Active USB cable help

[Agonylord52]

Budget (including currency): N/A

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Microphone signal over USB 

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

Hello! 

 

So, the issue is that I'm trying to get a USB extension cable to run from a PC, to a smaller 3-foot female-female extension cord connecting the exterior of my sound booth to the interior, which would be connected to a USB microphone that is inside my sound booth.  

 

The sound booth itself is about 5 metres away from my PC, so I know I'll need an active USB cable, but I'm still slightly confused on how they work, or what configuration I'll need to set up. 

 

I've read that I can extend a USB 3.1 signal up to 18 metres if it's powered, but only as long as the INITIAL cable is the powered cable, and as long as any cable after the powered one isn't longer than the powered cable. 

I then read that the length lowers to 15 metres total extension, if the active cord is not the initial cable, and/or if other daisy-chained cables are longer than the powered cable. 

 

Is this accurate? 

 

But from what end is this talking about? Which end of the line counts as the "initial" end? Would the end with my USB microphone be considered the "initial" end, that must start with the active cable? Or the end plugged into my pc? 

 

Any help would be extremely appreciated. 

 

Would my current configuration, with a planned active USB 3.1 cable from my pc to the sound booth, work? Or would I need to do something like replace the female-female usb extension cord connecting the interior and exterior walls of my sound booth with a powered version? 

 

Thank you! 

 

 

[Sawa Takahashi]

Do you have a 5m regular USB cable ? Unless you need a lot of power, the USB signal should be able to travel this far without the hassle of an active USB cable.

[Agonylord52]

On 7/23/2023 at 10:57 AM, Sawa Takahashi said:

Do you have a 5m regular USB cable ? Unless you need a lot of power, the USB signal should be able to travel this far without the hassle of an active USB cable.

I don't, but I could get one. 

 

Do you think that would be fine, even with all the extensions and extra cords being daisy-chained? I know each additional cord connection adds some resistsnce/inefficiency. 

 

I bought a 16 ft active USB, so I'm hoping that'll be enough.