USB cable comparisons

[Allan F]

6 hours ago, jon2020 said:

 

I was referring to this poster who did not compare the Curious with the Oyaide but called out the poster who actually compared and shared his listening experience.......

 

You misunderstood the purpose of my post. I wasn't calling anyone out. Rather, I was describing my experience with the Curious USB cable in contrast to his. I suggested that he provide details of his system so the context of these differing observations was available for whatever value that might be to others in explaining the differences. The topic of this thread is USB cable comparisons, in general, not comparisons to the Oyaide USB cable, in particular.

[jon2020]

29 minutes ago, Allan F said:

 

You misunderstood the purpose of my post. I wasn't calling anyone out. Rather, I was describing my experience with the Curious USB cable in contrast to his. I suggested that he provide details of his system so the context of these differing observations was available for whatever value that might be to others in explaining the differences. The topic of this thread is USB cable comparisons, in general, not comparisons to the Oyaide USB cable, in particular.

 

He compared the Curious vs Oyaide. You compared Curious vs others.  The topic on hand at the time, though not the topic for the entire thread, is Oyaide vs others, not Curious vs othets. Please chill.

[jon2020]

On 3/19/2019 at 5:49 AM, DancingSea said:

 

I’m curious, for what reason do you prefer the Oyaide over the Curious cable?

 

Is one less bright than the other?

 

Thanks

 

This was the topic on hand at the time.

[Allan F]

13 minutes ago, jon2020 said:

He compared the Curious vs Oyaide. You compared Curious vs others.  The topic on hand at the time, though not the topic for the entire thread, is Oyaide vs others, not Curious vs othets. Please chill.

 

I guess you missed the  part where he described the characteristics of the Curious cable. You might benefit from your own advice.

[One and a half]

On 3/20/2019 at 7:29 AM, HumanMedia said:

 

The Oyaide is relatively neutral, presenting the full frequency range evenly and clearly. To me and in my system the Curious sounded ‘less bright’ but in a bad way, it seemed like it rolled off quickly over 10khz and below 80hz. It might compensate for a system with elevated high frequencies and treble problems, but does it by fixing the problem with another problem. Lower bass dropped off quickly too. The Curious midrange was very creamy, but in an artificial way, like you are on methadone, in one sense perceivable as pleasurable but with a constant feeling of ‘not right’ and artificial-ness. It is faux smooth, different and interesting at first, but quickly feels like an effect rather than real naturalness. The Oyaide feels like it just steps out of the way and presents music.

 

BTW still very happy with the Oyaide

For about 2 weeks or so, at different times, separated by ~8 weeks, I trialled the Curious 1m cable against the 5S and the nordost Blue Heaven.

The Blue Heaven turned out to be the most neutral and still use it in the 2nd system. The 5S being silver can in some systems sound over bright, still a very good neutral type cable for other frequencies. The 5S stiffness and can pull light hosts away from their intended positions and needs a very large bending radius. While tidying up the cable drawer a few weeks ago, the condition of the 5S was like new, being exposed to air for 18 months plus, so durability it rates tops in my book.

 

A regular printer cable exceeded the the performance of the Curious. The curious USB connector measures a little undersized compared with the Nordost, which provided a very nice positive fit, the Curious a little loose. Whether this had to do with the Curious sounding rough, not sure, not many dropouts or crackles, now I would put this down to transmitted noise from the host to the load.

[jon2020]

1 hour ago, Allan F said:

 

I guess you missed the  part where he described the characteristics of the Curious cable. You might benefit from your own advice.

 

Nope, didn't miss a thing about the Curious. That's how I decided not to "upgrade" to the Curious. 

And now that I have read how loose the Curious connection can be, my decision is reinforced. 

[audiobomber]

I'm confused. 🙁

[FelipeRolim]

11 hours ago, One and a half said:

For about 2 weeks or so, at different times, separated by ~8 weeks, I trialled the Curious 1m cable against the 5S and the nordost Blue Heaven.

The Blue Heaven turned out to be the most neutral and still use it in the 2nd system. The 5S being silver can in some systems sound over bright, still a very good neutral type cable for other frequencies. The 5S stiffness and can pull light hosts away from their intended positions and needs a very large bending radius. While tidying up the cable drawer a few weeks ago, the condition of the 5S was like new, being exposed to air for 18 months plus, so durability it rates tops in my book.

 

A regular printer cable exceeded the the performance of the Curious. The curious USB connector measures a little undersized compared with the Nordost, which provided a very nice positive fit, the Curious a little loose. Whether this had to do with the Curious sounding rough, not sure, not many dropouts or crackles, now I would put this down to transmitted noise from the host to the load.

 

Your Curious certainly isn't the same Curious I have. Not with that description.

