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USB cable comparisons


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10 hours ago, adamaley said:

Wow, did someone kill all the USB cable believers? They must have missed me - this thread is a graveyard. Could it be that everyone has discovered USB cable nirvana and don't have the urge to explore any farther? Anyway, I am looking for any feedback regarding the Sablon Audio Reserva Elite USB cable especially in comparison to the TotalDAC D1 USB cable. Hopefully we can resurrect this thread.

Save yourself a lot of money and buy a quality cable from BlueJeansCable

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/data-cables/index.htm

Don't get suckered into this con on cables.

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

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  • 2 months later...

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

 

"God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and wisdom to know the difference."

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

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  • 1 month later...

If you transfer a Word or Excel file over these different USB cables do you get different results?  LOLOLOL

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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4 hours ago, Allan F said:

In your narrow minded opinion.

Not just mine, most anyone with any real background in technology. It's this corner of the audiophile market that has made this hobby the laughing stock of the engineering community.

 

Cables—that’s one subject I can’t discuss calmly. Even after all these years, I still fly into a rage when I read “$900 per foot” or “$5200 the pair.” That’s an obscenity, a despicable extortion exploiting the inability of moneyed audiophiles to deal with the laws of physics. The transmission of electrical signals through a wire is governed by resistance, inductance, and capacitance (R, L, and C). That’s all, folks! (At least that’s all at audio frequencies. At radio frequencies the geometry of the cable begins to have certain effects.) An audio signal has no idea whether it is passing through expensive or inexpensive RLC. It retains its purity or impurity regardless. There may be some expensive cables that sound “different” because they have crazy RLC characteristics that cause significant changes in frequency response. That’s what you hear, not the $900 per foot. And what about the wiring inside your loudspeakers, inside your amplifiers, inside your other components? What you don’t see doesn’t count, doesn’t have to be upgraded for megabucks? What about the miles of AC wiring from the power station to your house and inside your walls? Only the six-foot length of the thousand-dollar power cord counts? The lack of common sense in the high-end audio market drives me to despair.

"Peter Aczel"

 

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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13 hours ago, Blake said:

 

It is totally cool with all of us if you agree with Sal.  Honestly.  All we (actually Reverendo, the OP, with his initial post) ask is that you take this sort of discussion to another thread.  

 

Pretty please, with sugar on top, and a sprinkling of rainbows, kisses and unicorns.

 

 

 

13 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

Yes. One of his own threads where he can  forcibly steer the thread to the conclusion that he desires.

 

Isn't that what the OP posts asks for,  a censored thread where no other opinions are welcome. Only those who believe that a properly designed data cable can have an effect on the analog output of a DAC without ever effecting the data stream?

The readers of this site deserve something more, something better that the results of sighted imaginary listening tests. There are two sides to this story, and only one is based on supportable facts and results.

 

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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On 8/1/2018 at 5:23 PM, sandyk said:

 

 The readers of this site deserve more than your ill informed comments.

 You have NO idea how many members perform these tests. Many members do these tests under NON SIGHTED conditions with others making the changes WITHOUT advising them of what they have done.

 Even other family members are often asked to assist in this respect when expensive items are being evaluated.

Links and evidence please. And you know the standards for a proper DBT listening test, matched levels, etc, etc.

No where on the net has supportable evidence ever been presented. A relatively easy task to accomplish which the subjective community avoids like the Black Plague.  Daily tons of subjective audio reports are posted on the web with basically zero evidence and no one willing to perform public over-sighted tests So far the most famous DBT are a few that have been done at audioshows and in youtube videos that have been shown to be falsified.

Is That All You Got?

 

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
23 hours ago, barrows said:

That many audiophiles will go to extreme lengths to improve the performance does not say anything about the USB interface, it does say something about audiophiles though.  Audiophiles will use specialized cables to improve performance for all connections, including power cables.

They hear exactly what they expect to hear.  Deride and refuse to set up bias controlled DBT listening tests, and imagine the most ridiculous of results.

Nothing to be learned there.

