's worth spending some time to further understand the technical side. It's a never ending learning process.

[paulmellors]

You'll just have to get that C|24 I can highly recommend it. Very happy PT user now with C|24 + FF800.

Just need Vocalign to work now.

[Raoul23]

Well im still stuck do i buy one or not lol

Thanks everyone