Does USB cable length make a diference?

No.

Power cords are different. Longer the better. 2 meter being the preferred length. I was able to test a one and two meter of the exact same model on my power amp... it was very obvious. As my dealer says, "Twice the length, twice the power conditioning.

You must be joking!! 

I keep hearing, including from the historically (IMO) Paul McGowen, that cable length (within reason) makes no difference. I'm not so sure. I DO believe there is physical science behind wire sound, just it's either too complex to predict or beyond our ability to measure, either too small or some factor we don't measure or don't know about. Even if it's only a matter of tiny changes in resistance, capacitance and inductance, all those factors are dependent on wire length. A 2 meter cable will have roughly 2x the resistance of a 1 meter cable. Engineers will say agree that there's a difference but might say that it's too little to effect the sound and can be ignored. Well, how do they know what can be ignored if they don't know what's causing the sound changes? The usual answer is that we're all victims of self-delusion, poor experimental design or observer bias. That neatly avoids the elephant and is an ENTIRELY unacceptable response!

I like the option of changing out a DAC. Streamer/Dacs are fine........I just prefer to have options

The Tivoli... funny. I bought one of those for the kitchen... I gave it away.

Yes, separates of the same quality outperform an integrated. Putting all those circuits so close together generally degrades the performance.

In general, interconnects and speaker cables... shorter is better. But they must be long enough to do the job. High quality ones don't degrade the sound as much as budget ones. 

Power cords are different. Longer the better. 2 meter being the preferred length. I was able to test a one and two meter of the exact same model on my power amp... it was very obvious. As my dealer says, "Twice the length, twice the power conditioning."

I was told the opposite, shorter for USB. Coaxial SPDIF and AES/EBU 1.5 meters is best.

I have also heard that 1.5 is ideal, and even that anything shorter might not be as good.  However, at one time I was playing Tidal from my computer to my main system's DAC and that required a 3 meter run.  So, I bought a modestly priced 3m AQ Cinnamon USB cable.  I didn't hear anything unusual, but I didn't do a direct comparison.  My experience with noise and distortion is that I don't notice it until it goes away.  In any case, with casual listening I did not hear anything that made me think, "Boy! I need a shorter USB cable."  But like the man said, your experience may vary.

PS.  I use a 1m USB on my desktop and .5m on my main system.  Perhaps it's time for an upgrade because I need a little more and a little less of a good thing.:)

My digital is not high end, just occasionally streaming PC audio, but still: it is so easy to try alternate stuff, keep something, return the other, don’t let written opinions (even measurements) get in the way of reality, if you cannot hear any difference .......

I have a basic Topping DAC in my office.

To reach from my computer (horizontal workstation on a shelf) at my left side to the system in front of me:

I needed either

a. usb extension cable to get to the DAC placed with the equipment

b. keep dac near computer, use longer rca out of dac

I ordered both from Amazon, free returns, you just drop stuff off unpackaged at Staples these days.

tried short usb, long rca

I tried usb/usb extender, short rca out of dac, worked, sounds great

I also got a short one, to transfer a rear usb 3.0 port to the front to use a usb 3.0 card reader

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077N4GN1T?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

Everything is relative, signal/power: think about the very long runs of ethernet cables feeding incredible noise free bandwidth in office spaces, and the miles of transmission/switches ... it all goes thru to get to your office building or home.

The Tivoli made me laugh!

Separates Separates Separates

Every power supply, board, capacitor, knobs, etc in its own box. Your streamer should be made of 50 different boxes strung together with audiophily wire. When you have 500 different boxes to play a song, you will get maximal credit and respect in respectable circles.

Remember always.....Separates Separates Separates

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I’m so thankful you chimed in. I just sold everything and got this. No reason to let some wires and cables ruin my audiophile listening experience

Any length cable is a bad cable.....should have bought a streamer dac all in one box with optimized short signal paths.

But, some audiophily dude probably told you separates, separates, separates is the way to go for Xtra credit and respect in respectable circles.

I'm so thankful you chimed in. I just sold everything and got this. No reason to let some wires and cables ruin my audiophile listening experience

Any length cable is a bad cable.....should have bought a streamer dac all in one box with optimized short signal paths.

But, some audiophily dude probably told you separates, separates, separates is the way to go for Xtra credit and respect in respectable circles..

I'm looking at a short usb cable from my Streamer to Dac (1 foot would even 

Not in the least.

Interesting thread.

I’ve heard that 1 1/2 meters is the best length for a USB cable, but I have never heard what to long is. I’ll be curious to hear the answer.

A friend makes his own USB cables, which sound very very good.  He experimented with different lengths and we tested them. It does make a difference. The three lengths were 15cm, 50cm and 100cm. The quality improved as the cable length shortened. 

In my experience with USB C - 6 feet is fine but a 10 ft cable apparently starts to weaken the needed signal and you may start to see issues.

The standard meter covers all bases

Sls833 is correct, 1.5 meter is ideal for USB.

Not in my experience. The quality of the interconnect. I spent about ten years upgrading my headphone system from basic PC and iPod then streamer to high end headphone amps. The quality of the interconnect made a very big difference but not the length. 

I've always heard that girth was more important. But I digress.

I seem to recall reading that 1.5 meters is an ideal length. That’s what I went with. A cable that I liked happened to be available used in that length.

1 foot versus 3 feet will not make a sonic difference. 

Cheers,