Do Audio USB Cables Matter? Audioquest Carbon USB etc 

2 videos showing that noise interference can be heard and measured through a USB interface: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y5Wc-jqPWUY.html and ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Iu1I8FN2lpE.html

Isn't it analogue only after the dac converts it?surely it reaches the da c though the usb cable as a digital signal? Kind of confusing.

If you want to minimize jitters, the first thing to consider is using hi-end clocks and not changing cables. These studios use standard interface cables to produce music for us, but they use a world class clock which sends signals through a separated cable.

Honest question: I am a keyboardist and a pianist who does home studio recordings of my piano covers. I use a piano VST for a realistic piano sound..and for thatz i connect my synth to my laptop using a USB A to B or simply "a printer-type cable". For years now i have been using a generic $ 2.33 printer cable. With Addictive keys which is ony a 4GB piano VST, i hear no stutters/jitters. But with a heavier piano vst such as Garritan CFX Concert Grand, I hear jitters esp when the software is started for the first time and at times persists throughout my playing session. Then a fellow keyboardist who also uses a laptop with his keyboard rig told me that USB cable matters and that my USB is only 2.0. Then i searched for a ush midi cable on one of my favorite online stores and found this Chroma "audoo optimized" usb A to B cable by DJTech. Bought one for $ 30.32 and it'll arrive anytime this week or next. I am a newbie to this stuff so idk of i got scamm3d or bought into the hype. But i do believe that cable does matter.

I found out that in my system the computers usb itself was the biggest problem instead of room noise, hence difference in the actual cable wasn’t really audible. I tried a bunch of filters and galvanic isolators on the chain with great results. Partially for this reason, I decided to ditch usb altogether and went for an aoip rednet interface. It’s expensive, but it’s a single device chain with ethernet and does its job extremely well without usb’s problems.

No, that's not how "ones and zeroes" work. And digital data do or do not arrive at the destination.

everybody want their printer to sound good 😄

Hi thanks for the video, I just bought a sound for my TV and am using optical cables should I switch to a USB cable will it make much of a difference ?

🙋‍♂️ Sorry to ask such a stupid question, but I bought a roll of non-conductive copper tape last year when I learned that my Rode VideoMic picked up interference in my home office at the suggestion of someone, to wrap around the end of the wire where the connection plugged into my camera. It actually worked and eliminated the electronic interference the line was picking up. So I was wondering, with my other audio cables that I am using in my extremely ‘interference rich environment’ (like the USB-B cable I have connecting my USB DAC to my PC), would I be able to wrap the copper tape around the outside of the cable to manually shield it and isolate electronic / wireless audio interference, or USB hiss, etc.? 🖥 🐍 🔊 If anyone could answer this I would be extremely grateful! Thanks 🙏:)

Even if digital bits are transmitted as analog signals, we set a threshold and decode them as 0 or 1. So, as long as parity check is passed and exact bits are received, why would there be a difference?

Did the Audioquest Carbon replace your Supra USB cable connected to your Chord TT? If so did you notice a difference? Do you still recommend using the Supra Cable over the Audioquest Carbon or vise versa? Many thanks for your excellent reviews.

The difference I did find is some cheap cables shields are not connected to the plug shell ends, no continuity.

For audio, the data transfer speed is much much faster than playback speed. Audio data bandwidth is quite narrow. It's not realtime bit by bit playback. It's all stored in buffer ram.

How to made a test?

USB 2.0 is said to have a max length of 16.5 feet for audio gets compromised. But yet, some people have said to stick with 10Ft? would there be any Audio difference between a 15ft USB 2.0 Cable vs a 10ft when hooked up to a DAC with headphones? Also, USB > Toslink/Optical for 2 channel headphone audio. There's a noticeable difference in quality between the two for Nintendo Switch and even PS5. But it probably isn't a fair comparison since neither console natively supports Toslink/Optical and instead i have to use my OLED TV's optical Port which i'm assuming offers worse quality.

My problem is that occasionally I'd move my laptop and the link from it to my audio interface is broken. Would these higher-end cables solve that? I don't care too much about audio quality as my monitors are JBL LSR308 which already have a constant hiss on the tweeters.

Yes, and YESSsssssss specialy good Shield, same for speaker cable,,,the Shield is the answer. Does'm mather if you have 300' AC extention going to your Dac...the important think is the power OUT from it, so if you have a good AC noise filter just before your Dac then your in business.! there also exist AC shielded cable from prime cable...very good.

I have a MacBook that uses usb c so I was wondering if a usb b to usb c audio cable work on audio interfaces I found one for 16 dollars and I really didn't know if they worked

For the music stored to my hard drives should i buy an audiophile SATA cables? should i buy an audiophile LAN cable for listening music via the internet?

Which ios music app do you recommend for bit-stream to external DACs

Would it be more worth it to spend money on a quality DAC as opposed to a cable?

