Well my Furutech Formula 2 USB cable just arrived. I plugged it in and I can hear more straight off.
The cable should improve in time as it runs in. At the moment stuff like cymbal taps are clearer. Chimes sound ore like chimes than chime sounding unclear noises.
It's not a complete sound signature changing, because the source, and headphones are still the same. However on day one it is enough to make me feel I don't want to return the item.
The point is that 1 and 0 going along the cable do get corrupted, or become indefinable. When the data is complied by the DAC some is missing, but the music can be reproduced still.
My Grado SR225e and Meridian Explorer are getting a wiff of hi-fi about them now.
(NB Anyone thinking of making a comment about the thread being old - do I look like I care.)
OK I am reserving judgement, going back on what I said, and not sure at the moment.
I realised today that when I got the cable yesterday, I had made a mistake. I had put my headphones on the wrong way round. Rather than going straight to A-B testing, I played my favourite tracks at the moment; music I knew well. I was literally hearing stuff in the right hand side which I had not heard so clearly before. Totally because it was previously more orientated to the left.
What has me ultimately confused, is that I felt over-all the signature sounded more dynamic. I think maybe because I was listening more analytically rather that just enjoying music. What I now find bizarre is I used to think my set up got congested when the going go tough. I.E. when there was a lot going on, which is understandable at the price. I thought the new cable cured that. Yet now my basic stock cable doesn't sound congested.
Btw, clearly I would not expect to hear an entirely different sound signature with the same DAC and headphones.
Anyway now I have to go back and A-B this.
[NB. I was 100% convinced of better audio with speaker cable years ago, and analogue interconnects. I mean, all sorts of stuff happened. Therefor I am more than prepared to give a USB cable a chance. I bought from Amazon so I am free to try the product and return if not happy.]
I mean I can't say more at this stage.
With ref to stuff people have added since I first posted:
- Jitter is one thing that has me considering there is merit in the case for a quality cable. I was as sceptical as everyone here previously. However parts of lost data would affect end result. The argument is about how much data is lost. (An example of transferring a word document shows that checking is done so you that's why documents copy perfectly.)
- Lost data would not result in complete dropout unless entire steams of packets are lost. E.g. like when a digital radio loses signal.
- I think the strength in argument for why small amounts of lost data can be heard is this. Our hearing and brains are incredibly fine tuned. By definition we can hear change in pitch because we can detect vibration up 20,000Hz (when young). In other words we can pick out differences of data coming where the impulse rate is one impulse per 0.00005 seconds.
- Follow that with the example of a signal to the brain where the impulse are 0.0001. What has happened is the pitch of the signal has gone from 20,000Hz to 10,000Hz. Compare that sensitivity to a moving picture. We only need 24 frames per second to see a moving picture.
I wish I could add more at this stage, but I can't. I am music fatigued right now from listening yesterday. I guess I'd be better coming back to this after some gaming and a day out.
(I would swear I heard a difference yesterday when I did a little A-B. However now I am not prepared to commit to that. I wonder also if my DAC and headphone kit are not enough to pick up difference.)
