Sonnet Echo Express SE1 Thunderbolt 3 Expansion Chassis (Echo-EXP-SE!-T3)

I am using this to convert my old Areca 1880i RAID controller to an external Thunderbolt 3 RAID card by adding a PCI bracket with SFF-8088 connections to the SFF-8087 connections on the RAID card. The enclosure looks nice, is compact, and the power brick isn't too large. However, for the minuses, the included 60mm fan is somewhat loud, and uses this strange metal bracket to direct the airflow, which seems to be rather pointless. There's plenty of space for a larger fan, depending on the size of your 2nd PCI bracket or daughtercard, so I replaced it with an 80mm be Quiet Silent Wings 2 fan, which improved the noise profile a lot. The 80mm fan can only screw in one corner unless you drill some holes. For me, a single screw held in tight was stable enough. For the other minus, there is no power switch - it is always on, but will turn on/off when your computer turns on/off. Fair enough, but sometimes I don't want the additional fan noise and would like to manually turn it off. I plan on hooking it up to a power strip with individual toggles to fix that issue. Overall, I'd say it works very well for it's intended purpose. Originally I was thinking of getting a eGPU enclosure, but those are very large and with overspecced power supplies - this enclosure is perfect for smaller PCIe cards like RAID, capture card, etc. I'm glad I went with this one.

Finally got me RME AIO HDSPE card added. Everything works fine.Amazing. The Alienware M17 R2 computer I have is easily taking 96000 sample rates and producing rich, vibrant sound.I chose Sonner, RME over all other available options specifically for my Thunderbolt 3 connection.I've been rewarded in dividends- it's been less than a week.If I do any kind of uppgrade it will be from the Sonnet Product menu. I suspect it will include RME.My audio interface will be chosen to comply with this setup. Period.

I bought it for my UAD Octo. It works right away. The system shows exact card name.The only complain is the fan is a bit noisy. So I bought a 10 ft. thunderbolt cable and put it far from my desktop. Now I don't hear the fan any more.

I wasn't even sure this was going to work with my ATTO Raid card, but I thought I would give it a shot. Plugged in the card, plugged into the computer, MacBook Pro, and wow, it saw the card right away, and I was able to get my LTO drive working immediately, no drivers needed. It's quiet, and feels quite well made.

I have an HTC Vive and I've been researching for weeks about how to get the wireless adapter to work on a laptop. I found this solution in a forum and gave it a try. I have a high-end alienware laptop which obviously has no internal PCI-e slots for use. This device worked great and it now allows me to play VR games wireless. Warning, do not buy this without researching first. I read that Alienware is compatible for certain models and if you update your BIOS, but it certainly won't work for all gaming laptops. I have a 17 r4 and I know it also work with the r5 models. P.S. to Sonnet: Consider marketing this capability for compatible laptops; there are tons of forums where frustrated Vive owners vent about the useless adapter that was released because they believe it is a PC-only card.

Plug and play. Device is a solid build and simple to use. Works perfect for my Blackmagic Decklink card.

I bought this product for use with an audio PCIe card, but upon receiving it found that it has severe coil whine. Could be a one off problem, I thought, so I returned it to Amazon and bought another. Nope, same issue on the new unit. So I arranged an RMA with Sonnet to see if they could eliminate the issue on their end. 2 months and $150 of shipping later I finally receive it back, and lo and behold, it has the same issue. Now Sonnet are telling me that the issue is probably my power and that there is nothing they can do to assist me. How can such a simple device have so many issues and be so difficult to work with? Strongly not recommended. stay away from this product and save yourself the hassle.

Worked 100% for:- Thunderbolt 3 port on a Gigabyte Gaming 8 motherboard- Windows 10 64-bit PC- Matrox MXO2 Host PCIe card inside the Sonnet Echo Express SE1 connected to a Matrox MXO2 MAX Mini external capture device via a Matrox Host Adapter cable using the latest (Windows 8) drivers. Note these are Windows 8 drivers running on a Windows 10 machine.