Firewire Vs. Usb Which One Is Better For Audio Recording?

Firewire Vs. USB, an age old query (at least in the
most recent few years when Firewire and USB came on the market). In this article we are going
to address the
key
distinctions seperating
the two so that you will know the
details and can determine which is a better system
to work with for you.

Firewire Vs. USB Data Transfer Rate

The important
difference worth
knowing in between USB and Firewire is the data transfer speed. USB 2.0 transfers data at
about 480 mbps where Firewire
800 transmits data at, well, 800 mbps.

As you can see, Firewire 800 moves
data at nearly twice the rate of USB 2.0. This proves to be
useful when you want to transfer significant
amounts of information in real time without
issue such as with digital audio recording.

Asynchronous Vs. Isochronous

Whereas USB is known as being
asynchronous, Firewire has an isochronous mode, or in
other words it can claim a
particular dedicated amount
of bandwidth which other devices
cannot touch. The torrent of data is
able to flow without
restraint so you don't feel any
glitches or collisions of data like is possible when using USB's asynchronous setting where
that constant torrent of
information is able to be inhibited by
other devices to use that same
pipeline, resulting in issues and pops on your recordings when you
are recording because some of the audio
gets lost.

It's not definite that this
will occur with USB, but the odds
are a great deal more likely due to the design.

Firewire Vs. USB Cost

Keeping in mind the
above 2 things, Firewire
typically will cost you a bit more and is viewed more seriously than USB 2.0
for recording. It's more
pricey both for firewire cables vs. USB cables and for
putting a Firewire port on your computer vs. a USB
port. Because Firewire is utilized for
very explicit reasons which
the average person has little need
for like audio or video tracking,
relatively few computers and laptops
are built with Firewire ports standard.

As a substitute you either need to special
order your PC with a Firewire port already
installed, or you can buy a converter card to
allow it to be
congruent with Firewire and that is what I
did.

In the end the choice of going Firewire
Vs. USB is yours and yours alone, but now you are familiar with the essentials seperating the pair
. You can try purchasing a USB
matching recording equipment from an internet site with a good return policy
like Musician's Friend or purchase one in store at a
Guitar Center, then test it out and if you find
any pops or problems then you
are able to just send
it back and exchange it for a Firewire hardware.