Have tried various USB cables... from Mac to my DAC. Price range £4 to £45. You definitely can hear a difference. My fav is one from EBAY @ £3.59 from seller - juicebitz a Heavy Duty 4mm OD + 20AWG USB A to Micro B Fast Charger Data Cable Lead - Not sharp sounding, very clean, great resolution and dynamics. In fact the only one out of the six that I have that I can live with! I did blind listening tests to prove it wasn't just placebo effect.

Was this video an out of season April fool's joke?

Im about to buy my 1st decent USB cable. After recently moving from Copper to Silver speaker cables and also upgraded to a good Van Den Hul RCA cable. It was a noticeable improvement in my system. I followed the same principle as in your video.

If you use a cheap cable to transfer music files from one place to another will the sound degrade?

Cables matter, but only if you have a system of a certain level. If you have a cheap system, improperly set up, listening to compressed files, the best cables in the world won’t make a difference.

I think the reason why USB cables make a difference is because of the shared power and data. This is usually negated by a seperate isolated USB board like Schitt uses (Gen 5) or a SPDIF converter which completely isolates the USB in a seperate box and converts the signal to AES/Coaxial or SPDIF like the Hydra Z or EITR. I'm going to be getting an Eitr myself as it's the same Gen 5 USB board used in Schitts lineup for their higher end DACs. Wireworld makes some great cables.

Why not just use optical? My understanding is that optical is digital, so wouldn’t it be superior to USB? Granted USB is on almost every device where as optical isnt

I have a curious cable in the mail to me ..to try out and see if i like it more than my moon silver dragon cable

I can't hear any difference from printer USB Cable VS Audio specific USB cable in term of sound quality improvement, maybe it exists, but my hearing can't tell the difference. However, using a special Audio USB cable makes me able to listen to music longer with headphone compare to a printer USB cable. I don't know things that make the Audio USB cable is less fatiguing, compare to printer USB cable. However, what I can tell you, using Audio USB cable makes me able listen to music through headphone for 1-hour continually, while with printer USB cable makes my ear getting fatigue in 15 minutes listening through a headphone.

Hello bro i have a question hmm its possible to make a cable through usb cable to 6.35 mm cable hmm how to connect the right wire on it?

They matter, but you get diminishing returns rather quickly.

P-l-a-c-e-b-o effect- changing to a expensive USB cable does NOT matter, it will sound the same, what does matter is going from SE to balanced cable for headphones!

Just changed one old cheap usb cable to another old cheap usb cable with "anti-jamming magnetic rings" at each end and at high volumes with nothing playing the noise disappeared. the dac is an aralic vega and the speakers kef ls50, amp reisong a10. they seem to make a difference.

I'm on the fence about this. If I conducted a test myself, it's very possible I could hear a difference. I just wouldn't know if there difference is real or imagined. Did you do the testing blind to eliminate placebo?

My Atlas usb cable sounds far better than the standard one it replaced. Tho only after it burned in. First couple of days it sounded same to me then all of sudden I was thinking this set up sounds so much smoother and lush. Put old cable in at that point to test and yep, sound quality went down big style.

Real time audio and video are sent with no checksum because of low latency requirements. So there is no acknowledgement of data packets, so this is never bit perfect like a file copied on a hard drive. Better cable and contacts will reduce error probability. Also the power part of usb is not stable and create rfi. Those are facts, not opinions. Coax and toslink also come with their own problems, bus my experience is usually better with optical. Like in analog balanced is better than line level.

better off buying an ifi iusb or schiit wyrd. Just buy a nice usb cable.

Ï'w been looking all over youtube and google. And yet, none can actually tell the difference.. it's all talk about this and that.

i also thought its bs until i made a test , for me there was a huge difference in sound quality... how about the cinnamon line , also good? carbon a bit too expensive

Great video, USB cables do make a difference. I can tell the difference between my generic, Wire World and Mapleshade USB cables. The last two being about the same price. I find the Mapleshade to sound the best followed by the generic and lastly the Wire World.

i love the chord usb cable

All of my USB cables sound different in my system.

Dude just taught us all a lesson in equality.

I worked at an audio dealer, I saw the markup on cables, while I agree the cable quality especially RCA cables can make a difference in warmer sound, 800 dollars for a cable was probably wholesale for about 250 dollars. I have some highend RCA cables I got for about 15 dollars with my employee discount that we sold to customers for 90 dollars lol.

This is so true. I tried the mercury cable from ifi and yes cleaner sound. Theres a famous audio reviewer in youtube thats theres no difference but i just think his ears are just not sensitive enough to hear it. Its definitely there and just so noticeable. Im for upgrading cables but just dont go crazy. My limit for usb cables are $200 and if theres a sound difference with $1000 cable, i would go for better dacs as that will result to better sound dramatically.

