Finding the perfect soundcard is a never-ending battle for most digital DJs, especially for the DJ on a budget. Echo has been putting together rock-solid devices for years and is definitely not a newcomer to the scene. Echo is well-known for its very reliable drivers that will seldom let you down no matter what system you are running. We previously reviewed the Echo AudioFire2, so now it’s time to take a look at how its bigger brother, the Echo AudioFire4, stacks up.
Read on, and we’ll answer all the questions you should be asking yourself when you’re searching for a soundcard for DJing.
ARE THE DRIVERS RELIABLE?
Echo has been putting together great drivers for a number of years, and the AudioFire4 is no exception. The device is capable of achieving incredibly low latencies without giving out like many other soundcards that come in the same price range. All Echo does is create soundcards and has many proven years of experience.
IS IT STURDY?
The AudioFire4 has an aliminum case that is both light and very tough. The only let-down is that the face plate is plastic, but that’s not a really big deal because if you did accidently drop the device, chances are you would drop it on the rugged aluminum exterior, which would be virtually impossible to break open or apart without the some industrial-strength tools. The back plate is also cast from metal and has a couple of RCA connectors sticking out. We have always been happy with the build quality of Echo’s products, and the AudioFire4 is no exception to the rule.
IS IT FIREWIRE?
Those laptops without FireWire and instead have an Expressport or PCMCIA, there are FireWire adapter cards. However, these willnot provide power to the soundcard, so an external power adapter would be necessary. If you need to purcahse a FireWire card, then we recommend this one from RainRecording, though you will find much better prices for the same thing on eBay.
ARE THE DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTERS LOUD AND CLEAR?
The A/D converters on the card are the same high-quality as found on the AudioFire2, which we were very pleased with. The outputs come out sounding loud, punchy and clear–you wont have any problems hooking this card up to a big system and rocking the club without any complaints from the sound guru tending to the sound system. Funny looks from the sound guys are the the last thing DJs need distracting them from their performance.
IS THE HEADPHONE PREAMP LOUD?
This is one area where the AudioFire4 is little bit of a let down for those who have hearing damage. The AudioFire4 contains the same headphone preamp as the AudioFire2. If you have been taking care of your ears, then the AudioFire4 output will be plenty loud enough. If however you have been in the game for a number of years without taking care of your ears, then you might find that even with the output cranked all the way up, it will be a bit hard to hear your cue over a large soundsystem. The headphone output was definitely designed for studio use, and it’s plenty loud enough for that. But a club enviroment demands a more powerful headphone output.
ARE THE AUDIO ROUTING CAPABILITIES UP TO PAR?
Native Insturments got it right by putting a switch on the front of the unit, where you can switch between the outputs you are cueing. However, with this product we are not so lucky. In fact there is no way of selecting which output is going to the headphones inside the software or on the unit itself–the headphone output will always be the same as output 1/2.
This caught me up while I was playing in Bali. I was mixing in the box and had plugged outputs 1/2 into the mixer, which means that my headphones were cuing the same output as the master output. With no way to monitor channels 3/4 or 5/6, I was forced to mix into a track on the resident iPod and make some quick cabling changes before getting back into the mix. An ideal DJ soundcard would have a switch on the hardware (or at least in the software) making it easy to monitor different outputs on the device.
CAN I MIX EXTERNALLY WITH THIS CARD?
This is purely personal preference; some like to mix internally, myself for example, while others like to mix externally. If you mix internally, then the cheaper Echo AudioFire2 makes more sense, but if you’re mixing externally, then the Echo AudioFire4 makes more sense. The Echo AudioFire4 has 6 outputs and 6 inputs; its little brother the AudioFire2 lacked the outputs for external mixing. This means that you will be able to mix 3 decks externally provided that the mixer that you are using has an S/PDIF input for the third deck. If not then you will be limited to mixing 2 decks on an external mixer.
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST ME?
