USB Audio And Performance Optimization

The USB specification defines a standard interface, the USB audio device class, allowing a single driver to work with the various USB sound devices on the market. Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and various versions of Linux all provide support for USB audio device. An external USB audio device plugs into the computer via USB interface. The sound is produced in software within the computer. A USB DAC converts the USB digital data to analog signals. Therefore the performance of the USB DAC and analog circuit implementation will greatly affect the sound quality.

Users who are interested in knowing more about USB can refer to this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus


Some optimization tips:
  • If you have a desktop or a tower, be sure to connect your audio interface to a port that is on the back of the computer. Generally, ports on the front of the computer, on the monitor, or keyboard don't perform as well as those on the back. This can help prevent noise, dropouts and connection issues.
  • If you use a USB hub to connect your device, use a hub that has its own AC power adapter. If necessary, upgrade to a premium USB cable. If you are in an area that has a high level of radio or electrical interference, and you experience noise or hum when using USB audio, upgrade your USB cable to a premium cable with extra shielding and a ferrite bead (a cylindrical bump on one end of the cable), which can filter out some external noise.

Windows PC Driver Optimization

ASIO4ALL is a hardware independent low latency ASIO driver for WDM audio devices. It uses WDM Kernel-Streaming and sometimes even more sophisticated methods to achieve its objectives.


What ASIO4ALL will NOT do:
  • Replace your existing sound card drivers or mess with them in any way.
  • Install any kernel mode components that could potentially affect the stability of your system.
  • "Overclock", or otherwise operate your audio hardware in ways that could potentially be harmful and/or void your warranty, except, of course, in cases where the manufacturer of your hardware has specifically stated that the use of ASIO4ALL would void your warranty indeed.

There is no software driver optimization required on the Apple Mac OS.