USB Cable

Forgot to add. USB 1 and 2 are not "guaranteed" transports like TCP/IP is. More like UDP/IP.   It is up to the application layer which I do not believe is either for audio. But as I have shown, it is quite reliable.  That does mean a poorly implemented receiver can in fact make a mistake not caught and if horribly enough of them, maybe audible.  It would likely need to be by coincidence  MSB or close to it. 

I know this won't close the USB debate by "true believers"  Fine, there are plenty of sources that will take your Money for Nothing  :)

@tvrgeek

Have a drink, mate and pls try to relax.

antigrunge2

Have a drink, mate and pls try to relax.

The guy has problems, for sure. He sees fairies and magic dust everywhere. Most odd.

So let me get this straight, you have a DAC and a Streamer-Server that only has USB that is bad? That using a USB cable from a company like DH Labs is foolish even though the cable is not that expensive. That the DAC and the Streamer builder are not using 5v protocols, it is still bad even though the DAC and Streamer engineers built their respective devices around these  protocols. Please explain this to me @tvrgeek I must be stupid. As must these engineers at all these companies. 

USB is the defacto-standard. Anyone who wants to be in the marketplace needs to follow the market trends.  It is not the best transport, but it is what we have. 

PCM, coax or fiber, relies on the HOST to providing clocking information. Notoriously poor. USB uses the DAC or STREAMER internal clock. It can be as good as the designer wants.  For $100 it can be excellent. 

Some new higher end DACs also buffer and re-clock the PCM, so it would them be just as good as the USB Mode 2.   

Stupid engineers? Yes, if they do not design their interface to deal with the realistic world.  An AMD galvanic isolator is a 50 cent chip, yet why don't $5000 DACs include one? Incompetence!

I will say ONE MORE TIME, I measured the noise injected into the analog output using "free-be" cables which cut open were very poorly shielded. I measured none with well made to spec.  I measured none using a $12 external galvanic isolator. 

Just trying to provide factual information.   Not everyone has a technical background so they may be more susceptible to snake-oil or may more easily fall into placebo conclusions.   A little knowledge helps.