[Cat Whisperer Bob]

has anyone here used the Musician Pegasus with the S17 Pro? if so, how is it? seems to be easier to get a hold of in the UK second hand...

Hi ngohw, I have that combo and it’s TOTL for me. Pegasus is a wonderful R2R DAC and pairs great with the S17 pro. Clarity, soundstage, volume capability are all good and the S17 drives stubborn planar cans like the Hifiman HE6 se.

 

[Simon Patten]

Have you ever done any comparisons of different cables yourself? The differences are often obvious. Sometimes very subtle. Always "different" if you really listen close enough and have a revealing system.
<snip>
Passion For Sound did highly recommend the $125 Supra Excalibur USB cable over any others, including contenders that are much more expensive.

The Excalibur is an amazing cable and worth every penny. I upgraded from an ordinary Amazon USB cable and the difference was dramatic. The sound opened up and there was a lot more detail, I was astonished. Highly recommended, as are all Supra cables IMHO.

 

[sygnus21]

+1 for the Excalibur USB cable....

First ever "premium USB cable". Last premium USB cable I'll be buying. Not interested in looking for anything else.

I have it going from my PC to my Denafrips Iris DDC. DDC to Pontus DAC via Supra HDMI cable to I2S input. Signal going into DAC to Denafrips Headphone amp are extremely clean and quiet.

 

[ngohw]

Hi ngohw, I have that combo and it’s TOTL for me. Pegasus is a wonderful R2R DAC and pairs great with the S17 pro. Clarity, soundstage, volume capability are all good and the S17 drives stubborn planar cans like the Hifiman HE6 se.

Fantastic to hear, many thanks! I have heard not-so-great things about Musician as a company, but ultimately if I'd be getting it second hand I don't see it being an issue. It's between Musician Pegasus and Ares 12th-1 for me now...

 

[sygnus21]

I know nothing of Musician or of any customer complaints or issues so I can speak there, I will say in general, if you are reading where XYX company is having issues and other things going on, perhaps that is not a place to do business.

It doesn't matter to me what gear you get from who, I'm just making a general statement as I made of warranty issues with gear sold by unauthorized dealers... buyer beware.

That said, I've not heard anything bad about Musician, and I know many seem quite happy with their gear.

Good luck.

 

[Marlowe]

The Excalibur is an amazing cable and worth every penny. I upgraded from an ordinary Amazon USB cable and the difference was dramatic. The sound opened up and there was a lot more detail, I was astonished. Highly recommended, as are all Supra cables IMHO.

LOL. OK, you guys have got me seriously considering this cable. TBH, I've looked at it before and while $125 is a major-ish purchase for me, it's not too much to take a flyer. Can anyone recommend a dealer? (A quick search gives me one US dealer that sells the one meter cable for $135 with free shipping and a European dealer with a substantially lower price in euros, but with shipping costs to the US that bring it within ten bucks of the US dealer.)

I should confess that I have not been entirely immune from this rabbit hole. My current USB cable, which I have used for years, is one of AudioQuest's cheaper cables. And while it was a good deal less expensive than the Supra cable, it was not exactly cheap compared to generic USB cables.

 

[ngohw]

I should confess that I have not been entirely immune from this rabbit hole. My current USB cable, which I have used for years, is one of AudioQuest's cheaper cables. And while it was a good deal less expensive than the Supra cable, it was not exactly cheap compared to generic USB cables.

I have been quite happy with the generic USB 3.0 cable that iFi supplies with the Zen DAC (the blue one) -- while I've had my fair share of hissing and noise issues, I found that they were more to do with the power and music sources than the cable itself. Once I gave it a power supply (iPower) and used those iFi enhancement adapters (iSilencer, iPurifier), they all went away... although similarly, I've spent more on that than if I had just gotten a £100 cable. I don't think there's any right or wrong answer!

 

[sendler2112]

I bought my Supra Excalibur from the USA dealer, Madisound. The $100 Viborg is also excellent. Between these two into an Aune X8 DAC they were very close to the point that I had been using the Viborg. Until I decided to try them against each other in my VMV D2R. With this DAC the advantage of the Excalibur was night and day better. Supra doesn't make the Excalibur with a Type C output so I have to Use a Hosa or Ebay USB cable into My Bursons with the Ebay cable sounding much better.

Honestly, I was shocked to hear how much difference there is between USB cable, which is the last thing I would have thought would make any difference. The difference between the Supra and a Hosa or Amazon Basics into my VMV , which is a very revealing Highend DAC, but also seems to be more sensitive the the USB cable, is larger than the difference between any of my headphone amps (exept for the rinkydink ifi Zendac V2).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B086136JV7/

https://www.ebay.com/itm/116017314734

 

[sygnus21]

On the rabbit hole of cables... I have to admit after getting my Denafrips setup, I found myself falling into the trap of chasing after the "best cables for my system", and this has led to unnecessary expenses. Thus far, I've spent over $1,100 dollars in chasing cables and power cords to finally settle on the $850 worth currently in use.

That to me is way too much, and something I'd normally not do had I not got caught up in the hype of "this makes that so much better". Yes, quality cables do make a difference, but do we really need a $150 dollar USB cable? Might I have found a 50-buck cable providing the same sound quality? I don't know because my mindset was a 50-buck cable can't be that good. And that's the trap of the rabbit hole of cables traps you. (yes, I did spend $145 on the Supra 6.5 feet USB Excalibur cable).

