USB cables DO matter!

mikeyb128

I had a bit of a revelation today. There's been a small enomoly in my system that has kind of bugged me. What happens is I would get a slight distortion through the tweeters, almost as if the tweeters are too bright and had some crackle to them, only some tracks, not all, I blamed my downloaded music as the culprit. I was using a DH labs silver sonic, that was new from an authorized dealer. Today I found a audioquest dealer in my city, and they had Audioques products for 15% off. Anyway! Picked up a .75 meter carbon. And holy shhhhh...t crackling gone, and less bright sound, over all better sound! A warm engaging sound I love. I wouldnt call myself an audiophile, but I have an ear that picks these things up. I have to give a thumbs up for this cable. It's possible the dh labs cable was defective... Ah screw it! Digital cables do make a difference.

[Deleted User]

interesting. What Carbon did you get? I have some lowly forests in my cart.

sucks2beme

I tried the Forest- did nothing. The Carbon was a whole other story.
Good choice.

mikeyb128

Carbon USB A-B for my benchmark dac. I pondered the forest. They were considerably more cost effective. I'm few hours into listening. I'm blown away by the carbon. I have carbon hdmi in my home theater, and noticed only a slight improvement over pearls. This experience is on another level.

[Deleted User]

Sadly, I bought forest for the dac upstairs when the macbook gets toted up there.
Going the opposite direction, I bought evergreen 3.5 to RCA cable to go from the Emo BigEgo into the HT receiver. I still need a mini USB cable to go from the computer to the DAC. I'm using a belkin cable right now...

mikeyb128

rednedtugent wrote: »

Sadly, I bought forest for the dac upstairs when the macbook gets toted up there.
Going the opposite direction, I bought evergreen 3.5 to RCA cable to go from the Emo BigEgo into the HT receiver. I still need a mini USB cable to go from the computer to the DAC. I'm using a belkin cable right now...

From what I hear the forest is a great cable. I've had great luck with belkin before too.

[Deleted User]

Thanks Mikeyb. I listening to it right now pure direct and it sounds pretty good.
BUT MAYBE IT COULD SOUND BETTER?

tophatjohnny

yes a good quality USB cable will make a difference. DSkip was kind enough to get me involved with a nice WireWorld USB 3.0 cable and since adding it from my external hard drive to my Stream Magic 6 the detail in the music is so much smoother, and bass response is also heightened. If it gets better with a Carbon USB, well I'll be heading that way next! Well worth the change and glad DSkip was here to help!

mikeyb128

From my research the wire world starlight out performs the audioquest cable. If I can get my hands on one in the future I would love to try one. I got the carbon at 20% off locally, and I'm impatient, so it worked out well for me.

dhart86

I've had both the AQ Carbon USB and the Wire World starlight. I started with the carbon and swore by it as it was smooth, warm and transparent. I have since sold the Carbon in favor of the starlight. I got the starlight at less than the price sold on the carbon, but the starlight seemed to be a little more dynamic and gave a better bass response. The starlight did not give a brighter presentation, just more dynamic IMHO

madmax

I can see the "crackle" due to loss of data or receiving a secondary transmission a little too late, but I fail to see how a "signature" is changed, unless it is caused by the same problem, just not as severe.

madmax

Not saying it isn't, by the way.

madmax

Maybe something similar to jitter or reflections? Possibly even RFI getting onto the devices through the USB cable? It doesn't matter if you can hear it.

tonyb

DSkip wrote: »

I quit trying to figure it out. I thought it had something to do with EMF/RFI and shielding, but the weird thing is that a USB cable sounds like the material its made of, much like analog cables. In other words, a copper USB cable sounds like a copper analog cable, and a silver USB cable sounds like a silver analog cable.

That's a good assessment Skip. I too have stopped trying to figure out the "why", all I care about is that it does and which is to my liking.

Rex81

Dang, you guys are making me question everything I know about digital cables. I was perfectly content with the cheapies. Until now...