USB cables and me

Is DoP sent over the wire using the isochronous transfer mode?

It's sent however the drivers send normal audio to the device. The only part of the process that knows about DoP is the software that generates the DoP stream, and the USB controller that interfaces with the DAC. Everything else just sees a 176.4khz (*for DSD64) PCM stream that it should pass unaltered.
 
Last edited:
If the USB cables are made up to spec, regardless of what they cost or the materials they are made of, they will "sound" the same in a given component chain. If there is a difference in sound then one of the cables is out of spec.
I don't know what these cable makers are doing.....but I'll take the cable that makes my music sound better every time. As long as it's reliable and regardless if it is out of spec.
 
I use a USB cable that came with one of my high end canon scanners. Sturdy build and sounds great to me from my laptop to a Topping D30.

IMG_20170827_0815126.jpg


Eric
 
In the configuration used for USB cables....ferrite beads basically form an inductor to block high frequency RFI. There is absolutely no basis that they ruin sound quality.
 
There is a widespread opinion that ferrite chokes on USB cables negatively affect the SQ.

/Shrug

Mine sounds great to me. To the point I don't really feel a need to try anything else atm.
Absolutely on par with the Optical connection, and maybe even a bit better. (My laptop also has optical out)

For the time being I prefer the USB connection with this cable over the optical from a CCA. But not by much at all. And it could of course be Psychoacoustics as well.

It's a pretty black floor this way.

Eric
 
/Shrug

Mine sounds great to me. To the point I don't really feel a need to try anything else atm.
Absolutely on par with the Optical connection, and maybe even a bit better. (My laptop also has optical out)

For the time being I prefer the USB connection with this cable over the optical from a CCA. But not by much at all. And it could of course be Psychoacoustics as well.

It's a pretty black floor this way.

Eric

Well both are getting digital audio in to the DAC....provided there's no strange processing going on you have no control over; the sound will be the same from both.

USB has an advantage of slightly higher format support; the specifications for S/PDIF don't allow sample rates over 96khz. People claim it does...but everything I read strictly lists SPDIF inputs as having a max of 96khz.
 
In the configuration used for USB cables....ferrite beads basically form an inductor to block high frequency RFI. There is absolutely no basis that they ruin sound quality.

The speculation is that ferrite beads affect signal fronts/backs which can lead to jitter. I suspect this is a non-issue with asynchronous mode, but can in theory affect older USB DACs.

I also suspect that it is very hard to produce solid lab results as you can't test just the cable alone. Overall it is a function of computer USB chipset, the cable, DAC USB chipset, how well DAC is implemented, EMI, etc. Just too many variations to cover. The same cable can lead to improvements in one system but have no effect in another. I think $30-$50 on a "good" cable is reasonable insurance you didn't cheap out on an important component after spending a significantly larger amount on the rest of the system.
 
My understanding is, your moving the USB out from where it’s situated on the computer to the end of however long the cable is, so 1s and 0s from the circuit board to 1s and 0s to the end of the cable??
 
This topic seems to always have folks on both extremes but rarely in the middle. I do find that most who claim they can't hear a difference more than likely don't have stereos resolving enough to show a difference in the first place. However, this isn't always true.

I personally, along with a handful of others have done extensive blind testing of many USB cables at a local audio meeting and we all agreed that we heard not only differences, but improvements in sound. This ranged from cables that come stock with printers to $1k+ cables where all the conductors are held separately from each other in a ladder pattern, and everywhere in between. I believe there were 14 cables in total during this test and we eventually pit the very best together and the best we all agreed upon was the AudioQuest Carbon 1m.

There's no reason why any USB cables should sound different from each other, being the digital nature of this cable. But the truth is, they do sound different. Naysayers can cry all they want, crap on threads, ask for lab data, etc. but until they have heard it in a capable system worthy of revealing the differences there's no real point in arguing.
 
There is a widespread opinion that ferrite chokes on USB cables negatively affect the SQ.

We install ferrite bands on signal cables at the jacks inside of cabinets on every new install we do. I may be wrong, but I don’t see how this is possible as ferrite used on cables is only a band around the cable and are not actually “attached” to the cables. They are used to reduce RFI and EMI and they do a good job at it.

:beerchug:
 
We install ferrite bands on signal cables at the jacks inside of cabinets on every new install we do. I may be wrong, but I don’t see how this is possible as ferrite used on cables is only a band around the cable and are not actually “attached” to the cables. They are used to reduce RFI and EMI and they do a good job at it.

:beerchug:

The theory is that the extra inductance they introduces changes the shape of the fronts of the pulses which leads to increased jitter. Asynchronous interfaces should be immune to this so not sure how much truth there is to it.
 
Back
Top Bottom