USB Type for connecting Laptop to DAC

[philpot1001]

I have a laptop i am trying to connect to my CD players DAC (Marantz CD6005), the CD player accepts USB2 (i think). My laptop has only USB2 or USB3 ports, however all the audiophile cables i can find are UABA-USB2....but i have no USBA port! Is there such a thing as an audiophile USB2-USB2 cable? Why is everything USBA-USB2?

 

[philpot1001]

PS sorry for posting this twice, the first time didnt work and the forum wont let me delete the original post

 

[cheeseboy]

if it's the same CD player as shown here http://blog.cobrason.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screenshot_11.png then there is no usb connection.

If there was, any standard cable (usually type a to type b - referring to the plugs) that conforms to usb 2 standard would work fine. It's just for shovelling data, so apart from a faulty cable which may cause dropouts, or one that doesn't meat the type 2 standard, in which case may not transmit fast enough, then you're good to go.

 

[philpot1001]

the USB port is on the front of the machine, i can probably find a USB2-USB2 cable from PC world or something, just not a HiFi quality one.

 

[his dudeness]

it does indeed have a front usb input,but its listed as apple compatible so may not work with a laptop.

 

[philpot1001]

Ahhh ok, thats a shame i had just assumed it would be laptop compatable. I will try it with my iphone tonight......is there any audio quality difference between using a phone as source as opposed to a laptop? Im old school im afraid so have no experience with this laptop / phone stuff.

 

[cheeseboy]

the USB port is on the front of the machine,

apologies, missed that. Reading a bit more His dudeness maybe correct in that it may be just for memory sticks and ipods. If you were to get a usb 2 cable to try it, you need to make sure it's got type A connectors at both end. Usually usb cables come with type a at one end and type b at the other.

just not a HiFi quality one.

there isn't really such a thing. USB carries data, so hifi doesn't even come in to it as it can't distinguish what type of data is being sent down it.

 

[cheeseboy]

Ahhh ok, thats a shame i had just assumed it would be laptop compatable. I will try it with my iphone tonight......is there any audio quality difference between using a phone as source as opposed to a laptop? Im old school im afraid so have no experience with this laptop / phone stuff.

by the looks of things, if you plug in your iphone, it should increase the sound quality as it will use the dac in the cd player, not the phone. In theory there shouldn't be much difference although ymmv.

 

[philpot1001]

yeah sorry got my USB types mixed up.....its the type A i am after not the type B. I might buy a cheap USBa-USBa cable and see if the CD player will accept my laptop, im 100% certain the DAC on the Marantz will be superior to the guff in the phone / laptop. Its not a disaster if it doesnt as ill just use my iphone

Thanks for the comments everyone

 

[rainsoothe]

Hi. Sorry to say, but I think that USB A plug is only for media players or external hard drives. If you want a dac for your laptop, you need a separate dac , or, if you have the PM6005 amp, use optical out if laptop has one, or usb to spdif cable. If you have an amp without a dac, you need a separate dac or to copy your music on a usb memory stick, and plug it into that usb a port on your cdp

 

[philpot1001]

Thats interesting info, and makes sense too (as to why all high fidelity cables are USBa-USBb). Thanks! For now i think ill stick with my iphone as 95% of my music is either on CD / Vynyl.....if i transfer over to using spotify a lot more i may think about an external DAC.

I feel enlightened, every days a school day 😉