Does using long audio cables/usb cables increase latency?

dubbyah · Post by **dubbyah** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 7:06 pm

Well? I was thinking of putting my PC in another room and running all the cables (Monitor cables, USB cables, normal RCA cables, and network cables through the wall, using really long 20-30 foot cables, to effectively silence my system. My question is, will this increase latency in audio apps , i.e transmitting on a USB midi keyboard, or monitoring incoming audio from say a turntable? I wouldn't think it would, but i'm not sure. Can someone clarify? Thanks

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 7:26 pm

dubbyah wrote:Well? I was thinking of putting my PC in another room and running all the cables (Monitor cables, USB cables, normal RCA cables, and network cables through the wall, using really long 20-30 foot cables, to effectively silence my system. My question is, will this increase latency in audio apps , i.e transmitting on a USB midi keyboard, or monitoring incoming audio from say a turntable? I wouldn't think it would, but i'm not sure. Can someone clarify? Thanks

The easy answer would be search for official specifications on the maximum length of the cables allowed.

In terms of signal speed there should be no latency, the signal should propagate with the speed of light

I would rather worry about signal degrading too much over the long cables. I don't think this is the right forum to ask. You should get better advice on forums dedicated to professional audio recording.

dubbyah · Post by **dubbyah** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 7:50 pm

Well what about USB speed, and monitor cables? Would there be any negatives there? Most audio sites say cables should be no longer then 10 meters which is 30 feet so I think im fine there, but what about the USB, and the mouse and keyboard cables and stuff?

Post by **CA_Steve** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:02 pm

I think the indirect answer can be found by searching for the longest USB cable available

pipperoni · Post by **pipperoni** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:17 pm

I think the USB spec says up to something in the order of 16'. And its pretty severe to those who exceed it, basically it sounds like all signal will break down because there are minimum expected latencies. You'll need repeaters, I imagine all hubs act as a repeater.

As for monitor cables, as you extend VGA cable length you start to get into ghosting and simply poorer video quality. For DVI, I've forgotten what the official spec says, but I've seen copper as long as 25' (I use a 15' copper).

slipknottin · Post by **slipknottin** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:34 pm

With usb you can use repeaters, they arent very expensive at all. Some things have issues with them (printers, scanners)

VGA will break down over longer distances, use DVI, it can go much further.

Audio cables will be fine over long distances.

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 1:19 am

For especially long audio/RCA's you want high-end cables,lower ohms,resistance as well as better shielding. Obviously going premium and extra long increases price a lot. With digital stuff,like usb,the length,beyond some point increases the odds the signal gets corrupted. A few small errors in digital can make for big problems. A mild degradation in analog can be a gradual quality loss only noticable once at a certain point

justblair · Post by **justblair** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:12 am

The other way to do it is to use cat 5 cable to make your lengths....

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/vgacable.html

I have seen cat 5 used to drive ohp's in exhibitions as it is very easy to route and cheap enough to bin at the end of the stint.

Easy to send through walls as well and capable of sending the signal long distances. Not sure so much on the audio front, but there must be something out there as multi room audio systems have been around a while.

sun.moon · Post by **sun.moon** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:32 am

Once I bought 2 x 5 meter extension USB cables for my printer cable (1,5 meter). With one extension cable there was no problem. But when I extended the distance with the second extension cable, the printer did not funktion properly. At that time I did some researching in the USB spec. If I recall correctly, the maximum distance is 10 meters. I didn't look into repeaters back then. I solved the problem by moving the router with the print server.

As JazzJackRabbit mentioned, checking the spec is the best idea.

Bob_the_lost · Post by **Bob_the_lost** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:43 pm

JazzJackRabbit wrote: In terms of signal speed there should be no latency, the signal should propagate with the speed of light

2/3 the speed of light for copper, about 1/2 the speed of light for glass (ie fibre optics)

fingers · Post by **fingers** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 9:59 am

justblair wrote:The other way to do it is to use cat 5 cable to make your lengths....

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/vgacable.html

I have seen cat 5 used to drive ohp's in exhibitions as it is very easy to route and cheap enough to bin at the end of the stint.

Easy to send through walls as well and capable of sending the signal long distances. Not sure so much on the audio front, but there must be something out there as multi room audio systems have been around a while.

Can this be done with DVI ??

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 5:38 pm

ronrem wrote:For especially long audio/RCA's you want high-end cables,lower ohms,resistance as well as better shielding.

RCA connectors are used on cables whose impedance is 75 ohms. You should not use cables with impedances that significantly differ from the standard.

Resistance doesn't really matter, but good shielding does. If you're worried about the quality of your cable and you're thrifty, make some out of Belden 1694A/1505F with good connectors.

alleycat · Post by **alleycat** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 9:17 pm

I've read about a lot of audiophiles using CAT5 as speaker cables with excellent results. Pretty surprising considering all the BS about expensive thick cables.

wing · Post by **wing** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:12 pm

alleycat wrote:I've read about a lot of audiophiles using CAT5 as speaker cables with excellent results. Pretty surprising considering all the BS about expensive thick cables.

I once had a boss who told me that he wires all his audio-visual equipment with "data quality" cables because they are of so much better quality. So I guess I wouldn't be surprised that CAT5 would make good speaker cables...

darthan · Post by **darthan** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:28 pm

Well, I think you should be fine on all counts. If you use VGA for longer distances the signal quality can degrade and you do get ghosting but a friend of mine stuck all his computers in his basement and ran the cables up through the floor and one (or for a couple, two) KVMs and got away with only a little ghosting. The total length must have been around 20 feet of VGA cable. Ghosting increases the higher the resolution you use so if you plan to use only limited resolutions you should be fine but if you're talking about 1600x1200 or maybe 1280x1024 you might be in trouble. Just make sure you get good quality VGA cables. As for the rest of it, analog audio is just not going to be a problem in terms of latency and for digital cables (USB, etc), well, check the specs and don't exceed them.

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:44 am

For High End audio,the latancy of a USB soundcard is an issue,but so is the concerns of a pci card gettig interference inside the case from whatever. The "Deluxe" RCA's tend to be more copper,a heavier gauge,better shielding. Resistance increases with distance. A regular grade 100 ft eextension cord can't handle the amps of the same gauge cord in a 25 ft length. For someone just doing cd rips or mp3 stuff,it's no big deal. If you were doing home studio things,then its more of an issue. I have a seperate stereo in my room to use with the computer,rather than wire up to the living room system. You can get used amps/recievers (stereo) pretty cheap with a bit of luck.

Does using long audio cables/usb cables increase latency?

Does using long audio cables/usb cables increase latency?

Re: Does using long audio cables/usb cables increase latency

Re: Does using long audio cables/usb cables increase latency