Does USB 3 improve latency for audio device?

[kritikon]

I was perusing the Steinberg/Yamaha audio units, and seems (as usual) there are as many opinions as there are arseholes about this. I have a UR22 mk11 - which I'm pretty happy with. Would be nice to have more ins but not essential for me - I get by very well with patchbays. But mulled over upgrading to a UR22C, which uses proper USB 3 (seems like a few units such as M-Audio advertise as USB C but are actually USB 2). Aside from the improved specs on the UR22C it maybe improves latency also specifically because of the USB 3.

I'm no computer tech by a long shot, so it's gobbledygook to me. But I read a few things that say USB 3 is 10x faster, which some dispute makes any difference to things like latency - but also read about polling which apparently can improve latency, as the audio device doesn't have to wait for the computer to request to do its thing. No idea if this is true or not.

Anyone here have an opinion on whether getting a USB 3 device would improve my latency over USB 2? It's not mega important to me, as I can get latency low enough not to bother me even with a midrange spec laptop nowadays but any improvement should help, if only to free up some juice on the laptop? Maybe?
TBH I've no idea WTF they're talking about.

[BONES]

I haven't noticed any difference in latency but I have noticed that my Audient EVO 8 definitely prefers the extra juice it gets when it runs into a USB Type C port. The UR44C also seems to be happier when it's plugged into a Type C port but, again, it's about power consumption more than latency, in that increasing the latency doesn't stop it from making horrible noises now and then when it's in a USB 2 port. It took mew a while to work out what the problem was but now I only run them into my Type C port.

[Pictus]

As I understand, no...
But if you want better performance, get a RME.
https://gearspace.com/board/showpost.ph ... count=5092

[Dasheesh]

The driver sets the rules.

[kritikon]

Thanks. I probably don't need to throw money at upgrading then. Happy with the audio performance of the UR22 as is. As for RME...last time I looked can't get anything from them under $1k as opposed to nearer $300 for the UR22c. I'm at the stage where I'm not going to burn money for miniscule returns. TBH the main thing I'd consider upgrading for is the sonic performance (being realistic I'm never going to record at 192kHz anyway, so probably that's wasted money) or more in/outs. More in/outs might be important at some stage, but I'm happy with patchbays TBH. Maybe if I go the route of returning to using mixing desks then I definitely need more. Likely a better Steinberg unit would do though. Mic pre's might be a consideration, but I only really use the odd vocal with vocoder etc...don't need ultimate clarity, as I'm only going to f**k it up once it leaves the mic.

For sure I could get better latency but not a biggie for me, at least not worth tripling the outlay. UR44c is that 4 outs...thought I saw 6 outs?

[Gregorywalters]

I think you are right.

[DJ Warmonger]

I'm curious about this as well.

But in order for this to have a chance to work, the interface in question also needs to have USB 3.0.

[T-CM11]

- This is what RME wrote about it:
https://www.rme-audio.de/rme-usb-technology.html

As an audio interface format for the mass market, USB 3 makes no sense at all, because the latency is exactly the same as what RME can achieve over USB 2. The higher data bandwidth allows us to transfer more channels, but does not change the smallest buffer size and the reliability when using it with Mac or Windows computers.

If you have to believe someone (I'm not an audio interface engineer myself), I choose them.

It is possible that some other company writes better drivers for its USB3 interfaces. In that case, they might be a better choice.

- USB-C is about the shape of the connector, nothing more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C

USB-C (formally known as USB Type-C) is a 24-pin USB connector system...

[T-CM11]

--double post--

[T-CM11]

double post again - I'm sorry, I seem to keep quoting in stead of editing

[MurzimStem]

My Roland Quad-capture, which works perfectly at low latency with usb2, pops and crackles connected to usb3. So I dont think usb2 is a bottleneck to low latency in this case. Drivers are probably more relevant here.

[Pictus]

PreSonus is improving the USB driver, at least for the PreSonus Studio 1824c
https://gearspace.com/board/music-compu ... st15819125
I wonder if the improvements also apply to the other models.

[jackoo]

Latency doesn't come from the USB interface. It's nearly all in the Windows audio chain.
USB 3.0 won't make any difference to you or me.

^this

[pljones]

Also it comes from forgetting some bits when tuning Windows for audio. I shaved another 2ms of jitter off my Jamulus machine today by going though a couple of guides - on my "old" PC that's been tuned up for ages, all had been done, but on the new machine where I'd had to reinstall Windows from scratch (rather than rely on Scan to get it right for me), I'd missed a few bits. At least, it felt better having done it.

[jancivil]

the Presonus Quantum which uses a USB3 port, technically a superset of it, Thunderbolt 3, very definitely reduced my latency by orders of magnitude. It relieves some pressure from CPU via its drivers, Direct Memory Access.
the port through itself, not at all