POLL: What USB cable are you using?

[Matias]

Upgraded from a Forest, Coffee is more natural sounding and rounded, smoother, organic. Forest itself is more detailed and open the soundstage than the generic USB I used before.

 

[Talk2Me]

Returned the $550 Revelation Prophecy Silver (great cable/well made), and am trying out $45 MHDT Copper. I like the sound of copper more.

 

[codyred]

n/t

 

[MaxSeven]

What of the ViaBlue? Very nice looking.

 

That's all that matters to me anyway - looks, pliability and build quality. All decent USB cables sound the same.

 

 

 

 

[jkortela]

Cardas Clear Serial Buss USB. Tested and proved.

 

[Talk2Me]

Very nice German made cable. Great price too, thanks.

 

[MarkB]

When I purchased my MF M-1A I bought an Audioquest Forest at thirty some odd bucks only for the peace of mind knowing I had a well made cable. I can't see spending more on USB. Maybe one day I'll be daring and buy an Ultraviolet for s**ts and giggles.

 

[coolbreeze]

Whatever Gordon supplied with my Wavelength Proton. It's been in the system for over 2 years. Sounds great!

 

[Matias]

Chris, would it be possible to convert this thread into a forum's Poll so that it is easier to update the counting? Thanks.

[Hede]

Right now i am using the swedish Supra USB cable but have Cardas on the way.

[MarkS]

I am using the older version of Locus' Cynosure cable. Deepest bass and best imaging of any cable I had previously tried. I intend to try the new version later this summer.

 

I'm surprised no one seems to be using any of Ridge Street's USB cables. They were working well for me until I discovered the Cynosure, and the RS USB cables are far less expensive.

[Julf]

Just switched from the Canon-branded cable I had been using (I assume it came with the digital camera) to a Belkin one. Still sounds great.

[odelay]

I use a Oyaide Neo d+ (class S) (1m)

 

The only other branded cable I have compared it to is a friend's Audioquest Forest(?). It sounded fine on his rig, but terrible on mine.

 

As the Burson DAC uses adaptive mode, it made more of a difference than with his HRT (it seemed?).

[spacey]

I use a standard, well made 'USB certified' cable. All my cables are OEM type. The 7m XLR cables came with my ATC's and would have cost a grand total of £25 for the pair if purchased separately. ATC use this cable inside the speakers and also in their R&D department; it just seems like the right cable to use! All mains cables are what 'was in the box' too.

 

I do however have dedicated mains to each active speaker and the DAC.

[mav52]

Audioquest Forest, why the dealer gave it to me for free so I use it. But, I still can't hear the deference between the Forest and my original Belkin cable I had. Maybe there is some secret formula on how the wires inside the Forest cable or run or maybe it's the Irish Whiskey leaving my body. Anyway, Forest is whats hanging on the jack, and I'm just to lazy to change it out.

[Matias]

Here is an interesting test that I did: switching my Audioquest Coffee and a generic cable shows a big difference when using M2Tech HiFace EVO, and almost no difference with WaveLength Wavelink HS! That means that the Wavelink is more jitter resistent than the EVO.

[gmgraves]

There wouldn't be any improvement. See, a USB cable is a length of wire. Wire carries current, digital cables are even more fundamental than analog cables. They only have to carry digital signals for a few feet at most. Digital is either on or off, not to much to get screwed up there. In fact, using a device that counts digital errors, I have never seen ONE digital error occur in any USB cable I've ever examined. Doesn't matter if it's a cheap USB cable bought at a generic computer store, or an expensive one from AudioQuest. No error is no error and that's all digital cares about.

[gmgraves]

Did you listen double-blinded? I'll guarantee you that there is no way a USB cable can affect the sound (unless it's causing digital errors, and how can a simple conductor cause errors?). Believe me, if you heard differences between two USB cables, you're hearing things. It's your imagination. If you listened double blind to those two cables you would be unable to distinguish which was which because a difference that makes no difference is no difference at all!

[prufrock]

Did you listen double-blinded? I'll guarantee you that there is no way a USB cable can affect the sound (unless it's causing digital errors, and how can a simple conductor cause errors?). Believe me, if you heard differences between two USB cables, you're hearing things. It's your imagination. If you listened double blind to those two cables you would be unable to distinguish which was which because a difference that makes no difference is no difference at all!

 

Its like putting out spot fires isn't it. And the wind of misinformation continually blows. Probably needs a dedicated thread that is continually on the go. How about this for a title: "The Great Cable 'n' Interconnect Swindle". In memory of John, Malcolm et al, who for a while there, actually managed to convince the listening public that they had something musical to offer.

[Julf]

Its like putting out spot fires isn't it. And the wind of misinformation continually blows. Probably needs a dedicated thread that is continually on the go. How about this for a title: "The Great Cable 'n' Interconnect Swindle". In memory of John, Malcolm et al, who for a while there, actually managed to convince the listening public that they had something musical to offer.

 

I like that

 

Seriously, yes, we really do need some sort of Frequently Asked Questions section that presents the arguments, pro and con, in a neutral fashion.

