Most current Audient products feature a 'USB-C' connection port on the interface for connecting to your computer, however it is important to distinguish between the physical form of a USB cable or port, and the actual USB 'protocol' in-use, which is usually determined by the USB host controller built in to your computer.
The two most common physical types of USB port on computers are USB-A and USB-C. Both USB-A and USB-C port shapes can accommodate a range of USB protocols, which is why it is important to properly identify the type of port being connected to, particularly in the case of using a 'bus-powered' audio interface (i.e one that doesn't require an external power supply in addition to the USB cable).
| Protocol | USB 1.0 1996 |
USB 1.1 1998 |
USB 2.0 2000 |
USB 2.0 Revised |
USB 3.0 2008 |
USB 3.1 2013 |
USB 3.2 2017 |
USB4 2019 |
USB4 2.0 2022 |
|
| Max Speed | Marketing name | Basic-Speed | High-Speed | USB 5Gbps | USB 10Gbps | USB 20Gbps | USB 40Gbps | USB 80Gbps | ||
| Original label | Low-Speed & Full-Speed | SuperSpeed, or SS | SuperSpeed+, or SS+ | SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps | ||||||
| Operation mode | USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 | USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 | USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 | USB4 Gen 3×2 | USB4 Gen 4×2 | |||||
| Signalling rate | 1.5 Mbit/s & 12 Mbit/s | 480 Mbit/s | 5 Gbit/s | 10 Gbit/s | 20 Gbit/s | 40 Gbit/s | 80 Gbit/s | |||
| Physical Connector | Standard-A | — | ||||||||
| Standard-B | ||||||||||
| Type-C (USB-C) | *Backward compatibility provided by USB 2.0 implementation |
(Enlarged to show detail) |
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The most important thing to note from the table is that all USB 3.0 ports and above can provide up to 900mA of electronic current (at standard USB 5 volts). With a bus-powered iD series interface, you will see a further performance increase (primarily for the headphone amp) if connected to a USB 3.1 (or higher) USB type C port that is capable of providing 1500mA at 5V.
Useful Things to Know
- With older USB 1.0 or 2.0 ports, you may experience intermittent behaviour or issues properly operating condenser microphones utilising phantom power.
- Many Windows laptops and desktops feature both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, and you can usually identify the 3.X ports by the blue interior, or the 'SS' logo near the port itself.
- Quite often, the ports at the front of a Windows desktop / tower PC connect to an internal USB hub, so we generally advise to connect an audio interface to the rear ports where possible, to ensure the most direct communication with the CPU, which can be highly important in consistent processing of real-time audio.
- Similarly, certain sections of the rear ports can also be connected via a hub on the motherboard, so it can be worth checking the motherboard manual to ensure you're connecting your audio interface to its own dedicated USB port.
- Most audio interfaces still utilise the USB 2.0 protocol for data transfer, in order to optimise compatibility with older computers, but will still benefit from connection to a USB 3.X Type-C port due to the increased power output available from a 3.X type-C port.