Amazing USB & AES cable recommendation

[markush]

For all using a AES or USB connection in their Devialet setup there is a great finding I have come across. i tested a bunch of cables over the years and ended up with the Audioquest Diamond which was performing nicely. That changed when I tried out the Network Acoustics Muon2 cables. Wow, what a noticeable improvement. So if you are up for tweaking your system or get a chance of trying them, you will be amazed.

[daniel.avasilichioaei]

What exactly do you mean when you say "noticeable improvement"? Can you elaborate?
Did you do any measurements at the output of the amplifier to highlight the differences?

[Pim]

What exactly do you mean when you say "noticeable improvement"? Can you elaborate?
Did you do any measurements at the output of the amplifier to highlight the differences?

I agree 'a noticeable improvement' is a statement that means absolutely nothing without elaboration but measurements don't show every noticeable improvement. For example, how does one measure soundstage?

[daniel.avasilichioaei]

The measurements can show at least one thing: whether or not there is any difference, which is very important. How exactly you interpret the difference, whether it's good or bad, that's another thing.

However, how would you describe the difference you hear (that "noticeable improvement")? More clarity, better separation of instruments, something else?...

I'm asking you because over time I've tried many types of changes in my system, and with those in the digital area (such as the cables you're talking about) I couldn't distinguish any differences.
Sometimes it seemed to me that I heard very small differences, which required a lot of attention to be heard (and most likely were the result of my imagination), but I never heard "noticeable" differences (good or bad).
From this point of view, the cables you are talking about seem to be something exceptional and should be tried, if they produce easily noticeable differences.

[markush]

Well measuring less noise in the digital chain is a very tricky challenge and as far as I know still a topic that some like Alpha Audio in their test try to do but that is still far away from meeting the overall perception of an experienced listener.
Sorry for being not more precise when just writing "a noticeable improvement". The reason why I was writing this thread was by far not to just write about a small or minor tweak rather than the excitement I experienced when changing the cable.

Compared to the Audioquest Diamond the Network Acoustics Muon2 just improved every single area. Starting from bass which was now much more differentiated into the various levels and nuances up the fullness and authority (that was astonishing as the AQ Diamond is known for providing a very good performance in that aspect already). Then separation of instruments and voices was so much better that I thought that was like a component upgrade. Also focus, clarity improved and good recordings sounded so on point like never before. What was not just an improvement rather than a completely new experience was how much more "natural / analog" the sound was as well as a never heard 3D / holographic and depth to the sound that was absolutely exciting.
Decay and other elements also were so fluent and natural that I kept listening to nearly all my favorite tracks as I was so eager to see how they sounded.

Though there was also something that somewhat made me wondering. How on earth did I miss that over the years. I have a 440 Pro CI and invested very much in a setup with other components like Audioquest Thunderbird BiWire Combo as loudspeaker cables, AQ Niagara 5000 with AQ Dragon HC and HQ Hurricane for the Devialet monos and much more like this. Admittedly that sound quality was quite ok to me before - but just replacing a single cable between the streamer and Devialet enabled me to achieve a completely new level.

So if you get the chance really try it. They also got another exciting product I and many friends very much liked and it's the Muon Pro filter/streaming system. That is related to Ethernet. But nowadays many are using a network setup in their HiFi.

[chrisc]

I changed the AES cable to a Shunyata Cobra

Very small improvement in clarity and detail. Put the original cable (110 ohm with XLR plugs) back just to check, but it was noticeable

[markush]

Great to see you experienced a noticeable difference two by comparing/upgrading the AES cable.
The extend of difference experienced will also depend on the source/streamer used as well as the power supply of both - source and amp.