Wow someone is up on their soapbox, I asked a question, I am here to learn.
Though the focus is on PC and I will not use a PC in my audio chain as they lack shielding and introduce noise. I like a well built cable as opposed to the cheap crap from Amazon.
Can there be an audible difference with proper implementation. I do think so and this will be more evident in well engineered higher end equipment not the stuff from AMZ or AEX. Not saying anyone is wrong just that your mileage may vary.
Yes I did a little research (alibet very little) and lot's of cutting and pasting. Enjoy there is some really good information here in my opinion and supports some of the posting in this subject.
Now to @tvrgeek point these people point out here: EDN (2012).
Here in this article EDN claims that Colcking is the major hurdle for quality audio over USB:
https://www.edn.com/select-your-usb-audio-mcu-with-care-scary-stories-from-the-test-bench/
https://www.edn.com/usb-audio-simplified/
USB is a versatile interface that provides many ways to propagate and control digital audio; however, it is important for the industry to follow a standardized mechanism for transporting audio over USB to secure interoperability, which has been the cornerstone for the adoption of USB. To respond to this fundamental request, the USB organization has developed the Audio Devices Class, which defines a very robust standardized mechanism for transporting audio over USB. The USB audio class specification is available to the public from the USB Implementers Forum (www.usb.org).
One of the major issues with streaming audio over USB is the synchronization of data streams from the host (source) to the device (sink); this has been addressed by developing a robust synchronization scheme on “isochronous transfers,” which has been incorporated into the USB specification.
https://www.edn.com/can-you-hear-the-difference/
Now, I can understand not buying the cheapest of USB cables, but I'd do that for reliability, not audio quality.
Don't fool yourself. Paying $695 for a USB cable will not get you better audio. You will get the same audio quality from a $6.95 cable. The audio quality is a function of the original encoding, the decoding, the analog signal processing and amplifier, and the speaker. Go ahead, prove me wrong. Get yourself a top-of-the-line audio analyzer and show me the difference in audio quality between cables that carry digital signals.
Take a look at the linked page above. Be sure to read the comments over there as well, and then tell us what you think.
https://www.edn.com/fundamentals-of-usb-audio/
Found this and calls out some hardware limitations in Audio/Music transmissions (2013) and that clocking can be the issue?
https://www.edn.com/usb-audio-asynchronous-is-the-only-choice-for-compromise-free-audio/
“…understanding of audio may have passed the current generation of microcontroller suppliers by, resulting in a generally rather poor standard of audio replay. This may be down to a tendency for pure-play MCU companies to treat audio as just another data interface format… Some of the methods proposed and implemented for generating the audio master clock… have no place in a high-quality audio product”
On one thing, however, we do see eye to eye: the article concludes with the advice 'look for a vendor team that clearly knows what it's doing in the audio field.' With that, we couldn't agree more!