Usb cable shootout

[Kimo]

Here are the contenders:

 

1. Tripp Lite 2M with Ferrites

2. Belkin Gold 2M

3. Oyaide Neo+ A 1M

4. Audioquest Carbon 1.5M

5. Black Cat Digit 1M

 

Tripp Lite: Has some underground buzz.  It was fine, but the least detailed of the group.  Soundstage had some depth, but was short on width.  Might sound different after more break in.

 

Belkin: Compared with Tripp Lite, width, depth, detail and air improved.  Tonally, the two were very similar.  Well worth the extra 5.00.  

 

Oyaide: This was a great surprise.  Soundstage height and width were similar to the Belkin.  Perhaps a bit less air, but details were abundant.  No harshness.  Blackest background of the bunch.  Really showed the differences in recordings.  Tonally a bit richer than the Belkin, which might be a tad cool.  

 

Audioquest Carbon:  I though this a step back from the Oyaide.  The warmest of the bunch, with some extra mid bass, especially as opposed to the Belkin, but light on the deep base.  Sound stage width was on par, but depth was non existent.  All the air seemed to be squeezed out of the midrange.  Sounded most unlike the others.  Had several hundred hours on it.

 

Black Cat Digit:  Perhaps the leanest of the bunch, but taken on its own just fine.  Effortless delivery that no other cable here could replicate.  Detailed, airy and smooth.  The most addicting if a little cool.  

 

So, here is the ranking.

 

1. Black Cat

2. Oyaide

3. Belkin

4. Audioquest

5. Tripp LIte

 

Though the Belkin costs next to nothing, I would still give the 60.00 Oyaide the best bang for the buck award.  Some may find the Audioquest to fit their system best, but here it sounded awkward by comparison.  The Black Cat maybe a little cool, but really is very musical in a different way than the others.  

 

 

[Rt66indierock]

I wonder if any of these USB cables are on spec? Really the only thing that matters.

[Kimo]

7 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

I wonder if any of these USB cables are on spec? Really the only thing that matters.

 

Belkin is supposed to be, since it is certified.  

 

Black Cat uses twin 45 ohm conductors.  So, that should add up to 90.

 

I am doubting that solid core Audioquest would meet spec.

 

Not a single drop out or click from any of them.  

[fas42]

Just go to love, how "expectation bias" made sure that these cables performed as the listener was, er, expecting ...

[Kimo]

23 minutes ago, fas42 said:

Just go to love, how "expectation bias" made sure that these cables performed as the listener was, er, expecting ...

 

What the heck are you talking about?

 

 

[fas42]

8 minutes ago, Kimo said:

 

What the heck are you talking about?

 

 

 

Sorry if it didn't make sense - just poking at those who have an objectivist stance, who insist that that something like the nature of a USB cable should make no audible difference ...

[Kimo]

1 minute ago, fas42 said:

 

Sorry if it didn't make sense - just poking at those who have an objectivist stance, who insist that that something like the nature of a USB cable should make no audible difference ...

 

Ha.  I can never get 2 of them to sound alike.

 

Sometimes you have to question what the objective of the "objectivist" is.

[JoeWhip]

I have been using the Oyaide d+ class A usb 2M cable now for years and find it to sound sensational. 

[Kimo]

1 hour ago, JoeWhip said:

I have been using the Oyaide d+ class A usb 2M cable now for years and find it to sound sensational. 

 

It is my recommended usb.  Used to be the Belkin.

 

Marvelous detail, especially in the lower end.  I will swap it in the system for a a different take from the Black Cat.  

[Archimago]

3 hours ago, fas42 said:

 

Sorry if it didn't make sense - just poking at those who have an objectivist stance, who insist that that something like the nature of a USB cable should make no audible difference ...

 

Yeah, sounds about right.

 

I'd personally just want to check that the cable is to spec as well just to make sure about compatibility if I use it elsewhere.

 

@Kimo - what computer/server? What DAC? Upsampling/DSP being done?

[Kimo]

7 minutes ago, Archimago said:

 

Yeah, sounds about right.

 

I'd personally just want to check that the cable is to spec as well just to make sure about compatibility if I use it elsewhere.

 

@Kimo - what computer/server? What DAC? Upsampling/DSP being done?

 

Innuos Zenith Mk II

Linnenberg Satie

 

https://linnenberg-audio.de/page7.html

 

No upsampling or DSP, just clocks, expensive parts and over engineering...

 

[Archimago]

1 hour ago, Kimo said:

 

Innuos Zenith Mk II

Linnenberg Satie

 

https://linnenberg-audio.de/page7.html

 

No upsampling or DSP, just clocks, expensive parts and over engineering...

 

I agree. Expensive and over engineered! Looks like great equipment.

 

But apparently not engineered enough to isolate noise and jitter (or whatever putative anomaly) from USB cables?

 

Strange. Oh well... 

[R1200CL]

6 hours ago, Kimo said:

Not a single drop out or click from any of them.  

What did you test them between ?
If it was a DAC, was anything else connected ?

Was the vbus in use ?
How about add the $35 USPCB to the test ?

[Kimo]

7 hours ago, Archimago said:

 

 

But apparently not engineered enough to isolate noise and jitter (or whatever putative anomaly) from USB cables?

 

Strange. Oh well... 

 

 I have no clue.  Overall, it sounds very good, however.  Wonderfully transparent volume control.  

[Kimo]

7 hours ago, R1200CL said:

1. What did you test them between ?
2. If it was a DAC, was anything else connected ?

3.Was the vbus in use ?
4. How about add the $35 USPCB to the test ?

