What's the best USB audio cable for the money?

[dougms3]

Get a $100-$200 emi tester to start. Just figuring out how bad the power is the first step. Some circuits are shared and worse, you be fine or could move to a more quiet circuit thats good enough too.

Listen morning noon and night and early hours and test for a week or two when you can. Eventually you’ll have an idea of things than can decide what to do. Often there is a much better outlet in the same room. The difference between the worst outlets and best could be an epic level upgrade just moving equipment. Be aware of large stuff like gaming pc on same circuit of audio system.

Best thing for bad power cost wise is a dedicated line probably if you can’t fix it. Cheap and effective stuff is fixing loose connections, look for flickering lights when stuff is turned on and off. Cleaning all connections in entire home and audio system with deoxit red/gold plus tightening connections could be a big upgrade. Replacing old panel ($180 and tightening panel) can be big.

Most power conditioners kill dynamics, save up get puritan PSM with an ultimate cable and a ground master it sounds like a clean outlet, it also can help vs dc line noise. Or do the above and try a powerblock (outlets in a box) just need a big high flow cable for a power block. I’m going to try an audio envy okta (audio grade block, with a breaker to protect from lightening) plus a dedicated 20A line soon. This is less cost than one PSM156 and probably as good or better. One cant always get a dedicated line but if you need one and can get 2-3 years out of it I think it’s likely worth the money

Which emi tester do you recommend?

I never had issues with noise before but my tube amp with certain tubes picks up all kinds of radio and cell noise.

I think one of the biggest effects on my system was a furutech gtx-d ac duplex. It was pricey but the sound improvement was well worth it.

I recently got one of these furutech outlet covers off amazon. My intention was to test it and if it didn't make any difference, I was going to send it back but dang if it didn't make a noticeable difference so I keep.

The outlet cover is interesting, its not just carbon fiber but looks to be aluminum or some kind of alloy with carbon overlay, and of course they sprinkle some of that NCF magic on it, not sure what it is but all I know is that it sounds good.

Next upgrade will be the furutech wall plate, as you can see in the photo, I have to use a rubber band to prevent the heavy plugs from sagging.

 

[TheR0v3r]

The opportunity to try a reclocker (Innuos Phoenix USB) came up and me, being a lifelong tweaker, jumped at the chance.

While auditioning I noticed that the USB cables running between my computer, reclocker and DAC made a big difference. This turned out to be a challenge when trying to understand the impact of the reclocker... Thanks to my very generous dealer I was entrusted with a really great USB cable: Shunyata’s Omega USB. (What a cable!!!)

Now it became much easier to understand the impact of the reclockler because I could use my own cables (Inakustik Excellence, Intona Reference, Neotech NEUB-1020, Oyaide Class A, Supra 2.0 and Supra Excalibur) to connect the reclocker to the DAC:

Computer -> Shunyata Omega USB -> Reclocker -> Inakustik/Intona/Neotech/Oyaide/Supra -> DAC

Now I didn’t need to juggle different combinations of USB cables instead I could just use my own cables which made it much easier actually hear the difference the reclocker made in my system. The short version is that my system has never sounded better, it’s just too bad I can’t keep ’em.

Anyway, after having used the Intona Reference when evaluating the reclocker I decided to have a listen with my other cables and just to check if my previous opinions about them held up. (The setup was perfect for this). In the end I tend to agree with @Khark when it comes to the Inakustik, Neotech, Oyaide and Supra 2.0:

Some experiences with cables mentioned here, fwiw, your mileage may vary, etc.:

-Supra Excalibur: Lean and ultrafast in my speaker system. You hear some percussion and how quickly it gets resolved and you go "come on". Did not like it in my system, but for someone who, say, listens only to Mozart or has a slow/thick sounding system or naturally likes a very fast ribbon tweeter style sound, this may be a fit.
-Intona Not-So-Premium: Expected an analytical monstrosity, instead i got greeted by immediately noticeable rolled off highs, hello 5 euro printer cable! Otherwise a passable, if inexciting listen. Does not have high-end dynamic speed&punch, only average. As a fun exercise, i tried throwing every bright cable i had on my system and brought sound close to neutral, but it was still unsatisfying. Definitely not worth the money, a quick A/B with a basic Supra 2.0 which i use as a reference and sanity check quickly showed this.
-Oyaide Class A: Clean, powerful and ..slow. Clarity and dynamics are very surprising for the price point, but there is also some whack imaging and ultimately the whole package is lacking musicality.
-Supra 2.0: The affordable reference and an audiophile treasure in my book. Very close to a realistic balance soundwise with a touch of low-mids emphasis, fast, punchy, nuanced sound with great imaging, does not hold back a system whatsoever and i cannot see why it shouldn't be considered as the comparison standard as far USB cables go. The question about the other cables should be "Does it beat Supra?" If your system does not sound satisfying, it is not this cable's fault.
-Inakustik Excellence MicroUSB: Very nice sound up top, but the bottom half is unfortunately lacking weight. Prim and proper sound.
-Neotech 1020 or whatever that silver cable is: Thankfully not bright, but seriously lacking in dynamics and liveliness overall. Clean midrange, boring, neutral. Would work for the Diana Krall listening audiophile, but i like cables which suit all types of music.
-Wireworld Ultraviolet 8: Bright crap that should not be on the market. Only redeeming quality the agile sub-bass that usually comes with silver-plated cables.