Sadly, the Echo AudioFire4 is a bit on the pricey side at $399 US MSRP. A quick Google shopping search shows the AudioFire4 comming in at $250-299 US, which is a bit more pricey than its closest contender with comparable specs, the Presonus Firebox, which comes in at around $200 US. The extra money for the AudioFire4 gives you better drivers, a more stable chipset and arguably better sound quality. The drawback is that the headphone output isn’t as loud as the Firebox, and the Firebox has 6 analog outputs and 2 digital outputs, while the Audiofire4 has 4 analog outputs and 2 digital outputs.
SUMMING UP
The quality of the AudioFire4’s drivers and the build is top notch. If stability and great sound is a high priority, and you dont mind paying the premium then the AudioFire4 makes for a very good choice. If you are mixing internally, then you may wish to go with the cheaper AudioFire2, which will deliver exactly the same great results with a smaller physical footprint and save yourself some cash. The only improvements that could be made would be a higher powered headphone pre-amp and the ability to pick and choose between which output is being routed to the headphones for cueing. For many users those issues wont be big problems, so the AudioFire 4 will make a very good choice of soundcard for a lot of you out there.
Ean’s Note: One thing this review didn’t mention that you might want to be aware of. This sound card is quite a bit bigger than the pictures suggest. The audio4 dj from NI is much smaller and more portable. The audio fire 4 is actually bigger than the audio 8 from NI. It will fit in the front of your dj bag but if compact size is what you need then the audio fire 2 is the more portable option.
AudioFire4 offers a compact audio interface with all the connections you need for your studio. With the flexibility of FireWire and bus power, you can also take the AudioFire4 on the road. The AudioFire4 can record 24-bit 96kHz audio with low latency monitoring on any Windows XP or Mac OS X computer (desktop or notebook) with a FireWire port.
AudioFire4 is the perfect center for any home studio, whether at your desk or on the road. It has 2 universal inputs with mic preamps, phantom power, and trim knobs so you can just plug in your microphone or instrument and record whenever or wherever you want. AudioFire4 also comes with 2 balanced analog inputs (TRS), 4 balanced analog outputs (TRS), a stereo headphone output, 2 FireWire ports, S/PDIF I/O, MIDI I/O, and 6 channels of full duplex 24-bit 96kHz recording and playback.
I’m looking at buying an Echo Audiofire interface myself (the Pre8), and the cueing issue is the only thing that bothers me.
With the Audiofire 4, is there any reason you couldn’t hook up outputs 3/4 as your main/monitor out, and just use outputs 1/2 for cueing? Or would that just depend on the flexibility of the DJ software you’re using? I’d most likely be using Ableton Live, which should be quite flexible in this regard. The only downside of this setup would be not having a hardware knob to control the overall output level.
Perhaps another good option with this gear would be too use outs 3/4 for cueing, and route those outputs to a headphone amp then to your phones? That would obviously avoid the problem of the headphone outs not being loud enough as well.
Definitely looks workable as a nice DJ solution. Just need to be clever about it!
I’m excited to try some of these Echo products, since I hear they’re so reliable. My MOTU 828mk2 has been nothing but a headache. I love the product, but it’s died on me twice already. Huge setback in the production of my band’s album.
I forgot… I also can connect directly a Pionner DJM-800 and use it as a MIDI controller, DON’T need to buy a separate USB to MIDI adapter, with just AudioFire 4 goes perfect. MASTER+HEADPHONES use or DECK1+DECK2 external mixer use.
About the problem with Live 7, seems a configuration issue. Check in AudioFire console, maybe routing 1-2 trough 5-6 could solve this. I can work with +4 -10db inputs and outputs and routing those in any way I want, rock solid in Os 10.6.3 & Windows 32 & 64 bits as well.
Yes, maybe if Echo include 8 1/4″ plug to RCA female adapters, would be better, but it isn’t a hard thing to buy, you can have 8 for less than $10.00 usc (I find mine for 50 cts each).
About high quality, I don’t know what kind of soundcards you have tested, but Echo AudioFire is by far the best deep, crystal clear sound I get in a club. While others don’t even can reproduce such clear sounds. Dynamic Range is just 18 dbs more than a SSL-1 (for example) and 6 dbs more than NI Audio8. So, I prefer buy my adapters and even buy a Firewire card and get the best sound around for $299. RME and Apoggee cost a lot more (from $799 usd to $1250 usd and up). I don’t knew anyone that have regrests on buying this sound card,it’s sound fidelity can by heard by ear, not only in lab testing.
