It *cannot* just be about 1's and 0's - surely?

[Archimago]

Mazza,

If this is true that an AQ Diamond is able to cause a 2dB volume difference over the USB digital interface (I assume this is to your Kii THREE system), doesn't this speak poorly of the Kii's digital design?

 

If this is true, does the company then warn people in the manual that the USB cable can make quite a significant impact on the sound because for whatever reason it's remarkably sensitive to timing or noise!? Maybe list a few "optimal" cables to purchase? Perhaps they should then have included a USB cable with the package to ensure that end-users are not ending up with inferior sound. Who knows, if this is true, then different cables might have even more effect - +/-3dB? +/-6dB with 15' cables anyone?

 

Kinda sucks to purchase a Kii system if this is true. [Which I highly doubt.]

[Archimago]

19 minutes ago, Mazza said:

 

Yep, maybe you are right. Odd that I can make this UFO re-appear again and again with these two cables. Just don't know why. ??

 

As the others have noted, this is indeed an odd "UFO" type of observation.

 

Given that you're not hearing data corruption (which would be obvious), in order for digital data to sound simply softer, it would require some kind of detection of the different cables and manipulation to the data or the device settings to result in amplitude reduction.

 

While a 2dB reduction is not a big deal when we're listening to modern hi-res devices with plenty of resolution, it does still imply something has changed which presumably should not. And since the playback "system" includes the DAC which you're connecting and in this case your active speakers, you need to look at what's going on there rather than focus on the cable itself. Time to ask Kii why this is happening.