USB printer cable VS USB audiophile grade cable?

Lewinskih01,

True for synchronous older DACs, better USB cable will not contribute to additional jitter from incoming PC. However, the majority of newer DACs like Benchmark DAC2 HGC and probably exaSound which you mentionned, use asynchronous clocking device which get rid of jitter from incoming PC. The audio impact of USB cables is not well that documented IMHO, for these asynchronous DACs which are more recent. The majority of USB cable reviews that I've seen in audio trade magazines are 2-3 years old, and performed on sychronous DACs variety.

So I am suggesting that jitter is not part of the equation here when using asynchronous DACs. The audiophile variety of USB cables are doing something rigth to the incoming streaming data, but at which level exactly?

The audio improvement is very noticeable, very similar to replacing a middle range to top of the line interconnect from same manufacturer line.

Any suggestions?

Hi Al,

I think we are getting somewhere. The overall resistance of the individual cables composing the Furutech USB should far less than the printer cable which are probably run of the mill copper cables with high impurity levels.

The Furutech cables are silver plated OCC conductors for minimal resistance and connectors are 24K gold plated. They also have 3 layer shield construction. They aslo use special damping and isolation materials for best frequency extension and tonal balance.

I'm with you on the pricing aspect of the audiophile grade USB cable pricing. For me, manufacturing a decent USB data cable is somewhat less challenging than building a good quality XLR interconect cable in the analog domain. While I have invested some decent money on my XLR interconnects ($2K), I was not ready to put more than a few hundred bucks on an audiophile grade USB.

I've been using Furutech products (wall plates, connectors, cable,etc.) for a few years with great satisfaction and was surprisingly pleased with my recent USB cable purchase.

Digital audio was less than perfect when it started in the 80's but have come along way since then. It is so convenient to change CDs directly from my seat using Jriver's JRemote. Cymbals are just starting to sound rigth :-)

Extravaganza,

Excuse my question, since English is not my first language, but what is a red flat tasker cable? Where can you purchase such cable? What is the dielectric used in your cable and which USB connector brand did you use to build your cable? Just curious...