Yes, low-quality USB-C to 3.5 mm adapters can lead to audio distortion. Inexpensive or poorly manufactured adapters might not effectively convert the digital signal from a USB-C port into an analog signal, which can result in muffled sound, crackling, or other undesirable audio artifacts., Does The USB Port Affect Sound Quality? The short answer is yes, the USB port can affect sound quality. The USB port is a digital connection that transmits data in the form of 1s and 0s, which can be susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio-frequency interference (RFI)., Literally all "USB-C" audio interfaces I'm aware of (Focusrite Clarett, M-Audio, Presonus) are actually USB-2. Thus, even though connected via USB-C, there's zero performance gain. USB-3.1 (gen 2) does have more bandwidth. More bandwidth (alone) doesn't mean better performance or lower latency., The push is to unify connectivity to USBC on everything. Now, if you use a Thunderbolt interface, you can just about say goodbye to latency, as long as you work reasonably i.e. use busses, use AUXs and don't put a stupid amount of plugins on a huge amount of tracks. You really have to go out of your way to get latency with Thunderbolt., It’s a digital signal, it will either work or it won’t. I except they choose usb-c as it supports faster charging and/or is becoming the new standard., .