[theveterans]

I currently have Curious cable. Pretty expensive for what it is but after using it I’m certain Supra basic one is like using tube amp against SS offering. Musical and highly recommended. $50 well spent.
Curious does have more clarity in treble but somehow that tube bloom effect of supra is not there.

Same sentiments with the pearl on my system. I’d really have to trial and error a bunch of exotic USB cables to get a true upgrade without any compromise

 

[phoneslave86]

Yeah theres alot of good stuff on aliexpress, but also alot of bad stuff lol. A bit difficult to sift through, thats why I created this thread, so that we could share our impressions and have an easier way of finding the good stuff.

I would have just given you that spdif cable but I already gave it away, I've migrated to i2s since.

I thought I'd never need coaxial but I've been needing Coaxial and Optical several times lately. It's what happens when you want as many of your DACs as possible to benefit from the same DDC w/masterclock.

 

[dougms3]

Same sentiments with the pearl on my system. I’d really have to trial and error a bunch of exotic USB cables to get a true upgrade without any compromise

Unfortunately, this hobby is a money pit. We all love a good value, theres always something better but for those of us that cannot afford or are unwilling to spend alot of money on such things, its a good thing that we can share post impressions on a thread like this to find the best value for our budget.

Because in the end, we're all here for the same thing, best quality sound we can extract from our systems.

 

[theveterans]

Unfortunately, this hobby is a money pit. We all love a good value, theres always something better but for those of us that cannot afford or are unwilling to spend alot of money on such things, its a good thing that we can share post impressions on a thread like this to find the best value for our budget.

Because in the end, we're all here for the same thing, best quality sound we can extract from our systems.

Yep! Totally agree! I didn't want to pursue that rabbit hole since the price to performance is literally thrown out of the window.

I think the best approach is instead of falling into the rabbit hole just to get the most cookie points on the exotic cables, try to find what works best for your system:

Hypothetically a $8xx or up cables would give you the ff (roughly 5% better for more than 10x the cost):

Timbre - 99/100
Soundstage/depth/imaging - 99/100
Dynamics/slam/impact - 99/100
Bass and treble extension - 99/100

You can swap a lot of affordable USB cables (no matter what they are) and get the best synergy ff just roughly relative to the reference above:

Timbre - 95/100
Soundstage/depth/imaging - 95/100
Dynamics/slam/impact - 95/100
Bass and treble extension - 97/100

Those extra 10X the cable is far better invested on amps or DACs or headphones or even a secondary system

 

[Arniesb]

Yep! Totally agree! I didn't want to pursue that rabbit hole since the price to performance is literally thrown out of the window.

I think the best approach is instead of falling into the rabbit hole just to get the most cookie points on the exotic cables, try to find what works best for your system:

Hypothetically a $8xx or up cables would give you the ff (roughly 5% better for more than 10x the cost):

Timbre - 99/100
Soundstage/depth/imaging - 99/100
Dynamics/slam/impact - 99/100
Bass and treble extension - 99/100

You can swap a lot of affordable USB cables (no matter what they are) and get the best synergy ff just roughly relative to the reference above:

Timbre - 95/100
Soundstage/depth/imaging - 95/100
Dynamics/slam/impact - 95/100
Bass and treble extension - 97/100

Those extra 10X the cable is far better invested on amps or DACs or headphones or even a secondary system

True. i have wireworld platinum 7 usb, i payed over 650 euro for 1m and have Topping HS02 usb isolator which cost 120...
Topping Usb isolator brings dac or amp level improvement almost while cables bring tiny improvement and even less when you have good usb isolator.
All these expensive usb cables are not worth it unless you want tone controls.
Audioquest Carbon in my opinion or Supra excalibur for people who want sharper sound are good buys. Anything else and its overpriced.

 

[kumar402]

digital cable, power cable, interconnects, speaker or headphone cable and it can get out of hand price wise. These tweaks are fun but can eat up money in no time

 

[theveterans]

digital cable, power cable, interconnects, speaker or headphone cable and it can get out of hand price wise. These tweaks are fun but can eat up money in no time

Agreed!

PS. Regarding where to allocate money for tweaks, I actually find tube rolling making more noticeable differences than these. I feel that tube rolling is certainly justified than splurging a large amount of money on these. As for headphone cables, I can't help but spend good amount money for looks and the slight improvement

 

[audiobomber]

Don't have a Coax. I've avoided that so far as one needs an expensive Coax to get to the near max resolution. I believe Coax can be really good but it's yet another expensive cable to invest in which I'm able to avoid by using USB, AES and I2s. Coax needs a masterclock/DDC setup and very high end to get to the resolution of I2s/USB from what I've heard. At that level Coax can keep up too.

I am not suggesting to replace USB or I2S with coax. AES is not better than coax, it is equal at best. They both have the same S/PDIF downsides. Personally I will take BNC coax over AES/EBU, all things being equal, but either could be better, depending on implementation.

You said you are using Toslink and having trouble maintaining a reliable data stream. Can you use coax instead of Toslink? Because that will address the reliability problem. Monoprice coax is a decent, inexpensive cable and should beat Toslink for sound quality and definitely for reliability.

• A decent all-rounder and an amazing value.

https://audiobacon.net/2018/08/11/the-audiophiles-short-list-the-best-digital-coaxial-cables/3/

Or Belden from BJC:
https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/digital-audio/digaudprices.htm

 

[phoneslave86]

I am not suggesting to replace USB or I2S with coax. AES is not better than coax, it is equal at best. They both have the same S/PDIF downsides. Personally I will take BNC coax or AES, all things being equal, but either could be better, depending on implementation.

