What is the best USB cable under $500 for a natural presentation and good detail ?


I have had a bunch of usb cables the vast majority are well over $500 for a 1 meter cable.   , I need a good usb cable  for new dac in my other audio system.

128x128audioman58
audio-union

68 posts

I make cables mostly for my own pleasure and for money. I have been working with digital on a professional basis since 1981. Most cables are tested in a lab and work perfectly, but when you put them in a real situation and start measuring they do not perform at the same level.

In a USB cable you are better off with 2 twisted pair in a twinax configuration separating power and digital pairs. I prefer woven shielding over a thick film. Most films are to thin to perform well in a real world when used in a streaming application. However, it should be pointed out, there are some DACs which require attention to shielding and power in special way, it’s all in the knowing.

It just so happens I make a 1 meter USB cable in your price range which will give you great performance. For more information Audio Union. This is same cable design I use in my personal system and it is 10 meters long.

In a cable shoot out I have only lost once in cost no object level and that was because the competition was willing to sell there cable for pennies on the dollar. There is a trickle down effect with technology and this latest inexpensive cable takes advantage of that knowledge.

My bad ears, hahahaha okay. 

I do spend good money on cables but not USB.  Sooooooo many experiments have been done to show the science isn't there, there is no difference in a USB cable BUT go for it, spend your money, it's your money but it's still really funny for the rest of us to watch. 😂🤣😂

I am more then pleasantly surprised ,Audiogon own Grannyring makes Excellent cables I have spoken with several on other forums . I recently received his Acoustic BBQ  USB cable and it is made top shelf Litz wrapped and totally isolated power from signal ,it’s not even close to run in and totally destroyed theAQ carbon I had in there and it only has a few hours on it ,I have owned many quality cables ,this is one’s of them, great job Bill 👍 .

About tenyears ago I was finalizing my office headphone system… which had gotten out of control, with a Woo WA6SE amp, an Ayre QB-9 DAC a lot of power conditioning and contemporary high end headphones. I progressed through a number of USB cables (like a couple of good Wireworld ones) until I finally bit the bullet and bought a set of Rattle Snake River (or some ridiculous named USB connector) that had separated power from signal, and that bumped my system from really good to magic… it was an important jump in performance. Now, I don’t really know if it was the separation that did that, it was probably not. But this $500 connector was well worth it.