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USB interconnects: Cardas Clear USB vs. Kimber Kale USB cables - Page 2

post #16 of 23
11/30/10 at 7:55am

I'd just buy a cable from Monoprice.

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post #17 of 23
11/30/10 at 8:08am
Thread Starter 

Brilliant. I wonder where I can get one in Taiwan. I may pop into the computer market here and look for one...

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post #18 of 23
11/30/10 at 8:10am
Thread Starter 

Also - being in Taiwan - it is very common here to build DIY desktops...rather than buy brand names..

 

So it makes sense to pop this baby into my desktop...for notebook - that would be more of a problem...

 

I will still buy a quality cable for USB anyway ...more than likely the Kimber Kale...

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post #19 of 23
11/30/10 at 1:43pm

I've owned the Kimber USB cables, and now own a Cardas Clear USB.  The Kimber is very nice and worth every penny.  If you cant hear the difference, (whether you find it an improvement or not is another matter) your deaf as my bronze book ends.  The Cardas is much more neutral and natural, where as the Kimber was warmer and fuzzier. 

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post #20 of 23
11/30/10 at 2:44pm
Thread Starter 

Ah....I see - well that was what I was wanting to know more about...

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post #21 of 23
11/30/10 at 2:52pm

You bet!

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post #22 of 23
4/26/12 at 9:51pm

This is a good question, one that audiophiles never have an absolute answer to. This is not unlike the Tube vs. Solid State issue which gave birth to the "hybrid" component extolling the "best of both worlds." Some audiophies have even rebuffed these issues as "auto-suggestion." There is a bit of truth to that, but one should beware of at least to constant variables that every other audiophile cannot account for. The first is that hearing varies from person to person and people have different preferences and responses for and to sound. Secondly, every audio component, including cables, has its own sonic signature. You have to know which sonic signature you like and the only way to know that is to experiment and rely on your own ears.

 

To answer your question directly, I happen to have the Kimber usb cable and I would recommend it if you want a warm analog, as opposed to digital, sound. The Kimber doesn't sound digital and I would also characterize it as neutral. My experience with Cardas is with their analog cable which has a warm and dynamic sonic signature, but I would consider it to be neutral. But all of this sounds good to my ear and on my system. I use the Kimber in between my computer and a dac which is connected "optically" to a sample rate converter which is connected to my pre-amp via analog (rca) cables. However, my music is stored on an external hard drive which is connected to the computer with an Audioquest usb cable. The Audioquest is detailed, but it is also bright and lacks the warm and "fullness" of the Kimber. I am considering purchasing the Cardas as an experiment to comapre it to the Kimber and also to determine whether a Kimber/Cardas combination has some sonic benefit. If I find I the Cardas sounds better I will replace the Kimber. I believe the Musicdirect description of the Cardas usb is accurate. It is how I would describe Cardas analog cables.

 

Happy listening

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post #23 of 23
4/27/12 at 1:01am

 

At first I did not believe USB cables make any difference at all and had just used whatever I could find around my computer desk. I had always just stole the cable from my portable USB harddrive and used it for my DAC. But one day I was also using the harddrive so I need a different one for the DAC, so I just grabbed another cable from a cheap USB hub and connected it to the DAC. Now I noticed the sound was different. Vastly different. I even thought there was something wrong with my system. The highs are harsh, lows are gone and the dynamics are just missing. I couldn't believe it was the USB cable, but that was the only thing changed. So I waited for the USB harddrive to free up, so that I could rob its cable again and use it for the DAC. Voila. Everything is back to the way it was. Both cables were no more than 1 meter long, but the harddrive cable is of course built much better and thicker, with the cheap USB hub cable thinner and more flimsy, same as the ones you would find in a dollar store.
 
Tell me, how could this be your so called "auto-suggestion", since I was honestly not expecting to hear any differences, but I did. The difference was way more than just "subtle", but obvious enough that anyone who has the slightest sense of music would be able to tell, between the two cables which I didn't explicitly pay for, but were just freebies from other products and happened to be lying on my computer desk.
 
Eventually I bought an Audioquest Cinnamon USB cable and was happy. Honestly I wasn't going to spend a lot of money on just a USB cable, and my DAC being the type which accepts a mini-B plug, my selections would be limited anyway, and my DAC wasn't that expensive to begin with. But the bottom line is, USB cables do make a difference and stop pushing your ignorance onto others, especially on something you have no personal experience with. If you have tried different USB cables before but couldn't hear a difference, it still doesn't mean the differences aren't there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by p a t r i c k View Post



I'm not forcing my opinion on anyone.

I'm giving very good advice to anyone that wishes to take it.

The reported differences in these expensive interconnects and USB cables etc is auto-suggestion.

Auto-suggestion is massively powerful in hearing and of course people want to flatter themselves that they are amongst a privileged few who can hear some difference in some silly cable.

Well, they've been conned plain and simple.

If you take apart one of these expensive cables you will see that the manufacturing costs were a fraction of the asking price.

Remember that the manufacturers have absolutely no research and development costs.

The people who claim to be able to hear differences with this cables have not demonstrated this in good blind ABX tests.

I recommend that people spend money on honest manufacturers of sensible well made cables. Not voodoo rubbish.

BTW I have listened to music with a great many types of interconnect in my time. Unlike you (I suspect) I remember well before these ridiculous cables arrived, I was even taken in by them myself when they arrived (about 30 years ago).

It's just auto-suggestion.

Don't waste money on this nonsense.

 

 

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