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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On 8/14/2018 at 9:33 AM, xyzzy1 said:

Certainly not for you. Any particular reason you keep posting here? Is your “minds made up” life that boring?

You want to learn about cables, but never at the cost that all of your "minds made up" beliefs might be in error and that you've wasted thousands of dollars. Just keep reinforcing each others expectation bias induced hearing delusions and patting each other on the back for the golden ears you possess and the deep pockets you can use to out spend the next guy.  BLAH,   LOL

There's no path here that will lead to any advancement in audio's SOTA sound.

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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  • 5 weeks later...
17 hours ago, str-1 said:

Generally, what differences should I expect to hear with different lengths of the same cable?  In a really good clean transparent system should I expect to hear any difference between a 0.5m and a 1.2m cable?

Either some tick, pops, dropouts of the sound, or no difference at all.

The whole truth and nothing but the truth.

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2014/01/demo-measurements-what-does-bad-usb-or.html

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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36 minutes ago, Allan F said:

 

Actually, you don't. Experienced listeners with high resolution gear can often quite readily discern differences between the sound of some USB cables, because the differences may be other than subtle if you know what to listen for.

Santa Claus flies around the globe, delivering presents to children all over the world in just one night.

And David Copperfield made a 747 disappear off a runway in a blink of the eye. He really did it, I and tens of thousands of other people saw it happen.  ?

 

Stop living in a crowd enforced, expectation bias induced world and come back down to reality. Do you ever even read and try to understand the facts?

 

3. Similar to the above point, poor digital cables are not capable of changing the overall tone of the sound. There is no such thing as a digital cable capable of acting as a "tone control", making certain sounds "brighter" or "warmer". A passive digital cable is not capable of acting with some kind of frequency filtering mechanism.
 

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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12 minutes ago, barrows said:

Sorry, you are wrong.  I have worked in the home audio industry for quite a few years now, and have no experience of anyone attempting to trick anyone.  Audio companies engage in making the best products they can, which are made in an attempt to improve audio performance, you are just making up a conspiracy theory here.

No conspiracy theories here,  just real events.

 

https://secure.campaigner.com/csb/Public/show/566i-qm2m6--hayzc-qy5nph8

 

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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  • 3 months later...
4 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

What you can do is create another thread to talk all about this rather than take this one down a path the original participants clearly don't want to travel. 

I get your point Chris but,

Unfortunately then this thread will go on and on for pages unchallenged. Visitors here then start to believe these delusions, on things that are technically impossible, are the real thing.

No son, that 747 DIDN"T really disappear off the runway.  ;)

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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On 12/17/2018 at 11:52 PM, matthias said:

 

The human ear/brain comes first, the technical explanation later......

 

Matt

It all depends on your definition of High Fidelity.

If warm and pleasing is your goal, fine.

If Fidelity is important, then multiple testing methods are required to ensure the impressions of system changes are factual. Otherwise it's all just guessing.

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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6 hours ago, matthias said:

 

@Sal1950

What I meant by this statement:

Some people neglect audible differences between USB cables.

@barrows stated somewhere on this forum that audible differences between a Phasure Lush and an Inakustik Reference USB cable for example are very easy to discern.

So the technical explanation comes later.......

 

Matt

Your absolutely correct. No attempt to determine technical explanations should ever be pursued until the fact of audible differences are substantiated in a manner more supportable than sighted bias influenced listening and random guessing.

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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9 hours ago, Teresa said:

 

What's wrong with warm, pleasing and accurate sound? Just because something is accurate does not mean it has to sound cold. Ever been to a great sounding concert hall? To me music sounds warmer and more pleasing in a great concert hall than any audio system I've ever heard. So in short if it doesn't sound warm and pleasing it is inaccurate as it does not reflect reality, no matter the specs. Of course demand excellent specifications, but listen for how close it sounds to a real concert hall experience. It is possible to have both accuracy and warm pleasing sound.

Who said there were at odds?  Accurate simply means it sounds like whats on the recording, the engineers intended result. If the recording is cold, and your system makes it sound warm, it's doing something wrong,  that isn't High Fidelity.

I'm not sure what part of that simple truth you don't understand?

