• Registered: 2016-11-19
  • Posts: 9

Topic: FireWire800 + Thunderbolt2-Adapter worse than straight USB?

Hello,

I have a Macbook 2015 with only 2 USB ports and up to now I used one for my audio interface and the other one for a big USB hub with all other devices. Now I would like to add a few more USB devices and I was thinking about a way to free up the second port to be used for a second hub (as I don't want to plug hub into hub).

I guess connecting my Fireface 802 to the second usb hub is not really the best thing to do. However will I have any noticable performance/stability disadvantage if I connected it to a Thunderbolt 2 port with a Firewire800 cable and a FW-TB-adapter compared to keeping it connected directly to the Mac's USB port?

  • Registered: 2016-11-19
  • Posts: 9

Re: FireWire800 + Thunderbolt2-Adapter worse than straight USB?

So anybody who can tell me if connecting the Fireface 802 with Firewire + TB adapter makes it perform worse than just direct USB connection?

  • vinark
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  • Registered: 2009-06-05
  • Posts: 2,738

Re: FireWire800 + Thunderbolt2-Adapter worse than straight USB?

Where your logic fails is that the 2 usb ports are one chip. There is no real difference connecting a hub to each port or 2 hubs to one. And why not just get a bigger hub? Also the 802 might work ok on a hub, why not try that? But of course I don't now why you need the hubs and what you connect to it...

Vincent, Amsterdam
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  • Registered: 2016-11-19
  • Posts: 9

Re: FireWire800 + Thunderbolt2-Adapter worse than straight USB?

Well the reason for not just getting a bigger hub is that it is not that easy to find one with more than 7 data ports (like the one I have) and if I would find something with like 10 data ports I would very quickly fill them up and have to worry again.
The reason for not putting hub into hub is stability. I fear that if there is a further cable-connection involved, dropouts might be more likely to occur, which I don't want to happen. Tough I am no expert on USB, I just had bad experience in the past with stuff randomly disconnecting so I want to keep my connections as simple as possible.

I might give it a try to connect the 802 to a Hub and see how it works for a while. Still if someone can confirm that the 802 runs just as well on firewire + adapter as on USB I would much prefer that route as i could make use of the unused Thunderbolt ports and have 1 more available USB connection.

Right now I need the hub to connect a Midi keyboard, a CD drive, 4 harddrives and a connection to a smaller hub which hosts an ilok and an elicenser (which it handles quite well but other stuff drops out). Still if I want to temporarily connect my phone or a small USB drive or any other peripheral I need to disconnect something. For this and also because I am planning to add 1-2 more harddrives and probably some other studio devices that might run over USB I want to buy a second big hub so that for a while I do not have to worry about available USB slots.