I haven’t heard the Intona Premium (but the Reference is great!) or Wireworld Ultraviolet 8 (not a fan of the Platinum) so no comment there. I still consider the Supra Excalibur as being a bit too lean and lacking weight. The Supra 2.0 is a really, really good cable and if it doesn’t sound right there are other issues in a system that need to be adressed .

 

[TheR0v3r]

Just a note, Supra made a pretty interesting choice with the Supra 2.0 in that they use tin plated copper for the conductor (as they do in that entire line). I can’t remember neither trying or owning another USB cable using tin plated copper… I actually remembered that I have a couple of Belden interconnects lying around that also use tin plating. There was a time when those very really popular mainly because of their tonality. And that made me think.

It’s the tonal balance of the Supra 2.0 that’s just killer! When the Belden interconnects ended up having too many drawbacks in other areas to make them a good fit for my system the Supra does a great balancing act.

TOP VALUE!

P,S. It occured to me that it may be that this cable a superb fit with ESS based DAC’s, which is what I’m using now. When I had a R2R ladder DAC I don’t remember the Supra USB 2.0 being as good a match. Shifting to the Belden IC’s, they have the same wonderful balance and texture but the main drawback was the bass response - just too slow. Maybe a tin plated USB cable has the same strenghts and weaknesses but that ends up being synergistic with ESS based DAC’s?

 

[fidgeraldo]

and get it! If you don't perceive a difference after two weeks return it!

And then, folks are mad when they get used items from Amazon...
this is not a practice that should be planned up front...not good, sorry.

Amazon is great for letting you return products, but this shouldn't be abused.

Cheers!

 

[iFi audio]

And then, folks are mad when they get used items from Amazon...
this is not a practice that should be planned up front...not good, sorry.

Amazon is great for letting you return products, but this shouldn't be abused.

Cheers!

Agreed it should not be abused!

I have never received a used product from Amazon unless I purchased it that way by looking for a deal in the used section (which there often is) where I am.

This type of thing to me is no different than an in-home demo from a local shop, or brick-and-mortar.

When you buy "New" from Amazon you should never receive a used product, and I don't blame them for being mad.

Cheers!!

 

[sendler2112]

Your concept of this is incorrect. The change of sound by the cable does not come from a change in data received. Although usb audio is asynchronous meaning that any incorrect or distorted data that makes it to the receiving dac cannot be corrected, the mechanism for digital data transmission is so robust that 99.999% of the time there are zero errors. Zero. Any significant errors will clearly be audible as a loud crack or dropout.

The change in sound is due to the transfer function of all the electronic components that are connected upstream, PSUs, all EMI, RFI, cable insulator dielectric effects, and other factors which all affect the electrical ground between all components towards the DAC. As it reaches the DAC, the ground in the DAC becomes affected by this electrical connection and subsequently because the analog audio signal is produced from the ground reference, the output will become altered. This is why the cable has a signature or character. It's digital data independent. It's also why if you try enough usb cables you'll notice that some sound louder than others.

When it comes to hi-fi, the quality of the power is the most important thing to get right because that is the basic building block of the audio signal that is produced. Unfortunately, the nature of electricity means that the system of components that are needed are ultimately tied together polluting each other.

Does power supply explain the audible differences between USB cables as are proven in this excellent OBJECTIVELY measured and proven experiment?

 

[phoneslave86]

@dougms3 Just a 10KHz-10MHz line tester. You can get a rebadged one for $100 + $10 shipping on ebay but it will take some time to get it. Very useful for the general noise condition of things. Circuit with my gaming PC reads 1850+, inside of my PSM it reads 13-14. If I run my gaming PC for 10 hours straight it will eventually creep into the PSM and drive it up to 200+. Every conditioner I've tried but the PSM does not have full dynamic range. This is very obvious stuff when testing. Wall sounds great with tube amp late at night and the PSM is the same. During the day when the noise creeps up the PSM sounds much better than the wall!

 

[fidgeraldo]

When you buy "New" from Amazon you should never receive a used product, and I don't blame them for being mad.