[Julf]

See, a USB cable is a length of wire.

 

A guy walks into a church meeting in a small town church in Texas, and says "guys, you have some really interesting 6-million-year-old fossiles in the rocks outside of the church!"....

[JonP]

Did you listen double-blinded? I'll guarantee you that there is no way a USB cable can affect the sound (unless it's causing digital errors, and how can a simple conductor cause errors?). Believe me, if you heard differences between two USB cables, you're hearing things. It's your imagination. If you listened double blind to those two cables you would be unable to distinguish which was which because a difference that makes no difference is no difference at all!

 

Except that people like me have double-blind tested them and heard the differences via an objective ABX process. You only need make a high resolution digital recording from the analogue output of the DAC, then swap the USB cable round and make an identical recording. Then ensure both recordings align perfectly in the number of samples, start points, etc, then double blind ABX the two resultng files using Foobar ABX. Doing this way only introduces one variable only into the process - the cable - since everything else remains 100% consistent. This process might not tell you which cable actually sounds best, since the only way to tell this is the listen to the original analogue output. But it does show that the cables do sound different.

 

So if I can get 10 out of 10 on a Foobar ABX test then for me that is enough evidence the USB cable is responsible for the change in the sound. I will take the statistic liklihood of me getting 10 out 10 blind listening tests right over my imagination any day.

[esldude]

Except that people like me have double-blind tested them and heard the differences via an objective ABX process. You only need make a high resolution digital recording from the analogue output of the DAC, then swap the USB cable round and make an identical recording. Then ensure both recordings align perfectly in the number of samples, start points, etc, then double blind ABX the two resultng files using Foobar ABX. Doing this way only introduces one variable only into the process - the cable - since everything else remains 100% consistent. This process might not tell you which cable actually sounds best, since the only way to tell this is the listen to the original analogue output. But it does show that the cables do sound different.

 

So if I can get 10 out of 10 on a Foobar ABX test then for me that is enough evidence the USB cable is responsible for the change in the sound. I will take the statistic liklihood of me getting 10 out 10 blind listening tests right over my imagination any day.

 

This is quite interesting. Would you happen to still have the recorded files you compared? Would be informative to difference one from another and see what was left. Give one an idea of how small a difference you were able to ABX 10 out of 10 on.

[prufrock]

Except that people like me have double-blind tested them and heard the differences via an objective ABX process. You only need make a high resolution digital recording from the analogue output of the DAC, then swap the USB cable round and make an identical recording. Then ensure both recordings align perfectly in the number of samples, start points, etc, then double blind ABX the two resultng files using Foobar ABX. Doing this way only introduces one variable only into the process - the cable - since everything else remains 100% consistent. This process might not tell you which cable actually sounds best, since the only way to tell this is the listen to the original analogue output. But it does show that the cables do sound different.

 

So if I can get 10 out of 10 on a Foobar ABX test then for me that is enough evidence the USB cable is responsible for the change in the sound. I will take the statistic liklihood of me getting 10 out 10 blind listening tests right over my imagination any day.

 

Good on for stepping up to the plate. If there were more of you around this issue would stand some chance of being resolved. As it stands it pits friend against friend and divides a community.

[JonP]

This is quite interesting. Would you happen to still have the recorded files you compared? Would be informative to difference one from another and see what was left. Give one an idea of how small a difference you were able to ABX 10 out of 10 on.

 

As much as I still wish I had them, I only kept them to do the ABX test so as to satisfy myself that I was not suffering placebo or nocebo effects (as I am fully aware of how incredibly powerful those effects are). but I am going to be upgrading an SPDIF cable later this year I hope and I will be able to do the exact same sort of test (not on the USB cable, but on the SPDIF cable). I also did this exact same test when I upgraded power cables, inserted SotM components into my DAW, etc. I wanted to be certain I was not suffering placebo effects when I heard better sound. As I say, this testing cannot tell you if one setup is better than another (because you are not actually testing the actual normal playback chain the way you will listen to it in practice) but it satisfies me that the two setups are different. That is all I need to know it isn't a placebo effect.

 

What I can recommend though (for anyone who thinks the difference between USB cables is not perceptible) is to try and get to a dealer who has a highly resolving system and carries both the Chord USB Silver Plus USB cable and the Wireworld Silver Starlight cable (or just try to get hold of these two cables on loan and use them in a revealing system, preferably using large scale classical music). I honestly have to say that if anyone listening to those two particular cables side by side cannot hear a significant difference then they have some sort of hearing problem or just have not developed any listening skills - those two cables are as opposite in sound presentation as you could possibly get and the best way to illustrate to anyone with normal hearing how different two USB cables can sound. I mean they are so different it is like the anecdotes I often read here (the one where the wife casually walks past and tells the husband he has been swapping out cables again). The Chord cable will give a smooth, warm, tubby and thicker sound with a muted top end, the Wireworld cable is the opposite - highly etched, lean, bright, thin and even fierce.