which quality USB cable to consider?

[agladstone]

On 3/24/2017 at 4:46 PM, KnockKnock said:

Go for the Curious Cable from down under, it does magic. And they have a 30 day money back guarantee  so what are u waiting for?  ;=)

I have a Curious "full loom" ( a longer Curious Cable and a short "link" for a W4S RUR or a Regen) and I am not using either, PM me if your interested, I'd be willing it to sell it to you for a fair price. 

 

[agladstone]

The Cardas Highspeed 2.0 USB Cable is by far the best I've used (I've tried the Curious, the Audioquest Chocolate and Carbon, the Pangea Premier XL, The Shunyata Venom, and Wirewold Silver). 

The Cardas Highspeed 2.0 USB splits the data and the power into their own separate cables and they only meet at the connectors, this really helps!

[agladstone]

On 8/16/2017 at 4:49 PM, jaspal kallar said:

@agladstone:  Was there a lot of difference between the the Cardas Highspeed 2.0 USB Cable and the Curious SB cable (I have that one albeit only 20cm in length) ?

The Cardas Highspeed 2.0 USB was / is at least a thousand times better than the Curious cable!! Night and day difference!! 

[agladstone]

Almost all of my 600-700 DSD audio albums (where I also have 2 or 3 versions/ releases ripped of the same album in 16/44 and also again the same album in 24/192). 

I would say at least 90% of the time, the DSD version is MUCH better than the 16/44 or 24/192 (10% of the time not, and 75% of that 10% of the time the late '80's CD rip in 16/44 is the best sounding). 

So, regardless of that artical and his research, in my own personal listening tests and countless blind A / B testing, DSD is the superior format! 

[agladstone]

40 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

 

unh...  a meta-analysis did find it was a bit better and compared the same recordings

 

but it sounds like you compared different albums - so you may have found only that DSD producers took more care in recording or mastering, not that the format is superior

 

OTOH, it may not matter to a consumer

No, I compared the same exact albums per se, yet I do agree with you that every single release and every single version of the same "album" does sound a bit different and that has to do with the mastering, DRC, etc used for each different release and version of any same album. 

That being said, almost every single SACD / DSD version / release of any same album I've tested, the SACD / DSD version has been better than the 16/44 or 24/96 or 24/192, but not 100% of the time, just most of the time. 

If that is because DSD is superior to PCM or if the mastering on the DSD version was better and it had less Dynamic Range Compression , that I can't be sure of, but none-the-less, better is better, so the DSD version wins regardless of why!! 

[agladstone]

4 minutes ago, CuteStudio said:

 

 

Sorry but you've lost me, did you go from CD to 24/192 or to DSD/SACD?

I have ripped all of my SACD's to DSD and I have ripped all of my CD's to 16/44 FLAC. 

So in that case DSD = SACD and 16/44 = CD so to speak for this purpose. 

I have some "albums" (same one) where I have 3 diff SACD versions (As example a 2010 SHM-SACD, a 2003 Columbia, and a 2015 MFSL) and also have that same exact album in 4 diff CD releases (none of which are "re-mastered" versions, but a 1985 made in Japan CD, a 1989 USA CDand  a 2007 EU CD, etc) AND I also own the same album in an LP (Vinyl ripped to 24/96 FLAC) AND I also own it in 24/96 Pono download AND I also own it in a HDTracks 24/192 FLAC. 

Pink Floyd The Wall would be one of many I have 10 different releases and formats of as example. 

And in my experiences almost always the DSD versions are the best sounding version. 

NOT always! Sometimes it is the late '80's 16/44 CD Rip, sometimes it is the 1st pressing Original Vinyl ripped to 16/44, oddly it is rarely the newer 24/192 HDTracks version (few exceptions here though definitely). 

[agladstone]

31 minutes ago, acg said:

 

Differences in dacs pale into insignificance any difference between file storage formats such as PCM and DSD (not that I believe that a difference really exists).  Your dac probably converts everything to DSD anyway, so what you are hearing is the difference in internal processing of your dac, not a difference between file storage formats.  

 

There is so much crap floating around about "which is better PCM or DSD?" because of flawed personal testing such as it seems you have performed that the truth is well obfuscated.

 

Here is the truth...if you want better sound get a better dac that suits the format in which your digital music is stored.  Forget which file storage format is "best" and get the music you like in whatever format it comes and a dac that works well with that music storage format.  

No my DAC does not convert to DSD - I use a Mytek Brooklyn DAC, I will say that Mytek DAC's do excel with DSD and MQA files. 

[agladstone]

6 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

agladstone - you compared the same exact albums per se - meaning the different layers on the same disc?  or ??

I definitely have and also the DSD layers converted to 24/88 and 24/96 too. 

The CD Layers and DSD layers on hybrid SACD's are often 2 completely different master Inga entirely anyhow