Firewire is another interface used for alot of audio cards, video, harddiscs etc.
Most usefully the protocols were created to support reliable streaming data and the concept of channels with reserved bandwidth etc - that translates to glitch free audio streams - if we assume the drivers themselves aint glitchy which of course is another issue that plagues both USB2 and Firewire drivers.
USB2 is just a free for all - its a dodgy best effort based on the assumption that the bandwidth of USB2 is going to be high enough anyway (480Mbit).
Ironically, USB1.1 actually had some concept of bandwdith reservation, but some fucking idiot didnt think that was needed anymore in the USB2 spec for audio. Duh!!!!
Also the channel based nature of firewire means lower and more consitent latency potentially - firewire bus latency is really tiny compared with typical best effort USB2 latency.
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