I am 66 years old, I use my ears when judging whether a hi-fi product is interesting to implement in my music-system.
This both in my 2-channel system and in my headphone-system.
I have never looked at measured values,.it is the hifi designerās task during the design workā¦
I listen to the finished result and judge via my ears whether the hi-fi product adds better soundquality or not in my music-systems.
I am known for having music-systems that sound good,.and often give advice to others based on my listening experiences.
Is also quite often hired by others to install and optimize their music-system,.always with good results that are āonlyā based on listeningā¦Not Measurement.
Now To the Topic of the Thread:
These USB-cables in the picture below.
I sent these around to 10 of my hifi-friends.
I did not tell them what they cost individually or my reviews of the cables.
All 10 hi-fi friends individually ranked the USB-cables based on their soundquality in exactly the same order as me.
The interesting thing is,.that all 10 also heard the difference between Vertere 1m and 2m.
Where all 10 thought Vertere 2m was better,.this in how it āheld togetherā the musical flow ".
AND,.the question to you is,what is your opinion about the sound differences between different USB-cablesā¦
AND,.even if you have experienced differences in soundquality between different lengths of the same USB-cable.
My experience with USB cable is rather limited as I only tried two āfancyā cables.
Wireworld Ultraviolet
Tellurium Q Ultra Silver USB
The Wireworld is slightly better than USB cables that came free in the box or Ā£5 to 10 from Amazon. Almost negligible difference.
The Tellurium Q Ultra Silver is also slightly better than the Ultraviolet. An appreciable difference but not night and day.
The conclusion from my EXPERIENCE is the difference between USB cables is small. It is my OPINION that itās not worth it to spend big money on USB cables. Power cords bring the largest difference in my experience, followed by speaker cables and interconnects. USB cable is at the bottom.
Not tested different lengths of the same. From the above Iāve had experience with the Chord C (relatively neutral, flat), Nordost BH (darker and a bit closed in, less detailed), AQ Carbon (bright and edgy/tiring relative to the others). I liked none of these three in particular and ended up using a Chord Indigo.
All of the above tested between a Melco server and a couple of DACs previously, not using a USB A-B connection at present.
USB cables Iāve found to sound quite different and sensitive (noise?), and an easy way to adjust sound presentation depending on oneās system and preference.
I imagine a USB cable being another component with its own electrical parameters in the chain. So it is (or should be) tested for compliance to the USB spec. However it seems there is another factor that is not defined clearly, a form of unwanted modulation (noise) as far as the DAC process is concerned.
If we assume this to be correct then this noise would be affected or shaped differently by-
cable design (geometry, materials and lengthsā¦) that affect electrical parameters
sources like laptops, desktops, storage drives, etc (hardware and software)
EMI environment
DAC design- ability to minimise the unwanted effects
Other stuff?
I use the DAC-V1 USB. It is sensitive to 1. & 2. It is very positively responsive to a ācleanā USB feed IME.
Iāve noticed marginal difference in USB cables with lower end DACs. The higher end ones seem to better isolate from the effects of EMI.
The difference is far less than than that made by the USB protocol itself. For example, the contrast between standard audio ASIO USB versus newer Bulk Pet USB is very pronounced. Moreso than any cable difference Iāve heard.
I use a Chord C Stream USB cable 1.5m between my Melco and Moon Amp (on-board DAC). I read somewhere that 1.5m was the optimum length for USB cables.
I tried a cheap Lindy Red/Black before that - around Ā£5. It was OK but clearly inferior to the Chord in every way. Iāve never been tempted to try anything fancier than the Chord C stream. It is based on the previous Chord Silver Plus, in fact Chord say it is an improved version of it. The Silver Plus was a very highly regarded cable that competed easily with very much more expensive ones. At least one H-Fi magazine had it as their reference cable.
In a review against the Chord Epic, which is much more expensive, the general conclusion was that the Epic really wasnāt much better and in some ways maybe not as good. It can happen like that sometimes. A manufacturer produces a superb entry-level product that really overshadows all their other products until you start paying very silly money.
just waiting for an atlas solid core cable to be delivered to compare to the stock ne supplied by ifi with my dacā¦ the only reason being as the supplied one was very shortā¦
May I ask how does the Wireworld Platinum 7 sound next to the other USB cables? Initially I was looking to get a used WW Platinum 7 but since no one was selling, I bought the Tellurium Q instead.
It isnāt, unless best last, as the 2m Vertere was rated higher than the 1m.
It would also be interesting to know if comparisons were done by the rapid āTune Demā approach of following a tune, or on extended listening, or if different people assessed differently.
I succumbed to the temptation. Settled with the Wireworld Platinum Starlight 8 USB. Will be getting it next week. I should be able to compare it with the current Tellurium Q Ultra Silver USB in my system by end of next week.
Same experience. The plug of the Wireworld that goes into components is always a loose fit, hanging at an angle albeit just slight.
The main reason I considered the Silver Electra was the Electra 7 which I currently own actually sounded better than the Acrolink cord which costs 15 times more when used on the Luxman DAC. The Acrolink sounds better on the Chord DAC.
Short update. I installed the Wireworld Platinum Starlight 8 yesterday and didnāt hear any noticeable difference. I tried to convince myself that the cable might need more time to complete the burn-in but wasnāt expecting any miracles.
Just today, I spent some time listening to familiar music. Iām stunned. Trying to avoid being long-winded, this cable now sounds quite different, quite a bit better than the old Tellurium Q Ultra Silver USB. I listened to more familiar tracks and figured out there isnāt any need to swap and compare the cables anymore to hear for differences.
Improvements include improved clarity and detail across the frequency spectrum, reduced background noise, reduced smearing of notes and more defined bass and midbass. Itās just an overall cleaner and more refined presentation and a higher quality sound reproduction. The tone of instruments sound slightly different and music just sounds right. I find myself shaking my head in disbelief and at the same time tapping my foot to the beat when listening to familiar music which showed improved refinement and sophistication. And itās just a USB cable which I didnāt put too much high hopes earlier.
Make no mistake, at this level itās the small differences that count. I donāt claim the difference to be earth shattering night and day. The previous cable is decent but this new USB has really taken things up a notch of two. The differences in this case improvements are clear to the ears. I am now a believer.
I would like to thank the gentleman who recommended this WW Platinum Starlight 8 on another thread. Itās a good cable and I now highly recommend it. Iām not sure if the sound will improve further as the cable currently has about 20 hours on it.
One of my rare entrances here 
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Now To the Topic of the Thread:
