• Registered: 2007-05-09
  • Posts: 174

Topic: USB version of the 400 - an alternative or an improvement?

Just watched the video at
http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_fireface_uc.php

The guy from Synthax claims that Firewire has a built-in round-trip latency of 6ms because it was "designed for a range of devices beside audio interfaces". Like USB 2.0 wasn't? This sort of salesman-talk gives a bad impression.

I believe Mac show signs of phasing out Firewire? (And on some recent Macs thet DO have Firewire it's broken?) Might this have something to do with the decision to talk up USB?

Having said that, if RME have decided USB is the way to go, I'm sure they designed something that works as specified. They generally do. I'm just a little dubious over claims that it's BETTER than Firewire.

  • Knut
  • Knut
  • DAW Mastermind
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  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 1,618

Re: USB version of the 400 - an alternative or an improvement?

USB is not generally better than FireWire for pro audio, but has some advantages - at least with the RME USB technology.

With a FireWire interface from RME you will get a roundtrip latency of around 6 ms latency at a buffer setting of 48 samples - and 48 is already the smallest useful value. The roundtrip latency of the Fireface UC (or the Babyface) could be lower, because the Fireface 400 uses an additional Safety Buffer of 64 samples, while the UC uses only 32. This means the Fireface 400 at 48 samples buffer performs like a Fireface UC with 64 samples buffer size - and it?s possible to use even 32 samples with the UC - at least on Mac OS.

But the most important point is not the latency, but the compatibility to the host system. With the incompatibility of some FireWire chipsets in the past and the limited number of FW ports on todays hardware, USB could be now often the better solution. But it depends always on your unique system.

See also: http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_fir … uc_general

best regards
Knut

  • Registered: 2007-05-09
  • Posts: 174

Re: USB version of the 400 - an alternative or an improvement?

Ok, thanks. So a lot of it is to do with Apple losing interest in Firewire, now that its mass-market application, camcorder interfacing, has moved to USB?

  • Knut
  • Knut
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  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 1,618

Re: USB version of the 400 - an alternative or an improvement?

FireWire will be surely stay a long time from today, but many users need other alternatives. There are still a lot of those incompatible Lucent chipsets (Rev. 6) in pre 2009 Apple products around and some other netbooks and notebooks only provide USB. So RME investigates USB and discovered it could deliver at least the same or even a better performance, than FireWire. Now customers have a choice between nearly identical products for the FireWire or USB bus.

The only disadvantage is the missing bus power on USB for bigger interfaces, but works for smaller interfaces, like the new Babyface.

best regards
Knut