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Home » Computer Music » Audio Interfaces » Firewire » M-Audio FireWire 1814

M-Audio FireWire 1814

Dolphin id:
3803
Product SKU:
9900-50738-12

This product is currently not available for purchase.

18-in/14-out FireWire Audio/MIDI Interface w/ ADAT Lightpipe.

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The FireWire 18/14 is an 18-in, 14-out audio interface complete with ADAT Lightpipe for multi-channel communication with other digital devices. It features 8 x 4 analog I/O at up to 24-bit/96kHz, and boasts 192kHz on the first two inputs and all four outputs. Channels 1 and 2 also include high-quality microphone/instrument preamps. S/PDIF optical digital I/O provides 2-channel PCM, as well as pass-through of surround-encoded AC-3 and DTS material. Flexible internal mixing allows input and output routing, including an aux bus for effects send or monitor mix. A front-panel momentary switch allows allows DJ-style headphone auditioning between two assignable sources. Other features include two headphone amplifiers, assignable level controller, S/PDIF coaxial/optical digital I/O, 1 x 1 MIDI I/O, and BNC word clock connectors for synchronization to other digital devices.

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Features

  • 18 x 14 FireWire audio interface
  • 8 x 4 24-bit/96kHz analog I/O (1/4” TS) or 2 x 4 24-bit/192kHz analog I/O
  • 8 x 8 ADAT Lightpipe I/O
  • Digital S/PDIF (coaxial) I/O w/ 2-channel PCM
  • Digital out also supports pass-through of AC-3/DTS surround-encoded content
  • Dual mic/instrument preamps (Neutrik XLR/ 1/4” TS) with
    • Input level controls
    • 20dB pad
    • Phantom power
    • Signal LEDs
  • Two independently assignable headphone outputs with individual level controls (1/4" TRS)
  • Flexible software-controlled mixing of hardware and software I/O
  • Aux sends on all channels and aux output assign allows for dedicated headphone mixes and sends to external effects
  • User-assignable front-panel level control (output, input, software return, aux send)
  • Near zero-latency hardware direct monitoring
  • Low-latency ASIO software direct monitoring
  • Momentary switch for A/B cueing two software-assignable headphone sources or switching ASIO monitoring on/off
  • 1 x 1 16-channel MIDI I/O
  • Wordclock (BNC) for sync to external devices
  • Power on/off switch with indicator LED
  • Powered via FireWire bus* or included DC power adapter
  • Two convenient high-bandwidth FireWire ports
  • Rugged steel construction

* requires 6-pin connection

Specifications

  • Line Inputs (TS) 1-8
    • Frequency response: +/- 0.1 dB, 22Hz to 22kHz
    • Dynamic range: 105dB, A-weighted
    • Signal-to-noise ratio: -105dB, A-weighted
    • THD+N: <0.00281% (-91dB)
    • Crosstalk: -107dB @ 1 kHz
    • Nominal input level: -10dBV
    • Maximum input level: +2.1dBV, typical
    • Input impedance: 10k Ohms, typical
  • Mic/inst. inputs (balanced) 1-2 at minimum gain
    • Frequency response: +/- 0.1 dB, 22 Hz to 22 kHz
    • Dynamic range: 105dB, A-weighted
    • Signal-to-noise ratio: -105dB, A-weighted
    • THD+N: <0.00281% (-91dB)
    • Crosstalk: -105 dB @ 1 kHz
    • Maximum input level: -3.8 dBu, typical
    • Input impedance: inst in: 500k Ohms, typical; mic in: 1.8k Ohms, typical
    • Adjustable gain: > 40 dB
    • Pad: -20 dB
    • Total gain range: +60 dB
  • Line Outputs (TRS) 1-4
    • Frequency response:
      • 192 kHz: +/- 1 dB, 22Hz – 80kHz
      • 96kHz: +/- 0.5 dB, 22Hz – 40kHz
      • 48 kHz: +/- 0.1 dB, 22Hz – 22kHz
    • Dynamic range: 107dB, A-weighted
    • Signal-to-noise ratio: -107dB, A-weighted
    • THD+N: <0.00301% (-90.5 dB)
    • Crosstalk: -106dB @ 1 kHz
    • Nominal output level: +4dBu balanced, -10dBV unbalanced
    • Maximum output level: +10.2dBu balanced, typical; +2.0dBV unbalanced, typical
    • Output impedance: 150 Ohm
    • Load impedance: 600 Ohm minimum
  • Headphone Outputs at maximum volume into 32 Ohm load
    • Frequency response: +/- 1 dB, 22Hz to 22kHz
    • Power into Ohms: 16 mW into 32 Ohms
    • THD+N: <0.04987% (-66.1 dB)
    • Signal-to-noise ratio: -96 dB, A-weighted
    • Max output level into 32 Ohms: -3.0dBV, typical
    • Output impedance: 75 Ohm
    • Load impedance: 32 to 600 Ohms
  • Word Clock
    • Output: up to 192kHz
    • Input: up to 96kHz
    • Pass-through I/O: up to 96kHz
    • Impedance: 75 Ohms
    • Analog sampling rates: 44.1kHz to 192kHz for analog input 1/2 and all analog outputs
    • 44.1kHz to 96kHz input on channels 3-8
    • Digital sampling rates (kHz) 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96 for coaxial S/PDIF in and out
    • 44.1 and 48 for optical S/PDIF in & out
    • 44.1, 48, or 88.2, 96 for ADAT I/O in S/MUX mode

