After much ’messing about’ with cables my conclusion was: for long runs optical is best followed by cat 8 down to cat 5. I did not try Hifi quality for this section as the run is 20 meters. For shorter runs I found small differences between cables. There are some very good Hifi quality less expensive cables around.
For USB there are significant sonic differences, and shorter lengths definitely improves the sound. A friend of mine makes his own and a 20cm cable of his were amongst the best, competing with multi hundred $ cables. In his design he closes off the fifth pin in the usb, the one delivering 5v power - if your DAC does not require any power from the USB, and many don’t, he finds this helps reduce noise from the cable. If your DAC does use the fifth contact oin then this cable won’t work.
You can actually do this with any usb cable - simply tape over the right hand pin on one end. It’s an easy test and you might hear a difference.
For USB there are significant sonic differences, and shorter lengths definitely improves the sound. A friend of mine makes his own and a 20cm cable of his were amongst the best, competing with multi hundred $ cables. In his design he closes off the fifth pin in the usb, the one delivering 5v power - if your DAC does not require any power from the USB, and many don’t, he finds this helps reduce noise from the cable. If your DAC does use the fifth contact oin then this cable won’t work.
You can actually do this with any usb cable - simply tape over the right hand pin on one end. It’s an easy test and you might hear a difference.