usb cables?

[mansr]

All that meet the spec. That's basically anything costing between $0.50 and $50 for an ordinary length. Some pricier ones might also be compliant, but the situation is a bit spotty. Cheaper ones are prone to falling apart when looked at sternly.

[mansr]

I suppose they could sound different if pulled tight and plucked. If the differences bother you, I recommend not doing that.

[mansr]

Seriously though, there is no known mechanism by which USB cables could "sound" different. There is also no compelling evidence that they actually do. Reports of perceived differences are far more likely to be rooted in psychology than the cables themselves. In other words, the "best sounding" cable is whichever one makes you happier.

[mansr]

17 minutes ago, marce said:

inject a certain amount of noise that interacts with the analogue output

And miraculously adapts said noise to have exactly the same effect regardless of which components are connected.

[mansr]

17 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

The Clairixa possibly is the best USB 2 compliant cable around.

Does it give a lower bit error rate than others?

[mansr]

9 hours ago, PeterSt said:

Of course not. They all run error free for any amount of days. Unless "galvanic isolation" is involved. Then it becomes more tricky. But if all is right, still "forever".

Then how can you claim yours to be better than another?

[mansr]

18 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

Too bad that 8KHz packet noise is right in the audio band. So via the backdoor it *does* become part of the "analogue information". If anything is easily measurable it is that.

The packet noise is created by the USB receiver. Nothing to do with cables.

[mansr]

8 hours ago, sandyk said:

I.M.E.  Any USB cable >3M long used without Regeneration will reduce SQ to some degree , in part due to RF/EMI issues, and in some  cases the connected USB device will not function correctly, or perhaps even be identified due to excessive voltage drop with the incoming +5V rail.  This is governed by the size of the conductors stipulated in the USB standards with many cables using thinner conductors than permitted.

 

(The 2.0 specification limits the length of a cable between USB 2.0 devices (Full Speed or Hi-Speed) to 5 meters (or about 16 feet and 5 inches).

The USB 2.0 standard does not specify wire gauge for any of the conductors. The only requirements are regarding voltage drop, signal attenuation, and propagation delay. The voltage drop requirement – max 125 mV – can be met, assuming a maximum load of 500 mA, by choosing a wire with a resistance of at most 0.25 Ω. That's easy for any reasonable cable length. The attenuation requirements – 5.8 dB at 400 MHz – are also not particularly onerous. The maximum permitted propagation delay of a cable is 26 ns. With a typical propagation speed of 0.2 m/ns, the maximum length is thus 5.2 m. An ideal cable with propagation speed equal to the speed of light would have a maximum length of 7.8 m, and nothing in the known universe can get past that. In practice, hosts and devices often tolerate longer delays, so cable lengths exceeding these limits may still work.

[mansr]

2 hours ago, marce said:

2 hours ago, lasker98 said:

Buy a Lush^2 and quit wasting time. It's like 100+ usb cables in one.

How?

I found this 51-pair cable: http://www.alphawire.com/en/Home/Products/Cable/Xtra-Guard-Performance-Cable/Xtra-Guard-1/5279_51C

Maybe it's two of those lashed (lushed?) together. Would explain the 2 in the name.

[mansr]

1 hour ago, musicguy said:

I want to know what peoples ears are saying. 

But only, apparently, as long as they are saying what you want them to be saying.

[mansr]

1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

General question: why people who believe any decent USB cable sounds the same care to attack people who hear the difference between different USB cables?

Why is it called an "attack" when people with real knowledge on the topic share some of their expertise?

[mansr]

5 minutes ago, sandyk said:

I have seen specifications for the 2 almost universally used wire gauges. Many USB cables use the thinner gauge, and you can often tell simply by looking at the thickness of the cable.

I looked up the requirements in the actual spec before replying.

[mansr]

3 minutes ago, sandyk said:

Textbook knowledge and real life practice are very different things in this particular area.

Are you implying that marce doesn't have real-life experience of electronics design?

[mansr]

2 minutes ago, sandyk said:

Expertise in a particular area does not automatically translate to the same degree of expertise in other areas, as much as you would like to believe that it does.

Ah, the old "audio is special" argument.

[mansr]

17 minutes ago, sandyk said:

Then why don't you put your money where your mouth is, and resume the series of tests with Manishander, also including in those tests a comparison of his Lush USB cable with another USB certified cable of his choosing under DBT conditions !!!

For starters, he doesn't want to. Furthermore, I'd prefer for any future testing to take place in a less chaotic environment. Lastly, the test Mani and I did had nothing to do with cables.

[mansr]

6 minutes ago, kumakuma said:

Perhaps that's why your posts typically get no response.

I thought it was because everybody ignored him.

[mansr]

1 minute ago, sandyk said:

some non audiophiles

Are you GUTB?

[mansr]

1 minute ago, PeterSt said:

Hearing aids.

I'd rather have those than regular AIDS.

[mansr]

28 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

Careful. Golden hearing aids don't depict golden ears.

Golden years bring golden ears. No?

[mansr]

4 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

What makes you believe your "knowledge" is real?

I wasn't (necessarily) talking about myself.

[mansr]

33 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

Can I help ?

Based on your posting history, I'm inclined to say no.

[mansr]

1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

I do not care

For someone who doesn't care, you sure have a lot of opinions.

[mansr]

1 minute ago, Ralf11 said:

I see that manis... egregious personal attack was deleted.

 

I suspect that explains why mansr doesn't want to have anything to do with him.

For the record, Mani was nothing but friendly when we met. It was only after I refused to bow down and lick his boots in response to whatever fluke gave rise to the infamous 9/10 that he turned nasty. Guess I should have seen it coming.

[mansr]

7 hours ago, sandyk said:

I spent quite a bit of time previously and was unable to find the exact wire specifications as previously mentioned.  USB2.0 Spec.Rev2 Ch 6.6

That's probably because there is no exact specification, only minimum requirements.

[mansr]

2 minutes ago, sandyk said:

It was suggested that the reference given covered this area

 Can you quote those minimum requirements ,

 

2 minutes ago, sandyk said:

as I have seen huge differences in the thickness of compliant USB 2.,0 .cables, where the thinner one  died in the arse at around 4M length with a USB memory stick plugged in, and the other worked at much longer lengths with no problems at all.  I have also seen a long USB .2.0 cable that had no shielding at all.

Nobody doubts that there are cheap, non-compliant cables out there.