Going Pro: The FocusRite Scarlette 2I4 Firewire

Should you have a computer like the HP Pavilion PC, you will have a very good output, called Firewire. This is usually associated with the Mac, although now superseded by Lightning. Just before our Pavilion died, due to a power out, we considered getting this, now available in USB form, for it. For not much more than a Calyx Coffee, you can get yourself a USB DAC, with dual microphone input. Not on this, but for a little more, you can get a pair of headphones and a microphone in with the hun.

Thus, for not much more than a pair of headphones (actually, considerably less), you get a DAC, and A/D converter, a microphone pre-amplifier / mini-mixer, a headphone amplifier -and- a pair of headphones.

Not just any headphones, but a pair in candy red.

Now, that may not be a Penthouse like the Monoco La Belle Epoque suite Candy and Candy got by way of Edmund Safra's late widow for $16-25M and resold for $323M after some reno, but at ... it still is a seal of a deal. Our own place could use some similar care.

Let's give it to Pavilion for having a USB out. Rather sad we didn't get to use the Firewire.