I have a need for a longer USB cable than the 1.5 meter AudioQuest Carbon that I am using now. I read about the Pangea Premier XL cable on the Audio Advisor web site which uses a different take on USB cable design that sounds promising. They separate the signal and power functions into two separate cables. If your component doesn’t draw its power from the USB cable you leave the power side disconnected. They state that sonic gains are the result. They also maintain that the results are better that upgrading the power cord. I have experienced great results using their XL power cord so I decided to give it a try.
After running it for about 24 hours I’ve got to say this experiment was a big failure. Normally I wouldn’t make a decision this quickly but the sound was so dismal that any sonic gains by running it longer would be pointless. So, back it went.
I remember I tried a Pangea premier SE Ethernet cable and it sounded so dark I had to replace it two days later.
Don’t mention Pangea to Al. Pangea is a little better than patch cord, but I think the sweet spot is WW Platinum S7 USB.
I’ve tried a bunch of sub-$100 Ethernet cables: Audioquest Pearl Cat7, Blue Jeans Cat 5e and 6a, Monoprice Cat 7 and 8, Pangea Premier SE Cat 7. The one I keep going back to after refreshing my sonic memory with the others is always the In-Akustik Referenz Cat 6.
Where did you buy the Inakustik Ref. Cat 6? I heard good things about it from here before, I think.
Deleted. - I realized I was commenting on Ethernet cables when the OP is discussing USB.
There are actually a lot of manufacturers that use that type of design. Sometimes the power is isolated within the same outer jacket and sometimes outside. Wireworld does this, iFi, Triode Wire, even a lot of the cheap ones you find on Amazon and Ebay.
I’ve had a lot of different USB cables, including Pangea, the WW Platinum Starlight 7 and 8 series, AQ Coffee w/DBS, Vodka 48, Curious. The two I’ve had that have stood out among the others I’ve tried, which are all in the sub-$600 range, are the iFi Mercury 3.0 and the Inakustik Reference.
I know a lot of people that really like the Pangea stuff, and I’ve owned lots of their power cords, USB cables and HDMI cables over the years but the only product of theirs I have left is one of their AC14SE power cords and it’s only powering one of my LPS’s. I haven’t liked them at all on components.
@dchang05 I found it on Amazon Germany (amazon.de) but I did misspeak. I purchased the In-Akustik Exzellenz Cat 6 not the Referenz which I believe is Cat 7 and more expensive. I just checked and they have 1 Cat 6 left: it’s a 2M cable listed at Euro70. It appears to be their last one.
Thanks, I found a European site selling the Ref. Cat. 7. I need to make sure I can trust the site first.
I would mention a couple of more mind blowing USB cables, but everyone will just say “Of course it has to sound better, look how much it cost!”