Does the quality of USB matter?

Yes, everything matters. Don't know why.

Absolutely they matter when used in audio systems, in fact arguably USB cables are more sensitive than SPDIF coax, why do you think it might not matter?

Simon

You can differentiate between two USB cables unsighted?

H

And not just the cable by all accounts. Rob Watts, Chord Hugo designer, has espoused the benefits of using an Olimex USB isolator which provides RF isolation prior to connecting to the Hugo's SD USB input.

There is also currently a bit of buzz on Computer Audiophile for a device by Uptone Audio called Regen, developed by John Swenson of Squeezebox fame. Regen seeks to address noise created by the DAC, whether galvanically isolated or not, as it processes the USB stream.   By regenerating the USB stream using clean power and a low jitter clock, what John calls ‘packet noise’, or bursts of noise caused by the USB receiver processing the packets of data, is minimised.

It seems to work. The first couple of production batches sold out quickly, and the next batch for June shipment is fully subscribed. Mine won’t ship until July.

I doubt it.

I thought it would, however, I have up to now overlooked this. I will investigate further.

Sam, Audioquest have just released something similar i suspect called a jitterbug. About $50

It's more of a passive filter than the active regenerating device that Uptone are producing. I've got my Uptone regen on order. 

Hadn't seen the Audioquest Graeme, but as James says looks more a passive device and meant to be directly inserted into a laptop/computer. The Regen looks like it wants to be inserted as close to, if not directly into the DAC.  At $50 there is no harm in trying the AQ,  but since I run a Squeezebox house I am happy initially trying a solution developed by one of its proponents.

Although as with any of these products results will likely vary based on how noisy the USB source is to start off with. I am not sure where the SB Touch falls into the spectrum here. That being said people seem to be getting varying but unanimously good results from the Regen regardless, and at $175 worth a punt.

Well please post your findings when you get them. Be very interested

By the way where have you ordered them form?

It would certainly matter as distance increases...that's why I switched to SPDIF.  16' is the magical number for USB when they start putting Ferrous on them.

Graeme - ordered direct from the Uptone Audio site.

Need to click on 'Products' then order directly from the product page. 

Sam thanks, definitely report how you find it when it arrives. 

These claims have all been verified by double blind tests, have they?  If so, where?

Or are the snake oil salesmen back in town?

I appreciate blind people often have heightened hearing but using them to compare cables is a little odd. Or are you referring to the procedure for clinical trials? Since a particular cable either sounds better or it doesn't, no symptom diagnostics or placebo effect to evaluate, it's completely irrelevant.

Dac V1 fed by Chord usb silverplus is better than when fed by standard computer usb cables (including one with ferrite chokes) even with both eyes shut. Wider frequency range, better tone, less harshness in the treble and greater definition to voices and instruments. Most importantly no listening fatigue after half an hour or so. Q.E.D.

And I rather like cola so even snake oil has its uses.

Andy

Andy

In my limited experience it does make a difference when connecting a 2012 mac mini to a Naim DAC-V1.

However, I have no idea why and the result was a surprise.  I spent £75 on a Vertere D-Fi usb cable to replace the freebie cable that I had lying around in that box of spare cables that we all have.  The freebie originally came with the first Virgin Media broadband modem that we had - now long since discarded.

With the freebie cable, pure joyous music flows.  With the Vertere cable, my foot stopped tapping and I started to try and analyse the music, the system, my mood, my frustration, anything really to find out what was wrong.  Put the freebie back in and aaahhh, so much better.  Music flowed, mood improved, tight shoulders relaxed, foot tapped.  I repeated this about 5 times over the course of several weeks, contacted the dealer and Vertere, both of whom then tested the Vertere cable to confirm that it was okay.

So there you go.  USB cables made a definite difference in our office system, though why I do not know.

The dealer took the D-Fi cable back and refunded the purchase price.  I still use the freebie cable to this day and the office system keeps on playing beautiful, joyous, foot tapping music.

Best regards, FT

I found a difference in my system between various USB cables and settled on the one i liked the best which turned out to be a Chord Silver Plus. It tells me there is a sensitivity in the system to what's upstream, whether that's the computer itself or the USB cable hence my interest in the Uptone device. Looking forward to getting it and working out for myself whether it does the business.

Sadly i won't be able to verify my results by double blind testing - CBFA 

Please see the below link. It explains why Asynchronous USB is not the be all and end all, why USB cables matter and it explains some solutions.

http://www.computeraudiophile....st428008/#post428008

You can google John Swenson for the man's resume.

Virtually no-one does double blind tests; and those who do may not so them properly anyway.

But here's a test.  Use your normal connection and one you think better.  Over a one month period, get a friend, partner, burglar or whoever to change the cable to another one without your knowing it from time to time at irregular intervals.  Without looking - no cheating allowed - write down which connection you think is being used each day. Repeat over a month at irregular intervals (ie 1 day cable 1, three days cable 2, 5 days cable 1 etc)

Over the month period, get your friend to make a minimum of 10 changes.  At the end of the month see if your success rate is greater than 50%

If it is, you can tell the difference and buy and use the one you prefer.  If you cannot, then don't waste money on a dearer one unless you are just trying to impress someone (with your profligacy!!)

I look forward to seeing some results posted some time, though I'm not holding my breathe

I prefer triple blind.

JSH

I think this misses the point. Some changes you make to a system are minor, one example is feeding WAV instead of FLAC to my streamer. Now I don't think i would have been able to detect the difference in anything other than a direct A/B test. I'm pretty sure i would not be able to pick up which is whcih in the scenario you mention above.

you could argue that if the change is so minor then it is not worth making the change, but if you make plenty of minor changes then they will add up to be a big change. Eventually 

To me that post must be confusing to anyone who does understand how isochronous USB asynchronous audio works. There is no more 'pre processing' of the data frames over the twisted serial pairs than the frames used in SPDIF or Ethernet etc. The pre processing  really is about encoding binary data as analogue voltages for transmission over an analogue transmission line, and is the same method used for SPDIF, and some Ethernet speeds.. Namely Manchester encodings... and these encodings are undertaken by standardised specialist chips.

Now there is a specific negative (IMO) and source of interference with Async audio USB and is unique AFAIK to USB, and that is frame signalling from the receiver to sender is performed by temporarily making the physical twisted pairs unbalanced in a pulse.. This will create electrical noise and cause unwanted side effects in many systems in my opinion.

So I agree USB, like all electrical transmission access types I can think of can produce side effects from the process of performing the transport of data via analogue voltages and from the transmission line medium itself (which is why cables can have an effect)... but it is not specifically unique to USB.

Simon

I don't think anyone would argue that point Wat - USB cables are icing on the cake of an already good system - A fancy USB cable won't fix a broken system.