USB vs firewire

[pedro_sandchez]

Well, I've been looking into recording interfaces for my needs and the thing I cant really decide is if firewire is deffinately worth the money. I have usb 2.0 ports on my pc, and firewire hardware is significantly more expensive. Is it really worth the extra money for a beginner who really doesnt plan on building up a huge fancy rig?

I'm looking at the m-audio audiophile usb vs the firewire version of the samething. For the money, usb just seems like abetter deal if it isnt going to cause me any real problems

thanks

 

[noisewreck]

Firewire in general is a more reliable, stable and faster protocol than USB, even USB 2.0, although the latter appears to be faster on paper. However, at the Audiophile level, I don't think there is that much of a difference between the two. Now, if you were going to go with an audio interface with 8+ I/O ports, I'd say definitely go with firewire.

BTW you might get sligtly less latency with the firewire version vs. USB.

 

[TimOBrien]

PCI vs Firewire vs USB (about halfway down the page):

http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm

Personally, I'm glad I spent every penny on my Motu828mkII. ZERO problems and great quality.

(Remember the old adage: Buy cheap; buy twice.)

 

[noisewreck]

Don't mean to hijack the thread. Tim, are you using the MOTU with a PC or a Mac OS X?

 

[TimOBrien]

WinXP laptop (Gateway). Zero problems.