Currently trialling an Aurender N100 I decided to compare the only two USB cables with suitable connectors that I had in my house a £750 Chord Sarum Tuned ARAY and a Canon printer cable.
I have never compared USB cables before being innately sceptical about differences between digital cables generally but I was truly shocked - the sound using the Chord Sarum was better in every way - open, detailed and lively whilst the sound using the printer cable was flat and lifeless.
Now I have no idea why the Sarum sounds better and it doesn't mean that I will splash out £750 on a USB cable but I will now have to try some other options. Hopefully at least one of them will prove to be as good as/close to the Sarum at a fraction of the cost....
EDIT: I've read positive comments about the Chord Silver Plus (about £55) and, of course, the TotalDac cable (bit expensive - €360) - any others I should try?
I have never compared USB cables before being innately sceptical about differences between digital cables generally but I was truly shocked - the sound using the Chord Sarum was better in every way - open, detailed and lively whilst the sound using the printer cable was flat and lifeless.
Now I have no idea why the Sarum sounds better and it doesn't mean that I will splash out £750 on a USB cable but I will now have to try some other options. Hopefully at least one of them will prove to be as good as/close to the Sarum at a fraction of the cost....
EDIT: I've read positive comments about the Chord Silver Plus (about £55) and, of course, the TotalDac cable (bit expensive - €360) - any others I should try?
IMac macOS 10.15.3 (no link to Devialet 
) / MacBook Pro Retina OS X 10.14.4 / Linn LP12 / Devialet 200 / Wilson Benesch Discovery.
) / MacBook Pro Retina OS X 10.14.4 / Linn LP12 / Devialet 200 / Wilson Benesch Discovery. Qobuz Desktop Latest Version / Audirvana 3.2.18 / Audirvana Remote / iTunes 12.9 / AIR 3.0.4 / Wi-Fi / FW 8.1.0 / SAM 50%
Cambridge, UK (Updated 27th February, 2020)
