USB cable recommendation

soix

I’m not dismissing anyone’s experience, and I’m certainly not claiming that my view is the only one that matters. What I am saying is that claims about USB cables affecting tone, detail, or presentation need more than subjective impressions to be accepted as universal truths.  
My position isn’t based on “theory” it’s based on how USB transmission actually works: packet‑based data, error correction, retries, and the DAC’s own internal clocking. A properly shielded, properly constructed USB cable that meets spec will deliver bit‑perfect data. Any audible differences would need to be demonstrated through measurements or controlled listening tests.  
I fully accept that people hear differences in their own systems. But subjective impressions, especially in sighted conditions, are influenced by expectation, memory limitations, and system variables. That’s why blind testing and measurements exist — not to invalidate anyone’s experience, but to separate what’s reliably repeatable from what’s personal.  
I’m not telling anyone not to try cables. I’m simply encouraging people to pause before spending hundreds or thousands on products whose claimed benefits aren’t supported by published data, blind tests, or engineering principles.  
My intention here is to promote informed decision‑making, not to dismiss anyone’s enjoyment. If someone tries a cable and loves it, that’s great. But people should also know that the engineering behind USB audio doesn’t support many of the marketing claims being made.  
I hope you will at least accept this premise.

@audphile1 

You’ve made it clear you’re not interested in dialogue, only in asserting that your hearing and your system are the final authority. That’s fine, but it’s not an argument.  

You’ve dismissed measurements, dismissed blind testing, dismissed engineering, dismissed peer‑reviewed evidence, and dismissed anyone who doesn’t hear what you claim to hear. That leaves only one variable: your personal impressions.  

Personal impressions are valid for the person experiencing them, but they’re not transferable, not verifiable, and not evidence of universal truth.  

You’ve asked me to “prove” that expensive USB cables don’t change tone, detail, or presentation. But that’s not how evidence works. The burden of proof lies with the party making the extraordinary claim, in this case, that a digital packet interface can impart “naturalness”, “analytical presentation”, or “more detail”.  

If those claims are true, they should be demonstrable through measurements, blind testing, or published data. If they can’t be demonstrated, then they remain personal impressions, not universal facts.  

I’m not here to convert you. I’m here to point out that engineering, digital protocol design, and controlled testing all align on one side of this discussion and personal belief sits on the other.  
I’ll leave it there. Enjoy your system

@audphile1

You’ve offered a lot of opinions about ASR, Amir, “minions”, and the price of other people’s DACs, but none of that actually addresses the technical question at hand.  

If a USB cable truly changes tone, detail, or presentation, then those changes must originate at the DAC output. That’s the only place they can become audible. And if the DAC output changes, it can be measured. If it can’t be measured, then the claim remains subjective,.  

Dismissing measurements, dismissing blind testing, and dismissing engineering doesn’t strengthen your argument — it just removes the tools that would allow your claims to be verified.  

I’m not basing my view on the price of anyone’s equipment. I’m basing it on how USB audio transmission actually works: packet‑based data, error correction, retries, and the DAC’s own internal clocking. If you have evidence that contradicts that, you know, measurements, controlled tests, or published data, I’m genuinely open to reading it.  

But personal impressions, especially in sighted conditions, aren’t a substitute for evidence. Confidence in what we hear is not the same as proof of what is happening.  

When you have something more concrete than insults toward ASR or assumptions about other people’s systems, I’ll be glad to continue the dialogue but something tells me that discussion is not what you want. 

@audphile1

Digital signal that traverses via USB is encapsulated in an anslog signal and is represented as voltage fluctuations. USB is made of some sort of alloy, be it copper or silver, the only method to exchange data is voltage fluctuations.

Just recieved a sense check from an ex Sony colleague who was involved in the development of the Sony SCD1 at Kita Kanto, he now lives near Kosai and is retired but still as sharp as a tack!

"Hi G San

The poster is confusing the physical layer of USB with the audio domain. Yes, USB uses voltage transitions to represent 1s and 0s but that does not make the audio signal analog and it does not give the cable the ability to change tone, detail, warmth, air, or anything else.

As you correctly pointed out in your email G san, Voltage transitions carry data, not music. The DAC does not reconstruct audio from the shape of the voltage waveform on the USB cable. It reconstructs audio from decoded packets after error checking, buffering, packet reassembly, reclocking,  jitter isolation and power isolation.

The USB cable never carries a continuous audio waveform. It carries encoded packets. So when someone says USB is analog because it uses voltage fluctuations, they are making the same mistake as saying a hard drive is analog because the bits are stored as magnetic polarity".................

So all that's left to negatively upset the apple cart is Noise, that is easily solved by shielding most decently made still inexpensive cables do this more than adequately, some double or triple shield, recognizing external noise as the only real influence.

ASR or assumptions about other people’s systems,
 

@nubiann Please, as if ASR doesn’t say the same about members in this forum.  

Though your posts are thoughtful they are also in a “USB Recommendation” thread. I know we all want to be saviors at one point or another, but it’s odd when the OP is simply wanting recommendations and members try to argue that there’s no difference is USB cables.

Some will argue, myself included, that there should at least be decorum to respect the OP’s question to avoid derailed threads such as this. Others will differ in opinion so I’ll leave this as “food for thought.”