USB Cable

I have tried a number of modestly-priced USB cables - including Transparent - and the one I kept is the DH Labs Mirage.  It is1.5m and I am currently using it in my modest computer-based system at my office for near field listening.  For a 15’ run, another cable may work better, dunno. I do know I am getting remarkably engaging sound with the DH Labs cable in the loop.  FWIW, I also like the Audioquest Carbon USB cable and currently use one to connect the external hard drive to my dedicated (non-computer) server in my main system.  I have not tried the Supra cable others have mention in this thread.

As for computer audio versus a good streamer, I have this to say. The computer you are using matters a lot.  Over the last ten years I have tried using Dell, Lenovo and Microsoft Surface laptops running mostly different versions of JRiver.  I would rank the sound quality as Surface 4 > Dell Latitude > Surface 3 > Lenovo.  I also think that the performance of JRiver has improved with version updates over time.  I am currently oversample all files in software before feeding an old Chord Qute HD DAC because that sounds best to me.  For context, I am using decent cables, a Rega Brio amp, small Wharfdale speakers and a Monitor Audio sub in this system.  Everything is plugged into power conditioners, one for digital components and one for the amps.  

This system sounds better than it has any right to for the investment, but it’s clearly not up to the level of the OP’s gear.  If the OP has $15,000 to drop on a Aurender A20, sure, that would make a bigger difference than $360 for a new 15’ USB cable. But, the cable will help, and it is possible to get decent sound from a computer audio system if you able to spend time optimizing the power, cabling and software.  And in my case I can also create presentations, work on spreadsheets and send emails while listening, although it really doesn’t do much for the audio on Zoom meetings.  YMMV

kn

@tvrgeek interesting discussion of how the USB interface could become noisy and why.  Seems from your discussion that you lay more blame for any differences in performance on deficiencies in equipment design rather than the cables.  I am wondering if you've done any listening tests yourself to see if you hear a difference in different USB cables in application with different gear and in different settings/electrical environments?  Have you, for example, done listening tests comparing a "premium" USB cable with an off the shelf Belden and/or generic Chinese USB cable in different settings?  If so, what did you learn?

It seems to me that you focused most of your discussion on the relationship between digital cables and the immediate gear they connect.  But things can get very complicated in actual user set ups, often with multiple pieces of gear and their cabling creating multiple electrical fields in the neighborhood of your computer/streamer and DAC, not to mention all the other electronic devices operating in your vicinity.  This along with variables like the different physical proximity of devices to one another and differing levels of power conditioning and noise suppression in different set-ups would seem to make empirical testing of different cables in different applications a must.

Your mileage in terms of performance and what helps or degrades performance of digital front ends in the context of cabling may in fact really vary, and it may be in part dependent on factors that are beyond the relationship or designs of the sending and receiving devices in a single USB connection.

kn

Thanks for the reply @tvrgeek. In addition to testing with a spectrum analyzer, have you done blind listening tests to different digital cables? 

@tvrgeek Said "Between good cables, no I heard no difference. I am not positive I heard a difference with the bad cables."  Thanks for answering the question. 

I have heard big differences and no differences between cables in different applications.  I noted above in this thread that my favorite USB cable is currently made by DH Labs, but I have also done sound testing with cheap cables (all under $12) connecting a hard drive to a server, and I had a very specific favorite (my favorite was actually a "Belkin" not a "Belden").  That is when I first realized digital cables matter.  I assemble a lot of my own power cables, and completed cables I thought would sound killer based on design, materials and measurements just sound weird, and some cheap power cables from China sound fantastic to me.  Go figure.

On other digital cables - specifically coax cables - a vendor handed me some cables from brands I had no experience with to try, and then I went out and borrowed a bunch more from another vendor and I did a set of subjective sound tests.  Turns out I had particular dislikes, likes and likes more.  I had my son who has good ears for recorded music come sit down and listen to different cables and take notes as I swapped them out calling them 1, 2, 3 etc. He could not see what I was doing.  A blind test.  No particular order by price.  His notes generally echoed my non-blind impressions.  He hands down liked the two most expensive cables the best without knowing what they were.  He also really liked a cable that was the 2nd cheapest cable tested.  He did not like the cable I had been using and I thought previously was all that.  Turns out after going through the testing period, I didn't care for that much either when compared to other wires in the test.  Maybe he was tired, or confused, or the result was a fluke, or maybe he just has really good ears and could detect differences in sound attributable to nothing more than some wires and shielding and connectors running between a server and a DAC.  I bought an expensive cable as a result of this experience.  Maybe my gear sucks and needs that extra help.  Dunno.  But it makes me happy when I listen.  YMMV.

kn

@antigrunge2 I’m completely in the dark about what I don’t know, but I think maybe it’s a lot.  

kn

I kinda wonder about people who post on a site called Audiogon where you can buy a system comprised of used audio equipment that costs as much as a small condominium, but who cannot tell empirically that one wire design sounds different than another.  I mean for me it is not even subtle.  And based on my limited work building cables (and measuring them to make sure they at least won’t start a fire in high voltage and current applications), I find measurements are of limited use in telling me how they will sound in real life application in my system and in my room/operating environment.  Kimber provides measurements for all the wires they sell, and I applaud their willingness to do that.  But those measurements don’t tell you exactly how those wires, be they digital, analog, or power, will actually sound when placed in your system.  

The audio world is full of consumers with engineering backgrounds who refuse to believe that wires can make a difference if the boxes they connect follow sound engineering principles and “measure well”.  And then they hear the difference wires can make for themselves and it’s like they just found out the Book of Genesis was only an ancient writer’s best guess at how the universe and our world were formed based on the general understanding at the time.  I know, it’s unsettling to have your dogma and intellectual foundation unmoored by empirical evidence.  But God gave us two ears, one brain and one mouth.  In audio as in life, it is best to use them in proportion.

kn