I Just Got Flamed In The AudioAsylum!

[JimOfOakCreek]

Someone in the PC Audio forum in the Audio Asylum was bragging about how well his $550 USB cable sounded. He posted the review like a sales pitch for Synergy Cables.

While I repect other people's feelings I couldn't resist explaining that the cable conducts packets of data in the form of hi-speed pulses. I also explained that I couldn't understand how that $550 USB cable could have that kind of impact on the sound.

Holy sh*t!!! A Nuclear Word War 3 flame war errupted. Those people in that group take their cables seriously. I got to stay out of that forum!

[Cal Weldon]

Stick with us Jim, we try and snuff out the flame throwers here.

Besides, why do you want to hang out with a bunch of persons that think cables are that important anyway? Especially USB cables. Sheesh.

[paulb]

Yeah, their philosophy is that sound has nothing to do with physics.

[poynton]

How long is a $550 usb cable ?

Must be made of pure unobtainium at that price.

[rdf]

Pfft! Everyone knows LAN cable has a bigger impact on sound. Nothing but Twinax for me!

[7n7is]

Could digital cables have an effect on jitter or S/N that would affect the sound quality?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitter

[SY]

Only if your CD player or DAC doesn't have a clock of its own in it. Here is a list of all the outboard DACs that don't have their own clocks:

[bigwill]

But that's my favourite DAC!

[b-square]

Originally posted by 7n7is
Could digital cables have an effect on jitter or S/N that would affect the sound quality?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitter

If the jitter induced by the USB cable is sufficient to cause errors you have a bad cable. Replace it with another $5 jobbie and move on.

[andy_c]

Originally posted by SY
Only if your CD player or DAC doesn't have a clock of its own in it. Here is a list of all the outboard DACs that don't have their own clocks:

It's a matter of whether the digital cable in question carries timing information or not. For an ethernet cable connecting a Squeezebox, there's no timing information and so the ethernet cable should have no effect if it's not faulty. Data transfer is asynchronous at that point.

USB is a mixed bag, though. I have the E-MU 0404 USB which uses asynchronous USB mode, so I'd expect the USB cable to have no effect. But most USB audio interfaces don't use asynchronous mode. The poster talking about the expensive USB cable was using one of Gordon's USB DACs, and I don't know what USB mode he's using. I didn't have the stomach to go through that thread to find out. That used to be a great forum, but it's been overrun by the usual audiophile suspects.