[arch-general] HDMI audio input - HDMI microphone

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Wed, 27 Feb 2019 19:07:51 +0000, Neven Sajko wrote:
>> Prosumer, as well as professional audio interfaces work very good
>> using the class compliance Linux USB driver. I own a prosumer audio
>> interface with 18 input and 20 output channels and there are no
>> issues using all of them and moreover, the prosumer USB device works
>> way better, than my professional PCIe audio interface.  
>
>Hmmm, one advantage of PCIe is that it provides 3.3 V which does not
>have to be divided for supplying the microphone with it. Also PCIe
>causes less latency, but that is not really important for my use case.
>
>But I do not really see why would USB be a bad choice...

If you are using a single audio interface for recording and playback all
your digital (ADAT, S/PDIF, AES/EBU) and analog equipment, you only need
to handle a single audio interface via Linux or any other OS. This audio
interface needs to sync (at best via word clock) to connected digital
gear, too, but for the OS it's just one interface. While it's possible
to use more than just one audio interface and it's also possible to
sync several interfaces, it's an annoyance to use more than just one
audio interface. You would end up making several synced audio interfaces
a single virtual audio interface or use some resampling solution, if
sync via hardware shouldn't be provided. In short, if you should use 4
USB microphones, you would have to handle 4 audio interfaces, instead of
one. Without a workaround you won't be able to use those for 4 audio
interfaces for example with jackd. Workarounds steal time that could be
better used.