The Old In 'n Out

On the back of the card are the line-in, and the 5.1 audio output connectors, which are all furnished in gold plating.

The silver colored box has the benefit of matching whatever aluminum case you might have. At the risk of stripping the screws out on the break-out box, I wasn’t able to peek inside to see what lurked beneath the rather heavy steel shell.  You probably won’t want for any more connections, however, as this is the business end of the 6-fire.  From left to right, the line-in/tape, the phono-in, line-out, mic-in (mono, with gain knob), headphone out (stereo, with knob), S/PDIF digital coaxial in and out, S/PDIF digital optical in and out, and finally, two full-sized MIDI 5-pin DIN connectors.  If it’s not optical, all the connectors are finished in gold plating, with the exception of the MIDI connectors. 

Not to mention there are little multi-color LED’s that will tell you at a glance which input is active, and will turn red if you hit a peak limit.  Now that's functionality!

The 6-fire does a one-up on the Audigy2 by providing a phono input on the box.  Those with a vinyl LP collection will want to take notice.  The DMX 6-fire provides RIAA equalisition in the driver, but you can also download a plug-in for WaveLab from their website.  If you plan to do LP recording directly from a turntable, TerraTec recommends that you use the plug-in for WaveLab.

The connection between the box and the card is done with a flat 40-pin ribbon cable.  It looks suspiciously like an IDE cable.  TerraTec assures us that you can’t use a standard IDE cable, in case you were wondering.  It also doesn’t get any power from a floppy connector like the Audigy2 Platinum’s does, nor does it have a firewire cable (or a remote control), which should keep the in-case clutter down, but at the expense of a few features.

The knobs on the front have a meaty feel to them, but are rather coarse in movement.  They don’t impose any noticeable audio artifacts, but just feel grainy.  And if I have to gripe about something, it’s that the knobs are too close together.  But, I’m grabbing at straws to find flaws here.  The breakout box is rather, dare I say it, sexy, in a mechanical sort of way.