Previously it was common for computers or cards to have FireWire 400 ports, which are featured on the Saffire line of Interfaces.

Today most of the computers on the market that do feature FireWire have a FireWire 800 port.

Customers sometimes encounter an issue when connecting their Saffire's FireWire 400 connection to a FireWire 800 port if they have an incompatible cable or adapter.

We find the best way to connect a Saffire to a FireWire 800 port is with a plain FireWire 400 to 800, 6pin to 9pin cable. A cable will not generally have any chipset inside of it and provide the most direct connection.

We have found the 400 to 800 adapters can be unreliable, as they may contain a chipset that processes the data pass-through. These may or may not be up to handling the real-time audio stream, similar to chipset compatibility on a PC FireWire Card. (See this Link)

We have found the Sonnet brand FireWire 400 to 800 adapters to work well. 

We have found the Rocketfish brand FireWire 400 cable with 400 to 800 adapters to be incompatible with our FireWire products. Using this adapter will not allow the Saffire to connect to the computer.

Please note that if you are using a Mac or PC with a Thunderbolt port you will be required to use a Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter - we mainly recommend using an Apple-branded adapter which can be bought from Apple's website. Please see this article regarding the Apple brand Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter. Third-party brands of this adapter are not recommended, as the chipsets have not been tested and may not be compatible with real-time audio streaming.

If you are using a PC with a Thunderbolt port please see this article on Thunderbolt port compatibility.