A lot of people would just FEEL it’s sounding better because they paid $2K, it’s called Placebo effect and it’s HUGE in audio and one MAJOR reason this industry is dying! We must get out of this funny business…
That’s why ALL of these exotic cables sell for fraction of their original price used. Even Paul has admitted the issue of exaggerated nonsense and snake oil in Audiophile industry, that’s why I like PS Audio, no nonsense!
Stop commenting? LOL. You are definitely younger than me!
If I paid for $2000 for something that did nothing I would “feel” better returning it and getting my money back…
By the same token, there are plenty of people that accuse PS Audio products of being snake oil as well because they substitute measurements for listening.
Well, the first thing you need to understand is that the USB cable is indeed passing digital information back and forth, but, it is using an analog system to do it. It’s not a digital signal at all. It is an analog signal that is interpreted by the USB PHY and then passed along internally as zeroes and ones.
Why is that important? Because the USB PHY is affected by the quality of the power and signals it receives. The more out of spec the USB signal is and the more electrical noise that it receives, the more noise the USB PHY passes on to the internals of the DAC or whatever else it is plugged into.
So yes, different cables are going to have different effects on the receiving USB PHY and each will probably sound different based on those different effects.I am still not going to spend $2K on a USB cable…
It’s funny when people talk about diminishing returns on cables. If you can’t afford a $3million dollar home, you probably think it’s a waste of money. Just sayin’, if I think a $2000 cable is an upgrade, I don’t need anyone to confirm what I hear.
I think this thread has yet become one more snake oil bull s$&@ threads.
The purpose of the thread was not to invite views on that - it was to invite views on usb cables people have enjoyed. If you haven’t enjoyed a usb cable, instead of rabitting on and providing no additional data points it’s best that you go and create your own thread and talk about it.
I will be hearing a $700 usb cable from Final Touch Audio and $1300 usb cable that I love from Audience FrontRow.
And @abeiklou - i think youve made your point and no one is buying it here, so pls take your evangelizing and go where its believed.
Cables are always available for less if you are prepared to do some hunting. For the most part I use a Siltech loom. No I’m not made of money and I still have my wife of 30 years. I’m good at finding deals. I paid nowhere close to the MSRP of $1000 for my Classic Universal USB. And yes it sounds good. I’ve had it for two years and have not been tempted to change the cable. Thecableco has new and used as does Music Direct.
Yeah right, no one who spent $2K on a USB cable would EVER admit they wasted their money. As I said earlier, beliefs like this are killing this industry, it’s not productive to sell nonsense, as most of my younger friends look at this, hear the “cable” and don’t hear ANY difference and then walk away from ANY Audiophile gear, legit or not. You guys continue selling and promoting this to your peril.
In terms of ACTUAL experience with USB cables, I’ve heard and compared personally generic, Chord, and Audioquest Forest and Carbon. There WAS an improvement from generic to ALL of those brands, BUT, the difference between the three was negligible at best. Some songs might have sounded better, more clarity, tighter bass from one to another, but there was no definitive verdict. I kept Audioquest Carbon, as I got a really good deal on it (almost same as forest), and I liked the construction better, but sound wise I would have been OK with ANY of the above. I’ve heard Curious and Shunyata in shows, BUT not back to back with others to see if it makes a diff.
Can we make please discuss USB cables without being insulting?
If you spend $2,000.00 on a USB cable and hear differences worth the money to you, it was an appropriate purchase.
If you do not believe such cables have any value, this is also OK - do not buy one.
Both are equally correct and equally wrong. 
Yes, please!!!
I’d suggest Wireworld but not sure you have to go with their TOL. I use the Wireworld Starlight 8 USB 3.0 and couldn’t be happier. $130 delivered from Amazon for the 1 meter.
this my first post on this forum.i have been reading this back and forth debate on USB cables.very interesting topic.i am a firm believer in good cables as I have spent a ton of money on the digital end of things (to me LPs are a pita) but I do own a newer Rega Planar3 and about 30 LPs.on the digital end a DSD and DMP,also a Aurender N100H server/streamer and about 700 redbooks.in my exrereance better cables make a big diff.Had the N100h hooked to my dac at the time a Simaudio D300v2 with a AQ cinnamon, and I thought it sound pretty good.i have a couple of great shops in Portland Oregon,Stereotypes Audio and Pearl Audio that send me home with cables to try out.put in the Nordost Blue heaven and everything improved,sound stage , more detail in the top end,tighter bass.i thought I was in digital heaven, did not think there could be anymore to gain.then I put in the Nordost Hiemdal and it was night a day better than the Blue heaven.just so mush better.now with the DSD and Aurender it really took another huge jump.when I picked up the DMP (found one down in Cali at Excel Audio} I use another AQ this time a little older Chocolate HDMI I had laying around it sounded pretty damn good.then I picked up a Nordost Hiemdal HDMI , another night an day diff.just picked up a PS Audio p12 for the system, and thats other big diff. with more of everything mentioned above.so to me cables make a big diff.By the way rest of system is PL HP intergrated and Focal 1038be in a separate 12 by 20 two channel room.
I use J Maxwell “data only”, 10in usb cable. Seems to do the trick going N+ to Matrix. Also, Nordost V2 (1m) HDMI (I2S) from Matrix to DSD.
https://www.jmaxwellusb.com/
Interesting - the data only cable does not have the 5v line. I was told by PS Audio that the dac needs a 5v line for it to work. But then again you are going N+ ->Matrix.
I was going to go Innuos Zenith -> DSD
@echoz - yeah, works great for Matrix w/ Farad Super3 LPS (ext supply). I’m in the camp that believes as short of USB cable as possible. Curious believes the same and they can custom build… others have good luck with longer USB cable. It seems to be experiential…
Yesterday we took a good 3 hour listening session at my friends place evaluating Cerious Technologies Graphene Matrix usb. It was brand new cable playing about a week 24/7. So not even close to fully burn in and settling. But I can tell you that I have never heard such openness,clarity and treble detail and tone. Just pure magic if that can be said. I know his system very well and it was a completely different sound than before. All for the better,everything sounded much more coherent and real.
Direct A/B comparisons are impossible because of the way that cable functions.It needs settling time if it is moved,preferably a week,like all CT cables do. I will not go in detail there,but that is how damping works with their cables.
Now I feel very bad and I have to spank myself for ( being cheap ) not ordering that usb while I got two more power cables recently from CT.
My highest recommendation,worth not much obviously,but I do know what to order next.
Is this a one off or special order? I could not see it on the Cerious website.
You have to email him at this point. There’s a contact form on their site.
Brand new model and design . Kind of a special order because it is not listed on their site yet. You can find some info from Audiogon. I suggest to contact Cerious / Robert Gross via email.
People that say USB is digital so you cannot hear it, are perhaps the lucky ones?
that being said, with a great source and cable you can often forgo some of these “boxes” that are all the rage around here now! a good cable will go a long way too.
I had always preferred the AQ Diamond into the DSD before my outboard gear(including a few “boxes” of sorts"). A few years ago I discovered the Cardas “high speed” USB Cable. a seemingly simple but expensive cable. I have tried at least 50 different USB cables with the DSD and thus far this one is my favorite. for that matter, it will most certainly sync!