Why is USB audio so often preferred over AES/EBU or S/PDIF?

[Aure]

I know....You're all so resistant. Think AC is going to give you a sinus infection or something

You don't have to admit it. Just know we are here for you. We will ship it direct to your Chateau

It's more of a studio than a château... but from now on, you may address me as My Lord.

Please pay your tribute by sending the AC unit.

 

[xanalog]

There is no "color" to USB vs Toslink vs hdmi.

Externally (connectors):

• White: Historically used for USB1.x
• Black or White: Typically USB2.0 (<480 Mbps)
• Blue: Typically USB3.0/3.2Gen1 (SuperSpeed, <5 Gbps)
• Teal or Light Blue: Sometimes used to denote USB3.1Gen2 (<10 Gbps)

Internally (wires):

• Red/Black/White/Green
• Blue/Yellow/Purple/Orange (+>USB3.x)

 

[xanalog]

...Please pay your tribute by sending the AC unit.

I have a rarely used A/C unit but I don't think you'd be willing to afford the S/H?

 

[BookshelfBob]

Externally (connectors):

• White: Historically used for USB1.x
• Black or White: Typically USB2.0 (<480 Mbps)
• Blue: Typically USB3.0/3.2Gen1 (SuperSpeed, <5 Gbps)
• Teal or Light Blue: Sometimes used to denote USB3.1Gen2 (<10 Gbps)

Internally (wires):

• Red/Black/White/Green
• Blue/Yellow/Purple/Orange (+>USB3.x)

I was talking about the sound hahahaha that's hilarious

Thanks tho?

Why would i put "color" in quotes if I meant it literally? If that was a joke, you are an odd one

 

[TonyJZX]

i thought this was abundantly obvious given AES EBU isnt really a common interface for most people here and everywhere and spdif coax opt are legacy connectors now... no more development is being done on these interfaces protocols...

 

[xanalog]

Why would i put "color" in quotes if I meant it literally? If that was a joke, you are an odd one

I beg your pardon?

 

[john61ct]

i thought this was abundantly obvious given AES EBU isnt really a common interface for most people here and everywhere and spdif coax opt are legacy connectors now... no more development is being done on these interfaces protocols...

Did anybody imply they thought there was any ongoing development?

And "legacy" can imply "obsolete" which I would deny, they simply need no further developments,

standards Should remain stable!

AES/EBU may not be AS common but there are specific use cases where it does perfectly solve problems, if budget is not an issue, why not standardize on that for interconnects, at least after the initial digital output if that is USB?

 

[john61ct]

If that was a joke, you are an odd one

It is obviously a joke, IMO not realising that is "odd".

But personally I proudly fly the freak flag high, a point of pride, "normal" is an insult

 

[TonyJZX]

yeah but certainly even you can acknowledge that the industry and the consumer is interested in innovation

you may as well go onto the AV forums and ask why people switched to HDMI over component.. or scart...

 

[john61ct]

That interest is rarely useful, I consider AVRs and HDMI for audio especially loathsome

 

[TonyJZX]

ironically people here are spazzing out over hdmi i2s... i wonder why

they should go back to optical and coax i reckon

 

[john61ct]

There are enough proven standards, using non standard "new hotness" stuff just for fashion, useless cool factor, is stoopid IMO

I²S is only good for connecting components within the same enclosure, like a centimeter apart.

 

[Chrispy]

Personally always thought using usb was more about what source was available. I use USB thumb drives, but cabling not so much.

 

[somebodyelse]

Today USB audio is done using UAC2 (USB Audio Class 2). It set the bus in High Speed mode - 480 Mb/s regardless of its version (2/3/x)

UAC2 can also work with the lower 11Mb/s speed if that's all that's available. Obviously this reduced bandwidth limits the maximum channel count/sample rate/bit depth available. See DSPi for an example of this lower speed use - the Pi Pico only has 11Mb/s USB.

 

[somebodyelse]

Anyway, a question to the USB users here: do you use any of the USB accessories?

A proper USB isolator if I had a ground-related noise issue - 480Mb/s isolators are now inexpensive. By 'proper' I mean one that complies with the USB spec, the ADUM3165 based ones being the most common inexpensive ones. Some HiFi companies sell things that claim to do something about USB noise via disconnecting power and/or ground after some delay - these are not specification compliant which can cause further issues, and they may not properly fix a ground-related noise issue anyway.

 

[BookshelfBob]

It is obviously a joke, IMO not realising that is "odd".

But personally I proudly fly the freak flag high, a point of pride, "normal" is an insult

Unless he used AI to type that. that's a very high effort joke for very little return lol

I'm going to take the high ground as the arbiter of what is "normal"

 

[xanalog]

Unless he used AI to type that. that's a very high effort joke for very little return lol
I'm going to take the high ground as the arbiter of what is "normal"

AI is like a 'compliment' (sycophantic) machine, which is the total opposite of an "insult" machine, who does it naturally!
Insult-machines tend to always think they are on the moral high-ground, while insulting others.

 

[Nutul]

I²S is only good for connecting components within the same enclosure, like a centimeter apart.

Give.this.man.a.medal.

Not only it is only good, it was only designed for that.

 

[xanalog]

Give.this.man.a.medal.
Not only it is only good, it was only designed for that.

Give.you.a.medal.too.

The PinkPanther Herder's answer:

I suspect one in a thousand owners have any use for IIs vs far more that could use HDMI ARC/eARC. I don't even know if PS Audio pushes IIS anymore. The thing as ill conceived when it came out, let alone now. Yet, it (IIS) has become Universal input on so many products.
Link

 

[Garfunkiest]

Some mistruths floating around in this thread, so I think I need to quote this 14 year old post from NwAvGuy. Seeing as how he built a reference quality USB DAC using the modern electronic equivalent of sticks, mud, and coconut shells, I would say USB audio is a solved issue, and the plethora of isolaters and other USB "enhancing" equipment is, outside of some specific cases, about as beneficial as cryogenic cable treatments.

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Elaborate and/or High Current Power Supplies

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