I was kind of mad when I read the stuff you wrote and gave people the idea to abuse Amazon's good buying policy.

People openly salute ordering Hi-Fi from Amazon just to try it.

What should Amazon do with all those products that people order just for a month to try and then return?

Can I order from Ifi and return the product within a certain period without Ifi asking why?

Cheers!

 

[dougms3]

@dougms3 Just a 10KHz-10MHz line tester. You can get a rebadged one for $100 + $10 shipping on ebay but it will take some time to get it. Very useful for the general noise condition of things. Circuit with my gaming PC reads 1850+, inside of my PSM it reads 13-14. If I run my gaming PC for 10 hours straight it will eventually creep into the PSM and drive it up to 200+. Every conditioner I've tried but the PSM does not have full dynamic range. This is very obvious stuff when testing. Wall sounds great with tube amp late at night and the PSM is the same. During the day when the noise creeps up the PSM sounds much better than the wall!

Wow thanks for the info, I had a suspicion of some similar things as I've noticed that the noise from my tube amp is much less late at night.

Would you happen to have a link to the tester?

 

[TheR0v3r]

Shunyata Omega USB - the end of a journey

So having been lent the Shunyata Omega as part of trying a reclocker I couldn’t let the opportunity to review it pass me by.

I decided to use two different setups.

Setup 1:

Computer -> Shunyata Omega USB -> Reclocker -> Intona Reference -> DAC

Setup 2:

Computer -> Intona Reference -> Reclocker -> Shunyata Omega USB ->DAC

Oddly enough the sound was actually different between the two setups. It seems to me that both the USB cable connecting the computer to the reclocker and the USB cable between reclocker and DAC as a large impact on the sound. My dealers suggestion was to use the Shunyata first (ie Setup 1). I tried both setups and I’ve tried to summarize my conclusions below.

Switching between the two setups (placement of Intona and Shunyata in my chain) all I can muster is that the Shunyata is exceptional. Transient response is excellent and the tonal balance is very pleasing. I’m actually not sure if it has a midrange emphasis or if it comes across that way because of the way the treble is presented. It has zero harshness but without loosing out on detalis.

On the subject of details, cycling thru my reference tracks I heard all those lovely small details that are a part of the ”audiophile wow factor”, great dynamics and drive. At the same time all tracks had a very pleasing, ”organic” presentation.

All in all, it’s a cable that has all the strengths of the cables I’ve tried but without any apparent weakness. Wow!

This will also mark the end of the journey posed by the question in the thread: ”What’s the best USB audio cable for the money?”. Or at least ”What’s the best USB audio cable?”... I do know that there are many more TOTL cables such as Nordost Valhalla 2, Intona Ultimate and others are more than welcome to explore those options but my journey stops here.

The more fun part now is instead placing a different emphasis on the question ” What’s the best USB audio cable for the money?” and looking for a much less expensive option that comes close to the performance of the Shunyata Omega USB.

 

[phoneslave86]

Shunyata Omega USB - the end of a journey

So having been lent the Shunyata Omega as part of trying a reclocker I couldn’t let the opportunity to review it pass me by.

I decided to use two different setups.

Setup 1:

Computer -> Shunyata Omega USB -> Reclocker -> Intona Reference -> DAC

Setup 2:

Computer -> Intona Reference -> Reclocker -> Shunyata Omega USB ->DAC

Oddly enough the sound was actually different between the two setups. It seems to me that both the USB cable connecting the computer to the reclocker and the USB cable between reclocker and DAC as a large impact on the sound. My dealers suggestion was to use the Shunyata first (ie Setup 1). I tried both setups and I’ve tried to summarize my conclusions below.

Switching between the two setups (placement of Intona and Shunyata in my chain) all I can muster is that the Shunyata is exceptional. Transient response is excellent and the tonal balance is very pleasing. I’m actually not sure if it has a midrange emphasis or if it comes across that way because of the way the treble is presented. It has zero harshness but without loosing out on detalis.

On the subject of details, cycling thru my reference tracks I heard all those lovely small details that are a part of the ”audiophile wow factor”, great dynamics and drive. At the same time all tracks had a very pleasing, ”organic” presentation.

All in all, it’s a cable that has all the strengths of the cables I’ve tried but without any apparent weakness. Wow!

This will also mark the end of the journey posed by the question in the thread: ”What’s the best USB audio cable for the money?”. Or at least ”What’s the best USB audio cable?”... I do know that there are many more TOTL cables such as Nordost Valhalla 2, Intona Ultimate and others are more than welcome to explore those options but my journey stops here.

The more fun part now is instead placing a different emphasis on the question ” What’s the best USB audio cable for the money?” and looking for a much less expensive option that comes close to the performance of the Shunyata Omega USB.

