Audient Evo 16?

[Thenewexhibit]

Originally Posted by Benoni

Pretty much every USB audio interface is using USB2.0

The theory says you would only need USB3 if you have lots of simultaneous inputs.

Focusrite did a write up on this awhile back for those interested
https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-...0-not-USB-3-0-

Though I believe Thunderbolt is a different story because of how it accesses the CPU.

I've done a full video about the EVO 16 that covers everything here:
https://youtu.be/9UD-Wq2Ly4A

It's a really nice interface, especially for the price.

Hello! Not to beat a dead horse, but I noticed that the back of the box says USB 2.0 via USB C. I actually have this interface, but the USB C cable that came with it is very lightweight, so I wanted to get a new USB C to A cable from Monoprice. I sent the link of one over to Audient, but they mentioned that the link I sent was a USB 2.0 cable and they recommend USB 3.0.
Not to go against what they said, but is there a reason they would say to go with the USB 3.0 when this interface is a USB 2.0 interface? For what it's worth, I do have two Audient SP8's hooked up via ADAT for a total of 24 io.

Thoughts? There were two reasons I wanted to go with the USB 2.0; one, I can get the cable colored... haha better for identifying, but two, I can get a 10ft for USB 2.0 vs a 6ft for USB 3.0 through Monoprice.

[Darryl Ramm]

You should ask the folks telling you why they are saying stuff why they are saying stuff.

Either Audient don't know what they are doing and have improperly implemented USB standards, or maybe not speced/documented their products correctly, or some support person does not know what they are talking about, or some combination/flavor of those.

USB-C with nothing else specified should support up to 3A at 5V, which is significantly more than the 500mA of USB-2 on legacy connections. Audient should be able to work within a 3A budget. But should and do are not the same. Beyond that USB-C is an opaque mess of specifications and lack of certification for devices and cables. If this is a USB 2 device it cannot implement say USB-C PD (Power Delivery) which requires USB 3.1/3.2. and specific versions of USB-C cables. Again ask them, or measure what the USB-C power load is (and a little about the specs to see what it might be doing). Because USB standards are a steaming pile of turd, folks will often do things like recommend different cables, maybe based on "thicker is better", ******** vendor marketing, or personal experiences where some cables were unreliable (but maybe extrapolating the wrong inference/minimum needed spec cable from that experience).

You can measure power and often understand what is going on with different power modes using USB power meters, e.g. the models from Fnirsi are very impressive, and available at low cost from Alibaba etc.

[Thenewexhibit]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

You should ask the folks telling you why they are saying stuff why they are saying stuff.

Either Audient don't know what they are doing and have improperly implemented USB standards, or maybe not speced/documented their products correctly, or some support person does not know what they are talking about, or some combination/flavor of those.

USB-C with nothing else specified should support up to 3A at 5V, which is significantly more than the 500mA of USB-2 on legacy connections. Audient should be able to work within a 3A budget. But should and do are not the same. Beyond that USB-C is an opaque mess of specifications and lack of certification for devices and cables. If this is a USB 2 device it cannot implement say USB-C PD (Power Delivery) which requires USB 3.1/3.2. and specific versions of USB-C cables. Again ask them, or measure what the USB-C power load is (and a little about the specs to see what it might be doing). Because USB standards are a steaming pile of turd, folks will often do things like recommend different cables, maybe based on "thicker is better", ******** vendor marketing, or personal experiences where some cables were unreliable (but maybe extrapolating the wrong inference/minimum needed spec cable from that experience).

You can measure power and often understand what is going on with different power modes using USB power meters, e.g. the models from Fnirsi are very impressive, and available at low cost from Alibaba etc.

This is very interesting! Thanks for your reply! I read an article about USB 2.0 on the Audient website as well which I found interesting:

https://evo.audio/tutorial/usb-audio-explained/

I suppose I wouldn't know without testing or inquiring more from the company.

[skylar_battles]

I'm on Mac, but I have the full "expanded system" Evo 16 with 2 SP8s via ADAT using only the optical connections to sync the units (no word clock). Feel free to ask any questions if that would be helpful!

Check out this video as well: Why You Don't Need Thunderbolt For Professional Audio

[Darryl Ramm]

I think the only question here was what is the power draw of these units... if you have a good USB power meter you could check that. I suspect this is all USB 2.0 running fine with < 3A budget and Audient support are giving out possibly incorrect info, but would be good to check.