Audio Interface Thunderbolt Vs Usb

Smile as the team of experts at music critic have reviewed the top audio interfaces by considering.

Audio interface thunderbolt vs usb. Usb 3 vs thunderbolt. Unsure on the best audio interface to buy. Usb and thunderbolt are not exactly merging but they are becoming partly compatible and better than ever. This thunderbolt 2 usb compatible audio interface has such spectrum of features from the range of available inputs through to its impressive 123db of dynamic range and ultra low roundtrip latency times which average roughly 1 6ms via thunderbolt and 1 9ms via usb.

Usb 3 1 thunderbolt 3 and usb c. For anyone reading this who remains unconvinced about the future of computer audio and the role that different connection types will play in it there are some great news for you. The difference is in bandwidth as opposed to speed of transfer. A thunderbolt interface could only function as a thunderbolt interface when connected via its thunderbolt port.

Although some engineers may not initially see how thunderbolt is different from usb or firewire when you do your research you ll notice how thunderbolt is unique. With this feature an audio interface could even function when plugged into a host computer supporting only usb 2 0 using a usb c to usb a cable but with limited i o count and functionality. 10 02 2018 by studiospares. Value compatibility customer feedback and lots more.

You will find the perfect product for you in our guide here. Thunderbolt 3 has no latency benefit over thunderbolt 1 2 just like usb 3 0 has no improvement in latency over usb 2 0. When it comes to audio interfaces thunderbolt connectivity is currently the the fastest way on the market to transmits signals lessening the possibility of latency issues. The future is bright.

While usb has improved in that respect and thunderbolt seems finally to be catching up with pcie there s no good reason to abandon a pcie based audio interface as a matter of principle they re still capable of great performance. It s already the gold standard of home and pro recording alike and put simply investing in a thunderbolt audio interface is about as future proof as it can get. In terms of data speed thunderbolt is one of the fastest platforms available and is on the path to be the future of data transfer overtaking usb 3 0 see above. The 3 on the cable indicates it s suitable for thunderbolt 3 data streams.

Here are some comparisons between usb and thunderbolt latency between our focusrite clarett tbt and scarlett clarett usb interfaces. Note the lightning bolt logos on the port and cable that indicate thunderbolt compatibility.