Higher End USB Cables

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Things have gone in various directions in this thread (which is fine), but I would like to refocus back to USB cabling.

All cables including USB cables are system dependent and user dependent and some combination of the two.

My best receommendation is that if you are looking for inexpensive USB cabling (in other words, if cost is the most important criterion) then an abundance of cables are available that are under $100. In that category you will find some much better than others, and many a whole lot worse than others.

But in order to find that out, you can't listen to people like me make referrals for you to make your decisions: you will have to break each of them in (sometimes 100s of hours running the computer into the DAC), listening to what you hear, and makign comparisons based upon adequately broken-in USB cables... that's the due diligence of cabling comparisons.

If you choose the inexpensive route, I suggest the cryoparts line of options:

http://www.cryo-parts.com/usb_cable.html

Many careful users of USB cables have been highly impressed by their performance to price ratio. (These same users have been highly impressed by the Ridge Street Audio Poeima USB line.

:) listening,

Ed

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I just took delivery of a 10' Cryoparts USB cable. I've had a 10' Belkin Pro Gold USB cable for a year now though 4 dacs, 2 sets of speakers and 5 amplifiers (the only USB cable I've kept in my system).

I'm really floored at the improvement the cable rendered right away (cold and no break-in ahead of time). I was skeptical at best beforehand. It's easily on par with going from cheap ICs to upper end cables. Let's see how it does after break in, but I was prepared for it to be harsh and sound like sh#t initially.

Not that I thought this was a farce as far as USB cables making that big a difference, but they appear to be on the order of ICs and power cables, if not moreso. And this was just a $100 "treated" cable. I guess in hindsight it stands to some reason as it's further up the signal chain, but basic intuition tells you digital is digital (1's and 0's).

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Mb9061

Good to hear that you're trying this cable out.

My experience with it is that it gets much better the longer hours are put on it. I have several hundred hours on it, and it is much better now than when I first received it.

This cable works very well for me on a low-res integrated tube amp (updated McIntosh MA230) with a MacMini and iRoc DAC. But on my other better systems it still sounds a bit bright to my bright-sensitive ears.

A typical way to get lots of hours on the cable is to play Rhapsody or your music library into your DAC. No need to have the preamp on, but the DAC does need to be on. Give the cable a break (off-time, a rest) for an hour every twelve hours or so.

Let me know how things go for you.

:) listening,

Ed

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Thanks Ed.

Thinking on it now (and this is going to seem like we're manufacturing a sales pitch for Cryoparts), I'm honestly not sure I've noticed as big an improvement in any cable upgrade I've made so far compared to this one. Only thing I can compare this to is going from a Musiland MD10 DAC to the Benchmark DAC1 I used to own. I'm suprised the cable makes that big a difference (particularly since it's just a beefed up standard USB cable).

It is a tad on the bright/forward side (slightly), likely due to it being brand new. I'm not using a pre-amp, just going straight from my IMac to a Turbo-3, then to a Havana DAC and from there into a modified Rogue Audio Stereo 90. Itunes provides volume attenuation. I've never been a fan of separate pre-amps in my setup because they always seem to rob some of the signal or veil things when compared to directly driving the amp.

Thanks again for the input.

Marc

Definitely system dependent. I have just spent about 3 weeks with the Locus Design Polester ($250), taking it in and out of my system. I have used the Belkin Gold for 4 years now. The Polestar added a tiny bit of image density on my best recordings but I enjoyed the music no less when I put the Belkin back in.

If your system is reasonably revealing you will hear differences whenever you change something in it. Don't be fooled into thinking that different is always better. You have to try these cables in your system over many weeks to be able to decide whether it is a real improvement.