Cables do make a difference if your system is extremely revealing. If you are hooking a dac up to a receiver than dont bother with expensive cables.

Bravo. Exceptionally convincing argument.

I agree...good quality cables do make a difference that I can hear. Thanks.

So, how is it that USB can reliably transfer my files bit for bit without error from one device to another, but somehow magically fail to transfer data reliably from my computer to my DAC? Boggles the mind.

I use qed performance usb cable. There is a difference. Try using audioquest jitterbug too. The difference will be more obvious.

I think it's easy to hear difference between USB-cables.

My experience tells me there is a difference.

Just 1&0s but this Ferrit-Core at the Cable Ending helps with my Mojo! So the cheapest Kable was the best.

longer cables are more jitter prone and that is verified by science. That being said the difference is so little it probably isnt discernible by the end user

In my 15 years of experience, truly comes down to the quality of the pieces in your set up. The hire and your amplifier DAC and headphones and your studio monitors, The glaringly obvious the quality of the cables that connects all of these become. As someone who has used his’s ears for his sight for most of his life, take it from someone who knows, there is a very big difference. But don’t buy high and cables for low-end gear , you’re just wasting your money. Also he is very correct, don’t go overboard spend carefully, listen carefully, and if you can’t hear the difference send it back LOL Audio is extremely subjective, and we all have different standards of hearing, don’t take anyone else’s word as law only as advice and then prove it to yourself only you know what sounds good to you

@2:10 very missleading. If we are to use this concept then there is no "digital signal" that travels through cables. All signals are inherently analog in that there is a wavelength and the sinus signal travels up and down. That being said this analogue signal is interpreted digitally by the receiving DAC. And your thesis that people will only purchase the cheapest cables if they were equal to expensive cables is also completely wrong. If people think something is better, it will attract buyers in all directions. Psychology plays a big role, and like you said, the look and feel of a cable is also important. That being said, this "analogue signal" that travels through the USB cable is interepreted by the DAC as ones and zeros. Even if there is noise in the signal, this should be separated out by a good dac. Further more, if noise really is a problem, then getting a double conversion UPS should eliminate noise in the power conduit if this indeed is a problem. In the end, you may hear a difference, but when we are speaking of differences, we want to equate whether something is better or not. I think it's hard sell to claim that more expensive cables sound better, even if they sound different.

So eating with a gold spoon will make the food taste better?

It's not that USB cables don't make a difference, they do. It's just that most people can't perceive the differences with their own ears; if they can't perceive the difference they won't invest in it.

You're simplifying this to copper wire and USB connectors themselves somehow capable of 'shaping' an asynchronous stream of 1s and 0s into a different combination of 1s & 0s which is impossible, it's just copper wire, it doesn't even know it's audio data, so how would it know how to shape the audio with less depth or different anything? There's also plenty of evidence out there that 'bit perfect' asynchronous USB transfer of data happens even through the cheapest cables too, so in terms of the 1s and 0s there's no change from PC to your DAC. A 1 or a 0 left the PC and the same 1 or 0 arrived at your DAC to convert to analogue - period! I guess what people notice with cheapo cables is how a cable can introduce audible differences to the DACs circuit itself. ie audible junk ends up being passed/collected along the USB cable from the PC and environment and enters the DACS analogue conversion circuits and is then less noticeable as the more expensive cables are better at filtering this junk out perhaps?

Your audio is not too good for this video. That’s for sure you might want to get a better mic or maybe a better mic cable

Digital cables do not make a difference, a 3 dollar usb will be the same as a 3000 usb cable. Only an analog cable will make a slight difference. HDMI cables prove this!

Lot of preople are tone deaf....No matter what cable or how much they spend on cables - they re not gonna hear a diffrence in their audio sounds..

I know they do make a difference but it’s not huge. Obvious but never huge. Tested USB cables up to $1,750. I do have a high end system. BUT be careful about placebo effect. I have experienced it a few times due to some dumb brain freeze moments. Be very careful about placebo effect even when you keep a neutral mind about things.

It takes years of experience to be able to tell the difference among cables. Most systems do not have the resolving power for a person to tell the difference. But then again, it comes down to how critical you listen for that difference. Some people are just too lazy to care for the difference in sound quality. My take on this is, if you cannot tell the difference, then you just saved yourself some money!

I love the way how you explain that these cables are better, and that if you can't hear anny difference it's either your ears arent as good, your system isn't high end enough. I have listen to it, on very high end setups, and no, makes no difference, and yes, my ears are fine. But heck, we all know you are no going to say a $150+ cable is just as good as a $10 cable. That is the placebo affect in action. If you pay good money for it and you think it is sounding better, good for you, but please don't tell people who say nay they arent up to you're high standards. The first one to give me real scientific proof that such a cable has better performance an can make audio sound measurably better wil have my utmost respect. Strange that no one has ever seemed to achive such a thing, don't you think? Because your hearing/experiance is by deffinition not impartial, you expect it, so it wil be there. Then don't say othere people are wrong when they say nay because you cannot prove annything besides you're own onesided view.

