POLL: What USB cable are you using?

[agentsmith]

Honestly I did not notice any big difference between the starlight and the cheap printer type cable that came with the dCS? I think it nentioned in the manual that they expect users to change to their own cable anyway.

 

But I am never bothered to try to discern the differences between accessories. I treat each of these changes as baby steps, and made sure I at least have cabling and accessories that do not totally embarrass the matching equipment.

 

This includes dedicated spurs and a separated power main box, cabling, passive power filters and equipment supports.

 

To me all these attention to details add up to better enjoyment, albeit some may only be for peace of mind. But as long as I do not get overboard I am ok with a little placebos.

 

 

 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

I've used:

 

Belkin

Synergistic Tesla Tricon

Wireworld UV, Starlight and Silver Starlight

Custom AR-T made cables that came with my AR-T Legato

 

Of the three, the biggest gains were those with the biggest jumps. That is, going from Belkin to Synergistic Tesla Tricon. The difference between the Tricon and the Silver Starlight were too subtle to reliably pick out on my current system. I found that the custom AR-T cables also sounded pretty much indistinguishable from my Tricon, so I'm currently using them.

 

When/if my Berkeley Audio Alpha USB ever shows up, I'll be looking to try out a different USB cable. I'm most interested in the WyWires or the Acoustic Revive USB-SP or maybe having someone do up another custom job.

 

[Jef Paas]

A generic blue, black, and grey one.

 

Saving up the pennies of the discretionary income i have for a nice Wireworld or Kimber unit.

 

JP

 

[Puma Cat]

I use a Kimber Silver USB cable; it came free from the seller of my HRT Music Streamer Pro USB DAC (which I am surprised to find have never been reviewed here). I haven't done an A/B with a generic USB printer cable. It's blue and it matches the color of my MS Pro.

 

[Richard Dale]

I use a 1m Cardas Clear USB cable with my HRT Streamer II+ and think it sounds fine. I haven't really done much comparative testing with a generic printer cable (one track once only, before I got bored). I bought it because the importer of the HRT Streamer II+ recommended it to me. It is an attractive blue which goes nicely with the blue Cardas Clear Light interconnect I use and the grey of the HRT Streamer.

 

[TechHiFi]

I have tried the Belkin Gold and Kimber Cu too. I believe the WireWorld is slightly better in my system but it may be because of the length. The Belkin and Kimber were 5m and the WireWorld is 2m.

 

[ggking7]

Anybody tried Pangea's new USB cable?

 

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGUSBPC

 

[REShaman]

Synergistic Research Tricon USB, 1m. IMO, worth the expense.

Best,

Richard

 

[Brian A]

Just hooked up my new V-Link using a 2m USB printer cable I found in my garage. Very happy.

 

[Paul R]

Now listen to it for a couple weeks, and then slap a $25 Audioquest Forest USB cable on there and tell us if you hear a difference.

 

-Paul

 

 

[thesurfingalien]

Frankly, I do not know. My USB DAC came with a cable, so that's probably what I use now. Might be another one though; I have quite a few lying around.

 

I should look for something that has better connectors that can stand plugging and unplugging frequently better as this one starts to cause weird noises if I only give it a hard look

 

Probably will pick up a cheap AudioQuest or something similar; I do not believe it will change the sound, but they should have more sturdy connectors. If anyone has a recommendation for a sturdy cable, please let me know!

 

Regards,

Peter

 

 

 

[jcpom]

Works for me!

 

[jhwalker]

It's a digital connection - as long as it gets the bits from one end to the other, it doesn't matter.

 

Seriously, I've never seen a difference between one HDMI cable vs. another - same for USB, so long as the connections are sound at each end. The analog world is a different matter.

 

[Jud]

It's a digital connection - as long as it gets the bits from one end to the other, it doesn't matter.

 

Seriously, I've never seen a difference between one HDMI cable vs. another - same for USB, so long as the connections are sound at each end. The analog world is a different matter.

 

The "bits" actually move through the cable encoded into analog form (think of the 1s and 0s as waves of given amplitudes). While virtually any USB (or S/PDIF, don't know anything about HDMI) cable will transmit this analog signal well enough that you can get the 1s and 0s out the other end in the same order, so you're "bit perfect" and don't have audible dropouts in the signal, the cable can be responsible for changes in the arrival times of the 1s and 0s at the receiving end of the cable vs. the sending end. This is jitter, which has well-studied audible effects.

 

So yeah, even a "digital" cable can cause audible differences in sound quality, not via voodoo but by means that are well understood scientifically.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Cardas 2m

 

I didn't want to hear a difference. I really didn't. I knew I could sell it for what I paid for it, so, what the heck?

 

I still use Monoprice HDMI cables. Haven't found anything better.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Thank you to everyone that responded to the poll. So far 29 respondents have named 37 cables in use. The list of cables breaks out as follows:

 

Qty Brand / Model

7 Generic

6 Wireworld / Starlilght

3 Wireworld / Ultraviolet

2 Audioquest/ / Carbon

2 Cardas / Clear

2 Kimber / Silver

1 AR-T / Custom

1 Audioquest / Forest

1 Audioquest / Cinnamon

1 Belkin

1 Furutech / GT2

1 Locus / Axis

1 Monster

1 Nordost / Blue Heaven

1 Oyen Digital / USB3.0

1 Pangea

1 Radio Shack

1 Synergistic / Tricon

1 Transparent Audio

1 WyWires / LITESPD

 

Average cable length is sketchy. Cable length was identified on 15 of the 37 cables. The average length of the 15 cables was 1.3 meters. The longest cable was 5 meters and the shortest cable was 0.5 meters.

