USB cable comparisons

[str-1]

Not sure if this is the right thread for this question but I will ask anyway.

 

When it can be used, will an unpowered usb cable more often than not sound better than a powered version of the same cable?  

 

I realise there will be a lot of “it depends” and “your mileage may vary” in any answer but I would welcome thoughts from anyone with experience of doing this kind of comparison.

[str-1]

1 hour ago, reverendo said:

there is a good chance that the same cable will sound better without the power line, that is, if your DAC doesn't need it for the handshake, which is my case.

 

57 minutes ago, Cornan said:

 

There is not only a good chance. IMHO there is a 100% chance that SQ will be better with a 5v cut. The same chances applies to a GND cut. All depends on DAC specs though.

Thanks guys.

[str-1]

On 9/3/2018 at 4:36 PM, str-1 said:

Not sure if this is the right thread for this question but I will ask anyway.

 

When it can be used, will an unpowered usb cable more often than not sound better than a powered version of the same cable?  

 

I realise there will be a lot of “it depends” and “your mileage may vary” in any answer but I would welcome thoughts from anyone with experience of doing this kind of comparison.

Well, I’m pleased to say that I have now learned first hand the benefits that can be gained by using an unpowered cable, though I remain a little frustrated by this handshake business.

 

My chain is Innuos Zenith SE/SOtM tX-USBultra/Chord Blu2/DAVE.  I have all this out of the equipment rack and spread out over the floor at the moment to make it easier to try a few different cable combinations.  Knowing that Blu2 needs 5v power for handshake purposes, I decided to see what could be done between the Zenith and tX-U.  With everything on the floor I was able to get the Zenith and tX-U close enough to connect with an Uptone USPCB, which I think in this (less critical?) link of the chain sounds better than both the 20cm Curious and 70cm Lush cables I have.  I was pleased to find that everything continued to work when I switched off the USPCB’s 5v power and delighted to hear the immediate boost in sound quality, with noise levels dropping and everything becoming much cleaner and more punchy.  Result!

 

The frustration comes with the tX-U/Blu2 connection.  Although failing miserably to gain much knowledge about handshaking over USB by looking on the web, I did often see it said that while many dacs need the 5v power for the handshake this could be turned off after the connection is made.  Well, the tX-U has a switch over each of its two USB outputs that turns off the 5v power.  So with music playing quite happily I turned off the power for the output feeding the Blu2 and immediately lost all sound, only for this to return the moment I switched 5v back on.  Can someone explain to me what is happening here?  I have also asked this question on one of the Chord Electronics threads over on Head-Fi and expect Rob Watts will offer some thoughts from the dac end.

[str-1]

Thanks, @barrowsI’ve learned something there.

[str-1]

I’m find it a little frustrating comparing three upmarket USB cables in my setup (see signature).  

 

Recent changes I have made to the system have cleaned things up considerably and I am now finding it harder to reliably tell the difference between these cables.  It feels like I have already removed further upstream some of the crud that these cables normally have variable success in dealing with.  The difference between these and a 1m long stock cable (which I have put a number of ferrites on) is also at times hard to hear.  

 

I won’t name the cables but the one I expected to perform the best based on reputation also happens to be the longest at 1.2m, although the signal and power lines run in separate shielded cables between the connectors.  The stock cable is 1m and the upmarket cable I expected to sound second best is 0.7m.  I have a third upmarket cable which is a little harder to include in the comparison because it is only 0.20m long.  Does the different lengths of these cables mean this isn’t a level playing field for comparison?  I have heard it said many times that USB cables should be as short as possible but I have no feel for how big an impact USB cable length would/could have on sound quality.  

 

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?

[str-1]

8 hours ago, lmitche said:

I had one here. My hope of improving SQ with a split cable were dashed after break-in and  first listen. It was returned. YMMV.

How did this cable let itself down in your system?

 

I’m decided on getting a Sablon Panetella Reserva Elite cable after recently comparing it with my Lush and Curious cables but first want to hear back from SOtM with their thoughts on me taking advantage of both of the tX-USBultra’s USB outputs with a cable like the Pangea Premier XL.  

 

The Panatela has separate runs of cable for data and power between the A and B connectors and I am wondering if I can get even better performance from this cable by giving each run its own A connector.  The idea being that I would connect the data line to a tX-U output with 5v turned off and connect the power line to the other powered output.  My Paul Hynes SR4 should have enough grunt (2.5A continuous at 9V) to comfortably drive both outputs, though not sure if much extra power is needed to do this.