What is the best USB cable under $500 for a natural presentation and good detail ?

1st upgrade was an economy priced Kimber Kablel USB, then upgraded to the silver coated copper Wireworld Platinum 8, .6m, for $325 purchased through  Perrotta Consulting. Noticeable difference as soon as it was plugged in. Also upgraded the RCA interconnects from Morrow Audio economy model to the Wireworld Silver Eclipse. Again a cleaner sound with more detail . Next, upgraded the Luxman DAC and Integrated Amp power cords with Wireworld Power cords, no noticeable difference I could hear.

Almost a laughable price of $14 when they are in stock. Multiple shields, insulated OFC with gold plated connector. What else do you need? keep the money in your pocket for something else more essential unless you want to contribute to the dealers’ retirement fund.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=33464

https://www.storkz.com/monolith-133464.html

@thyname 

Yes, it has.  Like I typed, pretty much all USB cables are the same.

YES, THEY ARE THE SAME.

(I thought if I typed it in all caps maybe you could understand it better.  Probably not.)

Well, you could cut yours so it did not work, I guess.  GENIUS!

All the electrons I have ever interviewed say...oh, what's the use.  I suppose if you scream something loud enough and long enough it becomes true.  I WON THE ELECTION.  USB CABLES THAT COST A BILLION DOLLARS ARE WONDERFUL!!!

Good grief.

You are all ignoring one important factor:   This is a digital cable transferring digital information of one’s and zeros, in packets with error detection and correction.  Just like hdmi cables, they always work perfectly unless they’re too long.  ANY usb cable will work and sound exactly the same as any other.  
 

anyone who thinks they can hear the difference between two usb cables is in fantasyland.   Only analog cables affect the sound quality.  

Wow!! Are you OK buddy? Did you forget your meds today?

richopp

517 posts

11-26-2021 9:26am

@thyname 

Yes, it has.  Like I typed, pretty much all USB cables are the same.

YES, THEY ARE THE SAME.

(I thought if I typed it in all caps maybe you could understand it better.  Probably not.)

Well, you could cut yours so it did not work, I guess.  GENIUS!

All the electrons I have ever interviewed say...oh, what's the use.  I suppose if you scream something loud enough and long enough it becomes true.  I WON THE ELECTION.  USB CABLES THAT COST A BILLION DOLLARS ARE WONDERFUL!!!

 

Good grief.

You will always have members like@secretaryguy coming into threads bashing things they don’t have a clue about. It’s the same in every forum, nothing new here. It all sounds the same. These guys need to take up needlepoint or coin collecting.

I use the IN-AKUSTIK Reference USB 2.0 cable, it's has been designed especially for low-loss HD audio streaming and has very low jitter

.75 mters at a cost of approx $400

Very smooth presentiation with tremendous instrument seperation

This was a recommnedation from Andrew Gillis at Small Green Computer

He has done very indepth comparisons of USB cables and a great source for additional info

ozzy62

1,876 posts

11-26-2021 9:02am

You will always have members like@secretaryguy coming into threads bashing things they don’t have a clue about. It’s the same in every forum, nothing new here. It all sounds the same. These guys need to take up needlepoint or coin collecting.

Guys like me get tired of seeing people waste money on things that don't matter. People like you just keep regurgitating things they read on a magazine somewhere because they think it makes them seem "educated". I see it everywhere on forums. (People talking about Magnepans are generally the worst offenders.)

Trust me. I've forgotten more about audio than you will ever know.

But, by all means. Spew on. Spend on. It's your money to waste. And clearly the mods here won't risk offending the the companies that feed their golden goose.

Straightwire, made in the US. 

Trust me. I've forgotten more about audio than you will ever know.

Never trust anyone who says "trust me".

 

Trust me. I've forgotten more about audio than you will ever know.

 

Well you can trust me when I tell you that you are full of s$&t.

Why do you think it’s your duty to tell people what to spend their money on? You are just an internet busybody who should mind his own business.

“I’ve forgotten more about audio than you will ever know.”

And its very clear whatever you’ve learned or retained not even worth reading 🤣

Keep on trolling!

Please do not feed the Troll. It empowers them. Ignore them

Audience are very good, so are the Black Cat cables

Amazing how the naysayers seem to come in waves. Each with their own feigned authority and lame trolls. They also seem to be very temperamental when folks here don't roll over for them. Someone must have spoiled them.

All the best,
Nonoise

@axeis1

I have Audience and Black Cat cables. Very good indeed.

I was researching cable upgrades; ended up buying Audience because someone using subjectivity, listened to them (no scientific measurements), and gave them a glowing review. As did other reviewers. I was sold.

I lent them to my cousin, who hasn’t returned them yet (its been three months).

USB cables DO make a difference. I know they shouldn’t.

And that’s the same with very many of my audio purchases.

I just bought the Lavri Ultimate Silver USB cable that splits data and power and “only” cost $134 for 1m.  Haven’t received it yet, but it got some very positive user reviews and I wasn’t willing to spend more as this is for my headphone rig.  Just another potential option to explore FWIW. 

