Maudio fast track Vs Presonus audibox

JAYDMF · #1 (**permalink**) 21st May 2009 , 12:41 PM

Looking at both of these for my room. dont need anything too flash just something for listening to tunes and watching movies and putting some bit and bobs down as and when.

Any body used either of these ?

opinions please

Tifstorey · #2 (**permalink**) 21st May 2009 , 01:13 PM

I've got a Presonus Firebox (which, by the looks of things is more or less the same). It's a good quality little box. Pre amps are great, It's LOUD and very well made.

Never used the Maudio so can't offer anything on that i'm afraid,

JAYDMF · #3 (**permalink**) 21st May 2009 , 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tifstorey

I've got a Presonus Firebox (which, by the looks of things is more or less the same). It's a good quality little box. Pre amps are great, It's LOUD and very well made.

Never used the Maudio so can't offer anything on that i'm afraid,

cool, yeah i love the look of the presonus, the only thing is its very stripped down compared to the m-audio but this is probably because of the fact theyve spent money in the right places

Tifstorey · #4 (**permalink**) 21st May 2009 , 01:22 PM

Yeah, i've never had any issues with mine and i've had this one sitting here for... 3-4 years.

I was worried when i first bought it as this was one of the first FAQ troubleshooting questions in the manual...

"Q: I just bought a FIREBOX from (dealer name goes here) in (city and state go
here) and I live in Morocco. When I plugged in my FIREBOX it caught on fire and
smoke came out of the top. What do I do? "

JAYDMF · #5 (**permalink**) 21st May 2009 , 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tifstorey

Yeah, i've never had any issues with mine and i've had this one sitting here for... 3-4 years.

I was worried when i first bought it as this was one of the first FAQ troubleshooting questions in the manual...

"Q: I just bought a FIREBOX from (dealer name goes here) in (city and state go
here) and I live in Morocco. When I plugged in my FIREBOX it caught on fire and
smoke came out of the top. What do I do? "

LOL someone was obviously not thinking right when they put that manual together.

FrankGIK · #6 (**permalink**) 21st May 2009 , 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tifstorey

I've got a Presonus Firebox (which, by the looks of things is more or less the same). It's a good quality little box. Pre amps are great, It's LOUD and very well made.

Never used the Maudio so can't offer anything on that i'm afraid,

I owned a couple of Firepods for a few years...they worked fine. The conversion is okay and the preamps downright suck, but that's not really what you're using it for. It's a solid piece of equipment for the money.

Frank

JAYDMF · #7 (**permalink**) 21st May 2009 , 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrankGIK

I owned a couple of Firepods for a few years...they worked fine. The conversion is okay and the preamps downright suck, but that's not really what you're using it for. It's a solid piece of equipment for the money.

Frank

Cheers Frank, its looking like the presonus is the boy for me atm.

Tifstorey · #8 (**permalink**) 21st May 2009 , 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrankGIK

The conversion is okay and the preamps downright suck,

Frank

From what i know, the Pre's are the same in the Firebox and Pods. Though, the pre's on my Firebox have been great. Obviously they're not anywhere close to some high end kit out there, but for the price range, i've always been a big fan.

Perhaps i just don't know what i'm going on about

JAYDMF · #9 (**permalink**) 4th June 2009 , 08:28 PM

Just a follow up post. i ordered the Presonus and i have to say its a tidy piece of gear. compared to other units in a similar sort of market (mainly Edirols UA 25, and the much more expensive FA101, Novations X-station sound card, and even the ESI Maya or juli@t, which ever is the PCI 2 channel jobby) this sounds a lot clearer to my ears. Edirols sound very good but this is very very clear for a £120 basic box.

Havent tried the Pre's yet and tbh i doubt they'll get much use. the Line ins are clean as you like and theres plenty of gain there to back that up too. The other point id like to make is that this box seems to be well calibrated on the outs. My Fa101 when i had it couldnt be turned up full (not that youd want to) because itd cause my berrys to start kicking in the limiter. im using the same configuration now and on this interface (although i havent gone all the way upto 11) i can crank it and the limiters dont start jumping in. i have no explanation to this so i'll leave that to Dave or Frank or Ed to explain but its a + i reckons

FrankGIK · #10 (**permalink**) 4th June 2009 , 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tifstorey

From what i know, the Pre's are the same in the Firebox and Pods. Though, the pre's on my Firebox have been great. Obviously they're not anywhere close to some high end kit out there, but for the price range, i've always been a big fan.

