USB cable length

nspindel
nspindel Posts: 5,343
in Going Digital
I’m looking at feeding my DAC with a Mac mini located on my desk. I would need to wrap a USB cable around the room to do it, overall length would need to be about 35 feet to allow a little slack at each end. Can I get away with a USB cable this long without running into all sorts of problems?
Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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Comments

  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,590
    I want to say it "might" work but the longer you go the higher the chance of dropouts.... also the pricier it gets to get a good cable..

    Does it have to be USB over say optical or coaxial? I think those work over longer distances than USB.


    @mantis will know, I think he even has mentioned it once or twice in his posts (so maybe do a search and see if it turns up)

    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,770
    edited May 2018
    Don't they make like line drivers and things for USB?
    That seems "dangerously" long for best results to me (just an opinion, though... 100% fact-free).

    EDIT: This kind of thing...
    https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Extender-Transmitter-B202-150/dp/B003WO40V6

    Zero experience with such a gizmo, but it seems like a good approach(?).
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,590
    Also what DAC do you have?
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,933
    15ft max for standard USB cables.
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  • afterburnt
    afterburnt Posts: 7,892
    edited May 2018
    @EndersShadow I was using one with a repeater to my Oppo, I dont think it sounded too bad but it sounded a lot better just using an external HD.

    The consensus here seems to be you should t go over 3 meters.

    Will that Mac send a signal over the air? If not will one of the Chrome dongles work?
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,194
    edited May 2018
    At 35 feet your looking for some trouble. I suggest looking for a Active cable or a Balun. A Balun will extend USB over a Powered device to help along the signal. It's a device that you will have a USB A end on one side then a Cat 6 cable out the back then to another USB B device with Cat 6 IN and then USB B on the other side.
    This would be your best option. You could however try a 35 foot USB cable from like Monoprice and see if it would work, not how I would do it though but it's worth trying their cables are very low priced so the trial wouldn't cost much.
    In my world of Audio Video we don' run into long rubs of USB, our runs are usually .6 to 3m at best.
    Take a look at this
    http://www.ambery.com/usbovcat5cae.html
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • afterburnt
    afterburnt Posts: 7,892
    one of these type things

    https://smile.amazon.com/UGREEN-Extension-Repeater-Keyboard-Loudspeaker/dp/B00B2HP3A2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1525389991&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+booster+extension+cable
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  • nspindel
    nspindel Posts: 5,343
    Figured the answer was going to be something along these lines. Right now I've got a mac mini connected to my Marantz NA8005 via USB, they sit right next to each other on the rack. But now I'm setting up my desk on another wall in the room (25' x 15'), and would really like to move that computer over to my desk. I do have another mac that I can use at my desk, and have two machines in the room. But it seems like an awful lot of excess to have a fairly capable mac mini serving no purpose other than running jRiver into the Marantz with another one 10 feet away at my desk. But I'll need to run the wire along the wall around the corner, so it will end up a lot longer than 10 feet.
    Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,590
    edited May 2018
    Your Marantz has optical and coaxial as well. Those might work on longer lengths than USB. I forget if they can pass as high a rez signal as USB. You also have a ethernet connection so if you can hardwire both to the same router that might work (assuming marantz has a decent web interface to control the music from while sitting on your computer)

    Here are instructions for your Marantz for Ethernet connection and control
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • nspindel
    nspindel Posts: 5,343
    I’ve used the Marantz network streaming, and it does work. Until it doesn’t. Seems this unit gets itself confused from time to time when using the network capabilities, and it just locks itself up, and the only way to kick start it again is to unplug it. It’s functional, but annoying. Also the control of the unit is nowhere near as flexible as something like JRiver.
    Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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