I know that analog cables do make a difference, of course if you have the right components. When I had a CD reader and a DAC, the digital coaxial cable between the two actually made a clear difference. But I cannot get around the fact that a premium USB or Ethernet cable will make a difference, especially with a DAC with a dedicated world clock and buffering both for ethernet and USB data with bidirectional communication and resend capabilities with the source. And yet, when I changed my old 5 mt cat6 generic 3 euros cable with a new cat8 25 euros cable, my ears told me that the difference was there, and was not small. I was not prepared to accept it though, I know it's not ones and zeroes, but the buffering, resend and resync capabilities should take care of everything and the cable should not make a difference. SO I decided that the old cable must have been broken in some way. Next thing I will try is a premium USB cable. I tried the stock basic cable that came with the player and it sounds just great. I want to try an Audioquest or Cardas USB cable. If I hear a difference, I have a problem.

I think you actually have to break the bank and have great audio gear to actually hear a difference. $10 cable vs. $50 is not going to make much difference which vs. a $250 would.

All very true. Nice to see the tide is turning on the pig headed naysayers... Maybe a few of them actually took the time to have a listen!

What a waste of time and money! Pure hallucinations...

I'm not going to great lengths to explain my self here and I've done my own tests and just use either cable given to me at purchase or low-cost ones Now I​ don't believe there are any gains to be had buying better digital cables. And here's why. A USB doesn't carry a signal at least not an audible one so how does it make a difference to the sound? break it down logically and factually. Digital music is sent as USB packets (files) from the computer/streamer down the USB cable to the DAC (only decoded here no sound is carried up to this point!). These are sent in periodic time frames according to the computer's clock, so no waveform (electrical waveform but no audio) so no difference in sound is physically or scientifically achievable (manufacturers know this and if your read the back of the packs the claims don't make sense) at this point the file could be anything it could be drawing for example until its decoded. You can't make what is basically packaged file sound better Do you not see that logic? I've tried many cables blind tested at the dealer and on some really quite expensive gear (chord, naim) to give the cables all the chances in the world and there really is no difference. IF you're hearing a difference it would be down to the quality of the isolation and that's a big IF. Or more likely poor connection. Its really is no different to sending a file between 2 home computers, a DAC is just a computer programmed to do 2-3 things receive, decode and distribute. Whats more important than the USB cable is the DAC your using has an Adaptive chip (no jitter and most are this days) and the icing on the cake is if the input is galvanically isolated. As long as it goes from point A to B with no corruption your fine. I'm sorry I just don't agree with the video.

Two signals both sent from xmtr and to receiver.. Cable A: 11011010 Cable B: 11011010 Explain the physics regarding how one cable would sound "better." String as many bits as you want.. Again, explain the physics..

No difference.

Tonne of BS, from the beginning :/... It's digital; 1 is 1 and 0 is 0. Transmission is good enough or bad. There is no better transmission, good enough is all you need in digital. So, there is no better cable (digital domain), it's good enough or bad, period.

There are things one does not measure , and they are audio things , , but this aint no studio nor need for subjective sound coloring , its a linearity test , Noise test , Digital signal integrity test , that is done with tools , no one has credibility for that ,its like saying I dont need Telescope, i can see Jupiter , well you can , Telescope can do it better . Kind of a good analogy , so you just rejected Telescope and describing everyone how Jupiter looks . That is what you did , Credibility lost

this is funny. this comment section is a salesman's wet dream. some of you people would buy water while you are drowning

Snake oil

USB cables make zero difference. They either work or don't. Now if you want to spend more than $10 for a USB cable for the looks sure go for it. But to say that there is an audible difference between the two is snake oil. I am an electronics engineer. Your ears aren't more accurate than my oscilloscope.

Nonsense, any cable that properly passes the digital signal from xmtr to receiver performs equally, regardless whether it's a $5 or $50,000 cable.

Wow, digital information is analog via USB, give yourself a pay rise. BS baffles brain......

The other day i swapped a Cheap USB cable over to a higher grade USB cable. And guess what? Yep, no difference WHAT SO EVER! Don't believe me? then go try it out for yourself. It's all an absolute load of BS, plain and SIMPLE!

Have tried various USB cables... from Mac to my DAC. Price range £4 to £45. You definitely can hear a difference. My fav is one from EBAY @ £3.59 from seller - juicebitz a Heavy Duty 4mm OD + 20AWG USB A to Micro B Fast Charger Data Cable Lead - Not sharp sounding, very clean, great resolution and dynamics. In fact the only one out of the six that I have that I can live with! I did blind listening tests to prove it wasn't just placebo effect.