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Topic: Focusrite Forte (Read 4701 times) previous topic - next topic
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Focusrite Forte

Hi everyone, I hear you guys are more serious then the head-fi people, and I need a serious help. (this is my first post)
I'm very close to buy a focusrite forte audio interface, mainly for it's mic pre's and DAC. I would prefer to have an UAD apollo twin, but I'm PC only man.
My question is, is it a good enough headphone amp or do I need an specialized one, say for a AKG K702 or a seinheiser HD650?
I'll be using it for monitoring my own voice-overs, simple mixes and mastering, nothing fancy, although I'd like a nice piece of gear to listen good music too.
Thank you for your time.

F. Forte specs :

Headphone Outputs Measurered with PSU connected
Frequency Response   20Hz-20kHz +/- 0.1 dB
SNR (A-weighted)   -116 dB
THD+N

<0.0008% (-1dBFS input 1kHz, 20Hz/22kHz bandpass filter, 10k load)
Maximum Output into 10k   +9 dBu (+7dBV)
Maximum Power into 150R   30 mW
Maximum Power into 32R   27 mW
Output Impedance   < 8 Ohms
Load Impedance   > 24 Ohms

Focusrite Forte

Reply #1 –
Quote from: otavio.gmcoelho on
Hi everyone, I hear you guys are more serious then the head-fi people, and I need a serious help. (this is my first post)
I'm very close to buy a focusrite forte audio interface, mainly for it's mic pre's and DAC. I would prefer to have an UAD apollo twin, but I'm PC only man.
My question is, is it a good enough headphone amp or do I need an specialized one, say for a AKG K702 or a seinheiser HD650?
I'll be using it for monitoring my own voice-overs, simple mixes and mastering, nothing fancy, although I'd like a nice piece of gear to listen good music too.
Thank you for your time.

F. Forte specs :

Headphone Outputs Measurered with PSU connected
Frequency Response   20Hz-20kHz +/- 0.1 dB
SNR (A-weighted)   -116 dB
THD+N

<0.0008% (-1dBFS input 1kHz, 20Hz/22kHz bandpass filter, 10k load)
Maximum Output into 10k   +9 dBu (+7dBV)
Maximum Power into 150R   30 mW
Maximum Power into 32R   27 mW
Output Impedance   < 8 Ohms
Load Impedance   > 24 Ohms


The ratio for impedances should always be 1/8 or better (amp output impedance/headphone impedance)

With the AKGs: 8/62 = 0.129
With the Sennheiser: 8/300 = 0.02666

1/8 = 0.125

You should be fine when talking about the impedances.

Focusrite Forte

Reply #2 –
I agree, the specs look fine.  You are not likely to get an audible improvement with anything different or "better".

Quote
I'll be using it for monitoring my own voice-overs, simple mixes and mastering..
Of course, monitoring during recording is not that critical.  But the experts will tell you NOT to mix or master on headphones, except you should check your final mix on headphones, earbuds, on your boombox, your home stereo, in your car, and on everything you can get your hands on.    If you don't have good monitors in a good room, or if you haven't yet "learned" you monitors, it's even more important to check you mix on several different systems. 




From Recording Magazine:
Quote
As those of you who have followed this column for any length of time can attest, headphone mixing is one of the big no-no's around these parts.  In our humble opinion, headphone mixes do not translate well in the real world, period, end of story.  Other than checking for balance issues and the occasional hunting down of little details, they are tools best left for the tracking process.

Focusrite Forte

Reply #3 –
Quote from: DVDdoug on
From Recording Magazine:
Quote
As those of you who have followed this column for any length of time can attest, headphone mixing is one of the big no-no's around these parts.  In our humble opinion, headphone mixes do not translate well in the real world, period, end of story.  Other than checking for balance issues and the occasional hunting down of little details, they are tools best left for the tracking process.



That's an opinion, not a scientific fact. Mixing for speakers on Headphones is a learned art and it is good to warn newbies about trying to do it.

OTOH these days enough people are listening via headphones that mixing for headphones may not be such a bad  idea any more.

All along there have been very popular recordings that were ear candy for headphone listeners. One can only speculate about how that came to be.