 

 

 

[ted_b]

A significant improvement over many others I tried (documented on other threads here, as mentioned).

 

I caution those of you who run both USB from your HDD's and USB for your DAC. Make darn sure they are on separate USB busses or you are hurting your chances. Best to use fw to HDD (or use a NAS or something) for USB DAC users rather than same HDD and DAC vehicles.

 

I just upgraded to Synology DS410 NAS so no direct cabling to HDD now.

 

[Mercman]

I presently use an Audioquest Diamond. I feel that there are groups of excellent USB cables, but as for the "best", I honestly don't know. The task of this hobby is to find the best sounding USB cable that compliments the sound of your DAC and system.

 

[jhwalker]

. . . why is there still discussion about it?

 

Seriously, I understand jitter induced by digital / analog conversions. Once the signal gets into the USB cable, though, the transport is irrelevant in any sense for audio purposes - either the data arrives correctly or it doesn't. If it doesn't (e.g., in the case of a defective cable), it won't "color" the sound (e.g., make it more or less "transparent" or "tighten up the bass", etc.) - it will create big bunches of white noise, clicks / bursts, dropouts, etc.

 

I can agree what's on either end of the cable (i.e., the ADC / DAC converters) makes a difference, but not the cable itself, unless it's a defective cable to begin with - so buy the $10 cable instead of the $2 and you're done.

 

[Sik_Lescinovid]

Generic 1.5m

 

Additionally I want to mention that Jud doesn't apparently know what jitter is and that it only arises in digital music systems at analog to digital or digital to analog conversion. Jitter introduced during digital audio transmission (if any) cannot affect the data in any way other than damaging it (leading to loud dropouts and cracks/pops).

 

[Paul R]

Between a cheapie cable, say a $0.99 job from the Dollar Store, and a Belkin Gold (available for between $8 - $12) or an AudioQuest Forest ($28).

 

I can certainly hear a distinct difference between those two classes of cables, yet the bits all get there the same way over both cables.

 

Some people, whose opinions I respect, say they have not heard a difference when trying that, while certain people can hear the difference in USB cables without even trying. My wife, for example, can clearly hear the difference between an AudioQuest Forest and Cinnamon cable, while I cannot hear any difference at all.

 

She will be passing by, cock her head for a second, and then annouce that I changed the cables "yet again?!" I do it sometimes just to tease her. Yet, she cannot hear a difference between iTunes and Amarra or Pure Music, unless I set Pure Music to up-sample.

 

-Paul

 

[barrows]

"I can agree what's on either end of the cable (i.e., the ADC / DAC converters) makes a difference, but not the cable itself, unless it's a defective cable to begin with - so buy the $10 cable instead of the $2 and you're done."

 

It is clear from the above comment that you have not auditioned any of the better USB cables vs. the "$10" cable in a high end system. All you have to do is try one to realize that they do make a difference.

Why? Considering the case of well implemented async USB DACs, no one really knows, and people only speculate about what is responsible for the sonic difference-but just because the exact causes of the differences are not understood, does not make these differences any less real. The differences are not difficult to hear if you listen.

 

[Jud]

Additionally I want to mention that Jud doesn't apparently know what jitter is

 

Can we agree to use the Wikipedia definition?

 

Jitter is the time variation of a periodic signal in electronics and telecommunications, often in relation to a reference clock source. Jitter may be observed in characteristics such as the frequency of successive pulses, the signal amplitude, or phase of periodic signals. Jitter is a significant, and usually undesired, factor in the design of almost all communications links (e.g., USB, PCI-e, SATA, OC-48). In clock recovery applications it is called timing jitter.

 

Time domain variations introduced into the signal (which is, remember, digits encoded in an analog signal) as it passes through a USB cable would seem to me to meet that definition.

 

In adaptive USB it's easy to see how such variations would affect the jitter seen at the DAC. For async USB I don't know how that would work - I wonder what the reference is against which jitter is measured with async USB - but even there I've heard repeatable differences between cables, sometimes in ways I did not expect ($30 cable sounding better than a $90 cable), sometimes in ways I did ($110 cable sounding better than a $30 cable from the same manufacturer).

 

Jitter introduced during digital audio transmission (if any) cannot affect the data in any way other than damaging it (leading to loud dropouts and cracks/pops).

 

Then since the Nyquist theorem says 44.1kHz is an adequate sampling frequency (actually things aren't quite that simple, but as long as we're being absolutists) and jitter makes no difference except for gross dropouts, you can save yourself a lot of money with a $25 CD player or an iPod and listen to perfect sound forever.

 

[thesurfingalien]

I have a question:

 

As jitter is a random event, how can it affect the reproduction of sound in the same way every time?

 

EDIT: I am talking about anything besides jitter at the DAC-IC.

 

Regards,

Peter

 

[ggking7]

Connected to an asynchronous DAC, the sonic difference between USB cables is attributable to different levels of electric noise/interference radiated by, and possibly even conducted by, the cable.