Well as some of you may know I've been buying/receiving a lot in the way of audio equipment recently. Last summer a NAD 3130 Hifi amp, about 2 months ago a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9.0's to go with it, last week a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 (which isn't working properly) and now in the last couple of days 2 more things!

First a pair of Behringer C2 small diaphram condenser mics.


Not the best mics in the world but for the meagre price of £50 for the pair plus all the extras that come in the box, really not that bad. I bought a few XLR leads too while I was at it.

And my most recent purchase, a pair of Sennheiser HD280's.


Bought from our good friend andrewcc who's dad knows someone who's brother met a guy down the pub who bought a dog off a shady guy in a Soho back alley who sources Sennheiser headphones for super cheap (or something like that). These headphones really weren't what I was expecting. I was expecting a similar sound to my old HD205's but these sound comletely different. The low end is far more extended, not increased as in more bass but longer as in they can go much deeper before it starts to die out. The high end is much less pronounced which feels strange for a while. They're also physically much bigger than expected and have curly telephone style cable!



Needless to say my bank account is now empty but I'm pleased with my acquisitions. It's a hame about the Saffire not working properly but Focusrite support are actually being quite useful in getting it sorted. I'm getting pops and clicks in the outputted audio even with the buffer size set to maximum. Focusrite have asked me to do tests to check for PCI latency and DPC's but they're all within normal, safe ranges. They've also asked me to disable a load of devices like the WiFi card, modem, and onboard sound which has helped a little but the pops are still there.

Oh well, let's see what other tricks Mr. Focusrite has up his sleeves...

[art]E-penis semi has now become a raging e-penis boner...[art]

The sound like any other dropout or buffer underrun I've had with every other interface I've used. The remedy that this is to set the buffer to a higher value. Unfortunately the buffer is set to it's highest (3072 samples) but I'm still getting pops. Focusrite have asked me as a test to disable absolutely everything non-essential including batteries (meaning my laptop no longer really works as a laptop) but I'm still getting them. I'm told that the next step it to increase my Firewire controller's PCI latency to its maximum value so that it get's priority over everything else on the PCI bus (not too sure if this is a good idea.) That's tomorrow's project...

hmmmmm... i think I've changed my mind bout getting a B-stock interface..... I'll get my parents to fudge the extra £40 methinks

andrewcc Wrote:hmmmmm... i think I've changed my mind bout getting a B-stock interface..... I'll get my parents to fudge the extra £40 methinks

Why? Mine's a B-Stock. Only difference is that the box wasn't sealed. Still has full warranty (Thank God) and all the accessories.

For the information of the \/oid, our good friend andrewcc is also planning on purchasing a Saffire. However unlike me he plans on opting for the Saffire Pro 40 rather than the Saffire Pro 26.

PSPkiller Wrote:

andrewcc Wrote:hmmmmm... i think I've changed my mind bout getting a B-stock interface..... I'll get my parents to fudge the extra £40 methinks

Why? Mine's a B-Stock. Only difference is that the box wasn't sealed. Still has full warranty (Thank God) and all the accessories.

For the information of the \/oid, our good friend andrewcc is also planning on purchasing a Saffire. However unlike me he plans on opting for the Saffire Pro 40 rather than the Saffire Pro 26.

well since hearing the issues you've been having I've reviewed my options

andrewcc Wrote:

PSPkiller Wrote:

andrewcc Wrote:hmmmmm... i think I've changed my mind bout getting a B-stock interface..... I'll get my parents to fudge the extra £40 methinks

Why? Mine's a B-Stock. Only difference is that the box wasn't sealed. Still has full warranty (Thank God) and all the accessories.

For the information of the \/oid, our good friend andrewcc is also planning on purchasing a Saffire. However unlike me he plans on opting for the Saffire Pro 40 rather than the Saffire Pro 26.

well since hearing the issues you've been having I've reviewed my options

It's got nothing to do with the fact that it's B-Stock. It's because it's a new product and Focusrite haven't had time to finish writing some decent drivers. I've never seen an interface with perfect drivers.

Anyway, I've fiddled with some settings now and the problem seems to be fixed. No more pops!