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Do USB Audio Cables Make A Difference?
- Thread starter amirm
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Fitzcaraldo215
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Not entirely sure, but the Corning's metallic power lines alongside the signal-carrying glass fiber inside the USB cable may still need to connect with the DAC through the USB hub in the cable to let the PC know it is there in the circuit. This may be true even if the DAC has its own power. Hence, there may still be a potential ground loop issue, though possibly not as much as with USB powered DACS. But, good DAC engineering hopefully should eliminate the possibility.
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Hi @amirm. I got an idea the other day for a potential source of USB cable differences to test, but I don't have any equipment. The SMSL Sanskrit 6th that I bought cut corners in not providing a cable that includes a really cheap ferrite bead (choke), while any other audio equipment I have bought has had a ferrite bead/choke (even outside of the audio world it's quite unusual for cables not to have a ferrite bead). I have since exchanged the cable of my Sanskrit with the one Fiio included in my K5 and I didn't need since I don't have a docking DAC. Any differences the ferrite bead produces may be quite minor, but you may be the First one to demonstrate them if you measure them
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Maybe your SMSL Sanskrit is the only unit that passes EMC testing without an external ferrite bead i.e. the opposite of cutting corners!
Sometimes the only way a piece of equipment can pass EMC tests is if the manufacturer agrees to supply a cable with a ferrite bead...
For example, here is an extract from an article on how to pass EMC testing:
So a compact unit ends up with a huge, ugly ferrite in the cable.
dsivier
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new here ! i think nice place for my hobby, as new i want to contrib with my test on USB cables,
I tested two, one is 1meter, the second is 30cm.
Results are:
- the 1m cable allow to connect devices from 0 to 1m that is not possible with the 30cm cable that allow ONLY distance from 0 to 30cm.
- both configuration are affected by the same problem Don wrote above, disconnecting the cable sound disappear, i can add that is not relevant what side is disconnected.
i hope can help!
OP
- Thread Starter
- #46
Welcome to forum! You read my mind about testing chokes on cables. I plan to do that test as well as wrapping cables with aluminum foil!
Dismayed
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Catching up on many of the interesting topics covered here before I joined!
Has anyone tested effect on sound imparted by the color of the insulating jacket? Blue cables sound cool, and red cables sound warm. (Just kidding - though I'd likely find something claiming this on some audiophile forums).
Has anyone tested effect on sound imparted by the color of the insulating jacket? Blue cables sound cool, and red cables sound warm. (Just kidding - though I'd likely find something claiming this on some audiophile forums).
OP
- Thread Starter
- #48
You say that but I remember an article someone wrote with exactly those impressions for a SATA (hard disk) cable or was it Ethernet? Gray sounded cold and red nice and warm. Or something like that.
Dismayed
Senior Member
You say that but I remember an article someone wrote with exactly those impressions for a SATA (hard disk) cable or was it Ethernet? Gray sounded cold and red nice and warm. Or something like that.
There are people with crazy beliefs out there!
OP
- Thread Starter
- #50
I should add that the reason manufacturers add those ferrite cores is to pass conducted emissions tests (the wire acting like an antenna). FCC in us though only cares about 450 Khz as the lowest frequency and CISPR in goes down to 150 Khz. As such, all of these ferrite cores are designed to work at much higher frequencies than audio. Here is an example filter response from one of these:
We see that the peak is around 1,000,000 Hertz. At the far left at 100,000 Hz, there is next to little impedance/hence attenuation.
We see that the peak is around 1,000,000 Hertz. At the far left at 100,000 Hz, there is next to little impedance/hence attenuation.
CuteStudio
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Great thread, the idea of just using an adapter is genius!!
Just blown £1.86 on a MaleUSB to MaleMiniUSB to hook my Phiree adapter to my Raspberry Pi - no more having to deal with a USB wire lying about all over the place. This will tidy up my bookshelf cabinet no end, plus it frees up the cable for my digital camera again - so it's a Win-Win.
Yay!
Just blown £1.86 on a MaleUSB to MaleMiniUSB to hook my Phiree adapter to my Raspberry Pi - no more having to deal with a USB wire lying about all over the place. This will tidy up my bookshelf cabinet no end, plus it frees up the cable for my digital camera again - so it's a Win-Win.
Yay!
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You're right, that sounds like the most likely reason. I can report back that I just received a Topping D30 today and the USB cable doesn't have a ferrite bead either, but I wouldn't dare think that it was a cost cutting measure, Oh my... I'm amazed how the USB cable in that unit is of great quality, feels better than any other USB cable I've got. So, I'm guessing it passes emissions tests without the choke.
Jimster480
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yes the cables that come with topping devices are quite nice! Too bad they are too short for me to use
I use inferior cables that I'm sure cause so much jitter xD
mshenay
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I can contribute some subjective input to this!
You wanna know how they sound? The same, frankly I don't buy into the digital cable madness. It is nice to see some concrete proof for the shorter the better.
Non the less, the bulk of my content for this upcoming review is durability. I've had more issues with connectors like these failing over time than anything
You wanna know how they sound? The same, frankly I don't buy into the digital cable madness. It is nice to see some concrete proof for the shorter the better.
Non the less, the bulk of my content for this upcoming review is durability. I've had more issues with connectors like these failing over time than anything
Jimster480
Major Contributor
The best cables are the ones with good connectors that are the right length
Hello
Pretty interesting thread. I joined the forum just to leave a comment here
As i understand ALL dacs used in this test are powered though USB, correct?
I would love to see this tested on DACs that is not using USB power that would mean that the signal over the USB line is pure USB data and no 5V messing around
Pretty interesting thread. I joined the forum just to leave a comment here
As i understand ALL dacs used in this test are powered though USB, correct?
I would love to see this tested on DACs that is not using USB power that would mean that the signal over the USB line is pure USB data and no 5V messing around
Veri
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If it's no big deal at all with data+5V unless a cable is horribly out of spec, what makes you think there will be a difference with data alone? It should still not matter. There's some blogs by archimago on the matter as well.
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The bits can get lost, or confuse their order on the journey.
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