At the end of the day, anytime you change cables, you are going to notice a difference. The question is does that difference justify the cost. And at what point do you stop chasing?

I've now come to the conclusion that I have what I have and won't continue to chase after "better" because no matter what, there's always going to be "better than that", and at the end of the day you may find yourself having 10,000 dollars' worth of cables sitting in a draw because the cable that replaced them was supposed to be "better".

That's money better spent elsewhere... a better amp, DAC, speaker, headphone or something more meaningful than "cables".

My two cents.

 

[Erick Muller]

On the rabbit hole of cables... I have to admit after getting my Denafrips setup, I found myself falling into the trap of chasing after the "best cables for my system", and this has led to unnecessary expenses. Thus far, I've spent over $1,100 dollars in chasing cables and power cords to finally settle on the $850 worth currently in use.

That to me is way too much, and something I'd normally not do had I not got caught up in the hype of "this makes that so much better". Yes, quality cables do make a difference, but do we really need a $150 dollar USB cable? Might I have found a 50-buck cable providing the same sound quality? I don't know because my mindset was a 50-buck cable can't be that good. And that's the trap of the rabbit hole of cables traps you. (yes, I did spend $145 on the Supra 6.5 feet USB Excalibur cable).

At the end of the day, anytime you change cables, you are going to notice a difference. The question is does that difference justify the cost. And at what point do you stop chasing?

I've now come to the conclusion that I have what I have and won't continue to chase after "better" because no matter what, there's always going to be "better than that", and at the end of the day you may find yourself having 10,000 dollars' worth of cables sitting in a draw because the cable that replaced them was supposed to be "better".

That's money better spent elsewhere... a better amp, DAC, speaker, headphone or something more meaningful than "cables".

My two cents.

I would generally steer people away from cable chasing given that one, it's a super contentious subject in which we don't have very reliable data and research to back up any claims of sound improvement besides mostly anecdotal evidence and second, IF and only when you have arrive at the audio chain that you feel it's the end of the road for you in particular when it comes to DAC, DDC and Amps and HPs, then and only then maybe try out to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of your system with better and higher quality cables, and even before that I think I would recommend people try upsampling first with something like HQPlayer than going into the audio cable rabbit hole, that's going to change and improve your audio quality significantly more than any cable could possibly provide. Like there's one hundred different things you can do first to improve your audio chain than cables.

 

[sygnus21]

Supra doesn't make the Excalibur with a Type C output so I have to Use a Hosa or Ebay USB cable into My Bursons with the Ebay cable sounding much better.

That's a point many need to be aware of.... Supra only makes the "printer" type USB cable - USB A (standard) type to USB B (printer)... USB Cable Assemblies. If your audio device does not support the B type cable the Supra Excalibur may not be for you.

I got my supra cables via e-Bay from SJOFN Hi-Fi in Seattle Washington. Delivery is fairly quick (about 5 days - from Seattle to Virginia) and customer service friendly.

 

[sygnus21]

I would generally steer people away from cable chasing given that one, it's a super contentious subject in which we don't have very reliable data and research to back up any claims of sound improvement besides mostly anecdotal evidence .....

Cables have and always will be a contentious subject. Nothing new here. If you're one that doesn't believe cables make a difference, fine. For those that do, fine.

This is a debate that can rage on for eons and one I'm not willing to partake in. I just mention the cable I use, and what they bring to my system, outside that I don't deep dive into the theory of everything. Nor do I try to persuade anyone to buy any particular cable. That's a decision they make, and one I don't question.

Peace

 

[MiguelP]

What if you have a integrated streamer/dac and you don't use a USB cable? How should you expect to improve your sound? With a 5 figure Ethernet cable from Ansuz? And if you use a nice USB cable between your dac and your streamer/pc shouldn't you also use a improved Ethernet cable? And what about the cables that your Internet provider uses between your modem and their servers? Maybe the only way should be to use a starlink kit, using a audiophile data cable between the antenna and the router. All these things have to be considered. Or we just can enjoy our music.

 

[MiguelP]

What if you have a integrated streamer/dac and you don't use a USB cable? How should you expect to improve your sound? With a 5 figure Ethernet cable from Ansuz? And if you use a nice USB cable between your dac and your streamer/pc shouldn't you also use a improved Ethernet cable? And what about the cables that your Internet provider uses between your modem and their servers? Maybe the only way should be to use a starlink kit, using a audiophile data cable between the antenna and the router. All these things have to be considered. Or we just can enjoy our music.

Forgot about the people who use their computers as streamers: what about the internal data cables inside your computer? Is there a solution for them?

 

[sendler2112]

What if you have a integrated streamer/dac and you don't use a USB cable? How should you expect to improve your sound? With a 5 figure Ethernet cable from Ansuz? And if you use a nice USB cable between your dac and your streamer/pc shouldn't you also use a improved Ethernet cable? And what about the cables that your Internet provider uses between your modem and their servers? Maybe the only way should be to use a starlink kit, using a audiophile data cable between the antenna and the router. All these things have to be considered. Or we just can enjoy our music.

Some people are content to settle. Why buy an S17 when some ear buds can make sounds from your phone?