[wdmaudiodev] Re: Why would you want USB Audio 2.0 in Windows?
- From: "David A. Hoatson" <dhoatson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <wdmaudiodev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:53:51 -0700
Frank,
Thank you for asking! As Danijel mentioned USB Audio 2.0 support is
important for higher sample rate / higher bit-depth / higher channel count
hardware. If the hardware does 24-bit 192kHz then USB Audio 1.0 cannot even
do 2 channels. Even with the more widely used 24-bit 96kHz, then channel
count is limited to stereo. If someone wants to just use 24-bit 96kHz for
5.1 playback, this simply isn't possible with USB Audio 1.0.
Now that there are more USB Audio 2.0 solutions coming to market, each
company is having to develop it's own driver... and of course each will have
varying degrees of success. Audio driver development is generally not the
core competence for a chip-set company so they end up having a 3rd party
company develop the driver. OEMs end up with the "not our fault" situation
where the chip-set company blames the driver company and the driver company
isn't being paid to fix bugs. The end result is products that don't work
very well on Windows but work better on OS X.
As it is now, all of the USB Audio 2.0 solutions are having to be qualified
on OS X 10.6 (which does support USB Audio 2.0).
I think the key issue is market acceptance. Microsoft never supported audio
on FireWire in the OS, and I would say there are fewer FireWire audio
devices on the market as a result. If Microsoft supports USB Audio 2.0 in
Windows 7 SP1, I think you will see many USB Audio 2.0 devices hit the
market.
Thank you,
David A. Hoatson
Lynx Studio Technology, Inc.
www.lynxstudio.com <http://www.lynxstudio.com/>
_____
From: wdmaudiodev-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:wdmaudiodev-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Frank Yerrace
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 6:24 PM
To: wdmaudiodev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [wdmaudiodev] Why would you want USB Audio 2.0 in Windows?
There are occasional questions on this list about USB Audio 2.0 support in
Windows. We (the Windows sound team) are curious to hear specific reasons-
scenarios, business, features, etc.- that would be enabled if USB Audio 2.0
support was included in Windows.
Are any of you willing to share this? The more specific you can be, the
better. If you do not want to share with the entire list then feel free to
send a message to me directly.
Frank Yerrace
Microsoft
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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