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Jitter on Firewire & USB protocols - Bob Katz replies [message #93924] Sun, 23 December 2007 17:26 Go to next message
Neil is currently offline  Neil
Messages: 1645
Registered: April 2006
Senior Member
In a recent thread here that had a question come up with regard
to jitter, I mentioned that Bob Katz pointed out in his book
that Firewire tended to be more prone to jitter. Since I've
been shopping around for a laptop - mainly for general office-
type use (documents, spreadsheets, etc), but would also like to
have the option of using it for audio should the need arise, I
thought I'd try e-mailing him with a question about UBS vs.
Firewire jitter... he responded pretty quickly, I must say, and
I thought I'd post his answer in case it might be helpful to
anyone else here, whether they're using such an interface for
laptop, or desktop use:

<begin paste of my question & his reply>
Hi Bob...
I am in the process of reading your Mastering Audio book, and I
noticed that you mention in there that Firewire tends to be
more jitter-prone. If I'm looking for a mobile solution (for
remote recording into a laptop), do you feel that the USB 2.0
protocol is better than Firewire? Worse? Not much different?

HI, NEIL. Thanks for writing.
What you need is an interface which provides a stable clock to
the converters and does not get its clock from the Firewire OR
the USB. Look to companies that specialize in high quality
conversion first and are aware of these issues. When in doubt,
quiz the company engineers (not just the sales people), don't
just take their advertising for granted.

I hope this helps,

Bob
<end paste>

I don't know of any offhand that specifically get their clock
from either internally or externally, as opposed to from the FW
or USB port itself, xcept for the RME Fireface 400 & 800, which
can be externally-clocked; but now we at least know what to
look for for best audio quality when using these types of
interfaces (interfascia?) :)

Neil
Re: Jitter on Firewire & USB protocols - Bob Katz replies [message #93930 is a reply to message #93924] Sun, 23 December 2007 20:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bill L is currently offline  Bill L   UNITED STATES
Messages: 766
Registered: August 2006
Senior Member
If I understand him (which I may not) it sounds like he is saying that
the interface should be clocked to itself, not getting clock from the
computer via USB or FW.

Neil wrote:
> In a recent thread here that had a question come up with regard
> to jitter, I mentioned that Bob Katz pointed out in his book
> that Firewire tended to be more prone to jitter. Since I've
> been shopping around for a laptop - mainly for general office-
> type use (documents, spreadsheets, etc), but would also like to
> have the option of using it for audio should the need arise, I
> thought I'd try e-mailing him with a question about UBS vs.
> Firewire jitter... he responded pretty quickly, I must say, and
> I thought I'd post his answer in case it might be helpful to
> anyone else here, whether they're using such an interface for
> laptop, or desktop use:
>
> <begin paste of my question & his reply>
> Hi Bob...
> I am in the process of reading your Mastering Audio book, and I
> noticed that you mention in there that Firewire tends to be
> more jitter-prone. If I'm looking for a mobile solution (for
> remote recording into a laptop), do you feel that the USB 2.0
> protocol is better than Firewire? Worse? Not much different?
>
> HI, NEIL. Thanks for writing.
> What you need is an interface which provides a stable clock to
> the converters and does not get its clock from the Firewire OR
> the USB. Look to companies that specialize in high quality
> conversion first and are aware of these issues. When in doubt,
> quiz the company engineers (not just the sales people), don't
> just take their advertising for granted.
>
> I hope this helps,
>
> Bob
> <end paste>
>
> I don't know of any offhand that specifically get their clock
> from either internally or externally, as opposed to from the FW
> or USB port itself, xcept for the RME Fireface 400 & 800, which
> can be externally-clocked; but now we at least know what to
> look for for best audio quality when using these types of
> interfaces (interfascia?) :)
>
> Neil
Re: Jitter on Firewire & USB protocols - Bob Katz replies [message #93935 is a reply to message #93930] Mon, 24 December 2007 01:01 Go to previous message
Nil is currently offline  Nil
Messages: 245
Registered: March 2007
Senior Member
Yes, either clocked to itself or externally-clocked.

Neil


Bill L <bill@billlorentzen.com> wrote:
>If I understand him (which I may not) it sounds like he is saying that
>the interface should be clocked to itself, not getting clock from the
>computer via USB or FW.
>
>Neil wrote:
>> In a recent thread here that had a question come up with regard
>> to jitter, I mentioned that Bob Katz pointed out in his book
>> that Firewire tended to be more prone to jitter. Since I've
>> been shopping around for a laptop - mainly for general office-
>> type use (documents, spreadsheets, etc), but would also like to
>> have the option of using it for audio should the need arise, I
>> thought I'd try e-mailing him with a question about UBS vs.
>> Firewire jitter... he responded pretty quickly, I must say, and
>> I thought I'd post his answer in case it might be helpful to
>> anyone else here, whether they're using such an interface for
>> laptop, or desktop use:
>>
>> <begin paste of my question & his reply>
>> Hi Bob...
>> I am in the process of reading your Mastering Audio book, and I
>> noticed that you mention in there that Firewire tends to be
>> more jitter-prone. If I'm looking for a mobile solution (for
>> remote recording into a laptop), do you feel that the USB 2.0
>> protocol is better than Firewire? Worse? Not much different?
>>
>> HI, NEIL. Thanks for writing.
>> What you need is an interface which provides a stable clock to
>> the converters and does not get its clock from the Firewire OR
>> the USB. Look to companies that specialize in high quality
>> conversion first and are aware of these issues. When in doubt,
>> quiz the company engineers (not just the sales people), don't
>> just take their advertising for granted.
>>
>> I hope this helps,
>>
>> Bob
>> <end paste>
>>
>> I don't know of any offhand that specifically get their clock
>> from either internally or externally, as opposed to from the FW
>> or USB port itself, xcept for the RME Fireface 400 & 800, which
>> can be externally-clocked; but now we at least know what to
>> look for for best audio quality when using these types of
>> interfaces (interfascia?) :)
>>
>> Neil
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