Connect One Full-height, Half-length+ PCIe Card (Plus Daughter Card)
It’s amazing how much processing power Mac®, Windows®, and Linux® computers with Thunderbolt™ 4 or Thunderbolt 3 ports offer today's creative professionals. However, these sleek marvels of engineering thinness come at a cost — they lack PCIe expansion slots for adding PCIe cards for connectivity and processing capabilities. Sonnet has a solution – the Echo™ Express SE I Thunderbolt to PCIe card expansion system provides a compact, one-slot Thunderbolt expansion system that enables you to connect a single PCIe card to your computer via a single cable.

The Thunderbolt Connection
Plugged into one of your computer’s Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 3 ports, this compact desktop expansion system supports one professional PCIe card (video capture, audio interface, 6Gb or 12Gb SAS or SATA host bus adapter, 8Gb or 16Gb Fibre Channel, 10Gb or 25Gb Ethernet, or RAID controller) plus a daughter card.

Nearly Every Thunderbolt-Compatible, Non-GPU PCIe Card Supported
Designed to accommodate cards up to 7.75 inches long and measuring a compact 5.6 inches wide by 8.6 inches long by 3.5 inches tall, the Echo Express SE I has a small footprint, yet it is large enough to support nearly every Thunderbolt compatible PCIe 4.0, 3.0, PCIe 2.0, and PCIe 1.1 card available. Do you have a card in mind but aren’t sure it’s compatible? We’ve put together a compatibility list that identifies cards conforming to Thunderbolt technology requirements, and organized by fit and power compatibility with specific expansion systems.

All Around Smart Design
Aluminum Enclosure. Auto Power On/Off.
Echo Express SE I’s lightweight, yet rugged aluminum outer shell securely houses the installed PCIe card. Since Echo Express products automatically power on and off with your computer, there is no power switch on the chassis, ensuring you don’t waste energy by forgetting to turn it off.

One PCIe 3.0 Slot and Space for a Daughter Card
Echo Express SE I features an x8 PCIe slot, and supports one half-length+, full-height, single- or double-width PCIe card. Double-width? Some pro video and audio interface cards, such as Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink 4K Extreme, and RME’s HDSPe MADI FX card, include a daughter card that mates with and provides additional external connections to the main card. The daughter card occupies the adjacent space without filling a PCIe slot.

Quiet Please
Echo Express SE I is designed to be ultra-quiet so that it can be comfortably used in noise-sensitive environments. The airflow path within the chassis has been specially designed to enable the temperature-controlled, variable speed fan to quietly and efficiently cool the installed card at all times, even during peak operation.

The Secure Connection for High Performance
40Gbps Thunderbolt Cable and ThunderLok 3 Included
Sonnet includes a Thunderbolt cable that supports Thunderbolt’s full 40Gbps bandwidth, and is fully compatible with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3 computers. Sonnet also provides a ThunderLok™ 3 Thunderbolt connector retainer clip that prevents accidental cable disconnections — just slide it over one end of the cable, and then plug in the connector and secure it to the chassis by turning a thumbscrew. Because of its unique design, ThunderLok remains on the cable so it won’t get lost when not in use.

40Gbps Thunderbolt
Fastest External Interface AvailableThe Echo I Desktop features a 40Gbps Thunderbolt interface that delivers up to 2800 MB/s of PCIe bandwidth, enabling it to support 4K video capture and processing cards at high frame rates, and 16Gb FC cards and dual-port 10GbE cards at full performance.

Dual 40Gbps Thunderbolt Ports
One port is reserved for the connection to your Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 3 computer; the second port enables expansion of up to five additional Thunderbolt peripheral devices in a daisy chain.

10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 Support
10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 support allows you to connect a USB device to the second Thunderbolt port using the proper cable or adapter.

Provides 15W of Power
For peripherals requiring the need for extra power, 15 watts is provided to bus-powered devices.

Supports Connecting One 5K 60Hz Display
Maximize the utilization of one computer Thunderbolt port.

Compatible with Thunderbolt 4 Computers and Apple M series Macs
Echo Express SE I is fully compatible with Thunderbolt 4 computers, including Apple M series Macs. Sonnet Thunderbolt expansion systems are purposely designed with a Thunderbolt 3 controller and its four lanes of PCIe (not available in a Thunderbolt 4 peripheral) to achieve maximum simultaneous ingest speeds.

Backward Compatible with Older Macs
No Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 3? No problem — the Echo Express SE I is also compatible with Macs with Thunderbolt 2 or Thunderbolt ports when used with the bi-directional Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter and a Thunderbolt cable (both sold separately).