Phonic 808 Universal Audio Interface

Hi

I´ve looking around for audio interfaces lately, as much line I/O´s as possible, ADAT possibilities etc. The idea is use the 24 channels of my mackie. I was looking for M-audio Profire 2626, wich looks nice, and with good comments about it in the net, but I own a old M-audio and I really don´t want to buy M-audio again.

I´ve found the Phonic 808 Universal (http://www.phonic.com/en/firefly-808-universal.html)
Capable of 18 I/O´s via firewire, it´s really cheap, any experience on it? I know it won´t be like a Apogee, but I´d like to get some cheap solution and then earn money to get  really pro converters.

This one with an ADA8000 for around 500€, plus my crappy m-audio (just for +8 outputs) and I will have up to 28 outs and 22 inputs, fits my needs, and my budget too. No need for nice mic preamps .

Googling it give me confusing results, some people talk sh*t about the brand, anything specially bad on this unit, some people says it´s worth the money and in harmony central it´s a intensive review I´m reading, looks fine...

The brand makes audio analyzers, speakers and amps, many things, looks serious, some of the people in there writes in the forums, looks like good support. Also, the unit it´s not new, and seems to work fine with my OS (Mac OsX10.5.8)

I think I will take the risk, I feel some kind of good vibe on this....

Any info, suggestions or experiences are welcome... Thanks

I've thought about this too, but having worked for phonic I'm a little ehhh.

Main problems we had were that the drivers for the original 808 were finicky at best.  People would sent them in for repair and I could never get the damn thing to reproduce the symptoms that were described.  Also in the original they boasted being able to daisy chain units together.  We found that that was only true if the firewire chips had different serial numbers.  The company as a whole only had 2-3 different serial numbers for a world wide distribution so it became a thing for us that when some one ordered 2 units for a customer our tech would have to swap the chips out and test the crap out of them before we could ship.  We would also have problems with the drivers working for MAC.  But the main problem was that we advertized one thing and produced another.

Now, I have no Idea how the new 808 universal works seeing that it has both USB and Firewire, but I feel you should know what your getting into.

Also, check and see if there is a service center close to your area. Also how easy is it for them to get the parts to repair if needed.  We received parts every 3-4 months and sometimes it was what we needed and sometimes not.  I seem to remember the European distributors having a meeting about this at namm one year and our guys from HQ coming out looking like they wanted to cry.  So, maybe it's changed but do the research just in case.

Now I kept one in my office and tracked through it and it never gave me problems, I personally liked the unit, probably for that reason.  But I always look at their stuff with suspicion.


-Casey

Was it a Dice II solution or a bridgeco?

Rochey said:

Was it a Dice II solution or a bridgeco?

Click to expand...

Bridgeco

-Casey

Well, thanks for the replies

I have a service center in my country, not so far from me, I´m suspicious too, but with some kind of good vibe.

I think I´ll give it a try, and if it doesn´t work nice will go back to the shop, I have 30 days for work with it and see

Thanks!

don't do that...

I've got one...

on the paper it's look good, in real life...humm...it works but with some issue.

- when I bought it I was on Vista and unable to make it work on firewire (support says that it happens, hum great)
but it worked in USB, well from time to time.
It needed to be restarted all the time, really not stable.

- I upgraded my pc and  it runs now under 7 64bits...I even can't install the drivers...support said that certificate are not up to date, I just needed to wait some days.

it's been two month and since I've bought a nice Motu 823 wich is really great and works...

the 808 is blocking the door and just takin dust...

As far as the firewire was concerned we always had to tell people to get a firewire PCI/PCIe card with a TI chipand to double check that you weren't shareing an IRQ with the FW.  This is what was recommended from HQ, though it seldom made a difference.  The weakest part of the whole thing is the driver situation.  It always felt like when the product(finally)hit the shelf the product team moved on to the next thing and didn't want to revisit the product at all because they felt there was nothing wrong with it.  So when it came to updates it was not a priority for them, cause they already had your money!