ManDingo want to know when new MIDIFIGHTERS (w/joystick) will be available?
I am having the monitoring problems trying to set up with Live 7. I can hear the master fine through channels 5-6 using my S/Pdif output to my studio monitors. When I plug in my headphones I can only hear the same master output in my headphones. Is there a way to set up to monitor your cue mix in headphones with this Audiofire 4 through live?
[quote comment=”26092″]
AudioFire 4: No RCA connectors, I mean, wtf..havent their audio engineers thought of DJ’s setting up their set using a standard club mixer (Pioneer DJM-800) as the external output? That alone makes me not want to buy it. If you buy the AudioFire, You’ll be forced to buy a 1/4″ plug to female connectors, connecting everything together.[/quote]
With all due respect the respective converters you are talking about are ridiculously cheap. The product itself aims to please all, so it provides 1/4″ inputs which is easy to conform to.
To force everyone who wants to use it for recording a microphone or guitar to convert to RCA would be ridiculous.
As a side note, RCA is pretty common in the marketplace, so Echo could be nice and include two converters so you can at least pull it out of the box and plug in a stereo output.
What do you think of the Presonus Firestudio Mobile, which came to replace the Firebox ? Is it worth the upgrade ?
I’m having a difficult time deciding whether to get the AudioFire 4 or the NI Audio 4 DJ…both products have their cons
AudioFire 4: No RCA connectors, I mean, wtf..havent their audio engineers thought of DJ’s setting up their set using a standard club mixer (Pioneer DJM-800) as the external output? That alone makes me not want to buy it. If you buy the AudioFire, You’ll be forced to buy a 1/4″ plug to female connectors, connecting everything together.
NI Audio 4 DJ: No Firewire interface, wow
been using this for almost a year without a single problem or complaint, highly recommended
1. if people are using this interface to mix externally why bother with the unit’s headphone preamp when you can use the dj mixer’s cuing system? i understand if you are mixing internally or using it for recording purposes.
2. it seems echo is aware that this product has a big following in the dj market. i realize it is built as a general use interface.
if the guys at ECHO are reading this, why not develop a firewire or usb dj solution like the audio 4 with only 4 dedicated outputs and no mic/line inputs or spdif at a better pricepoint. this product could be similar to the NI Audio dj 2 or 4, but with discrete output connections instead of the stereo TRS jacks, an assignable headphone out, and of course the ECHO quality sound and drivers. I am aware of the expresscard DJx but want the better quality of the audiofire line. make it the size of the audiofire 2 (strip the inputs and midi/spdif port) at the same price (or less…wishful thinking. i agree with ean on this one) and you’ve got a winner!
i am currently happy with my motu 828mk1 (still running strong), except when it decides to go completely bonkers. It is sensitive to faulty power grounding/ dirty power, and i would like something smaller. the power issue seems to be solved by using my voltage regulator (have seen this resolve issues with other people’s interfaces dropping out at one bar i work at), but that involves lugging around another piece of rack sized gear and a heavier one at that. the motu is downright unusable without it in certain spaces (always carry CD’s for backup), though at home i use it on my recording workstation and laptop for dj’ing without any issue. (traktor pro still likes to glitch every now and then).
the whole point of the laptop rig is to make the rig more compact after all.
will a sound card take of my problem when my headphones are plug into my mixer and a headphone jack pluged into my lap to the mixer for sound i can not use my head phones to hear one side while side a is playing. i need your help thanks
Guys, are you sure it is not possible to use Audiofire 2 for external mixing with Traktor ? I thought it has two independent stereo outputs, therefore it is possible to route deck A to input 1, deck B to input 2 and monitor via external mixer. Let me know, please, to be sure what to buy – Audiofire 2 is cheaper and would be enough for me, if it enables this. Thanks.
