[samsquanch]

Improvements to a usb cable:
 
Gold plated connectors:  prevents oxidation of connector better than nickle coating.
 
Braided and foil shield:  better interference rejection
 
A choke that is appropriate to the signal frequencies being transmitted:  more interference rejection.
 
Beyond that, not really, and the reasons I listed are not going to improve sound, they'll merely prevent degradation in extreme cases, and even then, ehhhh....

 

[proton007]

The most important thing. If a cable meets the usb standard, then there's no possible way it can be improved, apart from durability.
 
The USB standard has all the relevant specs needed to ensure the data is transferred accurately.

 

[p a t r i c k]

Quote:

The most important thing. If a cable meets the usb standard, then there's no possible way it can be improved, apart from durability.
 
The USB standard has all the relevant specs needed to ensure the data is transferred accurately.

 
I still think it is important that the USB cable has had its spirit blessed by a old Japanese man who makes vague buddhist/shinto like statements that nobody understands.
 
Also the golden ratio must figure...  ...somehow.
 
 
 

 

[ukon16]

Quote:

 
I still think it is important that the USB cable has had its spirit blessed by a old Japanese man who makes vague buddhist/shinto like statements that nobody understands.
 
Also the golden ratio must figure...  ...somehow.
 
 
 

If I actually make my USb audio cable company I'm totally going to use that in the marketing.
 
Someone on another forum brought up a very good idea.
 
He pointed out that the USB standard based on a rectangle input is somewhat dumb. It would have been better/easier to design it around a circle....similar to a Co-ax cable.

 

[proton007]

Quote:

If I actually make my USb audio cable company I'm totally going to use that in the marketing.
 
Someone on another forum brought up a very good idea.
 
He pointed out that the USB standard based on a rectangle input is somewhat dumb. It would have been better/easier to design it around a circle....similar to a Co-ax cable.

Maybe bathe the metal in the holy water of Ganges during a planetary alignment, while you're at it.

 

[p a t r i c k]

Quote:

Someone on another forum brought up a very good idea.
 
He pointed out that the USB standard based on a rectangle input is somewhat dumb. It would have been better/easier to design it around a circle....similar to a Co-ax cable.

 
I have considered the shape of the USB plug and socket from an entirely practical point of view (I lead such an interesting life).
 

 
The Type A is rectangular and you never really know if you have it the right way around. So usually you just try it one way and if it doesn't work you turn it around. Now that this is such a common plug and socket I think probably millions of hours of time have been used up by the human race trying out which way around the plug needs to be for the socket.
 
The Type B is much better and so are the other four illustrated because you know by their shape what way they should go.
 
A round USB plug and socket would be great as long as it wasn't directional (like a DIN) and could just go in any way around, like the Jack plug of course.

 

[mikeaj]

But the rectangular shape allows for a slimmer profile and so on.
 
For schemes where orientation does not matter, how are you going to hook up the correct pins on each side to each other?  For a setup like a TRS / TRRS audio jack, how to deal with shorting +5V to other pins upon insertion / removal?
 
You could have a circle with multiple concentric rings inside, each for each electrical connection.  Seems relatively expensive to make and fragile.  
 
There could also be duplicate pins in a rectangular connector, like 1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1 such that if upside down, orientation is the same.  Doesn't seem so hot for crosstalk and other such concerns.  An alternative is to do some kind of sensing for orientation to avoid that doubling, but that obviously also increases complexity and cost.

 

[p a t r i c k]

Quote:

But the rectangular shape allows for a slimmer profile and so on.
 
For schemes where orientation does not matter, how are you going to hook up the correct pins on each side to each other?  For a setup like a TRS / TRRS audio jack, how to deal with shorting +5V to other pins upon insertion / removal?
 
You could have a circle with multiple concentric rings inside, each for each electrical connection.  Seems relatively expensive to make and fragile.  
 
There could also be duplicate pins in a rectangular connector, like 1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1 such that if upside down, orientation is the same.  Doesn't seem so hot for crosstalk and other such concerns.  An alternative is to do some kind of sensing for orientation to avoid that doubling, but that obviously also increases complexity and cost.

 
All very true of course. I think if a round plug is impossible then a shape with an obvious orientation would be better.The Type A is the one with the problem all the others are much better. Unfortunately the Type A is the most commonly used.

 

[BlackbeardBen]

Quote:

 
All very true of course. I think if a round plug is impossible then a shape with an obvious orientation would be better.The Type A is the one with the problem all the others are much better. Unfortunately the Type A is the most commonly used.

 
How about an equilateral triangle-shaped plug? 

 

[proton007]

Quote:

 
How about an equilateral triangle-shaped plug? 

I don't think it makes any difference. You'll still have to set the orientation correct before plugging in. Same goes for rectangular connectors, you can (almost always) assume that the side with the two rectangular holes stays on top.

 

[BlackbeardBen]

Quote:

I don't think it makes any difference. You'll still have to set the orientation correct before plugging in. Same goes for rectangular connectors, you can (almost always) assume that the side with the two rectangular holes stays on top.

 
Perhaps I should have suggested an equilateral hendecagon to make it a little more over-the-top obvious as a joke? 

 

[p a t r i c k]

Quote:

 
How about an equilateral triangle-shaped plug? 

 
 
A reuleaux polygon would be rather nice 

 
 

 

[proton007]

Quote:

 
Perhaps I should have suggested an equilateral hendecagon to make it a little more over-the-top obvious as a joke? 

I know you were joking. What I'm talking about is the general principle behind connectors, they're designed to prevent being plugged in the incorrect way (fool proof), not the other way round.

 

[TheHawk]

Quote:

 
I have considered the shape of the USB plug and socket from an entirely practical point of view (I lead such an interesting life).
 

 
The Type A is rectangular and you never really know if you have it the right way around. So usually you just try it one way and if it doesn't work you turn it around. Now that this is such a common plug and socket I think probably millions of hours of time have been used up by the human race trying out which way around the plug needs to be for the socket.
 
The Type B is much better and so are the other four illustrated because you know by their shape what way they should go.
 
A round USB plug and socket would be great as long as it wasn't directional (like a DIN) and could just go in any way around, like the Jack plug of course.

You have a more interesting life than mine! I like the Type B best!

 

[zmoney]

If the USB cable is being split (physically) and there is a drop in signal strength you may run into issues, however I doubt that this is happening. Digital signals can be turned into garbage by a weak signal whereas an analog signal will just be weaker. What I am trying to say is that digital is either 1 or 0 if the signal is too weak to tell, it's garbage. If analog is lets say 0-100 and a 80 is coming through but it is weak it still may look like a 40 and you could get some representation of what the signal is trying to represent. I do not think that this applies to your situation and agree that if you are going to do testing you must have someone else switching cables without your knowledge- I would be shocked to see if you could tell a difference