Firewire can typically handle more signals (tracks) at a time and uses less computer resources.
So pretty much firewire is capable of handling more tracks and is faster? Also does the sound quality change between usb and firewire
1s and 0s do not have quality. It's just a data pipe.
usb1 does 2 channels in/out.
usb2 does 12-16 channels.
Whenever it finally comes out, usb3 may come up to fw400 speeds. No one knows yet.
Firewire400 does over 100
Firewire800 twice that.
FW1600 and 3200 specs have been approved but really who needs that big a pipe?
What IS handy with firewire is that you can daisy-chain harddrives (I do) or processor boxes on it with plenty of room to stream the data.