Cardas Clear USB cable... anyone tried it?


Dealer says 100 hours break-in...

I'm wondering if it's going to compete with my RSA USB Poeima cables?

:) listening,

Ed
istanbulu
I have the Cardas Clear USB Cable between my Mac Mini and Ayre QB-9. I recently upgraded to the Audioquest Diamond USB at four times the cost. It had greater resolution and detail but added brightness to the midrange and treble and became fatiguing to listen to. So, I switched back to the Cardas Clear USB, which is smoother, more neutral and I feel more musical. Problem solved.
Instanbulu,
I ordered one last week and will be testing it soon. Will update. My system is:
Macbook/Maverick DAC1 (w/upgraded tube)
5687 Tubed Linestage
Rogue Stereo 90 Magnum (EHKT88's/Tung Sol 12ax7's)
Silverline SR 12's
Kubula Sosnos Facination ic's
Shunyata Aries ic's
AZ Hologram II speaker cable
Use it and love it! Big dif from stock cheapo cable. PC to PSA PerfectWave DAC. IMHO
So Docmark... what cable are you using for firewire? And what do you think about it?

;) listening,

Ed
I have a Locus Design Nucleus USB cable, and it sounded great when i was still using a USB DAC. However, I've now switched to a Firewire DAC (Weiss DAC 202) so am not using it right now.
Jibbonacci... thanks for the revival! I'd be very interested in your reports,whatever your findings, on these cables. I have experience with the Poiema and the Alethias (which I think is quite impressive, and the Poiema is no slouch by any means), but none with the Cardas or the Transparent.

USB cabling does make a difference. It's just whether that difference is compatible with your system.

:) listening,

Ed
The only way a USB cable can make the music sound different is if it allows bits to be corrupted, i.e. cable doesn't meet spec. Serial transmission (serdes, 8b10b encoding)is a totally different world compared to S/PDIF. It's quite easy to see if a USB cable is "bad". Just connect a portable USB drive and copy files back and forth and verify the data is intact (checksums, zip file integrity, etc). If this type of data transmission allowed for bits to be flipped, we'd be having a real hard time posting here.
Sorry to revive this thread, but has anyone had a chance to try this cable yet?

I just got an Ayre QB-9 and I'm trying to figure out which cable to try out, and so far it's between the Cardas, Transparent, and Ridge Street Audio Poiema/Alethias.
I had a Locus Design Axis usb cable, it was VERY good. It's pricey too, but to me it was worth it. I changed dacs to a firewire dac and no longer needed a usb cable or I would still have it.
I am also curious... and bought finally the furutech gt2 usb cable..
Somebody experienced both, the cardas and the furutech usb's...?
Thank u
Have not tried that one.Have tried 3 others with no noticeable[sp] difference,YMMV,Bob
Hi Northberg1... yeah, I'm very curious; thanks for picking up the discussion. Just carrying the Cardas name isn't enough these days. Cables are system dependent, and this is true for USB cables used as a part of a music server system. Computer and DAC are all a part of it. It takes time to burn a USB cable in and experience with other cables to evaluate. I just don't have the time or inclination right now to test this cable right now even though the dealer I spoke gives a 30 return/customer satisfaction privilege.

:) listening,

Ed

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