USPCB A>B Adapters can now be ordered at UpToneAudio.com!

[JohnSwenson]

1 hour ago, atxkyle said:

+1 for a longer length option, for ability to use between streamers and DACs

Can you guys get together and define what you mean by "longer", and please specify what the length refers to ie "tip to tip" or some other reference.

 

I'm not guaranteeing this will happen soon, I am working VERY hard on the etherREGEN. Things like this just add to the wait time.

 

John S.

[matthias]

50 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

Can you guys get together and define what you mean by "longer", and please specify what the length refers to ie "tip to tip" or some other reference.

 

I'm not guaranteeing this will happen soon, I am working VERY hard on the etherREGEN. Things like this just add to the wait time.

 

John,

I understand your position but such a flexibile USB-PCB should be one of the best USB connections.

For me tip to tip 1,5 meters.

Thank you

 

Matt

[R1200CL]

54 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

Can you guys get together and define what you mean by "longer", and please specify what the length refers to ie "tip to tip" or some other reference.

 

I'm not guaranteeing this will happen soon, I am working VERY hard on the etherREGEN. Things like this just add to the wait time.

 

John S.

 

Just add a cm or max 20 mm. 

 

Then the 90 degree Metz plug will be possible to use. 

 

 

[HumanMedia]

I was thinking 20cm (.2m) was long for an extended connector. There has to be a length at which conventional cable geometries are superior?

[matthias]

5 hours ago, HumanMedia said:

There has to be a length at which conventional cable geometries are superior?

 

Maybe @JohnSwenson can shed some light on this.

My understanding is that a flexible PCB can be superior to a conventional USB cable even at standard lenghts more than one meter.

 

Matt

[R1200CL]

.......and adding 10 to 15 mm on the next batch should hopefully not be to expensive or degrade the SQ ?

[R1200CL]

 

[CJH]

Is there going to be a version with Male C-USB plug?

CJH

[Superdad]

2 hours ago, CJH said:

Is there going to be a version with Male C-USB plug?

 

No plans for such at this time. Can you name any popular DACs which have USB ‘C’ input?

[Siltech817]

11 hours ago, Superdad said:

Can you name any popular DACs which have USB ‘C’ input?

 

A thinly veiled swipe, no?

Better off just taking the high road.

[Superdad]

21 minutes ago, Siltech817 said:

A thinly veiled swipe, no?

Better off just taking the high road.

 

Gosh no!  I never intend to offend. 

I am genuinely curious about what DACs are using USB 'C' as their input.  

 

The thing is, we sell hundreds of our  USPCB full size A>B Adapters (about 4:1 the standard orientation to the 90-degree-rotated version), but for the microUSB version (where there are plenty of DACs with that input, most popularly Chord) we have sold about 80 of the 250 units we ran a year ago.

So unless we can foresee a real demand for USB 'C', it would be a loosing proposition for us to produce such a model.

Thanks for understanding.

--Alex C.

[R1200CL]

 

@Superdad

How is the chances of an updated USPCB ?

Longer and/or Vbus interface. 

 

Even with fiber interface I think it’s easy to break the cable cause of short distance, but as with ethernet interface, using the 90 degree version, I manage. 

 

Picture is showing the opticalRendu into Singxer SU1. 

The standard fiber cable is going under the lifted SU1. Only showing it’s protection (bend restrictor). 

 

[BlueDL]

Hi,

Sorry if this has already been answered, but could a short USB extension cable be used with the USPCB?  I would presume that a USB A (male) to A (female) cable would be a better choice (i.e. USPCB at DAC input) than a USB B (female) to B (male) cable (i.e. USPCB at source output)? Thanks.

[Superdad]

7 hours ago, BlueDL said:

Hi,

Sorry if this has already been answered, but could a short USB extension cable be used with the USPCB?  I would presume that a USB A (male) to A (female) cable would be a better choice (i.e. USPCB at DAC input) than a USB B (female) to B (male) cable (i.e. USPCB at source output)? Thanks.

 

The UpTone USPCB Adapters are impedance-controlled 4-layer circuit boards which are simply a substitute for a cable.  They are passive and there is no magic to them.  Thus adding one to an extension cable defeats their purpose.  The whole point is to use them instead of a cable. That is the only time they can provide a benefit.

Hope that makes sense.

[BlueDL]

1 hour ago, Superdad said:

 

The UpTone USPCB Adapters are impedance-controlled 4-layer circuit boards which are simply a substitute for a cable.  They are passive and there is no magic to them.  Thus adding one to an extension cable defeats their purpose.  The whole point is to use them instead of a cable. That is the only time they can provide a benefit.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks Alex.

I’ve just acquired an OpticalRendu and it’s not possible to position it close enough to the Singxer SU-1; I’d probably need a 90-degree USPCB to have any chance. R1200CL’s efforts show that it is possible I guess.

[Chopin75]

9 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

The UpTone USPCB Adapters are impedance-controlled 4-layer circuit boards which are simply a substitute for a cable.  They are passive and there is no magic to them.  Thus adding one to an extension cable defeats their purpose.  The whole point is to use them instead of a cable. That is the only time they can provide a benefit.

Hope that makes sense.

I have used some cheap USB 3 adaptors/couplers to attach to the USPCB so that it is just long enough for my DAC to be next to my PC. It still sounds better than the regular USB cable. Now an optical USB cable like the Corning may still beat this set up. But I can't compare a single USPCB with a single optical cable due to physical constraint. However using USPCB + optical USB cable seems to work fine,  surely beating a regular copper USB cable. The Vbus off also helps a bit if your DAC does not need Vbus. 

 

Oh and the other option is to chain up a few USPCB together to make it long enough, but you would still need at least 1 USB coupler/adaptor.

