[raduray]

I've got a Edirol UA-1EX USB DAC on the way and have an old laptop I'd like to connect to my home stereo system. I'm concerned whether the USB 1.1 on the old laptop will support this functionality, or do I need the faster USB 2.0?

Radu

 

[mikechai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raduray I've got a Edirol UA-1EX USB DAC on the way and have an old laptop I'd like to connect to my home stereo system. I'm concerned whether the USB 1.1 on the old laptop will support this functionality, or do I need the faster USB 2.0? Radu

AFAIK, USB1.1 is sufficient.

 

[raduray]

If the laptop has a single USB port, can I connect it to a powered USB hub to support both the USB DAC and a USB HD holding my MP3 of FLAC music?
Radu

 

[sgprater]

USB 1.1 should work okay. The USB 2.0 standard is backwards-compatible, which means all USB 2.0-capable devices should work just fine on USB 1.x. Slower, but just fine. Even though USB 1.x is slower, it's still more than fast enough to handle digital audio streams. I have lots of USB 2.0 devices that I run on my old laptop with its single USB 1.1 port.

If you're concerned, you can always buy a USB 2.0 card. They cost about as much as lunch in a big city.

The hub is a different story... many devices don't work well with USB hubs (in the technical docs, they advise against connecting my iAudio M5 DAP to a hub, although I haven't had any problems with it so far). I don't know what operating system you're running, but I acquired several gray hairs before I finally discovered that my Bithead amp didn't work under my Linux 2.4 kernel because it was connected to my monitor's built-in USB hub. (This problem may have been fixed in the 2.6 kernel; I certainly hope so).

 

[thedoctor]

read from somewhere that USB 2.0 has better jitter figures compared to using USB 1.1. though both are useable, it seems that USB 2.0 is better.
been scanning through lots of discussion on the USB jitter issues, and stumbled upon a measurement. i'll try to trace back the post. somewhere at DIYAudio or DIYHifi, can't recall.

 

[gevorg]

"USB audio spec and jitter"
http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pc...ages/7719.html

 

[thedoctor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gevorg "USB audio spec and jitter" http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pc...ages/7719.html

still there's no explaination about the issue on USB1.1 and USB2.0. the discussion (that i was telling about), had actual measurement done on USB1.1 and USB2.0 hardware and it shows that USB2.0 had less error (or works better perhaps?). and that different USB implementation (on the USB controller chip) gives different results. even the USB port used gives different numbers.

even i'm still trying to understand all of the vast information available. and in that regard, i might be wrong.