USB cable comparisons

[Mechnutt]

Hi, I am little late to this topic but I would like to post my findings of a USB cable shootout we did in my system about 2 years ago.

I have a Luxman DA-06 DAC, BAT VK-51se preamp, Pass Labs X250 amp and Magnepan 1.6 speakers with dual subs.  Music player was Bug Head Infinity Blade.

 

There were 5 of us and the cables used were a $600  Lightspeed, $600 WireWorld Starlight Platinum, WW Starlight Red and a cheap Pangea silver cable.  We tested the cables without and them with a Regen.

 

We  had no expectations that there would be significant differences.  However, we were wrong.  Surprisingly there were huge differences.

 

The Platinum sounded the best.  It was musical, detailed and smooth at the same time.  The soundstage was wide and deep. No harshness or glare. It did not sound rolled off.   The Lightspeed had extreme detail but was extremely, ear piercing bright to the point it was not listenable.  The WW Red sounded veiled and muffled.  The Pangea sounded very thin, tinny and bright.

 

When we introduced the Regen, It basically had minimal if any effect on the WW Platinum.  It toned down the brightness of the Lightspeed but it was still not listenable.  It removed the veil of the WW Red and made it sound close to the Platinum.  It toned down some of the brightness of the Pangea but it was still tinny, bright and very thin sounding.  

 

Now interestingly, the guy who owns both the Platinum and Lightspeed has a T+A DAC8 and prefers the Lightspeed over the Platinum in his system.  I have heard his system with the LS cable and it does not sound bright.

 

Just this past week, my son bought a Chord Qutest DAC to use instead of the good DAC in Cary SI-300.2d integrated amp.  The Qutest is not fully broken in yet and it has improved after about 25 hours.  We tried 3 different cables- an Audioquest Carbon, WW Starlight Red and an Oyaide Neo Class A.  The music player was Audirvana. With the Cary DAC the AQ sounded the best, very musical, smooth with very good detail, non fatiguing top end and a wide and deep sound stage.  The WW Red was a little muted in comparison.  We did not try the Oyaide with the Cary's built in DAC.

 

However, things changed with the Qutest DAC.  The Oyaide sounded the best.  It was very musical with good detail.  It was neutral (but the brightest out of all the cables) punchy and had a huge sound stage. And it was non fatiguing.  The AQ Carbon sounded flat and warmer in comparison.  The WW Red was even flatter sounding.  We then introduced that Regen which gave the Oyaide a hint of very pleasing warmth.  It slightly improved the musicality of the AQ carbon.  We then used and AQ Jitterbug with the Regen and it made the Oyaide a little bright.  It improved the AQ Carbon and it sounded a little less flat and added a little more musicality.  We did not try the WW Red with the Regen or Jitterbug but plan on doing so next week.

 

Just a side note.  We swapped in a Teradak LPS for the Qutest  and Regen and it improved the sound adding a little more clarity.

 

My conclusions are that USB cables are DAC specific just as RCA, XLR and speaker cables can be system dependent. 

 

Larry

[Mechnutt]

2 hours ago, eworkflow said:

This correct conclusion should be framed and posted on walls of audiophiles and especially those who claim that USB cables don't matter at all and those who claim that a given USB cable sounds the same in every system or that there is a "best cable". This "law of synergy" also puts some doubt on formal audio tests performed in the reviewer's reference system which only reflects a relative synergy of the used component including synergy of the tested component itself. The fact that there is no standard test setup used in audio shops and there is no standard set of multi-ganre records to test a given component with, should be consider, at best, insufficient for objective and relative testing and, at the worst, intentionally deceptive, because of all the hidden synergy variables signal paths can contain, even if only one component is different and even when the tested component remains the same.

 

 

I agree.  Our usb shootout was eye opening to say the least.  What was especially shocking was the fact that the $600 Lightspeed cable sounded like crap in my system but sounds fantastic with my friends DAC which sounds very good with the WW Platinum but better with the LS.

 

I do believe people that can't hear a difference in their system between usb cables is due to a number of factors.  Their DAC may not be sensitive to cable changes, if the changes are more subtle as they can be, their DAC or system is not resolving enough to hear it, the usb cables they are comparing are very similar in sound or they just have poor hearing which I think it least likely.  My Luxman DAC is clearly very sensitive to cable changes and even a non audio person could easily hear the difference.  We had a variety of cables from the under $100 Pangea, the $150 WW Red to the 2x $600 cables.  And it was not just the Luxman that we heard changes in cables.  My son and I  easily heard changes in  cables with his new Qutest DAC and the Cary DAC.