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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21 hours ago, Teresa said:

And you are correct they are not at odds.

I knew I was correct all along, so why are you arguing with me?

 

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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11 hours ago, Teresa said:

 

I guess we misunderstood each other, I'm glad in the end we agree.

Teresa,

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and God Bless.

 

Father,

Close the door of hate
and open the door of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift
and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil by the blessing
which Christ brings,
and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning
make us happy to be thy children,
and Christmas evening bring us to our beds
with grateful thoughts,
forgiving and forgiven,
for Jesus' sake.

Amen.

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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On 12/25/2018 at 2:23 PM, Ralf11 said:

Sal's position is that the reproduction chain must be accurate, no matter what.

 

Later, she said that she wanted the reproduction chain to preserve the euphonic characteristics of the original recording.

 

Any user can rightfully prefer his system to sound any way that pleases him or her. I have never told anyone what their rig should sound like, if you prefer a warm, soft slant or a brighter more detailed edge is completely up to you. Put together a system you enjoy and fugeddaboudit yo.

 

But if your interested in hearing exactly what the producer/engineer thought appropriate to put on the disc, and want to start discussing putting together a "High Fidelity" system on the websites, you should start taking a more science based approach. Look into how John Atkinson of Stereophile,  or Amir at Audio Science Review, or Archimago's Musing blog found the gear your interested in to measure. Buy a inexpensive calibrated microphone from miniDSP, download the free measuring app from REW, and do some in-room measurements of your gear. Now your have a path that can lead you to accurate reproduction of a High Fidelity source.

Personally I prefer to start off knowing my rig is capable of accurate reproduction, and then later seasoning to taste when I deem it appropriate. It's easy to add as much tonal influence as desired to a accurate rig,  near impossible to remove 3% THD from boutique amp.

Buy your ticket and take your ride.

YMMV


 

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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2 hours ago, Solstice380 said:

@Sal1950 can you post your measured in-room frequency response curve?  Thanks in advance!

Always a work in progress.

I've shown you mine, now please show me yours.  :)

5-14-2018.jpg

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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6 minutes ago, Solstice380 said:

@Sal1950   Thanks, looks pretty good!  Do you use room treatments?  

 

Will do on posting mine!  The Omni-mic I use is out for individual calibration.  They have “standard” cals and mine was a “k”, but I have no idea how closely mine matches a typical “k” so I sent it in.  They do a no-charge cal for that mic now and provide it to you.  Should be back after the holidays.  I believe I can use the cal file for the Omni-mic in REW.  

Room treatment are natural items, rugs, drapes, furniture, etc. and dual sub placement. Use Audyssey XT32 plus the new Editor app to make custom DRC adjustments.  Not great results but makes me happy. The HSU subs fall off a cliff below 30 hz.

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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7 hours ago, Solstice380 said:

Until you get to the 11-12kHz area all of the humps and dips are well within +/-5 dB. Most importantly you enjoy it.  I remember you mentioning at one time you didn’t like Wilson due to their upper end generally being too strong.

For the record I don't believe I've ever posted anything about the sound of Wilsons. It's been many years since I've heard any and that was only at a audio show or dealer showroom.

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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  • 1 month later...

And now for a moment of sanity and honesty.

This directed to readers that may not have been totally sold down the cult road of ridiculously expensive cables.

Open your mind to accepting the facts discounting the world of Santa Claus

 

Expensive Audiophile Cables Really Do Sound Better!

 

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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17 hours ago, Taz777 said:

The best USB cable that I have for USB Audio between my desktop and DAC is the Fisual Havana USB 2.0 cable. A bargain at around 5GBP (6USD) for a 0.3m length and the only one in my collection of USB cables that eliminates EMI produced in my DAC and heard at my speakers.

Looks to be a well designed, sanely priced USB cable. Until measurement proves otherwise, a five star recommendation.

 

"An OFC braid surrounds the quad conductor arrangement at the heart of the Havana USB, topped off with the trademark loose wrap mylar foil which provides additional shielding and completes the unique look. The focus of Havana USB is premium performance without the high price tag. "

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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