Hi. I have just seen a few audio interfaces with FW on eBay. They are priced less than USB interfaces. Are they still worth it with ThunderBolt adapter?

 

I would make sure the drivers are still supported . My focusrite sapphire 56 is no longer working because of drivers

 

On Windows, in most situations, you can "force" drivers install.
On Mac too...until you bought a Mac Apple Silicon M.

So forum search your OS and soundcard model for drivers "install tricks" before buying. Even if not officially supported, they may work on recent OS.

 

Last edited: Aug 11, 2024

I am on a pc with windows 11. I have read that TB3 and above is compatible with FW. I am not sure how Windows supports FW.

 

Not worth it neither on Mac nor pc. It would be just fine if you already had a FW interface. There can be lots of things in an audio interface, but the main reasons for buying one vs an onboard audio chip are, the better pre-amp and a/d & d/a conversion. Both these aspects have become much better in audio interfaces since the time FW was around. Plus your new USB interface will still be around for many years to come.

Drivers work, at least in win10, but when you have a TB3/4 port(s) on your pc, going into FW territory is just looking for trouble hahaha.
Cheers

 

noise floor is much higher on old fw interfaces...

but if its an old RME and you have allready build in fw card , i would try it ,depends on price ...

 

no
well, unless you have equally outdated PC/Mac with equally outdated operating system that is supported by equally outdated drivers for such interface