Devialet and USB cables

[Antoine]

Trying to convince someone who clearly and repeatedly hears differences between cables is like trying to convince someone who's eating an apple that he's eating a banana. It won't work, you're not bursting any bubbles.

Just be happy that you can't hear a difference, saves you a lot of money. Please don't try to force it on anyone.

PS: most everyone in this hobby knows differences between power cables or most any other cable don't show up in acoustical measurements. They're simply not accurate enough and focus mostly on frequency amplitude response.

[Stigmater]

Dear Antoine, I'm not forcing anything on anyone,
I'm just sharing my experience based on facts that I hear wit my relatively young ears.
All I want is a good discussion on the subject nothing more , for sure not selling to someone my printer cable even though its sound same as 370€ totaldac cable it was only a joke, if someone didn't understood it.

PS. Maybe you should consider Printer USB cable test, just for fun, what do you say ? Maybe do it blind test? The result could surprise you

Trust me , when I did the test I really wanted D1 to sound better.

[Music or sound]

As well you can check following link , it's not in English but looking on pictures there will be enough to understand that some one is doing millions on our audiophile blind religion.
(Basically same as with any other religion , but thats for different forums ).
http://nerds.dk/board/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8393


Sorry for bursting someone's bubble
Don't hate me, I'm in the same boat.

That reminds me to my experience with power cables many years ago. I ordered a 1m Audience PowerKord and got 4m. They refunded me for the difference and told me to just terminate it at 1m. When I did that I discovered that there was just some Mogami cable under that black braid. So be aware of braids and shrink tubing. A good way to hide the real origin of stuff and in my opinion it looks not especially attractive anyhow.
I think Audience does not use Mogami cables anymore. If some cheap cable works great but don't sell it for 10 to 100 times more!

[Rufus McDufus]

Entreq did admit that they use cables off the shelf in a few of their products but enhance them using different plugs, sheathing, ground drain connection etc. I have a feeling a lot of manufacturers do this because surely the cost of actually making a cable must be pretty high? I guess they must do a limited run at an existing cable manufacturer? I can't imagine too many manufacturers having the facilities to draw the cables.
I wonder how many audophile cable sellers test lots of different cables from (say) Alibaba and listen out for the best-sounding ones.

PS I have used printer cables. They make the right noises but for me that extra 'something' does come from a more expensive cable. It's frustrating with this hobby because you can get within 90-95% of good sound with cheap-ish components but that last few percent the cost seems to go up exponentially.

Oh and the Totaldac does look suspiciously like a commodity cable with a box of tricks added!

[completeluxury]

Some companies seem to use other brands end components like crystal cable/nordost use furutech RCA/power plugs.

then others like entreq use other brands cables with their own (hopefully) end connectors.

I wonder how many companies completely use other brands wire and end connectors and just rebrand it as their own

[baconbrain]

I truely believe that cables sound different, but given that I forked out 600 € last week for a usb cable, and after reading the last few comments in this thread, it does somehow give me the incentive to reality check what I am spending my money on and try to trust my ears more than the price tag ...  

[PhilP]

I think I can easily hear differences between power cables in my system and whenever I try alternative cables I usually like them. However, when I go back to the standard cable I'm just as happy without them...

I haven't tried many USB cables but the differences between the Chord Sarum TA USB cable and my Canon USB printer cable would, I think, have been obvious to anyone. Despite this IMO the price of the Chord cable is absurd and unjustifiable on the basis of material content and I personally wouldn't buy one.

The Entreq USB cable split down above is a helpful reminder of the poor value for money offered by many "high-end" "manufacturers and doesn't come as a surprise.

[rwjr44]

I've had the TotalDac D1 USB cable for some time now and really like it but I received an official promotional offer for the Synergistic Research Galileo LE USB Cable ($1995/1 meter length). The price was $995.00 and a Synergistic Precision AC power cord. Since buying the Devialet, I have been selling my excess cables and cords but I still had on Precision AC cord in the house.

I didn't think twice... It is still burning in but so far it is gorgeous . I'll hang on to the TotalDac D1 just in case. Time to sell a few more items   so that I can break even (is there such a thing for audiophiles).

[Duomike]

When i started to use my mac mini as a source i got from a friend a wireworld violet usb cable which is around 50 bucks. Then all my friends got from core audio a usb cable with a separate 5 volt line and a regulator for around 400 bucks. The difference between the cables were really big. The wireworld har bright and edgy highs, porr bass. The core audio cable was in a very different league, smooth and relaxed highs, much better defind bass. I think the usb cable is the most critical cable in a system, probably because it carries not only the data but power as well!

[Womaz]

Ok I am resurrecting this old thread.
I guess I am a bit of a cable skeptic as last year I tried some different speaker cables and could not hear any difference from what I remember, but I admit to still feeling a little intrigued by this subject.
I have now been further intrigued as I have just had an experience with my Headphone cable. I will try and keep this short but over a year ago I bought the HEK headphone and the stock cable at 3m was not long enough so I just bought a cheap replacement cable off ebay from the USA. It was just over £100 from what I remember. I did not bother doing a comparison as the stock cable was too short anyway.
So today I did that comparison and the difference was huge even to these 53 year old ears. The Ela cable off Ebay is way superior and the stock cable is really muffled and cloudy by comparison. The difference is not subtle, it is very noticeable.

So thats got me thinking about this USB cable again. I own the Telleriium Q Blue USB for no other reason than I have used their cables for last 10 years or so. I am now going to buy a cheap AQ Pearl £20 cable to see if I can hear any difference.

Xmas holidays and all this time on my hands