[Mechnutt]

10 hours ago, richard_crl032 said:

To me, cabling beyond each price point is a matter of system matching aka tuning aka mentioned synergy to achieve the elusive "real" sound or recording.

 

Even each recording studio engineer has their own interpretation on what is "real" within the equipment that are available to him.

 

I have always read reviews with a pinch of salt when owners proclaim their x% improvement made with each greatest cables that they acquired and reviewed .. you will never know how these cables perform until you have it in your systems if they solve your system specific weakness to your specific ears and liking. Spending 3k cable on 5k equipment is quite a laughable effort to me as well as the manufacturers ... to their banks 😅

 

My fav interconnects are 20 yrs old Nordost Fil and 30 yrs old Hitachi 6NAX-210 (rare !)  in MY system matched to the source being used.

 

I spent more of my efforts and limited $ on hardware and technologies especially digital ones since many advances made and not so much on cablings being kept at 20% of system spent.

 

Cheers.

 

Richard

 

 

 

 

I replaced my Cardas Parsec and AQ Columbia 72v XLRs ( both cost over $300) with $65 pr Belden 8402 XLR's and have not looked back.  They have a blacker background for some unknown reason and are more musical and smoother without losing detail or transparency.  More expense with cables is not always better.  But again, it all boils down to system synergy and personal preference.

[Mechnutt]

On 10/16/2021 at 10:49 PM, richard_crl032 said:

Hi Mechnutt,

 

The Luxman DA-06 is a little aged and while great for its time as being dsd capable, dac technologies had progressed quite a bit ... its original RRP of almost usd6k dropped very quickly and was on discounted sales by various shops in the following years from 2013 of its release.

 

I sold mine about 2-3 yrs ago ... it is a little mellow and of low resolution that is lacking on clarity to prevent music from coming thru ... some may believe it is more analog but higher resolution does not mean less analog.

 

Hope my comments ain't seen as negative but simply since I had the experience in moving from the Luxman DA-06 to Denafrips DACs with better clocks, newer FPGA processing, i2s connectivity as well as provision to syn to a single clock which is frankly miles ahead ... yymv and bigger $ as usual but may be more cost effective than more auxilliary components, cablings etc.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

I agree, the Luxman DA-06 is a bit long in the tooth. I still love its warmer, non fatiguing sound.  It sounds great with Hi-Rez from 384 down, DSD is decent which is no big deal.  Last year a friend brought over a Yggdrasil and we compared.  The Yggy sounded a bit better but I felt the tone on the Luxman was richer.  I prefer a DAC with a very slightly warmer tone and some low end bloom. I am looking at an Aqua La Voce S3.  I use to own a Cary Audio 200ts, returned it after 10 days.  I also owned a Marantz NA11s1 which had  the best tone and texture of any DAC that I have owned, piano and female vocals were the best that I have  heard from a DAC.  However, it was way to forward and fast paced in my system. 

 

The rest of my gear is fairly resolving.  BAT VK51-se preamp, Pass Labs X250 amp, Luxman DAC, Magnepan 1.6 speakers with dual subs. I am using a custom music computer that I build in a mid tower quiet case with a low ripple power supply, quiet fans, shielded cables etc.. I remote in from a laptop using windows remote desktop.  It sounds great.  Music players  are Bug Head and Audirvana.

[Mechnutt]

On 10/10/2021 at 9:13 PM, richard_crl032 said:

 

I do believe notable improved difference in different price point but I am not surprised on your findings on boutique cardas or audioquest's lowering offering at 300 vs the honest-to-goodness pro stuff from Belden, Canare etc.

 

In another words, I am quite sure >1k+ offering  cardas or audioquest will have SQ improvement compared to Belden 8402 .. if your system has the needed resolution to discern such improvement in the 1st place. 

 

Hence my guideline of 20% total cost my system being the complete cabling setup .. powercord, digital and analog interconnects as well as speaker cables.

 

Cheers.

 

 

Both those IC's cost $450.  They sounded better than the BJC's but not the Belden 8402.  I know of someone that uses the 8402's over$1K cables.  It's all about system synergy and personal tastes.  Cables are a crap shoot.  Just look at used cables.  I see so many cables that are over $1K being sold with only a few hours on them.