You said you are using Toslink and having trouble maintaining a reliable data stream. Can you use coax instead of Tolslink? Because that will address the reliability problem. Monoprice coax is a decent, inexpensive cable and should beat Toslink for sound quality and definitely for reliability.

• A decent all-rounder and an amazing value.

https://audiobacon.net/2018/08/11/the-audiophiles-short-list-the-best-digital-coaxial-cables/3/

From what I gather the BNC style Coax is better on average and as good as AES. The RCA version can also be top notch but it requires basically a pro level setup to get it there with a very nice cable which I wanted to avoid. My DDC is giving me no option though as it has RCA style coax/optical/I2s which are the only options to simultaneously play up to 3 things at once.

I bought an RCA coax mentioned above in this thread I'm actually excited about it. 7n OFC is nothing to scoff about and has sounded great so far every time I've used anything of that quality. 1.5 M seems to be important so that's the length I went with and it only cost a few dollars more.

I've got to get a 192k capable optical at some point. Optical is constantly marketed as 192k capable and many have had 192k working. Going to try a 3.3 feet long supernova soon.

 

[DEANO2]

But us there a Supra excalibur usb C cable out there

Are you asking is there one ?

 

[TheR0v3r]

I'm here to leave my 2 cents regarding USB cables.

The only place in my entire Audio devices where I use a USB cable is with my headphones - Focal Bathys (in USB DAC mode). I wanted to replace the stock cable as soon as I got the headphones - not because it sounded bad or anything, but because of the lousy quality. I ended up buying 2 cables - a "generic" braided cable that aesthetically fit with the headphones (UNIQ brand, 1.2m), and I wanted to try out something more hifi, even though I had 0 trust digital would make a difference - I found a Audioquest Forest (1.2m) cable for 50 euros - so I bought it.

For the fist week of using it I was working heavily and although I had some spare time here and there, I didn't have a proper time to fully listen and switch cables to tell if there is a difference. To my ears, with those limited tests, they sounded absolutely identical.

However, today, I spent all morning really listening to any differences and taking notes. And to my COMPLETE surprise, I'm genuinely astounded.

Yes, I am a skeptic when it comes to digital audio cables. Yes, I understand that what we can measure doesn't really show EVERYTHING when it comes to audio and it's very complicated.

But I can absolutely now guarantee that there is a difference. Notably, listening to Michael Jackson - Liberian Girl, Steely Dan - Aja and Tool - Fear Inoculum, what I can say in short is that 3 things are very obvious:

1) Instruments like the snare and other sounds with high frequency that sparkle have a MUCH more natural and longer decay and they simply sparkle more, are more obvious, there's more "air" up there

2) The vocals, especially Michael Jackson's, has more weight and is more present

3) On Fear Inoculum it's quite obvious that the soundstage is wider - I can literally feel some instruments from coming from further back behind my ear canal, while on a generic USB cable it comes in front of my ear canal. Think of it like this: With the generic cable, the literal stage of all the music and instruments is let's say 90 degrees in front of me, arranged on a semi-circle, while with the Audioquest it has at least 10 more degrees of horizontal 3 dimensionality on both left and right. IT's more... 3d i guess? Holographic some people use? It's more complete, more encompassing, in plain English.

No, I don't know why it is. Spec-wise, the Forest has 3 things standing for it: A well isolated live wire for the charging, semi solid conductors (vs braided on generic ones), and they are also 0.5% silver. Do with this info as you wish, but overall, there is a difference, and it's very positive. Now I'm curious how the AQ Carbon sounds.

Yes, I have listened for half a day, it's very fresh in my memory as I'm writing, the difference is real, it's there. I never bought high end USB cables in my life before or used them.

My stereo system is completely connected via Van den Hul cables (speaker and intercoonects) and I have a Coax digital Van den Hul cable connecting my CD transport to the DAC. My power cables are all Supra. I have no idea how good they are or if they sound better than cheaper cables. I got them as a package after negotiating for my stereo setup for a very good price, so these were my 1st and only cables I ever used out of the box. And no, I'm definitely not affiliated with AQ - this is the only AQ cable I've ever had.

It makes total sense because the performance of the cable matters

Just to be clear, performance has nothing to do with price. There are some truly awful expensive cables and some really great inexpensive cables (Inakustik and Supra to name two of my favorites).

 

[DEANO2]

That’s a really cool dac

Busy at work today and then off to a classical concert so my reply will have to wait until the weekend.

Get an Audioquest jitterbug and slap it upfront first you'll thank me later ,also the Qyaide S is pretty bloody good too

 

[Dankeschön]

But us there a Supra excalibur usb C cable out there

No, they have a usb mini b i believe, but no c.

 

[sendler2112]

No, they have a usb mini b i believe, but no c.

Regarding USB C: I have to wonder why pro audio seems to be migrating to USB3.x via USB C? Type C is such a rinky dink connector. Much more fragile and less reliable than Type A or the new B Super Speed. My Burson Conductor 3XP and 3Reference use Type c and every cheap cable I have tried makes a wiggly connection and is prone to break synch if I even touch something else on the unit like changing an RCA input cable.

And, the selection of high end audio quality Type A to type C cables is very limited.

 

[fidgeraldo]

My Burson Conductor 3XP and 3Reference use Type c and every cheap cable I have tried makes a wiggly connection and is prone to break synch if I even touch something else on the unit like changing an RCA input cable.

I have the same Burson, and a cheap C is a really bad solution (stock, too).
I bought AudioQuest Cinnamon, and it's a great cable sonically and it fits great, almost with a click.

Cheers!