-Casey

true!

On my previous config I had both onboard FW and FW PCIe card...nothing...never could install the card.
But it worked nice between the abrupts cuts of the card.

I must say that for those, even for home studios, it worth to get the pricy one!

I didn't regret the 700€ for the Motu.

Well, nobobdy can be hurted during some tests, I've got a full month for trying it, and for sure I will get my money back if something goes wrong.

Thanks

Well if it comes down to you having to take it back make sure it's:
A- within the time frame.
B- that your dealer will give you your money back and not just try to replace it
C- know that Phonic will not refund you even if the dealer says they are the ones that should.

Cant tell you how many calls I took with that last one being the subject.

-Casey

signalflow said:

Well if it comes down to you having to take it back make sure it's:
A- within the time frame.
B- that your dealer will give you your money back and not just try to replace it
C- know that Phonic will not refund you even if the dealer says they are the ones that should.

Cant tell you how many calls I took with that last one being the subject.

-Casey

Click to expand...

Yes, I've been thinking about this, I'll start emailing and calling asking about, thanks for the advice

Well

Finally I'm gonna get the M-Audio Profire2626, one ADAT I/O more and a more reliable brand...

Thanks

FWIW, I was hesitant at first as well for a Phonic product (what I'd seen felt flimsy), but the thing (a compact mixer with some mic-pre's & multichannel USB-I/O) was exactly what I needed and other brands/products didn't have this combination of functions - or at much higher price & then still some less functionality.
Possibly those others will have better performance but I needed just something compact & decent for multichannel rehearsal-recording & some mixing at the same time.

Must admit that the little thing (Helix board 12 USB) features some smart thinking, not obvious at first. And it sounds certainly fine for what I use it for, the drivers work, no additional whistles & noises and the thing is pretty reasonably built (feels a bit less 'bricky' than say a MS1202). I do hate the separate supply though.

BTW, it may be worthwhile to check some other languages (that you can understand) of their documentation as well.  The English manual is normal/decent, but to my surprise the German one was much more elaborate & giving various hints & info that for non-novices might still be of use as well.

Bye,

  Peter

Well Finally I bought a Profire 2626 and a Behringer ADA8000, and I have to say I'm pleased with the change, still using my 410 for 8 extra outputs, but won't be the for more than a pair of months.

Now, time to get some money and build some stuff!!

clintrubber said:

the drivers work......

  Peter

Click to expand...

Peter, I can't remember now but did the helix12 USB have drivers that came with it or did it use USB drivers that were already installed in the computer?

-Casey

Hi,

It has a 'dedicated' ASIO-driver (which is a good thing in my book), at least for WinXP & Win7 (also 64bit). For Mac as well IIRC, but I don't recall any specifics since I don't use a Mac. It came with a CDROM with drivers, but I got later versions from their website.

If you need them, their support is pretty responsive. Too bad though they won't release the service manual for this model (although earlier incarnations of this range are to be found on the interweb).

Bye,

  Peter

signalflow said:

clintrubber said:

the drivers work......

  Peter

Click to expand...

Peter, I can't remember now but did the helix12 USB have drivers that came with it or did it use USB drivers that were already installed in the computer?

-Casey

Click to expand...

I am aware that this is an old thread, but: I just aquired a Phonic Firefly 808 U and the results are great!
I have daisy chained the 808 with a Helix 12 without any problems. I am using the latest drivers: ver. 6.22.1
The mixer application offers a lot of possibilities for the selection and monitoring of the outputs.
Microphone inputs are not very sensitive, but I don't use the microphone inputs anyway.
Excellent quality for Eur. 379!!!

EDIT: some days ago I felt like pushing things to the limit. I daisy chained a Helix12U mixer with two Firefly 808U's.
This gave me 24 inputs. I could record without any problems or drop outs. The PC was a dual core 3.4 GHz running on XP.
Not bad!  ;D