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Best budget USB

Apologies, I know this has been asked before, and perhaps this question should be on the Cables forum.  However, I thought I'd refresh the question, as some of the previous instances are quite old, and it has struck me that the digital thread generally has a better insight into USB cables.

I've bought a 2nd-hand Innuos Phoenix USB to fit between my Zenith Mk3 and Hegel H390.  I also have an FTA Sinope, which I intend to fit between Phoenix and Hegel.

Unfortunately, the Phoenix didn't turn up with the original USB.  And assuming the USB before the Phoenix is hugely less significant than the USB after, and given I'm now WAYYY over budget I'm looking for something less extravagant than the Sinope.

In the UK, the go-to outlet for choice is Futureshop, and if I limit myself to approx £100 ($120),the selection is:

  • Audioquest Pearl, Forest & Cinnamon
  • Wireworld Chroma 8, Starlight 8
  • Supra
  • Furutech Formula 2
  • Atlas Element SC
  • Chord C-USB

Any preferences?

Thanks,

Mark

128x128lollipopguild
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,535 posts
 

“My understanding is that the shorter a USB cable is the better, correct?”

@barts

Apparently not, a shorter length cable can sound terrible compare to a longer length of same brand. There are few here who are convinced that cable length matters for USB and power cables, YMMV.

 

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soix
9,538 posts
 

@barts Although at $174 the 1.5m Lavri Dual USB is $50 more than 1m if I was doing it over again I’d spring for it given the post @lalitk cites above, FWIW.  Also, this was my first USB cable so haven’t as yet compared it to any others so I’d be very interested if you get to compare it to something else to see what you find if you can share your thoughts?

jjss49's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
jjss49
6,612 posts
 

my understanding is that 1.25-2 m length for usb cabling for audio purposes is ideal... similar to rca spdif

stevewharton
111 posts
 

I have had great results with this USB cable

IN-AKUSTIK Reference High Speed USB 2.0 

It was hand picked by Small Green Computer that evaluated numerous other USB cables, some higher in cost and some lower

The results of their eval was this is the sweet spot on price performance

It's German, so at a minimum it has to be over engineered - haha

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