USB Cable

[Grainger49]

For myself, I think it falls into the realm of things we don't know we don't know.  .  .  .   

This should be a thread.

[danosol]

Well I got an open box buy at a local Hi-Fi shop on the Forest USB Cable and I get 15 days to try it and return it if I don't like it.

Doc regarding price your statement couldn't be more true.  It certainly was in my case.

Grainger I think it should be too. 

You know what, thank God we don't all hear things the same.  How boring would that be.  Thanks to all for the posters as this certainly helps people in making educated and well thought out decisions.  It's easy to get carried away when your excited about new gear and what might be out there to improve a persons system.

[earwaxxer]

It's good they give you 15 days - take your time with it

[grufti]

For just about any kind of cable, certainly for all digital cables, I have switched to Blue Jeans Cable. "Contact Us" has BJC located in Seattle, thus pretty much next door to Bottlehead.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/data-cables/index.htm

Their prices are very reasonable, build quality is excellent, shipping is quick and reliable. For all I can tell their cables are superb cables.


The usual disclaimer: ..... .

[corndog71]

I've tried the Blue Jeans coax cable but still prefer my homegrown braided silver cable.  The BJ cable seemed a bit soft dynamically and the bass wasn't as good as my cable.

I've only recently been using the USB input on my V-DAC Mk2 and got a Pangea USB-AG at sale price.  Haven't compared it to any others but I've been loving the HD Tracks I've bought.

[earwaxxer]

I can see how the homegrown silver would sound like you describe. That has been my experience with silver. I buy my bulk wire from them as well.  It can also show off the warts in your system as well.

[corndog71]

I really don't have any warts in my main rig.  I don't have the ultimate resolution either but what I got keeps me happy.

The last time I've heard warts was when I had MR caps in my Sex amp.  Whew!  That was ruthlessly revealing!

[earwaxxer]

The Blue Jeans stuff is fantastic though for the money. I have a pair of balanced analog interconnects from them. They sound very acceptable, but compared to JPS Labs they are not as transparent.

[danosol]

I have built some Blue Jeans cables on their designs and they are good, but they do not compare to my current Mogami build.

[danosol]

Eric, I will use them to the last minute.

[adamct]

Just to clarify, my point was limited to digital cables, not analog cables.

And I use, and love, Blue Jeans Cables. But I don't think they make their own USB cables --- because they don't think there is any point. They just sell pre-manufactured USB cables. To my knowledge, that is the only cable they sell that they don't make themselves.

Lastly, if a digital cable isn't transmitting the signal properly, I would expect to hear either (a) nothing or (b) random static/noise. I wouldn't expect it to affect only one part of the spectrum, nor would I expect the effect to be consistent. This is why I have trouble understanding how it is possible that people can report things like "deeper, tighter bass" or "more articulate highs" based on changing a USB cable. If they said, "less noise" or "fewer dropouts", that would make sense.

In any case, in my primary listening rigs, I don't use USB anyway. And without wanting to go into details on my DAC, headphone amps and headphones (just because it is long and tedious), suffice it to say that my system is plenty revealing, and I have tried various digital cables (including higher-end USB cables) without noticing any audible differences.

Again, I'm not trying to convince anyone who has already decided otherwise.

Best regards,
Adam

[corndog71]

Just to clarify I was referring to coax digital cables with my descriptions.  SPDIF connections are definitely more suceptible to increased jitter via the cable.  My brother being a computer geek refused to believe digital cables could make audible differences.  "It's just 1's & 0's!"  No, it's not that simple.  Timing errors, sampling errors, signal reflections, etc. all do damage to the signal.

I have only tried one USB cable for audio so I can't comment on any possible audible differences.  Hmm... I think I have a cheap printer cable laying around somewhere I could compare my Pangea to.  A lot has been written about asymetrical USB inputs being superior to standard PC-controlled USB.  Clearly nothing is as simple as it seems.

[danosol]

Well I just AB'd  and C'd my Audioquest Forest USB cable with two other cables and there is a difference without a doubt.  I'm a bit shocked cause I didn't expect there to be as big a difference as there was.  Now mind you it didn't listen for hours cause I was too excited to post about it.

Ironically I think I may like the .5 meter generic cable over the 1.5 meter Audioquest Forest.  The Generic cable sounds faster and snappier but at louder volumes is more fatiguing.  The Audioquest is warmer.  I ditched the other generic cable as it sounded very similar to the .5 meter generic cable.  The chain is ALAC through my Mac Mini > Schiit Modi > Crack (Speedball Mod) > HD600.  The sound for me lies somewhere in between. 

Can someone tell me I have golden ears now .  I am a big believer in cables but to a point of diminishing returns and I in no way was expecting this big of a difference from a digital cable .  Not sure what the contributing, or lack there of, factors are in the two cables but there is something to it.

One other thing I'm currently using it with my Audioquest Turquoise Interconnects which I do not prefer over my custom made cables.  I just haven't had time to make them yet.  I have RCA to 1/8".  I need to make some all RCA ones.

[grufti]

"Can someone tell me I have golden ears now .  I am a big believer in cables but to a point of diminishing returns and I in no way was expecting this big of a difference from a digital cable .  Not sure what the contributing, or lack there of, factors are in the two cables but there is something to it."

I hear you, but it is odd that you hear a difference. The Modi uses asynchronous USB input [like just about all other recent USB DACs]. It is extremely difficult to come up with a reason why the USB cable should make any difference at all in that scenario, certainly on the data side.

The Modi uses the USB cable for power also, not directly, but with some isolation and four internal regulators. Maybe just maybe, the cable makes a difference on the power supply side.

And please realize that I am not disputing what you hear. It's just that USB DACs used to be a disaster until the switch to asynchronous input was made and ever since the USB cable has been on a very long leash so to speak.

[earwaxxer]

Ironically I think I may like the .5 meter generic cable over the 1.5 meter Audioquest Forest.  The Generic cable sounds faster and snappier but at louder volumes is more fatiguing.  The Audioquest is warmer.  I ditched the other generic cable as it sounded very similar to the .5 meter generic cable.  The chain is ALAC through my Mac Mini > Schiit Modi > Crack (Speedball Mod) > HD600.  The sound for me lies somewhere in between. 

I have experienced the same type of improvement, generally, and the same sort of improvement when I went to battery over USB power for my USB/SPDIF DD converter. Its definately there. Not a game changer IMO. My W4snd DD converter has a switch where I can select either USB or external (battery) power. Sometimes I switch it the wrong way and I end up listening to USB by accident. I can tell something isnt quite right, but I usually dont realize its the switch. Its subtle. At the end of the session I realize the switch was on USB and then I put 2 + 2 together.