 

USPCB ---> USB coupler ----> USPCB

 

[satbox]

Hello,

 

Today I use an Audioquest Carbon USB cable between my streamer and my DAC.

 

I wonder if there is any benefit to place an USPCB between my AO Carbon and my DAC by using an USB A Female to B Female adapter like this?

 

 

[Superdad]

On 8/11/2019 at 6:55 AM, satbox said:

Today I use an Audioquest Carbon USB cable between my streamer and my DAC.

I wonder if there is any benefit to place an USPCB between my AO Carbon and my DAC by using an USB A Female to B Female adapter like this?

 

There would be no benefit.  There is no "magic" to our USPCB A>B Adapter.  It is simply a highly optimized cable substitute--a 4-layer, impedance-controlled circuit board.  So it has no purpose for you unless you are physically able to use it to replace a USB cable connection.

Cheers,

--Alex C. 

[satbox]

Thank you for your answer :-)

[Steffenegede]

Hi, has anyone experienced any burn in time with the Uptone uspcb, and how long before it settles approximately? I installed it yesterday and it sounded great, today it sounds harsh and confused. I also put in a couple of new ultracaps and everything sounded great yesterday (same time a day and nothing changed). I know there's probably some break in time on the devices, but reading other's experiences it's seems they usually improves from day to day. I've only experienced something similar when breaking in rhodium receptacles, that's quite a roller coaster ride, changing from good/bad several times before settling in.

[wwaldmanfan]

38 minutes ago, Steffenegede said:

Hi, has anyone experienced any burn in time with the Uptone uspcb, and how long before it settles approximately? I installed it yesterday and it sounded great, today it sounds harsh and confused. I also put in a couple of new ultracaps and everything sounded great yesterday (same time a day and nothing changed). I know there's probably some break in time on the devices, but reading other's experiences it's seems they usually improves from day to day. I've only experienced something similar when breaking in rhodium receptacles, that's quite a roller coaster ride, changing from good/bad several times before settling in.

 

This subject has been discussed ad infinitum. While, the sound reproduction of speaker and headphone transducers, and other components with mechanical components, like phono cartridges, can change with wear, an inert piece of metal, a length of wire, or a simple electronic circuit cannot not magically transform from sounding good to sounding terrible and then sounding good again.

 

What's going on here is your brain is perceiving the sound differently. Whether it is expectation bias, or the the complex interaction between you ears, brain, and environment, that's what's altering your perception of sound. Simply moving your head while in your favorite listening position can change sound. I don't understand why supposed audiophiles cannot accept this concept.

 

I have tinnitus, and my hearing it's all over the place from day to day. High, low, loud, slight. You may not have hearing damage per se, but the reality is the same.

[Steffenegede]

16 minutes ago, wwaldmanfan said:

 

This subject has been discussed ad infinitum. While, the sound reproduction of speaker and headphone transducers, and other components with mechanical components, like phono cartridges, can change with wear, an inert piece of metal, a length of wire, or a simple electronic circuit cannot not magically transform from sounding good to sounding terrible and then sounding good again.

 

What's going on here is your brain is perceiving the sound differently. Whether it is expectation bias, or the the complex interaction between you ears, brain, and environment, that's what's altering your perception of sound. Simply moving your head while in your favorite listening position can change sound. I don't understand why supposed audiophiles cannot accept this concept.

 

I have tinnitus, and my hearing it's all over the place from day to day. High, low, loud, slight. You may not have hearing damage per se, but the reality is the same.

Well, I respect your opinion, I don't share it though 😊 I don't understand and cannot explain the "burn in phenomenon" but I've heard the effect a couple of days/weeks of use can do to cables/tubes etc. I'm not trying to persuade you into believing this, but if you haven't tried a new rhodium receptacle and heard the changes during some 500 hours of use, I definitely encourage you to try it. 

[Crustacean]

For me the UpTone USPCB out of my microRendu was such a striking improvement (over even a quite good cable—thanks Alex & John) that I, too, would love to see a new model USPCB that's long enough to work with the design choices of the opticalRendu (which I don't yet own but would like to), where the fiber-in and USB-out are on the same side of the device (some of us don't have DACs as conveniently slim as R1200CL's Singxer SU1, pictured above!) So, that would mean just long enough for the fiber cable going into the oR to bend out of the way and clear the back of the DAC. Of course, from an engineering standpoint I have no idea if that would feasible or advisable.

[BlueDL]

32 minutes ago, Crustacean said:

For me the UpTone USPCB out of my microRendu was such a striking improvement (over even a quite good cable—thanks Alex & John) that I, too, would love to see a new model USPCB that's long enough to work with the design choices of the opticalRendu (which I don't yet own but would like to), where the fiber-in and USB-out are on the same side of the device (some of us don't have DACs as conveniently slim as R1200CL's Singxer SU1, pictured above!) So, that would mean just long enough for the fiber cable going into the oR to bend out of the way and clear the back of the DAC. Of course, from an engineering standpoint I have no idea if that would feasible or advisable.

Spot on, couldn’t agree more. I have an OpticalRendu and a modified SU-1 - and the wrong orientation of USPCB, sadly (so it’s in a drawer doing nothing). 

[GMG]

@Superdad, @JohnSwenson

Does the UBPCB enable a slightly higher bandwidth compared to a regular USB cable?

 

I recently started playing with upsampling and I'm experiencing some issues with USB audio at 768kbps and was suggested that it might be a bandwidth issue with the USB connection from my network player to the DAC. No problem with 705, and sometimes 768 will work for almost 30min before issues start.

 

My second suspect is that my Etheregen (which is feeding the the USB network player) is getting too hot with 768,

I got a thermo gun today and will test the temp.

 

Many thanks