What is the connection between EMI / RFI and the digital signal in the USB cable? You have already said that you couldn't hear a difference between Toslink and your printer USB cable. Can we all agree that EMI / RFI have no effect on the optical Toslink connection.
Asynchronous USB DAC and USB cable quality
I have converted to PC audio about 2 years ago and enjoying the hobby. I recently upgraded my DAC from a Benchmark DAC1 HDR to a DAC2 HGC mainly to download DSD files. I am now using a 'regular' Belden USB printer cable purchased at Office Depot which sounds great. I have performed A/B comparison between Toslink fiber input and USB input using well recorded Red Book files and could not hear any differences, which I kind of expected.
The reasoning behind this was that whatever jitter is generated by the PC/USB/Toslink cable is re-clocked by the Benchmark DAC which uses asynchronous clocking. However, would I gain anything sonically by purchasing an audio grade USB cable like a Furutech GT2-USB cable? I would need about 10 feet and do not want to pay a load of money (if any benefits). The Furutech would cost about $235 for that length.
The reasoning behind this was that whatever jitter is generated by the PC/USB/Toslink cable is re-clocked by the Benchmark DAC which uses asynchronous clocking. However, would I gain anything sonically by purchasing an audio grade USB cable like a Furutech GT2-USB cable? I would need about 10 feet and do not want to pay a load of money (if any benefits). The Furutech would cost about $235 for that length.