[audiobomber]

On 3/12/2019 at 7:24 PM, xyzzy1 said:

On cable differences I quickly went to this device 'iFi Audio iDefender3.0 USB Ground Loop Eliminator' because it seemed to me the first act is to eliminate noise from the computer power feeding into the dac. This adapter has a micro usb input which, if plugged in, interrupts the power from the computer and supplies it from your external supply. Using a plugged in external power supply made a huge difference, easy to go back and forth to compare what I heard (plug then unplug). The sound of the music reproduction having an edgy glare was significantly reduced when using the external power supply.

I also tried a switching power supply and a linear power supply. The linear power supply was superior with further glare and noise reduction. Could hear more into soundstage.

My next step was a *doh* realization that I am using an older macbook and have an optical out. Switched over to optical out and it is far superior to usb. This is how I have the hook up now so I am out of the USB world.

 

So if you have an optical out this would seem to be the way to remove computer electrical noise from getting into your dac. If you don't have the optical out as an option I recommend using the 'iFi Audio iDefender3.0 USB Ground Loop Eliminator' with a linear power supply.

 

It would be interesting to hear if USB cables continue to make a sonic difference once this device is in place and bypassing the computer power,

Different systems can produce different results. I believe properly implemented asynchronous USB is technically superior to optical Toslink, because with Toslink there is a sending and receiving clock, which can never be in perfect synch. Optical provides galvanic isolation, but fiber cables are more subject to jitter. John Westlake, who designed my DAC recommends USB as the best sounding option, and my experience matches his recommendation. 

 

I have an iDefender. I found it slightly degrades SQ when used in my main system, where the DAC does not use USB power, vs simply blocking the 5V pin on my Oyaide cable.

 

In my headphone system using a USB powered DAC, I found the iDefender with a 2m Belkin USB 3.0 cable slightly inferior to a 0.5m Vanguard 2.0 dual head USB cable, but results could potentially be different with other cables. The nice thing about the iDefender is that it allows you to use any cable, whereas choice in dual head cables is limited. IME, clean power to the DAC is vitally important.

 

If you have a ground problem, the iDefender or optical solution would make a large difference, but it would be best to eliminate the grounding issue. I do not have a grounding issue in either of my systems.  

 

 

 

 

[mourip]

31 minutes ago, FelipeRolim said:

 

Your Curious certainly isn't the same Curious I have. Not with that description.

 

Perhaps he might have liked the Curious in your system. Hard to say...

 

I think that we often forget that some of our systems, and tastes, are vastly different from one another.

 

Issues of budget, electronics understanding, hearing acuity, room acoustics etc. make subjective comparisons nearly impossible. This is why it is always best to buy equipment with a liberal return policy. Only you can decide what sounds best in your system.

 

Glad that it works for you with your equipment...

[One and a half]

1 hour ago, FelipeRolim said:

 

Your Curious certainly isn't the same Curious I have. Not with that description.

The cables supplied for the two trials were from a dealer and then the manufacturer. The latter was shorter, 0.5m , the dealer 1m. Both had the same character. System dependent.

[audiobomber]

On 3/12/2019 at 7:24 PM, xyzzy1 said:

It would be interesting to hear if USB cables continue to make a sonic difference once this device is in place and bypassing the computer power,

I forgot to reply to that one. Different USB definitely sound different, even with the iDefender in use.

 

If you are using iFi Audio gear on the other end of the cable, you will likely have a USB 3.0 port with iFi's built-in active noise cancellation (ANC). If so, then according to iFi, you should use a 3.0 cable because noise will be reduced due to improved processing speed.

 

I didn't find that using a 3.0 cable had a large impact. The USB 3.0 cable that came free with my iOne DAC sounded worse than my better 2.0 cables. The Belkin 3.0 was better than the freebie iFi, but again, not as good as a better USB 2.0 cable.

 

I've just tweaked my headphone system, so I'll have to try the iFi treatment (iDefender, USB 3.0 cable, iPurifier2) again with my laptop and Korg DAC.

[matthias]

28 minutes ago, audiobomber said:

I didn't find that using a 3.0 cable had a large impact. The USB 3.0 cable that came free with my iOne DAC sounded worse than my better 2.0 cables. The Belkin 3.0 was better than the freebie iFi, but again, not as good as a better USB 2.0 cable.

 

Very interesting, thanks for reporting

 

Matt

[HumanMedia]

On 3/21/2019 at 2:48 PM, Allan F said:

 

Your profile does not list your audio system. As the effect of cables is highly system dependent, it would be helpful if you were to provide details of the system on which you made these observations. In my system, the Curious USB cable exhibits none of the characteristics that you describe.

 

My system is a Sonore ultraRendu (player) connected by USB to a Chord Qutest DAC connected to a factory modded ModWright 36.5 pre-amp into Channel Island D-200mkII power amps into Spendor SP-100 speakers.

 

Curious auditioning was done when the DAC was a Chord 2Qute. Curious purchased directly from manufacturer. 

[stuck limo]

Has anyone here compared a Pangea Premier XL USB cable with an Audioquest Carbon or Audiquest Coffee?

