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USB cable comparisons

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adamaley

adamaley

Posted
Posted

Hello fellas. I am a newcomer here, after lurking for years. I am in the market for a USB cable for my system and would like to know if there are any additional comments from members here regarding comparisons they have made. More specifically, I would like to know what cable the members using the Mapleshade Clearlink Plus were using before, and also if it affected the Low Frequency negatively. Also, has anyone done a comparison between the Mapleshade and the Black Cat Silverstar? Thanks in advance.

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adamaley

adamaley

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Posted
I have not tried either of the cables. Why I write is to note that Mapleshade's house sound is intentionally designed to emphasize the "leading edge." I found it unbearable with their AC power distributor. To the extent that it's part of the HDMI Plus cable on a TV, and I'm not sure it is, I have no complaints. But then I haven't compared it with any other brands except Monoprice and OEM.

 

Thanks for the info, highstream. I was confused by the latter part of your post regarding HDMI, and "I'm not sure it is, I have no complaints." Could you please explain?

 

Any comment on the leading edge emphasis by the Mapleshade Clearlink Plus will be highly appreciated. I'm also really hoping someone has listened to the Black Cat and can do a comparison with the popular cables mentioned in this thread so I can gauge how it stacks up in terms of value.

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adamaley

adamaley

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Posted

Thanks guys. I was hoping there were more specific comparisons to the the Black Cat Silverstar regarding the Mapleshade Plus. Thanks for all your input. I will be making a call between these two cables, which seem to be pretty much the value leaders within their price ranges.

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adamaley

adamaley

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Posted

Just a follow-up. I found this brief comparison made between the two cables I've been considering. It must be the only one of its kind on the web: Cable Asylum

Based on it, I went ahead and purchased the Black cat cable and it should arrive sometime next weekend. It seems like a cable that anyone who considers the Mapleshade may want to look into as well. They cost almost the same, and are both well regarded, especially as giant killers.

 

Just to provide context, I need an extra cable since I just purchased a Schiit Wyrd, I was using a Kingrex Uart S cable, but since the Wyrd requires an extra cable, I have been researching which to get and using a printer cable in the meantime. Ideally, I would get another Kingrex cable, but they are difficult to find used, and I refuse to go over my budget of 100.00 for a USB cable (considering the cost of my gear: Gungnir - Bottlehead crack - HD-650s). Also, I felt it would be nice to see how a different cable could contribute to the sound. As an aside, I must say that the Schiit Wyrd does contribute since seriously good things to the sound - even with the crappier printer USB cable. I expect even better things one I insert a quality cable into the mix.

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  • 2 weeks later...
adamaley

adamaley

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Posted

As an update to my earlier posts, I have to inform that I did receive the Black Cat USB cable and have had it in my system for more than a week. As I explained earlier, I was in need of a cable to go from the Schiit Wyrd to a DAC. My plan was to use the KingRex S USB cable from the PC to the Wyrd and then switch them around to determine which order of these two cables was best - PC to Wyrd, Wyrd to PC. I was aghast to find out that I didn't like the sound of either configuration using both the Black Cat Silverstar and the Kingrex USB. I actually preferred the standard generic cable (came boxed with an EMU 0404 USB years ago) I had been using, while waiting for the Black Star Cable to arrive,going from the Wyrd to the DAC (Note the generic cable was only preferred going from the Wyrd to the DAC).

 

With the generic cable in place the sound was admittedly leaner, however it was clearer and more transparent. Notes farther back in the stage were more audible. Also, one could hear more of the instruments texture and harmonics with this cable in play. Using any combination of the two higher end cables, the sound was lusher, yet more intimate and obscured the details I held dear. Admittedly, this is a very system specific preference, and one could call out many things downstream such as amp, tube selection, or headphones.

 

Based on the many descriptions of the Mapleshade Clearlink as being clear, cleaner, leaner etc, I am going to purchase it and see if it gives me what the generic cable is giving me, and hopefully restores some warmth without muddying the other elements of the music.

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adamaley

adamaley

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Posted

Thanks for the response. I do believe in a product requiring initial burn-in, however, I am skeptical about re-burn-in for a new system. That would mean that if a buddy was to bring over a regularly used cable of his to try out in my system, we would need it to burn in to my system before evaluation. All the same, I don't intend on getting rid of this cable for now. I will experiment with how it pairs with the others, on either side of the Wyrd.

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  • 1 year later...
adamaley

adamaley

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Posted
I always used the USB total dac cable, on my system between the music server and the dac CH precison.. because is excelent and your price it is unbeatable. Recently a friend mentioned a manufacturer (Qualia Physic), about a new USB cable (USB Data lines).

 

The construction is different, the total DAC has an interleaved box, this has two cables !!! It is aidentical the price of my, USB cable Total dac, I ordered this cable without many expectations, but ....

 

 

after the full burn in, about 250 hours !!!! I found that has the same neutrality of the total DAC, but with the advantage without "grain" in the high frequencies ", another issue that was also enjoyed is the space between the notes is higher than the cable total DAC.

 

Highly recommended also !

 

regards

 

Sorry to point this out, but you joined this forum to post one comment on a USB cable that's relatively unheard of to mention how it betters the pseudo-consensus best USB cable per this thread, and then you disappear completely. Highly suspicious. Hopefully you return to tell us more though.

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  • 3 weeks later...
adamaley

adamaley

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Posted

I got my TotalDAC USB cable in on Monday. Early listening was a bit fatiguing, which is the antithesis of what this cable is supposed to bring to the table. Any recollections on whether this cable needed extensive burn-in? I'm out of town for a week, so will have music playing 24/7 till next Tuesday.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 months later...
adamaley

adamaley

Posted
Posted

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.

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adamaley

adamaley

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Posted
51 minutes ago, Blake said:

 

If you can still find an older used Sablon Robusto power cord, that is a terrific choice if you are looking for a warmer fuller cord.  I am running all Corona GC's with great results for my tastes.

 

Back to the Sablon Reserva usb, I've been communicating with Mark and I may have one shortly.  I've been using Curious and TotalDac D1.

Your impressions on these three will be priceless to me. The Curious and the TotalDAC are my two current faves. Kindly keep us

posted if you proceed with the Sablon. Will you be going with the Elite version? There's also a powered and non-powered version.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...
adamaley

adamaley

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Blake said:

 

I ended up trying the Sablon Audio Panatela Reserva usb cable (powered version) and Panatela ethernet cable.  This combo is absolutely better than my prior usb cables (Lightspeed 10G, TotalDac D1, Mapleshade, Curious, Nordost Blue Heaven, Uptone USPCB, Cardas, various Audioquest, iFi split, King Rex split, etc.), and Blue Jeans Cat 6a ethernet.  

 

The types of sonic differences are similar to those when I added an improved LPS to my MicroRendu and then UltraRendu, or going from my MacBook Pro with usb tweaks to a MicroRendu.  With this combo (as compared to Curious+Blue Jeans) I am getting significant increases in clarity/transparency without any negative aspects.  Bucket loads of natural detail, a massive, well-sorted sound stage, very realistic tone.  No artificial brightness or exaggerated frequencies. 

 

Going from memory, I would say the magnitude of sonic improvement from switching from the Curious + Blue Jeans combo to the Sablon combo is similar to, or greater than moving from MicroRendu to UltraRendu or Uptone LPS 1 to LPS 1.2.    So yeah, I bought the Sablon combo, but I knew I was going to buy them after listening to just one song. 

Glad you're enjoying this combo.

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