Impact of USB 3.0 on Audio

For Mac users, there's an easy way to neutralize this issue. I keep my music files on a USB 2.0 drive. When I first moved my files from the internal drive to the USB drive the music sounded flatter and more threadbare. I recently downloaded (and bought) Audirvana Plus, which enables you to configure up to 7GB of system RAM to buffer the music file before playing it. WIth RAM buffering, it doesn't much matter how slow the USB interface is.

I recently upgraded from my 2 GB 2008 MacBook to a brand new 8 GB Macbook Pro. It also has a Thunderbolt interface. When the price of Thunderbolt drives comes down a bit, I will probably transfer my music files to one. The Thunderbolt interface is 30x as fast as USB 2.0, which, I guess, makes it 3x as fast as USB 3.0.

Anyway, using the RAM to buffer the music file during play is a great improvement for Audirvana's $50. Plus, it enables you to play high-res FLAC files, like from HDTracks. You can also maniipulate the upsampling, so 44.1 Khz files are upsampled at 88.1 instead of 96 Khz.

I don't know about the electrical or other aspects of the USB 3.0 spec but I don't see how faster maximum throughput would translate to better sound when an audio stream uses relatively little bandwidth.

I doubt that it's possible to say, until a significant body of experimental and anecdotal evidence evolves. And I think that a distinction would need to be drawn between use of USB 3.0 to connect external drives containing music files to computers, and possible future application of USB 3.0 to connection of DAC's to computers.

With respect to external drive connection, IMO it could conceivably be better or worse or the same or system dependent. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say system dependent.

With respect to DAC connection, presuming that high quality DACs incorporating USB 3.0 interfaces ultimately become available, I have no idea.

Regards,
-- Al