Hey guys
I have this audiocard and I have two questions:
1. Are there any available drivers for usage in Windows 7?
2. How could I rout clips to the headphones in Live 7 with using the front headphone output?
Thank you very much for your helping 🙂
Greetings from Berne
Toby
Just wanted to share my good experience with Echo Audio, as a company.
Somehow I managed to kill the AC power adapter for my Echo AudioFire 4.
Because I wanted to have the original adapter (and a backup for emergency purposes), I contacted Echo Audio by email, directly.
24 hours and a couple emails + 2 phone calls later, my 2 adapters had been shipped from Echo Audio to my home address.
The cost: FREE !
I only needed to pay for the shipping costs.
This is excellent service + turnaround time + high customer satisfaction.
Take care folks !
BTW, the clock setting issue only ever affected playback, not recording. The sound on these Echo Audio interfaces awesome and tech support, if you ever did need it, is stellar.
As far as I am aware, very few interfaces other than the very premium RME Fireface models can actually use FireWire 800 at full tilt. Most are FW400 even if you’re going into an 800 port. The Echo Audio models are FW 400 like most other affordable interfaces; it’s worth noting that Echo Audio uses some of the same codecs as the far more spendy RME’s do.
I had a running problem with my Audiofire 4 hooked up to a year-old IMac, which Marcel at Echo Audio eventually sorted out. If your sound drops out and goes bad a lot, it may mean the clock setting is to Mac when it should be to Device. Go Applications/Utilities/Audio Midi Setup/ Audio Devices and pick Device for the clock source. Maybe only a few people ever have the problem I did, but for whatever reason, it didn’t like letting the Mac be the clock source. Apparently a lot of people have had beefs with how OSX 10.5 handles audio.
Also, I have a 500 GB hard drive plugged into the Audiofire, and that works perfectly. Always has.
I’ve had a Layla24 for *years* and it’s never had a problem. New drivers every little while and amazing support, even out of warranty.
NO hesitation recommending anything from Echo.
I used to work with Milo and Bill at Echo. They own it, and were great bosses. They always made quality products and have great customer support. I haven’t tried this product but it will be my next sound card when the time comes.
[quote comment=””][…] The funny thing is that daisy chaining the HD worked before with an M Audio firewire interface. So I’m guessing that the audiofire requires nore power? I’m using the previous generation Macbook Pro.[…][/quote]
Ah, that’s too bad then. Maybe your guess is correct then and the throughput for your M-Audio interface was just more efficient than average. For me now I just don’t take the risk of sending too much data to one bus. I doubt that having a newer MBP would help, but you could get a FireWire adaptor for your ExpressCard slot.
Are there any other Firewire 800 soundcards beneath the 250 euro’s? It looks like this is the cheapest Firewire 800 soundcard out there right now. Im looking for one around the 180 euro’s. Does somebody knows one?
Thanks
Nick
Hi guys…
Im looking for a soundcard that I can route 3 channells or 4 in my dj sets…What soundcard I can make this? Im using Ableton Live…
Well, looked elsewhere and got a Presonus Firebox for $150 including shipping. It’s firewire and the ppl that recommended it chose it over many other sound cards including those from M-Audio, Native Instruments among others.
i would like a sincere advice from the big guy Ean.
i’m using a MBP, Motu Ultralite + faderfox.
recently i dunno what went wrong but suddenly my MBP firewire Port stopped responding and my motu previously had one firewire port damaged probably that triggered off the other port along with my MBP firewire port.
Since i’m under APP i’m gettin my firewire port replaced and also sending my motu ultralite for a complete check and repair to the company.
i would like to take a suggestion from u or other experienced users on which solution do i choose from below:
1. buy echo audiofire2 as a standby or maind sound card
2. buy a usb to midi cable and a NI audio 2 dj.
now my main issue is that i love using faderfox dj2 and i dont wanna give up on that. since the audio 2 dj does not have midi I/O whereas the echo audiofire 2 has Midi I/O the only thing that scares me is what if again my firewire port blows off and i’m strangled in a situation like last time…. how good is the echo audiofire2 in term of reliability..
thanks
and sorry for writing such an elaborate post….
