Echo Express SE III

Connect Three PCIe Cards to Any Mac with Thunderbolt 3 Ports

Sonnet’s Echo™ Express SE III is a compact desktop Thunderbolt™ 3 to PCIe Card Expansion System that enables you to connect three professional PCIe cards—including video capture, audio interface, SAS or SATA HBA, 16Gb or 8Gb Fibre Channel, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and RAID controllers—at the same time to any Mac® and Windows®⁽¹⁾computer with a Thunderbolt 3 port.

The Echo Express SE III features a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 interface, which offers double the PCIe bandwidth and connectivity of Thunderbolt 2, and yields up to 2750 MB/s of 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⁽²⁾⁽³⁾. With the ability to handle multiple demanding, high performance PCIe cards, support for connecting two 4K displays @ 60Hz or one 5K display @ 60Hz⁽⁴⁾, and support for a vast array of Thunderbolt⁽⁵⁾ and USB⁽⁶⁾ devices, Thunderbolt 3 is a leap forward in every way.

Three PCIe Slots

The Echo Express SE III’s PCIe 3.0 x8 slots support three half-length+, full-height, single-width PCIe cards, or one single-width card plus one double-width card.

Double-width?

Some specialty cards, such as RME’s HDSPe MADI FX card, Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink 4K Extreme, and the Lynx AES16e 50, include a daughter card that mates with and provides additional external connections to the main card.

Thunderbolt 3 —
The USB C That Does It All

The Echo Express SE III includes two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports; the first connects it to your computer, while the second supports daisy chaining of up to five additional Thunderbolt peripheral devices to a single port on your computer. The SE III includes 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 support, meaning you can connect a USB device to the second port using the proper cable or adapter. The SE III also provides full support for connecting two 4K displays @ 60Hz or one 5K display @ 60Hz⁽⁴⁾. For connected devices requiring extra power, 15 watts is provided to connected bus-powered devices.

Connect computer to one port on the Echo Express SE III and daisy chain up to 5 additional Thunderbolt devices
(plus two 4K monitors, one 5K display, or one USB 3.0 device)

Design Smarts

The inside of the Echo Express SE III is wrapped in a rugged, yet lightweight aluminum outer shell, resulting in a lightweight system small enough to carry in your backpack, yet durable enough to protect the installed PCIe cards securely. The enclosure is ventilated front and back to facilitate airflow over the cards, pushed by a large, quiet, temperature-controlled fan to efficiently cool the system, automatically speeding up and slowing down smoothly as needed—there’s no guesswork in deciding which fan speed to select. Because Sonnet 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.

Nearly Every Thunderbolt 3 Compatible PCIe Card Supported

Smaller than the 3-slot Echo Express III-D - Thunderbolt 3 Edition, the Echo Express SE III is still large enough to support nearly every Thunderbolt 3- and macOS® compatible card available. With its three x8 slots, the SE III supports PCIe 3.0, PCIe 2.0, and PCIe 1.1 cards up to 7.75 inches long.

Do you have a card in mind but aren’t sure it’s compatible? We’ve worked closely with PCIe card manufacturers to provide a list of compatible cards on our supporting PCIe Card Thunderbolt Compatibility Chart. The chart provides a list of cards that have been tested to be recognized over a Thunderbolt connection and compatible with Thunderbolt technology requirements.

Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) Cable and
ThunderLok 3 Included

To connect the Echo Express SE III to your computer, Sonnet includes a 0.5-meter Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) cable, and a Sonnet ThunderLok 3 Thunderbolt connector retainer clip⁽⁸⁾ to secure the cable to the Echo chassis. Accidental cable disconnection can lead to data loss. Sonnet’s ThunderLok 3 is easy to install and use—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.