USB cable comparisons

[reverendo]

my Lightspeed finally arrived today. even being completely new it easily bettered my Purist Ultimate. no looking back. for those who are looking for the best, this is a safe, albeit expensive, bet.

[reverendo]

sorry I just had reply to this. There is no physical way to USB cable can change the flow of electrons to make it sound different if it is it's colored and you don't want to use it which it is not. We as audiophiles have been brainwashed for many years to think that the cable can make a difference in what we hear if you want to hear a difference you will hear a difference save your money by better speakers by a better and by better preamp get a better dac quit wasting your time on little things about how a USB cable sounds it's absolutely ridiculous. Plus there's no way you can hear the difference because you have to remember the sound of a cable and you can't switch it out quick enough plus you have gain differences if you're not setting the volume at the same level you can perceive one as better than the other because of the difference in loudness. Unless you have a perfect switchbox were you can change within one cable or the other there's no way you could do an A.B. testing. I've been in the audio industry for over 30 years and I sell entry-level gear to incredibly high esoteric gear I do not push audio cable jewelry on my customers because there is no difference the only difference is what you are wanting to hear. I also am a loudspeaker designer and i have been reviewed by many magazines I don't know if you ever heard of Hales design group. Have you ever looked outside of your house and see the steel wire cables that come to your house under the ground that bring the power to you miles and miles and miles one little three-foot run of some esoteric cable is not going to change what you hear. You should also see the wire in your speaker crossover if you looked at it you probably think it was the cheapest wire you have ever seen. I have an electrical engineer degree I have studied this over and over ones and zeros cannot be changed by silver and copper impossible. Try getting involved in the harbeth user website you will learn a lot. Allen Shaw has done extensive testing well-documented read and learn don't waste your money.

I'd like to discourage those who do not hear differences in USB cables (or all cables) to post on this thread. I understand and respect your opinions and findings, but we'll have to agree to disagree. As human beings we all have different physical abilities. Some can run long stretches, some are fast swimmers, some are lift heavy weights... you get my point. This also applies to the physical part of listening, too. It's also true that we don't have the same experience (and/or training) in processing the information that our brain receives and, of course, this also applies to listening. So please, PLEASE, let's not let this thread become a discussion about placebo effects vs. hearing and listening disabilities, ok?

consider yourself blessed that you don't hear any differences. one variable less for you to have to work with.

[reverendo]

Can you define dissected soundstage,hyper layering,plasticity, and your saying a cable can make the music sound fast or slow. I have to ask you do you actually enjoy listening to music? I can imagine when sit down to listen with all of the these thoughts going through your head there is no way you can sit close your eyes and enjoy instead of trying to figure out what A cable is doing. Did you make these words up yourself I'm not trying to be rude but there's no way you can enjoy music with all that going through your head have you actually read back what you wrote it's actually kind of funny. I wish you the best of luck with your dissected soundstage,hyper layering,my fav plasticity! And I guarantee you are under the age of 40 one day you will learn.

Cheers

Dear, Wadia171i, I'm kind of guessing that you sit more to the back of the audience when/if you go to listen to live orchestra/ensemble/shows. It's just a different way to process what you're listening to, which is fine.

Your questions are very valid. Not every musician actually enjoys music, but that's not my case. OTOH I do like to know what I'm dealing with when listening to takes, mixes and masters, so listening analytically is also part of what I do (although I have to confess that I also enjoy this process, maybe hence the adjectives ). The musical aesthetics and the quality of the production actually go side-by-side, although I didn't always listen to music this way, since most musicians make up for the lack of production quality inside their minds, "correcting" what they're listening to. But once you actually have the chance to hear the difference it's hard to go back. I'm sure you are able to hear the differences between 320kbps and lossless files, right? Then you understand the analogy.

As to the second question in regards to my age, well, I'll happily await those two years until I reach the magical threshold of 40, after which the musical cosmos will reveal itself to me in a grand ontological experience. I'll let you know if you're still around.

You know, I sometimes even might even might envy your situation (although that's probably going to be very, very rare )

Best regards and happy listening.

[reverendo]

so I notice you have a gryphon amplifier at $15,000 and your speakers sell for $2500 I always thought rule of thumb was to spend more on upstream equipment and more on your speakers and less on your amplifier being the last electronics in the chain.

I would rather have a $3000 amplifier driving a $15,000 pair of speakers than $15,000 amplifier driving a $3000 pair of speakers would you agree. That is one of the biggest mistakes people make is they spend more on amplifier than they do on speakers very very common mistake. Because it's very hard to hear big differences in amplifiers there is no test that you can show me on earth that proves that I'm wrong people conceive loudness as a better amplifier. Also Allen shaw of Harbeth will give you a pair of his 40.1 speakers if you fly to England and go through a demo switching back-and-forth between your amplifier and an amplifier he has keeping the gain the same if you can tell 60 times out of 100 your amplifier he will give you a free pair of 15,000 speakers. And I guarantee you would enjoy the Harbeth 40.1 over your loudspeaker But we're getting off-topic I would still like to understand in detail the definition of your words and how you can apply them to Music please let me understand ive been in audio for quite a while I've never heard some of these words.

