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So, what's it to be - this or a second-hand car?

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• Review

Performance and sound

Sonically, it's very difficult to fault the Orpheus. Anyone familiar with the company's mic pres and converters will know that colouration isn't really its thing, and the same is very true of this box. When we say that you're unaware that it's there, we mean it as a compliment.

This extends to control of mic levels and outputs with behaviour akin to the better digital desks, and even though you're making level adjustments in software, there's no evidence of the zipper noise you get with cheaper gear.

While we're on the subject of software, you can set up outputs to follow your audio application direct (DAW), or set up individual mixes for each output pair using the software mixer. This is simple enough, enabling you to combine analogue and S/PDIF inputs with your DAW source.

What it won't let you do is factor in the ADAT connections (should you be using them). We're also a little surprised that the twin headphone outs are sourced from the same headphone sub mix, so you can only have one headphone mix.

Summary

The Orpheus is a serious piece of kit that delivers excellent quality precisely where you would expect – mic pres and conversion – but packs in all sorts of other useful pro-level features.

For all its capabilities, though, we're a bit surprised that there are no insert points or more flexibility in the headphone department, and it must be said that some of the cheaper quality interfaces offer more flexible software mixing.

However, in use, the Orpheus is extremely stable and sounds fantastic, and possibly sets a new state-of-the-art benchmark for the FireWire audio interface.

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