Or a perfect attempt at ignorance on my part. I thought you were comparing USB to USB. My bad.
So which one have you chosen for primary listening until they must be returned? It is odd not being sure if you got the stealth T or the T select.
I had a quick round of golf this morning on a cold and breezy morning. No complaints, and I was happy I could play golf in winter. I can only handle a couple of 10 hours+ analytical listening sessions. Golf is therapy.
My wife absolutely loves Stealth T (or T-select). Every time I switched to other cables; she did not like the sound as much (this was without even telling her I switched). She loves the additive midrange on voices! I did not have the heart to tell her I had already bought a different cable. Shunyata Omega better be a stellar cable, otherwise I am in trouble.
I need to return them by March 2nd, So, Sigma will stay in for the remaining days (I wish). That way it is easier to compare it to Omega whenever it arrives.
Personally, I can live with Sigma happily, it has a similar sound to AQ Dragon in fact. But If I want to play vocals for a day, I will put Stealth T-select in.
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I am very sure the USB cable I reviewed is a Stealth T-select, not T. First, the T Ring has āSelectā printed on it, so why would it not be it? Second, the loaner fee was based on list price of $2,100 which is the price for 2M T-select (even though the packing list says its T) . It is more likely the guy at CC warehouse put on the wrong tag. The cable sounds at a level that matches Sigma too.
Today, I listen to instrumental only, and the Sigma does have a lower noise floor than both Stealths. The sound is cleaner and smoother.
It seems difficult for you to find out which one you are preferring, until the Omega will be there.
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Hopefully alpha it is cleaner without losing definition. I ended up losing toe tapping on the Inakustik Referenz USB with tuning ring. Though Tuning ring was quieter it was suppressing mids. Maybe i should try tuning ring at 1/3 lengths point?
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Letās hope the Omega is a clear winner so everyone is happy in the house.
Speaking of tuning rings, last night I tried a 1ā 3M 7050 tuning ring on the Stealth Base cable to see if it could duplicate what the T=select does. It cut down the harshness quite a bit, and the cable clearly sounded better. However, the mid-range magic did not appear. There are some secret sauces in that little round box that makes the T ring special. Oh, the ring is a bit closer to B end this time. Interestingly, it took a longer time than T ring to find the best location too.
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dchang,
How easy it is for the tuning ring on the stealth to be knock out of place once you set it in place? Thanks!
Whe I took off the Inakustik Referenz Tuning Ring the Frequency Response Curve of my Room at the listening positions with binaural earphone microphones did change. The highs and mids got hotter and les flat with the Bacch DSP analysis function. . It would be interesting to compare Frequency Response on a bunch of high end USB cables. There is clearly more than ones and zero differences in digital cables
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The ring is very secure, I moved the cable in and out a few times and it didnāt change location. Itās a good design!
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It is always good to know the measurement confirms what we hear. Armir needs to get a Bacch. Well, I am not too sure about that.
The best USB cable Iāve ever tried was Black Cat Tron. Compared it to Diamond, top-of-the-line Shunyata, Synergistic Research, and Curios. Black Cat was always The King. Unfortunately, Black Cat founder passed away the previous year and these cables arenāt in production now.
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There is no question how much I valued cables. They made a major impact on my system. But among all types of cables, I feel the ethernet cable seems to be making the least impact. Granted, I have not tried ultra-expensive ones, but among the three I tried: Pangea SE, Supra Cat.8, and Inakustik Reference, there was little difference in SQ (I liked Inakustik the best and Pangea the least if you want to know).
One reason could be that I use a SoTM Cat8 Isolator and a short piece of their Cat 8 at the streamer end. The isolator may have eliminated substantial difference among the cables connecting to it.
When I bought the LHY-SW8 switch, I needed an extra ethernet cable. I found this:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803738022182.html
I have to say this silver cable (twisted version) made a noticeable improvement. I liked it so much that I moved it to the front of the isolator (connecting to the streamer). What I heard was a beautiful sound that only silver conductor could produce.
I still think ethernet makes less difference than other cables. So, my search will end with this one.
then you need to try Audioquest Diamond sometime. One of the best silver ethernetās Iāve ever heard. If weāre speaking about cheaper - than Curious Cables.
I may as well wait for their Dragon then. I like Dragon power cords and I2S a lot. But I will probably do other upgrades first before I get to ethernet.
Has anyone else had a great ethernet cable experience? I hope my assessment was right of course, that would have saved some money. Seriously, the $200 ethernet silver cable is a killer. The SoTM Cat8 cable is over $1k and it is taking a back seat to my ānew favoriteā. 
Canāt wait for your Omega, Donald.
I noticed it comes no shorter than 1,5 meter long. IME USB and Ethernet cables, like power cords, sound better when shorter.
After having discussed with a few cable manufacturers itās quite a controversial theory: some tend to consider 1 meter the minimum length for USB while admit to prefer shorter Ethernet cables, other experts exactly the opposite. Iām referring to Sablon vs PinkFaun. While AudioQuest products go for 0,75 and even 0,5 meters.
Curious to know whatās the opinion about USB/Ethernet cable lengths from the members of this forum.
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Shunyata top digital cables all have their TAP/C filter(s) attached which may require certain spacing, and they all come in 1.5 M min. length. But I have heard USB should be as short as possible from users in other forums.
Sometime ago when I purchased AQ Firebird48 HDMI from PSA I was told to use as short as possible (including AQ PC by the way). Galen from Iconoclast has said ethernet cable should not be shorter than 1M (something to do with reflection). I therefore replaced a .75M Supra cat8 with a 1.5M Supra, and the sound was smoother.
Different manufacturers have various designs, so I donāt know if there is a consensus on this subject.
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Just to report what I experienced in my system:
- AQ Dragon PCs, shorter sounds better (a lot)
- AQ Dragon HDMI, shorter sounds better (a lot)
- AQ Dragon XLR, shorter sounds better
- Iconoclast UPOCC, no differences (soon Iāll try 27ā and it would be a challenge!)
- AQ Diamond USB, no differences
- AQ Diamond Ethernet, shorter sounds better (very subtle)
- Intona USB, shorter sounds better (subtle)
- PinkFaun USB, shorter sounds better (even if Jord recommends never shorter than 1 meter I liked more the 0,5 meter)
Thatās what I had the opportunity to test comparing the same cable in different lengths.
Having said that, I tend to prefer shorter cables sound wise based on a few tests I made, rules a part and technical reasons a part, letting my ears judging. And avoiding spaghetti mess behind my rack when possible.
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I am certainly not an expert on this issue, but most of the informed comments Iāve seen online suggest that 75 ohm digital cables should be at least 1.5 meters long to prevent reflections (as dchang05 discussed above). Apparently these reflections produce jitter that can affect the components on the downstream side of the transmission. Iāve read mixed opinions about the ideal length for other digital cables, such as USB, HDMI, and Ethernet.
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