Neutral USB Interconnect for DAC

vaj

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Hi, I am upgrading my DAC. So, I plan to get myself a more neutral USB A to B cable for the new DAC. After reading some reviews, Cardas Clear Serial Bus USB Cable and Vertere Pulse D-Fi came to my attention. So, was wondering anyone compare these 2 cables before. Which is more neutral sounding? Or is there other cable that is recommended (not over £100)?

UPDATE:

After reading so many comments about USB cable is not gonna make any difference, I am not expecting much from it. However, the result told me otherwise. After received the DAC, I gathered all the USB cable A to B in my house. All those cables are free cables that came together with electronic gadget such as printer, monitor, etc... After that, I tested out each cable with the DAC and DO heard differences. Some cable sound almost alike, while some may sound totally different. I was thinking that maybe my pyschology is taking over. Therefore, I asked my dad and sister to do some blind test between 2 most significant different cables. And they do notice the different at just few second of listening.

After the positive result, I started to search for a suitable USB cable. But here come the sad scenario. There are very limited of USB cable available compare to analog interconnect. Not only the choices seem to be limited, the quality also seem to be lower than the analog interconnect. For the analog interconnect, I am able to pick out Chord Cobra Plus VEE (not over £100) that satisfy my taste. But for the USB cable, I am unable to find one under £100 that satisfy my taste. Really hope that more attention been given to USB cable so that more affordable quality cable being produced.

UPDATE 2:

After burning in the USB cables for 100 hours, I did some listening test again and some audio recordings at the same time. Here are the link of those recordings:

Free Cable:

https://soundcloud.com/vaj1984/mltr-paint-my-love-free-cable

https://soundcloud.com/vaj1984/tsai-qin-bei-yi-wang-de-shi

DH Labs Silversonic:

https://soundcloud.com/vaj1984/mltr-paint-my-love-dh-labs

https://soundcloud.com/vaj1984/tsai-qin-bei-yi-wang-de-shi-1

Furutech GT2:

https://soundcloud.com/vaj1984/mltr-paint-my-love-furutech

https://soundcloud.com/vaj1984/tsai-qin-bei-yi-wang-de-shi-2

Or you can read the details on my blog

http://casualnfunentertainment.blogspot.com/2013/06/does-usb-cable-affect-sound-quality.html
 

hammill

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chebby said:
Belkin Office Essentials USB 2.0. £8.99 from Argos. (£6.99 for 6ft).

Some people will think even those prices are far too high, but I prefer to pay for the re-assurance of knowing that the cable is made properly (to certified USB 2.0 technical standards) by a respected computer accessories brand.
Or if you prefer http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-Series-Hi-Speed-Device-Cable/dp/B000EOTDPK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366273417&sr=8-1&keywords=belkin++usb+2.0+cable for £2.99 delivered to your house if you can wait a few days. Either way, there is no such thing as a neutral USB cable, these silly ideas have spread from speaker cables, where they make a bit more sense, to USB and HDMI cables where they do not.
 

philipjohnwright

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I tend towards the same view, that USB cables don't make any difference. I did however read an engineer's analysis in another forum somewhere (wish I could remember where) that said there could be differences depending on how it was being used.

The essence of it was that 0's and 1's are indeed the same. However if the USB cable is being used to transmit power as well then it could make a difference as this is an analogue function. That makes sense. Unfortunately I'm not 100% sure what the other factor was - whether it was Asynch or not rings a bell (asynch = no difference). If that's right then he said that a USB cable being used between computer and a powered asynch DAC would make no difference. Conversely a USB powered non-asynch DAC could IN THEORY benefit from a better cable. It was a very objective assessment, and wasn't arguing that cable did make a difference, big or small. Just that in some circumstances they could.
 

tuck1s

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[UNPUBLISHED DUPLICATE]

As you say, meeting standards, mechanically well made, shielded are all good things. The 1's and 0's will basically get through, or they won't.

If you find anyone telling you that black cables will give you a quieter noise floor, white ones will give more clarity, blue ones will sound brighter and brown ones will sound dull - then keep your money in your pocket.
 

tuck1s

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As you say, meeting standards, mechanically well made, shielded are all good things. The 1's and 0's will basically get through, or they won't.

If you find anyone telling you that black cables will give you a quieter noise floor, white ones will give more clarity, blue ones will sound brighter and brown ones will sound dull - then keep your money in your pocket.
 

vaj

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After testing out with the new DAC, the result seem to be different from most comments. USB cable seem to be making significant differences. Updated the details in first post.
 

fr0g

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vaj said:
After testing out with the new DAC, the result seem to be different from most comments. USB cable seem to be making significant differences. Updated the details in first post.

There is no spoon.
 
A

Anonymous

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[EDITED BY MODS and user banned for flagrant house rules breaches]
 

vaj

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philipjohnwright said:
I tend towards the same view, that USB cables don't make any difference. I did however read an engineer's analysis in another forum somewhere (wish I could remember where) that said there could be differences depending on how it was being used.

The essence of it was that 0's and 1's are indeed the same. However if the USB cable is being used to transmit power as well then it could make a difference as this is an analogue function. That makes sense. Unfortunately I'm not 100% sure what the other factor was - whether it was Asynch or not rings a bell (asynch = no difference). If that's right then he said that a USB cable being used between computer and a powered asynch DAC would make no difference. Conversely a USB powered non-asynch DAC could IN THEORY benefit from a better cable. It was a very objective assessment, and wasn't arguing that cable did make a difference, big or small. Just that in some circumstances they could.

The DAC that I used has a seperate cable for powering it up. But I still heard differences by switching the USB cables around. I did some recordings just to serve as refences. You can try those recording out yourself and let me know whether you heard any differences. :)

And since we are just consumer and not engineer, why not just indulge ourself with the result without digging so depth into the theories. :cheers:
 
Just my half-pennies worth but the Chord USB Silver Plus cable gave the Vertere and others a right kicking in a recent review in a well known hi-fi publication.

I am not advocating you actually go and spend that much on a USB cable thhough. :)
 

vaj

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it's ok to give some recommendations. but i will settle down with the Furutech GT2 and DH Labs Silversonic for now.
 

MajorFubar

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vaj said:
The DAC that I used has a seperate cable for powering it up. But I still heard differences by switching the USB cables around. I did some recordings just to serve as refences. You can try those recording out yourself and let me know whether you heard any differences. :)

I'm interested to know how you did that and not have the results influenced by whatever you used to record the output. Did you record the digital output from your DAC to a seperate recorder? Not having a dig, just genuinely interested to know.
 

vaj

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MajorFubar said:
I'm interested to know how you did that and not have the results influenced by whatever you used to record the output. Did you record the digital output from your DAC to a seperate recorder? Not having a dig, just genuinely interested to know.

hi, if u really go through the details in my blog, you will find that i stated that i just recorded it using my phone. it is just to serve as references and do not represent live listening condition. since my blog is just for casual and not professional, so I don't really intend to do anything extra cause I believe these recordings are already enough to serve as references. :)

anyway just a side note, I don't really have golden ear and having hard time to differentiate 320kbps mp3 vs loseless wave. but i heard significant different between that 3 usb cables and also when i change my speaker cable from cable talk to kimber kable.

here a quote from my blog:

"I am thinking maybe the rapid growth and improvement on the DAC market bring forth to this long debate. If you think that USB cable do not make any differences with your old and maybe expensive DAC, just try to borrow a latest model DAC that cost at least RM3k to test it out. Maybe the result will be different."

there is no better way than test it out with your own ear :cheers:
 

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