(all values tested at 48 kHz sample rate unless otherwise stated)

Compatibility

  • ASIO 2
  • MME
  • Sound Manager
  • DirectX
  • Mac OS X Core Audio / Core MIDI

Minimum System Requirements

  • PC
    • Pentium 3 – 800MHz or higher (may be higher for laptops)
    • 256MB RAM; DirectX 9.0b or higher
    • Windows XP (SP2 Home or Professional Edition only); Windows 2000 (SP4) or higher
    • (Windows 98, 98SE, Me or NT not supported)
  • MAC
    • G3** 800MHz or G4 733MHz or higher (may be higher for laptops)
    • OS 9.2.2 or greater w/ 256MB RAM;
    • OS 10.2.8 w/ 256BM RAM; OS 10.3 or greater w/ 512MB RAM

** G3/G4 accelerator cards not supported; native FireWire ports required

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M-Audio FireWire 1814 Reviews

1/10

M-Audio 1814 peace of a crap!

— Branko Leitheim May 26, 2011

I have never made it able to work, or even be recognized on several computers based on Windows Xp and one MAC iBook.Actually just once , in the middle of mt agony,was recognized by my desktop but all was gone after rebooting the computer.Having TI chip-set on my fire-wire card and tried others (VIA), but have never got it to work.
This product is a questionable quality.Be smarter , choose wisely , do not buy, do not accept it even as a present.It will cost your nerves much more.

1/10

M-Audio 1814-worst thing ever?

— Jon Allen December 15, 2009

Let me start by saying that I\'ve only awarded this product 1 star as \'no stars\' wasn\'t an option. I urge you with all sincerity to avoid this product like it was swine flu\'. All of the time you previously spent perfecting your mixes will now be spent on forums, trying to find ways to make it work, and despite whatever you read or try, it still won\'t work. Sure, the M-Audio tech guys are helpful, and they do try to resolve the problems, but to resolve anything with such a useless product as this is surely beyond the reach of mortal man.
I urge you, don\'t get one of these, even if it is going for a good price. You\'ll regret it.

Show all reviews »

1/10

1814 dead. My life is getting better

— Øivind Klungseth Zahlsen October 9, 2008

After struggling with M-Audio FireWire 1814 for 4 years, being a slave under it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s moody behaviour, I one day lost my temper and cut it in twos with an axe. After this I found that the internal sound card in my computer was even performing better, especially when it comes to reability. Now (without the 1814 in my life anymore) I also found that I can use my firewire 800 Western Digital disks without any problems under OSX. My life is much better now.

1/10

M-Audio Firewire 1814 Review

— Jim Howells June 1, 2008

I have owned one of these and it was so frustrating. Extremely problematic especially under Mac OS X due to a lack of decent driver support. Even when drivers were released, the unit was patchy to say the least.

You'll be tearing your hair out wondering why it's suddenly all gone quiet or why a certain pair of channels are not routing to the output when they were a second ago! You'll be forever "kick starting" it into life by toggling some random switch in the driver control panel.