And I'm not trying to be rude I'm really interested what you have to say about my position on amplifiers versus speakers and having the better equipment up high in the chain but I also really want to know about your words that you were using I do not mean to be rude I really enjoy the conversation take care.

Cheers and happy listening!

Wadia171i,

Harbeth has some great speakers, but, personally, if we're on that note, I'd go with ATC any time of the day bang for buck, but it does come down to one's preferences, right?

I understand that you say that you don't hear differences between amps and I must admit that, therefore, it doesn't come as a surprise that you don't hear differences between USB cables either. It gives me some context in regards to what you stated above.

I'd really be delighted in discussing these topics with you and all the others that might be interested. I suggest that you open a thread and shoot me the link. I think it would be best just in order to stay on topic here.

Hope hearing from you.

Best regards

[reverendo]

Dear Wadia171i,

I had contemplated answering, because I was under the impression that maybe I hadn't been able to express myself in a way that was clear enough. After coming home now and reading all the posts I see that it would be useless, since you aren't interested in understanding the concepts behind the words. It would be like describing something you see, but don't have the right vocabulary for, to someone who can't see and doesn't care for a description. I shall no longer assume that you are someone who is looking for knowledge and/or a cordial exchange of ideas. Therefore I will not feed you any more and would advise others to not go down that path. I'm not in the mood to be Sisyphus.

If you have a change of mind or heart just try to abide by a minimum of forum etiquette and I'm sure that many of us will feel inclined to dialogue with you.

At the end of all this I can't help but saying that I sincerely doubt that you are over 40. And if you are, well, there's always hope, right?

[reverendo]

Bye wadia171.

well, I think this was the first time we had to have an intervention on this topic.

thanks, Chris.

[reverendo]

I'm curious about the Light Harmonic Lightspeed even if I am really satisfied with my Transparent Premium USB. So last week, it happened that there was a Lightspeed on sale on Audiogon. The seller was from the city where I live so I contacted him if he was willing to let me try the LS. Unfortunatly, the cable was already sold. I asked him his impressions about the LS and he told me he compared it to his Wireworld Platinum and much prefered the WW and so the3 other peoples with him when he did the comparison. Then I asked him if he would like to try my Transparent Premium. He accepted and we met at his somptuous place last wednesday. All his electronic are from Classé including two powerful monoblock for his Wilson Alexandria XLP that he paid 204000$ (4000$ just to have them painted with his choice of color)!

 

The guy is an engineer and him too cannot explained why there is difference between USB cable but it's real ans sometime not subtle at all like a Wireworld Platinum and a Transparent Premium! The guy was flaggerblasted by the HUGE sonic difference beetwen the two wires. As I was expected it, the WW was ultra-detailed, fast and...thin. Borderline edgy on some opera tracks. The Premium is a more robust, polite yet detailed and naturaly musical. I much prefered the sound of the Transparent and so the engineer. His wife seems to prefered the WW. I left the cable with him to try for a couple of days and was supposed to pick it up today. He asked me another day of comparison because they sound SO MUCH DIFFERENT. I repeat, the guy is an engineer.

 

MarkS, I too bought the Furutech GTX-D (mine is gold) to replaced a Hubbel hospital grade. Wow! Simply wow even without burning. And then I asked myself what if I added the steel plate with carbon cover. I could buy it with MBG so I gave it a try even if I was sceptical. The only thing I will say MarkS is buy the steel plate and the carbon cover if you didn't get them already. The sound became so tight and with a blackness never experienced until then. Really worth the investment even if I had to admit that it's simply sound silly at first look. So doubters, I'm now your target!

I've heard good things about the Transparent, but I'd have to say that it's not too hard to beat the WW Platinum when you reach that price bracket. It was my least favorite when comparing it with the SR and AQ of the same price range. The Purist Ultimate bested my favorite of those three and the Lightspeed easily bettered the Ultimate. It might be the system, but there's no going back here.

Also installed the full set of Furutech GTX-D (g) here and the difference was unreal! Incredible how these little things make a difference.

[reverendo]

also don't know if you had a chance to read my comments further back in the thread. summing it up:

• Mapleshade Clearlink Plus is still the best bang-for-buck usb cable I know
  
• it is a very open and clear-souding cable, but does have a lack in LF
  
• if you want to get a cable that betters everything it offers get ready to spend around $500 or more (at least compared to the cables that I compared it to which were actually a few. look it up in the thread if you're curious about which these were
  

best regards

André

[reverendo]

Do you have an opinion re their loudspeaker cable or analog interconnect cable?

