Yes, USB cable quality (and perhaps length) can affect sound quality. They are impedance controlled differential transmission lines and will experience the same issues you get on S/PDIF cables. Termination quality, connections, impedance match are all critical.
The USB receivers we use take the 1ms packet rate to regenerate the 44.1k word clock. The cleaner the USB data signals, the cleaner the output clock. Bad edges means jittered reception.
That's why I do a reclocking AFTER all of the USB stuff. In fact, I put my cleanest clock right on the DAC chip, where it makes the most difference.
jh
The USB receivers we use take the 1ms packet rate to regenerate the 44.1k word clock. The cleaner the USB data signals, the cleaner the output clock. Bad edges means jittered reception.
That's why I do a reclocking AFTER all of the USB stuff. In fact, I put my cleanest clock right on the DAC chip, where it makes the most difference.
jh