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Years after their first appearance, many Thunderbolt ports still go unused. If you’re running low on USB ports for your DJ rig, live show or studio, a Thunderbolt audio interface can free up a USB port while providing crazy fast bandwidth for pristine high-resolution audio at nearly zero detectable latency.

We put two portable, DJ-appropriate Thunderbolt soundcards through the paces for your consideration: the Universal Audio Apollo Twin with onboard DSP and included plug-ins, and the Resident Audio T4 with MIDI I/O.

Thunderbolt breakdown
Thunderbolt interfaces may not be right for everyone, for the simple fact that most Thunderbolt products—hard drives and soundcards included—still cost noticeably more than their USB counterparts. Thunderbolt requires more in the way of support electronics, the cables themselves have entire chipsets in them, hence the increased cost.

Because the standard hasn’t been widely accepted yet, Thunderbolt devices haven’t benefitted from economies of scale like USB devices, and to some extent, FireWire devices before them. As a result, Thunderbolt expansion docks come in pretty steep at about $250 each, and even Thunderbolt cables average about $30 for a 3ft. or 1m cable.

However, the Thunderbolt port carries some power once you let the genie out of the bottle. It is spec’d at 10 GB/s per channel (two channels), compared to USB 3′s 5 GB/s (and 12x the bandwidth of FireWire 800); you can daisy-chain up to six devices; and it can provide bus power (more background on USB 3 and Thunderbolt here). Thunderbolt’s massive bandwidth clearly sets it apart the most; if you’re working with high-resolution, uncompressed audio and want super low latency, a Thunderbolt soundcard could be your dream machine.

Finally, as Ean spelled out in DJTT’s recent overview of powered vs. unpowered USB hubs, those of us using modular setups with many MIDI controllers quickly run out of USB ports, and even hubs have some limitations. Taking your soundcard out of that balancing act may lift a burden off of your live setup.

This is a great read for those DJs looking to maximize their setup and when they play at home or for their shows. Follow this link to continue to read about these 2 Thunderbolt Soundcards.