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Made My Own USB cable

Made my own usb cable.

Since one of my recent usb cables became defective, and had to send it off for repair, I decided to try my hand at a DIY usb version. I have made in the past interconnects, speaker cables and power cords, and I have always tried to use the best materials available.

Well, I just completed the usb cable. And to my surprise it is a lot better than any usb cable I have tried. Way better than some other highly acclaimed $$$ cables that I have on hand or others that I have tried. Hard to believe, but I’m not kidding it is that good.

Construction:

The wire that was used is a 24-gauge .9999 soft annealed pure silver wire. I kept the wires separated and placed them on clear (about 4”) wide packing tape with the sticky side up. I then placed another tape over the wires thus sealing the wires. I used usb connectors that were easy to use and that also helps to keep the wires separated. I also ran a separate pure silver ground wire of the same material. Link to the usb connectors below.

zdyCGTime USB 2.0 A Screw Terminal Block Connector USB 2.0 A Male Plug to 5 Pin/Way Female Bolt Screw Shield terminals Pluggable Type Adapter Connector Converter 300V 8A(2Pack) (Male)

From first play I knew I had made something special. Playing some Hi Rez CCR song, “Green River” where the guitar starts from the right now comes from way over to the right. I didn’t think it could go so far over to the right! It wasn’t a difference that was hard to tell. No, what I heard was a quite natural sound that seemed so comfortable and relaxed but was also very dynamic that possessed a wide, wide open soundstage. The bass has that boogie quality and the mids and treble were again the best I have heard with my equipment. There is a presence in the sound quality that is hard to believe, singers, and images reach out to touch. I made two versions; one was about ½ meter long the other about 1 meter. I’m still undecided as to which length sounds the best.

But I am confused, it won’t pass a DSD signal? Very strange… but, 16-24/96 or 192hz is no problem.

So, cable wire quality and the barest construction method used appears to be very important, even with usb digital cables.

ozzy


128x128ozzy
19 responses 
techno__dude
511 posts
 
My full respect for your skill and patience in making your own usb cable.

I use an Audioquest Coffee coupled to an IFI power filter. The terminations soldering are very important in a usb cable. I trust Audioquest as they have been the first in the  buisness to make high end usb cables years ago when the dac revolution begin. They had the means to do so , working with very thin wire and the precise machines to terminate them.
The difference we ear between usb cables is mostly how they deal with the noise induced by the computer. The less noise in the beginning, the less the difference between cables.
ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
7,423 posts
 
Thanks for your response and I mostly agree with you.
But... my DIY usb cable would put it too shame.

ozzy
ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
7,423 posts
 
I just added am Omega E card on top of the business end of my DIY usb which resulted in further improvement!

ozzy
techno__dude
511 posts
 
I really don’t think it would put it to shame. All dacs now have asynchronous usb and with a nice quality silver plated copper cable that has bandwidth and speed, you will ear everything you need to ear in any file send by a digital source.

Asynchronous connexion is not like a spdif coaxial one. There is very minimal jitter, and no loss of information between the gear. 
ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
7,423 posts
 
Yet there is a big difference in sound coming from my DIY usb cable.

ozzy
techno__dude
511 posts
 
Well then the other usb cable you compare it with must be a really bad one.
You did not mention which one it was in your original message. That tells me you did not use a great one to begin with. Surely not an Audioquest high end one with silver.

Curious cable, Pangea, BBQ. As your posts history suggests.
These are not the equals of Audioquest best ones.
f1status1's avatar
f1status1
30 posts
 
I currently use an AudioQuest Coffee. First I started with a generic USB data cable and switched to the AudioQuest Cinnamon.  That was a very large sound quality difference. Now that I have the Coffee I’m very curious about the Diamond. But at $600 I’m not sure if there would be a noticeable improvement from the $330 Coffee.  I’d love to audition your home-made cable.  I have home-made speaker cable and XLRs. Both silver coated copper and they sound very nice.  
andy2
1,545 posts
 
I had a dream ...
The blacks and whites ...
Live in peace

errrr.... I meant the believers and non-believers live in peace.  
ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
7,423 posts
 
Yes, I have compared my DIY to the Audioquest Diamond, a cable that I currently own. 
First of, I think the Curious Cable, Cerious Matrix  are better than the Diamond, and my DIY cable is even better.

