Question

I am researching the possibility of converting from MacOS to PC.  Since doing music recording is just a hobby need to be able to use my current Fire Studio Projects (two of them, daisy chained together via Firewire) to a PC.  Currently I use the Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter.  There is a Dell XPS 15 laptop that has Thunderbolt 3 port ( 40 Gbps, bi directional).  Anyone know if the Apple Thunderbolt to Fireware Adapter can be leveraged for use on a Non-Apple device and still be fully functional, on a Windows 10 Pro device like the Dell XPS 15?  Are there any gotchas that I need to check for going the Windows PC route that folks give me their experience on?

Current setup: Macbook Air 13" 2012 connected via Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 Adapter to two daisy chained Firewire Studio Project Audio Interfaces.

Answer 1

There are "gotchas" with everything.  No system for setup has ever or will ever be perfect.  The Apple TB to firewire adapter may work, but the Startech brand seems to work better with PC computers.  You also need to have the PC fully updated for proper Thunderbolt compatibility.

You may be better served using a PCIe firewire card with s400 speed 1394a connections and a Texas Instruments chipset.  SIIG and Startech are good brands.