Topic: Longevity of USB 2 interfaces

Hi Im just about to buy an RME UFX 2 and im hoping that it will be my main interface for at least 5 years. Should I be concerned at all that the interface is only USB 2 for future compatibility? I plan on using it on a studio PC so Im guessing there will be no issues there- but id like it to be useable on a macbook for mobile recording. Is it likely that USB 2 will always be backwards compatible?
Thanks

Phil

Re: Longevity of USB 2 interfaces

Get UFX+, only very few bucks more and you get
- MADI for any possible future expansions and
- USB3+Thunderbolt as possibility to connect to the PC
Especially for Apple Thunderbolt (which is external PCIe) is very well supported.
The Thunderbolt driver additionally has support for pitch in the driver (the MADIface driver has not anymore).
So you have two strong options to connect to a PC/Apple and the guarantee to be able to scale with MADI.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

Re: Longevity of USB 2 interfaces

Theres currently a £500 difference in prices (here in the UK) and I don't really need the extra features that the UFX + provides. There doesn't seem to be anything to suggest that USB 2 won't be backwards compatible for some time yet?

Re: Longevity of USB 2 interfaces

I got a UFX+ for exactly the reasons suggested in this thread i.e. unknown longevity of USB 2 connectivity.

Re: Longevity of USB 2 interfaces

USB 3.0 is downward compatible, and I would be surprised if future versions would simply cut out USB 2.0...

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Re: Longevity of USB 2 interfaces

Standards established:
USB 1 - 1996
USB 2 - 2000
USB 3 - 2008
USB 4 - 2019
(All from Wikipedia).
USB 4 is backward compatible with USB 2.  So, given the gaps between the standards above, it would be a very reasonable guess that your USB 2 interface is going to work with the prevailing USB standard for another 7 years or so. And if it's incorporated into USB 5, you can add another 7-10 years on to that.

Dominic

7 (edited by ramses 2020-05-07 17:55:18)

Re: Longevity of USB 2 interfaces

pmcbride10 wrote:

Theres currently a £500 difference in prices (here in the UK) and I don't really need the extra features that the UFX + provides. There doesn't seem to be anything to suggest that USB 2 won't be backwards compatible for some time yet?

When looking at Thomann UK prices I only come to a difference of £302 ...

https://www.thomann.de/gb/rme_fireface_ufx_2.htm  £1950
https://www.thomann.de/gb/rme_fireface_ufx_ii.htm  £1648

And a couple of weeks ago the price difference between these two was even only around €185 = £162 ...
Now the UFX+ became again a little more expensive but only very little and the UFX II a little less expensive.

The UFX+ at this price for MADI and USB3/TB is a real bargain ... consider the initial cost of €2699 (£2362) when UFX+ came out. And now only £302 more for MADI and USB3/TB ..  MADI modules alone did cost around €500 (£437) some time ago.

EDIT: consider that you keep the device maybe for the next 10+ year and that in such a long time the demand for I/O can raise. Then the investment into an expandable device with MADI will definitively pay out. And directly pay out in terms of having thunderbolt as alternative to connect to PC or Apple.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13