I've used four different USB cables, just for fun, because
I already happened to own them.
Each of the four cables are less than a few years old,
and all visibly fine. One happened to be the
$29, 6' Monster, the others standard things that
shipped with a scanner and printer, and also
a tiny retractable cable with a very thin cord.
No one of the four cables made any difference at all.
I wasn't necessarliy surprised. Bits is bits.