Summing the advice of others for audiophile USB cables

[BEEMB]

 

I like the idea of a draw your own conclusions thread.

 

But I'd prefer a "this has definately been tested and proven and here is the result with a link or two or three" thread...

 

I'm not aiming that as USB in particular, I'm interested across the whole spectrum. I was hoping Peter would provide some techy stuff, facts and figs, that could show XX was really doing something different to other media players, but none came forth.

 

So I think some form of thread along these lines would be really really cool.

 

Any computer musicians on here by the way ? Need to get myself into gear and get back into making music...

 

 

 

 

[shenzi]

Ignoring the usual, one of the concerns I had with fancy analogue cables, particularly Kimber, was their stiffness. One thing was for certain, you certainly heard a difference when you moved something and yet another solder joint broke. For that reason alone I moved to pro audio cables, which concentrate on being easy to handle. The lack of any difference in sound quality came as a pleasant surprise, though it shouldn't have, I guess.

 

I hope CA addresses mechanical aspects like this in cable reviews.

 

[Mister Wednesday]

shenzi,

 

Was reading through the new issue of Tape Op magazine (issue 70, page 60) and in their gear review section came across this mention of a company in the States that produces some interesting Firewire and USB cables for the pro audio community. Haven't actually bought anything from them but it looks like they have some interesting products for special installation needs.

 

http://usbfirewire.com/

 

Regards,

 

Mr. Wednesday

 

[souptin]

Can I put my tuppence down on the side of the unbelievers please? In the context of my own setup, which to be fair isn't at all high end, I have yet to hear any difference between the ultra cheap usb cable I got out of Asda and what I thought was an extremely expensive Belkin cable from PC World. How wrong I was to think Belkin was expensive!

 

In fact, given that the only thing holding the usb socket in place is the solder connecting it to the circuit board, I'd say there are some big drawbacks to using very heavy inflexible cables with computer socketry. You might also want to have a look at the way the internal connections are made - it's very thin lighweight sprung metal, nothing like as secure looking as your audio phono plugs, far less XLRs.

 

As far as data transfer rates and timing is concerned, it takes only a few seconds to copy 100Mb over USB2, so given that 100Mb of lossless audio represents about three minutes of playback time... Go figure.

 

[Nuke Yuler]

You might also want to have a look at the way the internal connections are made - it's very thin lighweight sprung metal, nothing like as secure looking as your audio phono plugs, far less XLRs.

 

That's a valid point. It's a little silly to plug an exotic USB cable into a cheap mass produced USB card. I honestly haven't checked to see if there are better made USB cards. Anyone? I'll probably spend some time looking now....

 

Rand

 

[audioengr]

I like the idea, but back on topic:

 

If you use a Tascam US-144, the USB cable is a dont-care. Asynchronous USB 2.0 with 24/96 support.

 

I dont sell these, but I do use them.

 

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

 

[shenzi]

Thanks for the link. I'm in the UK so tend to get my cables from Canford Audio, the broadcast supplier (www.canford.co.uk). Many of their cables they design themselves, in conjunction with various university engineering departments. They're very good.

 

They even do specialised mains cables ... they're like normal mains cables but with MAINS printed on the side to help protect roadies when setting up.

 

btw, Garth Nix fan are we?

 

[Nuke Yuler]

Not to change the subject but this is something to think about while buying that nice USB cable (OT) if you're planning to stream to a DAC from a server you built yourself.

 

Looking a bit on the web, can't find anything about the manufacturing quality of USB cards, however some common sense can play into a solution. I'm not a Mac user but I looked for a card from a Mac user's perspective because I'd lean toward expecting Mac user testimonials to lead to better quality products. (Ho, boy. What does that say about my faith in the PC-based hardware I use?)

 

1) Buy a USB card with the NEC chipset. The NEC as opposed to any other is less problematic with peripherals. That's particularly for Mac. I've used cards with the NEC chipset and they install without issue.

 

2) There are some funky off brand names in USB cards and some are very cheap. It's not hard to find a name brand USB card. Is that getting what you pay for? Belkin has a very good reputation for quality and their cables have gotten favorable talk for AV and audiophile applications, particularly the USB cable mentioned at the top of this thread. The Belkins use the NEC chipset. I imagine it's very possible all USB cards use similar standard terminals attached only by soldered connections to the boards. If there's no good information about a better quality USB card, should it make sense to stick with a reputable name?

 

Rand

 

[Mister Wednesday]

Actually, no. Your mention of that author was the first I've heard of him so I did a Google on him and found out what you are alluding to.

 

My "Mr. Wednesday" tag is a nickname I got tagged with by some friends. It's actually a food-related thing. As with all nicknames you really don't get to choose!

 

Regards,

 

Mr. Wednesday