usb or firewire for external soundcard

[ctdf]

is any connection better?

[AceLuby]

Here you go:

http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm

In short, firewire is faster.

[zz1415926535]

firewire!

recommended: MOTU Ultralight

[ctdf]

thanks guys

the ultralight looks good but my budget is around £250 - 300, any recommendations?

thanks

jim

[Earwax69]

Ive paid 2000$ for one of Motu first firewire rack audio interface and it went dead 1 week after the warranty was over. Motu no more for me. I'll stick with cheaper solution.

[poonti]

Been using an Edirol UA-101 usb i/f without any problems, and I've recorded all 8 inputs at once on an old laptop. Read too many horror stories with firewire chipsets and didn't want to get into any of the hassles. But firewire is definitely faster and better for audio (if it works).

[de wouzer]

firewire is much more fragile, usb is good enough

[zalo]

word on the street is that the RME Fireface UC is one of the lowest latency prosumer interfaces out there,

so usb isnt by default worse for audio

from everything ive read external soundcards seem to be a coin flip especially budget ones (your price range)

remember, buy cheap, buy twice

[selthym]

I feel it depends on what system you are using, even pc or Mac.

The reason I say this is that all PC's support USB and do so very well. A lot of pc Laptops do not have any in built firewire ports, certainly not 6 pin ports (so the unit can be powered over firewire). Therefore you need a firewire PCMCIA card to run the soundcard. Where as with a Mac 6 pin firewire is standard.

I use a firewire Saffire Pro with a PC, I have had a few issues, I believe the main issues revolve around my PCMCIA firewire card.

[de wouzer]

my firewire broke down 3 times. This is part of the motherboard, so a very big problem (I use apple macbook and macbook pro)

that's why I changed to usb.

I have a native instruments audio 8

and I am really happy with it.

[zalo]

I feel it depends on what system you are using, even pc or Mac.

The reason I say this is that all PC's support USB and do so very well. A lot of pc Laptops do not have any in built firewire ports, certainly not 6 pin ports (so the unit can be powered over firewire). Therefore you need a firewire PCMCIA card to run the soundcard. Where as with a Mac 6 pin firewire is standard.

I use a firewire Saffire Pro with a PC, I have had a few issues, I believe the main issues revolve around my PCMCIA firewire card.

9 pin is the bus powered version on macbooks/highend pc laptops

6 pin is the mini one standard on pc laptops with firewire

[de wouzer]

i spoke about this with people from it department at my work.
Everyone said Firewire will loose the race to be "the best" cable.

Why?

usb 3 is much faster than the new firewire
and usb cables are much lighter than firewire
the weight of a cable is a big reason for breaking down connections on the motherboard.

[ctdf]

word on the street is that the RME Fireface UC is one of the lowest latency prosumer interfaces out there,

so usb isnt by default worse for audio

from everything ive read external soundcards seem to be a coin flip especially budget ones (your price range)

remember, buy cheap, buy twice

£300 isn't exactly cheap (or perhaps I've been deluded all this time), after reading this I may go usb as the firewire port on my pc i have never used as its built into my graphics card strangely enough! Can someone recommend one please (I am prepared to pay more if it is worth it, thanks for the feedback people!

[zalo]

RME Fireface UC

[AceLuby]

I feel it depends on what system you are using, even pc or Mac.

The reason I say this is that all PC's support USB and do so very well. A lot of pc Laptops do not have any in built firewire ports, certainly not 6 pin ports (so the unit can be powered over firewire). Therefore you need a firewire PCMCIA card to run the soundcard. Where as with a Mac 6 pin firewire is standard.

I use a firewire Saffire Pro with a PC, I have had a few issues, I believe the main issues revolve around my PCMCIA firewire card.

9 pin is the bus powered version on macbooks/highend pc laptops

6 pin is the mini one standard on pc laptops with firewire

Actually, that's 6 pin & 4 pin that you're describing.

http://www.cablestogo.com/product_list.asp?cat_id=608