Perhaps i just don't know what i'm going on about

Nah...I was probably being a bit hyperbolic. They don't "suck"...that's not fair. They aren't fantastic, but the preamps aren't the worst out there either. What I noticed is that they didn't deal well at high gain levels...the preamps sounded very strained, like there was a lot of mid range distortion.

Eh...I replaced them with SSL converters long ago....all my preamps are either on the console or outboard now.

Frank

JAYDMF · #11 (**permalink**) 3rd November 2009 , 08:02 PM

Ok just thought id put this up for anyone considering an audiobox. As good as they are they dont run under 7 64bit and theres a lot of the same being said that presonus DO NOT plan to support this piece of hardware under 64 bit. so far they havent even issued a 32bit 7 driver, although im pretty sure the 32 vista drive will run just fine.

I have managed to get get mine running fairly well using good ol' ASIO4ALL drivers. managing to get down to 8ms latency using 128 buffer so its not all bad.

However i think its poor show that presonus havent bother to support this device, which they are still selling, under 64bit whilst most of their other products have 64 vista drivers.

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#1 (permalink) 21st May 2009 , 12:41 PM
JAYDMF Hell-Rider Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Gloucester Posts: 913	Maudio fast track Vs Presonus audibox Looking at both of these for my room. dont need anything too flash just something for listening to tunes and watching movies and putting some bit and bobs down as and when. Any body used either of these ? opinions please
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#2 (permalink) 21st May 2009 , 01:13 PM
Tifstorey Super Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Burnley, Lancashire Posts: 459	I've got a Presonus Firebox (which, by the looks of things is more or less the same). It's a good quality little box. Pre amps are great, It's LOUD and very well made. Never used the Maudio so can't offer anything on that i'm afraid,
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#4 (permalink) 21st May 2009 , 01:22 PM
Tifstorey Super Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Burnley, Lancashire Posts: 459	Yeah, i've never had any issues with mine and i've had this one sitting here for... 3-4 years. I was worried when i first bought it as this was one of the first FAQ troubleshooting questions in the manual... "Q: I just bought a FIREBOX from (dealer name goes here) in (city and state go here) and I live in Morocco. When I plugged in my FIREBOX it caught on fire and smoke came out of the top. What do I do? "
Offline

#9 (permalink) 4th June 2009 , 08:28 PM
JAYDMF Hell-Rider Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Gloucester Posts: 913	Just a follow up post. i ordered the Presonus and i have to say its a tidy piece of gear. compared to other units in a similar sort of market (mainly Edirols UA 25, and the much more expensive FA101, Novations X-station sound card, and even the ESI Maya or juli@t, which ever is the PCI 2 channel jobby) this sounds a lot clearer to my ears. Edirols sound very good but this is very very clear for a £120 basic box. Havent tried the Pre's yet and tbh i doubt they'll get much use. the Line ins are clean as you like and theres plenty of gain there to back that up too. The other point id like to make is that this box seems to be well calibrated on the outs. My Fa101 when i had it couldnt be turned up full (not that youd want to) because itd cause my berrys to start kicking in the limiter. im using the same configuration now and on this interface (although i havent gone all the way upto 11) i can crank it and the limiters dont start jumping in. i have no explanation to this so i'll leave that to Dave or Frank or Ed to explain but its a + i reckons
Offline

#11 (permalink) 3rd November 2009 , 08:02 PM
JAYDMF Hell-Rider Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Gloucester Posts: 913	Ok just thought id put this up for anyone considering an audiobox. As good as they are they dont run under 7 64bit and theres a lot of the same being said that presonus DO NOT plan to support this piece of hardware under 64 bit. so far they havent even issued a 32bit 7 driver, although im pretty sure the 32 vista drive will run just fine. I have managed to get get mine running fairly well using good ol' ASIO4ALL drivers. managing to get down to 8ms latency using 128 buffer so its not all bad. However i think its poor show that presonus havent bother to support this device, which they are still selling, under 64bit whilst most of their other products have 64 vista drivers.
Offline