USB Cables and Digital Sound Quality

[Vincent Kars]

not whether a certain quality of copper was used!

I have absolutely nothing against oxygen-free copper because nobody has been
able to prove to me that it sounds in any way inferior to normal copper.
Philip Newell

 

[microstrip]

(...) I have tried some expensive USB cables, but found that there is absolutely no correlation between price and SQ. If you believe that USB cables can have a different sound, take your armful of USB printer cables out of your computer cabinet and listen to all of them. You may just find one that sounds better than the others - and no, I can't figure out why. (...) .

Gray,

This is my main point. When you accept that something such an USB cable has really better SQ and can not figure why, you are opening the Pandora Box - all that will stay there is the hope that some day you will find what its happening.

And no, I will not listen to USB cables. I will wait until the experts I trust make their positions public.

 

[Bruce B]

+1.

The real problem with a USB cable is the USB part, not the cable...

This is why you never see USB being used in a professional studio.

The only thing that USB should be used for is your keyboard and mouse!

 

[FrantzM]

Well put, Vincent. I have customers who won't spend the afternoon to build themselves a $400 music server because they are convinced that a $50,000 one will sound better. Unfortunately, these are the guys that keep some charlatans in business.

I have tried some expensive USB cables, but found that there is absolutely no correlation between price and SQ. If you believe that USB cables can have a different sound, take your armful of USB printer cables out of your computer cabinet and listen to all of them. You may just find one that sounds better than the others - and no, I can't figure out why. It was a off-white cheaply constructed freebie, but it had a ferrite bead at one end.

Gary

i applaud the effort. I have built a few "Music Servers" and your instructions are the most straightforward around. And it sounds good (so did the others) but .. We are in a field where vast amount of brain power is always available to rationalize but not necessarily explain high prices.. I have resigned myself that it is the nature of the beast ... As for an USB cable "sounding better" than another .. I would first suspect the construction of said cable and if it is adequate the testng methodology.. in most (if not all) of the cases where a USB cable (the more expensive the better ) is found better The knowledge of which cable is in the system is likely part of the methodology ...

 

[amirm]

I have absolutely nothing against oxygen-free copper...

I do. If a natural disaster hits like the volcano going off near our house, I like to be able to connect all the wires to my mask and breath the oxygen in them. Can't do that with these fancy, Oxygen-free cables!!!

 

[Vincent Kars]

This is why you never see USB being used in a professional studio.

Might change: http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_fireface_uc.php

 

[microstrip]

I do. If a natural disaster hits like the volcano going off near our house, I like to be able to connect all the wires to my mask and breath the oxygen in them. Can't do that with these fancy, Oxygen-free cables!!!

Amir,

I hope there are no volcanos near your house:

Heavy oxygen-free copper bus bars enhance the efficiency of power distribution within the amplifier and eliminate variances introduced by the wiring harnesses that are commonly found in even high-performance amplifiers. quoted from the manual of the ML 432.

 

[DonH50]

I think the emphasis is on using heavy bus bars, oxygen-free or not...

 

[microstrip]

I think the emphasis is on using heavy bus bars, oxygen-free or not...

No, Don. The emphasis was on connecting the wires to the mask to get oxygen. Or do you think Amir could disassemble the bus bars fast enough to breath the oxygen in them?

 

[flez007]

This is why you never see USB being used in a professional studio.

The only thing that USB should be used for is your keyboard and mouse!

Bruce, does that mean I might try listening my Mach2 using a Stello USB/Coax converter I have at hand and feed my USB ready DAC thru the digital coax input? (I can certainly try, but always thought that too many convertions could penalize performance)

 

[Vincent Kars]

Do, always interesting.

As far as I know you won’t get an additional conversion.
The same bits are send to the SPDIF header (probably Toslink) and the USB if your system in configured right.
But they will differ in jitter performance.
Toslink has galvanic isolation by design.
Depending on the implementation, the Stello might have it too

 

[flez007]

I think it does, interesting test for the weekend!

 

[Bruce B]

I"ve always felt too many format conversions degrade the sound.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Sounds plausible.
But in case of a Mac either the conversion to SPDIF is done on the mobo (Toslink) or externally by a USB > SPDIF converter.
This won’t add an additional conversion step.
Depending on the implementation one of them will yield a better timing.

 

[Lee]

Hey guys, sorry I have been gone for too long.

Anyhow, a few observations based on what I am reading here:

1. I did use a ridiculously expensive cable for the comparison in the OP. I would not normally spend this much on a digital cable. So I would de-emphasize the cost component here.

2. Some very cheap cables do work well...but not as well as the Audioquest. The Belkin Gold sounded pretty darn good.

3. While I read about lots of USB flaws and agree with Bruce that other options like firewire may be better in the studio, I do think there is something going on in the cable. Maybe I'm wrong but its a hunch.

 

[Lee]

I"ve always felt too many format conversions degrade the sound.

No disagreement there.