Are USB audio interface issues on iMac Haswell resolved?

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weggendekker Author

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Are USB audio interface issues on iMac Haswell resolved?

HI,

i just ordered a 27 inch iMac, maxed out with a 1TB SSD.

I noticed the imac doesn't have an audio in jack and figured i'd shop for a good USB Audio Interface.

But then i came across all these USB audio interface issues on the new iMac.

This is incredible to me because iMacs are often used by creative people and lots of musicians.

For me audio is VERY important. I record music and i record sound for animation and video.

Apple thus far seemed to be avoiding the topics and issues at hand.

Are the USB audio issues resolved? What was resolved? What was the problem (Maverick? Fusion Drive)?

Is it wise to choose for a Thunderbolt Interface? Which one?

Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Especcialy since it seems such a wide spread problem.

Thanx

Posted on Jul 12, 2014 3:44 AM

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Answer 1

Rudegar

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Jul 12, 2014 4:16 AM in response to weggendekker

haven't heard any spc issues with usb audio and mavericks but if you search for just about any problem you will likely get hits

even if it's not a general issue

my logitech usb webcam have a mic and never had problems with that with lion, mtn lion or mavericks

about Interface of the external audio box then thunderbolt is pretty much an multiplexed pci-express with display port added

would say that that amount of speed would be overkill for something as low bandwidth requiring as audio

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Answer 2

weggendekker Author

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Jul 12, 2014 4:20 AM in response to Rudegar

Thanx.

Yeah i did search, but i'm not fully confident the issues are resolved:

Massive problem with audio interface

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Answer 3

Rudegar

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170,748 points

Jul 12, 2014 8:06 AM in response to weggendekker

doubt it would be a general issue

usb is a universal serial bus it always require a driver for anything

and the driver of one external audio device would act different then the driver from another external audio device

so it would be very unlikely that an external audio card using a cirrus logic audio chip would cause the same issues with the imac as one with a realtek or soundblaster audio chip

not that there could not be issues with all of them but not likely that they would suffer from the same issue

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Answer 4

weggendekker Author

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Jul 12, 2014 9:13 AM in response to Rudegar

From what i've read it does seem pretty general when it comes to iMac Haswells with a Fusion Drive and Maverick.

Not sure how many people actually use their iMac for music making purposes but there are plenty of long threads about the issue.

The one on this forum is 47 pages.

I do see some of the issues are resolved by the new Maverick update and some are solved with rather complicated workarounds.

Problem ofcourse is that it shouldn't happen in the first place and it would be nice if Apple would openly adress the issue.

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Answer 5

indraq

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Aug 22, 2015 11:46 PM in response to weggendekker

iMac late 2013 haswell. 1TB HDD and Yosemite.

I have 5 USB soundcards, some of them have dropouts when using pro tools. the rest have weird freq response. none of them act normally as they should with this iMac except in other computer and my macbookpro late 2012

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