ASUS Strix B550i rear audio USB type C

soulven90 · November 15, 2021

Hi I recently build a PC with ASUS Strix B550i and I noticed it comes with Audio USB Type-C (USB 2.0) so I got a speaker Pebble v3 https://sg.creative.com/p/speakers/creative-pebble-v3 but I have a few questions about this port in particular:
1. Why its USB 2.0 even though its Type-C, it seems weird to me, no?
2. How much power such port provides, because the speaker I bought mentioned it needs to be powered by 10W USB-C Port to work in "high gain" mode
3. I noticed this port (or any other USB port) can provide power when the PC is off, is there a difference in power supplied when the PC is on vs off? Also its interesting that those ports can provide power when the PSU is not spinning, how does it work actually?

Thanks.

RONOTHAN## · November 15, 2021

These are by no means the definitive answers, but pretty educated guesses.

1.) If it's designed for audio, it doesn't need to be faster. Lossless audio tracks are a little under 2Mbps, and USB 2.0 provides 480Mbps, so there would be basically no benefit for going USB 3.0 or higher.

3.) The ATX standard has two different versions of 5v power, normal and standby. USB ports are usually hooked up to 5v standby, and thus they work even when the system is turned off.