[quote comment=”21832″][…] I bought one of these recently. Sound quality’s excellent. However when I daisy chained a 2.5 inch firewire HD to the second firewire port, the HD does not power up or read. Anyone else have this problem? […]
Hi KC Chong:
I have had similar problems before with different audio interfaces, and what I have learned is that it’s not a problem with your audio interface or your hard drive. The fact is that you do not have unlimited bandwidth to stream data into a single FireWire bus on your computer. Generally, you don’t want to have an audio interface and a hard drive going into the same computer port, whether it is FireWire or USB. It’s usually too much data for a single port.
If you’re going to daisy chain devices, you can link up MIDI controllers passing only MIDI data with audio interfaces or hard drives, but try to keep audio interfaces and hard drives on separate USB or FireWire busses. If you only have 1 FireWire bus, you may have to suck it up and get a USB hard drive. At least hard drives are dropping in price all the time.
Also, some laptop makers pull the dirty trick of having two USB or FireWire ports going into the same bus, meaning you may also have data flow problems even you have each of your external devices connected to separate USB or FireWire ports. So check your computer’s manual or online to find out if each data port on your computer flows into its own bus.[/quote]
The funny thing is that daisy chaining the HD worked before with an M Audio firewire interface. So I’m guessing that the audiofire requires nore power? I’m using the previous generation Macbook Pro.
One more thing about your problems, KC Chong: bus power often does not transfer through daisy chains either, so you’ll need a power supply for daisy chained devices.
[…] I bought one of these recently. Sound quality’s excellent. However when I daisy chained a 2.5 inch firewire HD to the second firewire port, the HD does not power up or read. Anyone else have this problem? […]
Hi KC Chong:
I have had similar problems before with different audio interfaces, and what I have learned is that it’s not a problem with your audio interface or your hard drive. The fact is that you do not have unlimited bandwidth to stream data into a single FireWire bus on your computer. Generally, you don’t want to have an audio interface and a hard drive going into the same computer port, whether it is FireWire or USB. It’s usually too much data for a single port.
If you’re going to daisy chain devices, you can link up MIDI controllers passing only MIDI data with audio interfaces or hard drives, but try to keep audio interfaces and hard drives on separate USB or FireWire busses. If you only have 1 FireWire bus, you may have to suck it up and get a USB hard drive. At least hard drives are dropping in price all the time.
Also, some laptop makers pull the dirty trick of having two USB or FireWire ports going into the same bus, meaning you may also have data flow problems even you have each of your external devices connected to separate USB or FireWire ports. So check your computer’s manual or online to find out if each data port on your computer flows into its own bus.
Sorry Bento but I have an Audiofire 2 and just checked that I can route any channel to analog out/headphones/spdif out from the Audiofire Console.
I’m using it on a Macbook with v4.8 firmware/console. I’m in love with this soundcard too! 😉
I’ve got the audiofire 2 as my backup soundcard. The headphone output is not suitable for a club environment alone, but you can boost the volume of it using the headphone volume controls within traktor pro.
I have the presonus firebox as my main soundcard and when using that, the headphone volume knob is set to about 25% within traktor pro. When using the audiofire 2, i jack up the headphone volume knob to about 75%. That seems to do the trick for me. Any higher and you get distortion.
no complaints from me in regards to the firebox and audiofire 2. I would imagine the audiofire 4 would be great, as the audiofire 2 has been awesome to me.
[quote comment=”21780″]i own the AudioFire 2. In the AF console, Settings Tab, i can route any signal to any output (e.g. Playback 1-2 to Headphones, 3-4 to SPDIF, 5-6 to Analog Out). Ean, are you sure this is not possible with AF4? I really can’t imagine, since the driver for AF2 and AF4 is the same… maybe you did miss this point in the driver settings? And yes, this even works while playing.[/quote]
I updated the post with a print screen of the input/output routing choices, there is no way of selecting which output is being monitored. The headphone will always be monitoring the same audio that is being put out of output 1/2 on the card. Theres no way for instance to monitor the audio that would be coming out of analogue 3/4 or s/pdif 5/6.
