I use the Fireface 802 for mainly film/media music. With using a lot of virtual instruments this unit gave me better latency compared to old Apogee Ensemble. The sound of the converters compared to the Apogee I feel are a little more acurate. The Apogee had a more rounder sound but I believe was colored. The unit has been FAR more solid then the Apogee Ensemble. No crashes so far or pops/noise when switching sample rates.

I've been recording for about 15 years. This interface was recommended to me by some friends who do commercial audio work for a living. I chose this unit for the amount of ins and outs possibilities, the built in pre-amps, the converters, and the knobs on the front of the interface in lieu of all digital mixing on some of the other RME's. (I'm a little bit old school.) Take it for what it's worth, but when using the proper outboard gear in combination with this interface, my vocals and digital tracks no longer have to be re-tracked at the studio. The lows and highs are wonderful. You can make a professional recording with this interface and the proper outboard gear, there is no question. It was surprisingly easy to set up, and the only thing that had a little bit of ... MoreI've been recording for about 15 years. This interface was recommended to me by some friends who do commercial audio work for a living. I chose this unit for the amount of ins and outs possibilities, the built in pre-amps, the converters, and the knobs on the front of the interface in lieu of all digital mixing on some of the other RME's. (I'm a little bit old school.) Take it for what it's worth, but when using the proper outboard gear in combination with this interface, my vocals and digital tracks no longer have to be re-tracked at the studio. The lows and highs are wonderful. You can make a professional recording with this interface and the proper outboard gear, there is no question. It was surprisingly easy to set up, and the only thing that had a little bit of a learning curve was the built in mixing/routing software. Support is amazing. Quality is amazing. I am now an RME man. Thanks to these guys for putting such an amazing product in this price range out on the market. This is only the third time in my life I have written a review for a product. Hope that tells you something.

With the Fireface 802, RME seems to have find the perfect balance between reliability VS performance (ultra low latencies) and functionnality VS esthetics. At the time of writing, I couldn't find a better audio interface for sale in this product range. I've been using it for a few weeks and it works flawlessly, using either firewire or USB. I run it on Win7 Ultimate 64-bit on a custom built PC. The software side (drivers, Totalmix FX and Digicheck) are simply excellent. We get frequent updates and low CPU loads (DSP chipset included in the hardware) to complete this great package. As always, if using firewire, a good chipset must be used on the computer side (Texas Instruments is recommended). I had to try a few PCI cards to get good stability, but problems were ... MoreWith the Fireface 802, RME seems to have find the perfect balance between reliability VS performance (ultra low latencies) and functionnality VS esthetics. At the time of writing, I couldn't find a better audio interface for sale in this product range. I've been using it for a few weeks and it works flawlessly, using either firewire or USB. I run it on Win7 Ultimate 64-bit on a custom built PC. The software side (drivers, Totalmix FX and Digicheck) are simply excellent. We get frequent updates and low CPU loads (DSP chipset included in the hardware) to complete this great package. As always, if using firewire, a good chipset must be used on the computer side (Texas Instruments is recommended). I had to try a few PCI cards to get good stability, but problems were always related to chipsets on the computer side.