[unkle11]

damn i changed the overly long stock usb chord connecting my macbook pro to my fubar 3 that i'm using as a DAC with an old belkin chord that came stock with an external harddrive i bought years ago and DAAAMMNN it took the sibilance off a whole bunch of recordings and really smoothed things out pauses sound much "blacker" although still not quite as much as usually like, my question is are there any audio cable makers making USB chords as well? is there such a thing?



ah no wonder, apparantly these are belkin's "pro" series, i am excited to find out then how USB chords from audio manufacturers sound

 

[kamal007]

maybe a placebo? usb only carries digital signal

 

[n4k33n]

^Yeah, a placebo. A USB connection isn't a digital stream, its sent in data packets which have error detection and correction. Most likely a placebo.

 

[unkle11]

seriously? since posting i have been switching the cable in and out and there is a noticable difference i really hope it's not my ears going then or upgrade madnesscitis

hmm i guess it's lucky i checked back before i jumped the gun and bought http://www.audioconnect.com/html/kimber_usb_cable.html

 

[kamal007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unkle11 /img/forum/go_quote.gif seriously? since posting i have been switching the cable in and out and there is a noticable difference i really hope it's not my ears going then or upgrade madnesscitis hmm i guess it's lucky i checked back before i jumped the gun and bought http://www.audioconnect.com/html/kimber_usb_cable.html

the cable looks kinda cool..

 

[gotchaforce]

hey guys dont say its placebo you have no EXPERIENCE with other USB cords okay.

Who cares what science says!!??! you need to spend $50-$100 on a premium usb cable and listen for yourself.

 

[EnOYiN]

Okay, the thread title made me interested in this thread. Since the same thing happened to me. I switched from the stock cable of my Porta Corda to a very good USB cable. (which I use for other purposes) And it actually changed the sound. Don't ask me how. I switched back and forth between the cables and there actually was a difference.

Now, I don't believe in expensive materials in interconnects AT ALL. (for better sound that is) All of my power cords are stock and it will be a while before I would use a 'green dragon' cable.

The only thing I do believe in are tubes. But that's because they emit light and it has been statistically proven that when something emits light it simply sounds better.

Edit: Just to be sure, this image is very sarcastic.

To get to the point. The only real difference between the 2 USB cables was the shielding and the material used. (gold plated/steel) Still, there shouldn't be any difference in the SQ at all. A digital signal uses ACKs and NACKs to get from one device to another so even when using a shoelace to get a digital signal across you shouldn't be able to hear a difference.

The only explanation I can see is that a good cable might reduce jitter in a real time environment. (and trust me, I know that that is very unlikely as well)

To be honest, I just don't know.

 

[LostOne.TR]

interesting...maybe I'll try swapping between another one i have lying around...

 

[peelax]

I've got a feeling that if a packet is lost then a standard USB DAC will not request it again, as most of them lack buffers? May be if the cable is really long you might get a bit of packet loss? Or may be the old cable isn't making good contact? Having said that I wouldn't think it would be too difficult to make an almost perfect USB cable (in the sense that it doesn't lose any information), so I'm not sure what kind of return you would get from an ultra expensive one

 

[Chu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unkle11 /img/forum/go_quote.gif seriously? since posting i have been switching the cable in and out and there is a noticable difference i really hope it's not my ears going then or upgrade madnesscitis hmm i guess it's lucky i checked back before i jumped the gun and bought http://www.audioconnect.com/html/kimber_usb_cable.html

It's upgrade madness. Digital doesn't degrade nicely. If the cable is so bad it's dropping packets it's not going to effect things like "soundstage," "sibilance," etc. It's going to affect your experience in ways like "why can't I hear anything?," "why does it keep cutting out?," "why does the audio keep skipping?."

Digital doesn't degrade gracefully. The USB controller is oblivious to the fact that this is an audio signal, there is no equivalent of C1/C2 "best effort" error correction like a CD -- if a CRC check fails the packet is discarded.

 

[Pibborando]

Yeah, this is one of those things that either works %100 (you hear sound) or not at all (no sound, or cutting in and out).

There is magic indeed. It's in your brain.