 

1. Not sure what you are looking for?

2. Only digital input connected on the DAC was the USB.  Analog XLR inputs connected to phono pre.

3. Yes

4. Don't think I can make this connection work.

[Kimo]

I plugged in a Sony BDP800 blu ray player via spdif to test an Audioquest Cinnamon coaxial cable against a plain old Gotham GAC 1 ultrapro RCA IC.  Both worked fine and sounded closer to one another than any of the USB cables I tested.  The AQ was a little cleaner, especially in the bass.  Or, perhaps, just a little leaner.  

 

I am wondering if installing a USB to SPDIF/AES convertor and running the USB cable test would result in big changes?

 

Anyone know of a cheap recommended model that won't require a ton of set up that they could direct me to?

[NOMBEDES]

I test my USB cable on my printer.  The blacker the black wins.

[Archimago]

3 minutes ago, NOMBEDES said:

I test my USB cable on my printer.  The blacker the black wins.

 

As funny as this might be, why not, right?

 

For example, if we have a photo printer that can produce excellent color and shading gradients, if truly USB changes are able to significantly change sound, why would it not change the quality even to only a small extent of the output from such printers printing to the best paper at the highest, densest resolution/quality?

 

While it might not be about "blacker blacks", how about metrics like consistency of shading across the image?

 

Of course I say this with an amount of "tongue in cheek", I certainly don't think it's an unreasonable consideration to think about for companies and those who have a strong belief about such cables to examine for tangible evidence...

 

[As one who enjoys digital photography and printing, I have yet to see such issues over years whether printing over WiFi or USB. But would be interesting to see if anyone has ever examined this in detail.]

[Kimo]

17 minutes ago, Archimago said:

 

As funny as this might be, why not, right?

 

For example, if we have a photo printer that can produce excellent color and shading gradients, if truly USB changes are able to significantly change sound, why would it not change the quality even to only a small extent of the output from such printers printing to the best paper at the highest, densest resolution/quality?

 

While it might not be about "blacker blacks", how about metrics like consistency of shading across the image?

 

Of course I say this with an amount of "tongue in cheek", I certainly don't think it's an unreasonable consideration to think about for companies and those who have a strong belief about such cables to examine for tangible evidence...

 

[As one who enjoys digital photography and printing, I have yet to see such issues over years whether printing over WiFi or USB. But would be interesting to see if anyone has ever examined this in detail.]

 

I will hook up the Black Cat to the printer and let you know.

 

I am not enthusiastic though.  I imagine most old fart audiophiles hear about as well as old fart videophiles see.  

[Archimago]

2 minutes ago, Kimo said:

 

I will hook up the Black Cat to the printer and let you know.

 

I am not enthusiastic though.  I imagine most old fart audiophiles hear about as well as old fart videophiles see.  

 

Not necessarily a problem in terms of age or visual acuity. The nice thing about an image is that it's not ephemeral like the brief temporal changes in music. If there is a difference, subtleties of shading can be seen, scanned, noticed at different viewing distances. Remember that these days, resolutions of ink jet droplets can be even down to femtolitres.

 

We can see this as another form of digital-to-analogue conversion. 

[NOMBEDES]

52 minutes ago, Kimo said:

 

I will hook up the Black Cat to the printer and let you know.

 

I am not enthusiastic though.  I imagine most old fart audiophiles hear about as well as old fart videophiles see.  

 

OMG!  this has to qualify for my seldom awarded "Post of the Day" award.*

 

*this is the first "Post of the Day" award this year.

[Kimo]

1 hour ago, Archimago said:

 

Not necessarily a problem in terms of age or visual acuity. The nice thing about an image is that it's not ephemeral like the brief temporal changes in music. If there is a difference, subtleties of shading can be seen, scanned, noticed at different viewing distances. Remember that these days, resolutions of ink jet droplets can be even down to femtolitres.

 

We can see this as another form of digital-to-analogue conversion. 

 

Well I tried it with the Oyaide and found zero difference in print quality vs wireless.  It did start printing really fast though, when I used the Oyaide.

[fas42]

What's interesting is that USB changes seem to cause more variation than SPDIF ones - this says that the former linkage as a transport mechanism is inherently more prone to causing noise issues, for all sorts of reasons. Which is one reason I have never tried to use USB, anywhere - no point in adding something which is automatically a weakness, in a chain, which then has to be debugged ...

[Kimo]

15 hours ago, fas42 said:

What's interesting is that USB changes seem to cause more variation than SPDIF ones - this says that the former linkage as a transport mechanism is inherently more prone to causing noise issues, for all sorts of reasons. Which is one reason I have never tried to use USB, anywhere - no point in adding something which is automatically a weakness, in a chain, which then has to be debugged ...

 

Unfortunately, it appears that USB/Spdif converters vary quite a bit in sound.  At least, according to what I read on the internet.  

 

I am afraid that I will have to be content with my Oyaide and Black Cat, unless I choose to play files through the BR player.  The problem with that approach is that I bring those nasty cheap switching powers supplies into the system and they screw up the sound of the whole system when plugged into the power strip.  

[R1200CL]

On 1/13/2022 at 4:04 PM, Kimo said:

Anyone know of a cheap recommended model that won't require a ton of set up that they could direct me to?

Not sure if cheap, but maybe the best available. The Singxer SU-2. 
( I have a almost unused Sonore ultraDigital that’s a condensed SU-1 for sale)

 

If you don’t know how well the USB is implemented in that Linneberg DAC, maybe it’s worth trying the AES/EBU input ?

 

Also, if I’m understanding you correctly, you have Vbus power from a PC into the DAC. Maybe an issue ?