You can make software output 3/4 be sent to analogue out 1/2 but if you already have your master output plugged into analogue output 1/2 then your headphone will share the same output as your master output with no option of instead monitoring output 3/4 instead of output 1/2.
Like i said in the article, in an ideal situation there would be a physical switch on the unit where the user can select which output is being routed to the headphone output instead of always just monitoring analogue output 1/2.
This is an option that i spent quite some time looking for and its appears its just not an option with this card. I even asked Midifidler to take a look while we were in Bali just to make sure i was not accidently looking over something but he couldn’t see any option for this either.
I bought one of these recently. Sound quality’s excellent. However when I daisy chained a 2.5 inch firewire HD to the second firewire port, the HD does not power up or read. Anyone else have this problem?
..oh, forgot: of course it is also possible to route e.g. 3-4 to Headphones AND Analog and so on, means: one signal to multiple outs.
i own the AudioFire 2. In the AF console, Settings Tab, i can route any signal to any output (e.g. Playback 1-2 to Headphones, 3-4 to SPDIF, 5-6 to Analog Out). Ean, are you sure this is not possible with AF4? I really can’t imagine, since the driver for AF2 and AF4 is the same… maybe you did miss this point in the driver settings? And yes, this even works while playing.
@ DJEDGE
I got MBP, VCI-100, TPro and AK1.
Audio Kontrol 1 i swear has most things you would want in terms of digital djing and for producing (mic input etc).
Plus a couple of midi knobs to boot 😉
now i am stuck.. my set up Macbook pro, VCi-100(arcade edition), Traktor Pro..i am currently using Dj i/o from numark.. Looking into getting a soundcard soon.. was looking into NI audio 4dj, but it lacks a mic input..Is this a better alternative or pretty much the same? $200-300 is quite a bit to spend on something you are not happy with..
[quote comment=””]Yeah Im also confused about what sound card to get… :/ so maybe you guys could help me a bit? 🙂
Setup is a MacBook black 2.4GHz, 2GB ram using Traktor Pro and it has firewire but dunno if it’s 400 or 800, let alone if that’s upgradeable thru software like USB 1.1 >2.0. What has come pretty clear is to get one that has FireWire so the M-Audio Fast Track pro is out of the question. Then I have this, the Presonus FireBox and the NI Audio Kontrol and the Auido 8 and now this one sound pretty cool too… So if any1 have used any of these in a similar setup, HALP![/quote] Maybe relevant but Im using a VCI-100 and plan to incorporate an Akai MPD32.
Yeah Im also confused about what sound card to get… :/ so maybe you guys could help me a bit? 🙂
Setup is a MacBook black 2.4GHz, 2GB ram using Traktor Pro and it has firewire but dunno if it’s 400 or 800, let alone if that’s upgradeable thru software like USB 1.1 >2.0. What has come pretty clear is to get one that has FireWire so the M-Audio Fast Track pro is out of the question. Then I have this, the Presonus FireBox and the NI Audio Kontrol and the Auido 8 and now this one sound pretty cool too… So if any1 have used any of these in a similar setup, HALP!
I have been using my M-audio Fast Track Ultra for almost 2 years never had a prob, the sound is superb!
The 4 does look appealing and small, having to tug big gear around is always a problem for a traveling dj!!
Happy Mixing!
I took about 2 months to choose 1 soundcard from all the offers in the market and i ended up choosing this one.
What a wonderfull piece of kit it is! Installed it on my whiteMac book absolutely trouble free, ultra reliable, great sound, the headphone cue does sound very LOUD (or my ears are as new… lolol).
reading this article and from my experience i completely recomend this board from within its price range.
How does it compare with NI Audio 4 DJ in term of sound quality? I was considering the audiofire 4 before purchased the Audio 4 DJ.
Last time I check from the Echo’s website, the audiofire 4 is using the same Cirrus Logic chip, which can be found on Audio 4 DJ, too.
I have no experience with Audiofire 4, but I’m using Audiofire 12 for my setup. It’s the best soundcard I’ve had to use. Superb sound, great stability and latency.