If you are looking for a multi channel firewire interface for your computer then don't be tempted by the price. Spend a little more for one of the Focusrite 19" units instead which are much much better both in terms of reliability and sound quality.

1/10

M-Audio Firewire 1814

— Paul Anderson October 8, 2007

This was my first venture into using Firewire and spent a considerable amount of time choosing what I thought was the right solution. I've loads of experience with my previous M-Audio 1010 rack, but M-Audio are not offering Vista Drivers yet(!). The 1814 seemed an ideal replacement as at least it had Vista (BETA) drivers available.
I downloaded the latest drivers, my brand new Dual Core Intel machine would not recognise the 1814. Contacting M-Audio told me to take everything out of the machine as the 1814 needed priority. I did, and it still would not recognise the 1814. After many hours (I guess 18hours in all) of trial and error, and restore after restore and eventually two complete recoveries. I managed to get it recognised only for it to continually crash after 5 minutes using Cakewalk Sonor 6 Producer in MIDI only. Never got round to getting it working on Audio.

Extremely disappointed, both with the lack of working drivers and the patronising attitude of the M-Audio 'helpline'. I tried this unit on one of my other machines, an Intel Pentium 3.8 running XP, and guess what?, still wouldn't work properly.

Nice shiney box with knobs, but at least Dolphin will refund - I'm still looking for something to replace it.

If you are running VISTA - don't buy.

1/10

Problematic

— Amontillado Bevis September 11, 2006

Have had problems running this on OS 10.4.7 as the latest driver is for 10.4.6. The unit seems great for the 2.5 minute run time I get out of it before it crashes. I contacted tech support and they helpfully informed me that no supported driver exists and I would have to wait. If anyone reading this can give me pointers (popedirect@gmail.com) as to how I can run this on my setup, I'd be most grateful.

1/10

Drivers

— Luke Reatery September 10, 2006

M-Audio is famous amoungst professionals for having the WORST drivers going. No matter how good there products are, and by the way they are mediocre at best. There drivers blow any good points with the massive frustration of having to deal with a computer that simply will not recognise the hard ware or drops it randomly. I could not recommend them to anyone, whatever you are buying spend some extra moneyin the end missing out on the frustration will be well worth it.

10/10

M-Audio FireWire 18/14

— Peter Riley August 14, 2006

After realising that my old 4 input PCI soundcard could no longer supply my needs, I set out to try to find something more substantial with at least 8-10 inputs, and preferably mobility as I was moving onto a MacBook Pro setup. Considering my limited budget, I was suprised to find the M-Audio 1814 offering all I needed.

The 8 analog inputs are clean and can run with low latency and (fingers crossed) no dropouts so far since purchase. Having the two mic/inst inputs on the front panel is very useful, especially for accepting DI guitar/bass signals. The two preamps on these channels are very good, although I prefer to run mic's through a separate tube preamp when not on the move. Monitoring is very flexible, with some great options within the software mixer to enable separate routings for different purposes. I have not yet used the extra 8 channels supported through ADAT but knowing that the unit has this capability puts me at ease for that surprise occasion when I find myself trying to track a full live band setup. The other digital channels on this unit do just as they state on the packaging, and the breakout cable offers midi connectors and other little gems for syncing up your unit. I honestly can’t see myself wanting to do anything anytime soon which will particularly challenge this unit!


On a practical side, the unit is compact and seems fairly rugged. It comes with a power adapter, although I prefer to power it via firewire bus (6 pin) to avoid unnecessary clutter. A note in the manual mentions that the unit must be switched on before the computer to avoid the risk of burning out your unit (or the computers ports). This is a problem with all firewire devices, not just M-Audio, so it’s not a big issue, but worth mentioning.

How does it sound? Fantastic. It certainly seems to perform as well as the M-Audio PCI card I previously used, and sounds as good as several high end models of other makes I have used with a similar specification. I currently use either 24 bit/ 48khz or 24 bit / 96khz but this unit offers up to 192khz on the first two inputs. Either way, if you need to upgrade yourself to something “a bit more substantial” I can only recommend the M-Audio 1814. If this unit had cost me £500 or more then I would still give it 9 out of 10 but for a little over the £300 mark I can only give it full marks!

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