Looks to me like some put the the Sablon EVO over the Shunyata Omega. The Sablon EVO is better than the Sablon 2020 which beat the Intona Ultimate according to some. I love my Sablon 2020 USB and ethernet so far no doubt. Nicely balanced tonality and in-control sizzle and the rest and nice bass. The Omega beat the Sablon 2020 according to some, but then the EVO beat the Omega. It's not a cheap cable but much less than the Omega. I plan to upgrade to try Evo one day but I'm going to try a much cheaper Audio Envy Newton with a deleted power end first. The Sablon EVO has a better noise floor than the Sablon 2020 from what I've heard, a noise floor that is close enough to the Omega which has a great noise floor.

@dougms3 Just search 'EMI tester' and you'll find them. Here is a pic of the one I got that is a rebadge from china. Can get one shipped for under $100 if you wait.

 

[TheR0v3r]

Looks to me like some put the the Sablon EVO over the Shunyata Omega. The Sablon EVO is better than the Sablon 2020 which beat the Intona Ultimate according to some. I love my Sablon 2020 USB and ethernet so far no doubt. Nicely balanced tonality and in-control sizzle and the rest and nice bass. The Omega beat the Sablon 2020 according to some, but then the EVO beat the Omega. It's not a cheap cable but much less than the Omega. I plan to upgrade to try Evo one day but I'm going to try a much cheaper Audio Envy Newton with a deleted power end first. The Sablon EVO has a better noise floor than the Sablon 2020 from what I've heard, a noise floor that is close enough to the Omega which has a great noise floor.

@dougms3 Just search 'EMI tester' and you'll find them. Here is a pic of the one I got that is a rebadge from china. Can get one shipped for under $100 if you wait.

No doubt the Sablons’ are great.

There will always be a ”some” putting X ahead of Y as there are few absolutes in this hobby. In the end any choice will come down to personal preference.

 

[sendler2112]

Supra Excalibur is only available in A to B, but as I've said works well with AQ Dragontail that is a short adaptor of the Carbon model that has Usb Type C.

Do you have a link to the AQ Dragontail that goes from female type B to male type C? I see only female A to C. I want to use the Supra Excalibur, which is A to B but my Burson DACs/ amps have type C input. I am even considering buying the Excalibur and replacing the B connector with a type C myself.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1154838679...Xkfa31Tfb9d2cZB19sgdbIEsZrBcROORoCoO0QAvD_BwE

Then again, I am going to CanJam next month and may decide there is another DAC that I like even better ie Schiit Bifrost 2/64? which is Type B.

 

[audiobomber]

Setup 1:

Computer -> Shunyata Omega USB -> Reclocker -> Intona Reference -> DAC

Setup 2:

Computer -> Intona Reference -> Reclocker -> Shunyata Omega USB ->DAC

I don't see a conclusion as to which setup you preferred? The usual advice is to use your best cable closest to the DAC.

 

[phoneslave86]

No doubt the Sablons’ are great.

There will always be a ”some” putting X ahead of Y as there are few absolutes in this hobby. In the end any choice will come down to personal preference.

Yea when I researched I read about the Sablons and Omegas quite a bit as they were put against eachother quite a bit by some pretty hardcore audiophiles. As I said they chose the Omega over the orginal Sablon 2020 and then chose the Sablon EVO over the Omega. The original Sablon 2020 beat the Intona ultimate for them which is a $3000+ cable as well. Quite impressive and I obtained mine from audiophiles who are upgrading to the Sablon EVO for $350 used. I can actually believe it beat the Intona Ultimate listening to it in my own system. It brings a very nice somewhat transparent sound that sounds correct on many recordings, brings me back to the original sound tonally speaking. It sounds more correct than my other USB in an overall sense but they all do great at something unique and I love them all. It also can impressively reveal certain tiny mid details more precisely than I knew was possible as well as extra deep sculpted bass extension that I didn't know existed till the last month or so. All while maintaining great upper detail that somehow never sizzles too hard like my Supra Excalibur. The Sablon EVO is supposed to drop the noise floor more which is closer to the Omega and the lower noise floor that beat the orginal Sablon 2020 cable!

It is all 100 percent subjective. Not only that but some systems need more or less of something so it never applies until tested in a system any cable. Unfortunately one can only try with trial and error to find the cable they need. I had to get used to my system sounding more neutral for sure and didn't like it for a week or two now I can't go back!! Many songs sound noticeably more correct these days and that's what I've begun to value much more than the more wild musical end of things! Seems like one magic trades for another between all of these USB! I'm always losing one awesome thing for another. Now I just want the most well rounded thing so I don't gotta worry about it. Just things being in control and correct sounding is very valuable when you listen to a wide range of quality of recordings ect.