Apologies for injecting common sense into the discussion. 
You do you. 

I will spend my money on things that...you know....actually matter.

I make cables mostly for my own pleasure and for money. I have been working with digital on a professional basis since 1981. Most cables are tested in a lab and work perfectly, but when you put them in a real situation and start measuring they do not perform at the same level.

In a USB cable you are better off with 2 twisted pair in a twinax configuration separating power and digital pairs. I prefer woven shielding over a thick film. Most films are to thin to perform well in a real world when used in a streaming application. However, it should be pointed out, there are some DACs which require attention to shielding and power in special way, it’s all in the knowing.

It just so happens I make a 1 meter USB cable in your price range which will give you great performance. For more information Audio Union. This is same cable design I use in my personal system and it is 10 meters long.

In a cable shoot out I have only lost once in cost no object level and that was because the competition was willing to sell there cable for pennies on the dollar. There is a trickle down effect with technology and this latest inexpensive cable takes advantage of that knowledge.

audio-union

68 posts

11-28-2021 5:31pm

I make cables mostly for my own pleasure and for money. I have been working with digital on a professional basis since 1981. Most cables are tested in a lab and work perfectly, but when you put them in a real situation and start measuring they do not perform at the same level.

In a USB cable you are better off with 2 twisted pair in a twinax configuration separating power and digital pairs. I prefer woven shielding over a thick film. Most films are to thin to perform well in a real world when used in a streaming application. However, it should be pointed out, there are some DACs which require attention to shielding and power in special way, it’s all in the knowing.

It just so happens I make a 1 meter USB cable in your price range which will give you great performance. For more information Audio Union. This is same cable design I use in my personal system and it is 10 meters long.

In a cable shoot out I have only lost once in cost no object level and that was because the competition was willing to sell there cable for pennies on the dollar. There is a trickle down effect with technology and this latest inexpensive cable takes advantage of that knowledge.

"It just so happens" you guys should trust this guy!  The people who sell cables and the people who WANT to hear a difference are the ones that will tell you there is a difference.

Strange........

The people who sell cables and the people who WANT to hear a difference are the ones that will tell you there is a difference.

No. I’d much prefer not to hear a difference in cables because I could save a helluva lot of dough. But the fact is I do hear differences and once heard I can’t un-hear them. If you can’t hear differences in cables good for you, but just because you can’t hear them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Just be happy with your bad ears and/or bad system and leave the rest of us alone.

audio-union

68 posts

11-28-2021 5:31pm

I make cables mostly for my own pleasure and for money. I have been working with digital on a professional basis since 1981. Most cables are tested in a lab and work perfectly, but when you put them in a real situation and start measuring they do not perform at the same level.

In a USB cable you are better off with 2 twisted pair in a twinax configuration separating power and digital pairs. I prefer woven shielding over a thick film. Most films are to thin to perform well in a real world when used in a streaming application. However, it should be pointed out, there are some DACs which require attention to shielding and power in special way, it’s all in the knowing.

It just so happens I make a 1 meter USB cable in your price range which will give you great performance. For more information Audio Union. This is same cable design I use in my personal system and it is 10 meters long.

In a cable shoot out I have only lost once in cost no object level and that was because the competition was willing to sell there cable for pennies on the dollar. There is a trickle down effect with technology and this latest inexpensive cable takes advantage of that knowledge.

My bad ears, hahahaha okay. 

I do spend good money on cables but not USB.  Sooooooo many experiments have been done to show the science isn't there, there is no difference in a USB cable BUT go for it, spend your money, it's your money but it's still really funny for the rest of us to watch. 😂🤣😂

"the rest of us"??? 😂

I am more then pleasantly surprised ,Audiogon own Grannyring makes Excellent cables I have spoken with several on other forums . I recently received his Acoustic BBQ  USB cable and it is made top shelf Litz wrapped and totally isolated power from signal ,it’s not even close to run in and totally destroyed theAQ carbon I had in there and it only has a few hours on it ,I have owned many quality cables ,this is one’s of them, great job Bill 👍 .

I don’t think he makes them anymore 

About tenyears ago I was finalizing my office headphone system… which had gotten out of control, with a Woo WA6SE amp, an Ayre QB-9 DAC a lot of power conditioning and contemporary high end headphones. I progressed through a number of USB cables (like a couple of good Wireworld ones) until I finally bit the bullet and bought a set of Rattle Snake River (or some ridiculous named USB connector) that had separated power from signal, and that bumped my system from really good to magic… it was an important jump in performance. Now, I don’t really know if it was the separation that did that, it was probably not. But this $500 connector was well worth it.

Maybe they ARE robots.

For me the iFI Gemini is a revelation.

It probably is dependant on the quality of the power supply.

I use it for a Pi to Topping D10s powered by iPower Elite.

Big improvement overall from a single Supra, particularly timbre and believability of instruments.

I made an OCC DC y-cord to split the power.