 

I did a comparison with Pangea Premier SE vs generic and AQ Carbon vs generic I'll post later.

[stuck limo]

On 12/22/2018 at 4:27 PM, #Yoda# said:

I wonder a little bit that now one mentioned and tried here the AQVOX EXCEL or EDGE USB cables as AQVOX was one of the very first manufacturers for audio grade USB cables. I'm using the EXCEL for more than three years now to connect my Auralic Aries with the Ayre CODEX and compared it before purchase with some other cables. Result was, the EXCEL cable was in my ears better sounding than the Audioquest Coffee and very close to the AQ Diamond for not even a third of its price. Just my subjective impression.

 

Can you give some impressions over EXCEL vs Coffee?

[#Yoda#]

On 3/28/2019 at 1:52 AM, stuck limo said:

 

Can you give some impressions over EXCEL vs Coffee?

It’s been a while since I compared this cables. In my memory, I noticed that both cables are tonal very similar and neutral but perceived the AQVOX Excel as slightly more focused and a touch warmer than the AQ Coffee what fits very well to the sound signature of my Codex.

[mourip]

Having been very happy with the new Ghent USB(JSSG360) cable that went into my main system so I decided to get another one for my headphone rig which has about 6 feet between the PC and DAC. I purchased a 3 meter cable and it arrived this past week.

 

It replaced a long Wire World cable that had worked well and sounded fine, just not at the level of the Ghent in my main system. When I put the new Ghent into my headphone system and played music I had a ton of pops and clicks along with audible distortion. Putting the WW cable back in restored things to normal. This simple system consists of a regular desktop PC with USB out to a Schiit Yggdrasil DAC. I tried both USB2 and USB3 ports but that did not help. Thinking that the cable was defective I tried plugging it into another system which was a desktop PC with USB out to a Schiit Audio Jotunheim DAC/HP-Amp. It works fine in that position and sounds great.

 

Not sure what is going on here unless it has something to do with the grounding scheme of my HP rig and that of the Ghent cable.

[mourip]

Ghent replaced the cable which was evidently defective. The new one works great just as my first shorter cable did.

 

Great vendor and great cable value.

[musicguy]

@stuck limo

 

Pangaea xl vs carbon usb ???  

 

I am looking at these two cables my self.  I have the pangea ag,  vs cinnamon.   Ag has better fuller bass,  maybe to much mid bass,,  the cinnamon,  maybe to neutral.  

 

musicguy

 

 

 

[noway]

On 10/26/2016 at 4:41 AM, sandyk said:

 

Neither do my short DIY USB cables, or USB adaptors.

 

 

 

Are your adapters DIY or did you buy them?  I might prefer using an adapter out of my PC instead of taping over the 5V pin if the sound quality gains are similar. 

[sandyk]

6 hours ago, noway said:

Are your adapters DIY or did you buy them?  I might prefer using an adapter out of my PC instead of taping over the 5V pin if the sound quality gains are similar. 

 My adaptors are DIY with short wires between both sections and covered by heatshrink cable .

 Neither +5V or shield are connected through.  In my case not connecting the screen through gave a further improvement as many USB devices, even USB memory, has shield and 0 volts connected internally.

 This MAY in some cases result in an earth loop.  Check with others , perhaps even in the Uptone forum to see if they have a similar gadget. I am fairly sure that there are now commercial versions that do the same

[barrows]

On 3/24/2019 at 11:24 AM, audiobomber said:

but fiber cables are more subject to jitter

The above is in error, I think what you might mean to say is the the Toslink optical interface is prone to jitter.  Optical fiber cables in and of themselves are more accurate and produce less problems than electrically based cables: hence the increase speed/bandwidth of fiber based Internet connections.

 

Now the Toslink interface, which is an optical version of SPDIF (already a rather poor interface by its reliance on the source clock rather than the DAC clock), is a rather poor interface, which was never intended to be a high end audio interface.  Toslink was developed to be a cheap interface for ordinary consumer gear.  The Toslink receivers and transmitters, BTW, which make the conversion from electrical signal to optical signal, are parts built to be as cheap as possible.  Last time I looked (albeit this was years ago) they typically cost less than $1.  No wonder Toslink interfaces generally suck!

 

OK, back to USB cables!

[sgr]

What a shame that the industry moguls seem to always think that the consumers will never know what a cheap interface they built and won’t care. 

 

What could have been a great interface that worked well for all applications was doomed to suck. Too bad they didn’t budget $3.00 parts. 

 

 

[audiobomber]

19 hours ago, barrows said:

The above is in error, I think what you might mean to say is the the Toslink optical interface is prone to jitter.  

My old Cambridge IsoMagic CD transport and DacMagic combo got around the Toslink clock issue by providing an optical clock link, separate from the data link. Using two glass Toslink cables did sound better than coax.

 

Glass Toslink also sounded better than fiber, so maybe my statement above is not wholly inaccurate.