I changed the design somewhat by using only 2 wires per 4" strip thus separating the wires even further and then the ground is on its own strip.

Think about it, a usb cable consists of 5 wires and the connectors. Improving the metallurgy and the space between the wires is the key to the improved sonic improvement. 

Sometime soon I will be changing the usb connectors to a higher quality, If I do I will probably use some Total Contact paste on the connections.

ozzy
gdnrbob
4,441 posts
 
@OP
Can you post some pictures of the cable? 
Links to hardware?
I'd be interested in giving it a shot.
Bob
ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
7,423 posts
 
Yes, I will post some pictures on my system page. Give me another day after the Super Bowl though.

I bought the wire off of eBay a while back. Try to get .9999 24-26 ga pure soft annealed silver wire, but that may be overkill.

For a 1/2M length you will need about 8-10 feet of wire. The connectors used are listed in my main post and are very easy to install. Better connectors is probably better but I wanted to test it using something quick. And as I said they do help to keep the wires separated. If you do use these connectors they don’t come in a usb B form so you will also need a usb A to usb B adapter.
The clear packing tape is what we all use for shipping packages, nothing special. Its just a little tricky to keep the wires in place until you place the second tape over them.

ozzy
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,088 posts
 
I.have listened in my system  to every well know usb cable under $1500
the best one I have heard being the most harmonically natural and balanced frequency response is by a Final touch audio  for $850 retail is a great cable .
Lampizator US sells their brand and gave a 10 day Audition .

jaytor's avatar
jaytor
757 posts
 
The construction technique you are describing will result in a cable with very low capacitance but high inductance. This will create higher impedance as the frequency goes up. This might help to reduce noise transmission, but it will also limit the maximum bandwidth of the cable. This could be why you are not able to get it to work for high frequency DSD signals. 
ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
7,423 posts
 
jaytor, Thank you for your info.
 
I also think the extreme separation of the wires contributes greatly to the reduced interference of noise transmitted from wire to wire.

However, you get to the end, the sound quality is impressive. 
The only DSD files I have are ones that I created on my Tascam recorder and they may not be representative of a downloaded DSD file. 

Today I will post some pictures of my DIY cable on my systems page. It's not pretty, but again, the sound quality is what it is all about.

ozzy
ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
7,423 posts
 
Note:
I just added some pictures of my DIY usb cable on my systems page at the end.

ozzy
maplegrovemusic's avatar
maplegrovemusic
1,113 posts
 
Ozzy would you have any interest in building a lot of 5 10 15 20 cables and selling them here on audiogon I would be interested in buying a 2-meter anyone else have interest let him know thanks Ozzy
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
The basic USB cable/interface is a balanced data interface which means there are two data wires (one normal polarity and one reversed polarity).  You must make sure the two data wires are exactly the same length.  If you have unequal lengths, you can cause data timing errors on the receiver side.  This could potentially also explain why the higher bandwidth DSD signals are having a problem.
techno__dude
511 posts
 
Lol The guy says it’s usb is the best in the world, and it can’t even send a dsd stream correctly.
I will trust the brands than have been making those for years, with precision automated machines and trained experienced hand crafters.

I would put my hand in fire a simple very respectable Shunyata Venom Usb cable beats his easily. And it is very affordable.


ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
7,423 posts
 
maplegrovemusic,
At this point, I am only interested in sharing my findings.

Auxinput,
Every wire was cut as accurate as possible. Again, I only have the DSD recordings that I created on my Tascam recorder. A downloaded DSD file may play ok.

techno_dude,
Why are you so angry? Use what you are comfortable with.

ozzy
This discussion is closed
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