 

They use copper wires coated with tin.

both the Supra Sword interconnects and speaker cables are excellent, especially if you get them for a good price. They are very smooth without losing any detail and, above all, very very balanced.

[reverendo]

thanks, EuroDriver

did you ever get to listen to the Lightspeed in order to get an idea of your subjective comparisons?

[reverendo]

just pulled the trigger on the Corning USB cable. let's see if it works. unfortunately it's way too long, but I'll guess I find a way if it's worthwhile. should be here by Monday. if I don't like it I can always return it.

[reverendo]

I've also been a little annoyed at the length. I could just wind it up, but I'd really like not to. 10m of cable isn't a joke... I wonder if there's any way to shorten it? I've never reterminated an optical cable before...

 

would this work as an adapter? could anyone who has it chime in?

[reverendo]

I think you need this USB A female to USB B male adapter

FRYS.com*|*MICRO CONNECTORS

 

thanks Le Concombre Masqué

Eurodriver, one side of the cable is male, the other female. I just checked, so both sides have to be male, since my DAC USB input is female type B.

[reverendo]

Looks a bit too fat to me. I bought a handful of these. They fit into the Corning cable just fine.

 

Amazon.com: HDE® USB Type A Male to USB Type B Male Adapter: Computers & Accessories

 

I saw that one, but it wouldn't arrive in time and I really don't want to wait...

[reverendo]

I had an exchange with Corning yesterday.

 

Q: I'm interested in your USB Optical cable. Some users like me intend to use it for audio purposes. I'm wondering whether I can customize the cable. Say shorten the length to 3 meter and switch the Type A receptacle to a Type B connector? Thanks.

 

A: No, each length is factory assembled and cannot be field terminated. Shortest length we offer is 10 meter.

 

So, my take is that unless there is enough demand, Corning won't make an "audiophile version" of this cable.

 

for this price, if it comes with a velcro that helps me tuck it away, I'll deal with it. I just want to know if it will better what I have in my given situation.

[reverendo]

let me see if I get this: my Corning cable will not work in a normal USB 2.0 output? I was thinking of using it with my SBT.

[reverendo]

Corning cable arrived today. should be able to take a listen tomorrow

[reverendo]

I'm pretty frustrated at the moment. Tuesday I re-installed the EDO USB output for the SBT, but wasn't aware that it doesn't work with the soundcheck TT3.0 from Klaus. That made me lose all my time trying to figure out how to make it work and getting to the point of a factory restore for the SBT.

Today I was ready to do my listening, but unfortunately found out that the Corning Cable doesn't establish a connection between my SBT and the Cantata DAC. I know that my Cantata needs the 5V for the handshake, since I've tried using a USB cable without the 5V lead in the past and it didn't work. Is there any solution for this case? I have a powered USB 2.0 Hub on my main computer, so I could try using it, but how would that look like? This is my USB hub. How could I connect from my SBT to a hub and then to the DAC?

Hope someone can help this very frustrated person out asap. I still have some time to do whatever necessary to get the cable to work.

Best regards

[reverendo]

I think it should look like this: SBT > Corning > Powered Hub > another USB cable > DAC

 

This makes me think would adding the powered hub pollute the signal again?

 

I hope that this isn't correct, since this would take away the benefits of the Corning. Maybe I'll try the other way around and see what happens. SBT>Powered Hub (w/ included usb cable)>Corning>DAC

[reverendo]

The Corning cable carries little power on the output side (just enough to do the light to electrical signal reversion) and so I think this setup won't work.

 

In my setup, I need to have the hub between the Corning cable and the DAC. Corning cable> HUB> DAC. For me, it won't just work the other way around.

ok. now I get it. this means that I'm actually not the last link before the DAC? that doesn't seem to be what I'm looking for, then, since I still have that messy switch on the hub. I'll probably go the FMC route for the ethernet connection and see how that goes.

[reverendo]

Today I got the necessary adapter plug in order to connect the Corning cable as a host the USB 3.0 hub. I then connect the USB hub directly to the DAC with the appropriate adapter. It still doesn't make the handshake. I'm giving up on it, especially since I should have seen from the start the the Corning wasn't going to be the last link to the DAC, which, IMO, would have made more sense.

Pity, though.

[reverendo]

What is the make and model of the hub that you used before the DAC?

 

inland 4-port USB 3.0 Hub

[reverendo]

great write-up, Blake. Thanks.

did you ever get any time with the Lighthspeed?

errr.... wait... the 10G is the Lightspeed, is that it?

[reverendo]

And the issue is.... "Bus Powered, USB 2.0 only - power adapter (included) needed for USB 3.0"

 

how so? I'm using the power adapter with the hub

[reverendo]

since pa is not required for usb2, it might be that it's not even triggered when a usb 2 device is plugged

 

I understand. Thanks for pointing that out.

I might give this another shot if ethernet with the FMC doesn't yield the results I'm looking for.