What is better: longer Speaker Cables, Longer RCA cables or longer USB cables?

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#21
+1 to what Jan says. USB audio data either works or it doesn't, there's no in-between. Keep your analog cables as short as feasible. You might want to consider an active USB cable or CAT5 extender, or you could also use 2 passive cables with a powered USB hub halfway. https://blog.tripplite.com/usb-cable-max-length

The USB standard lists a maximum length of 3m for USB 1.0 and 5m for USB 2.0 (USB 3.0 is not relevant to audio at this time). In practice this length can be exceeded with a well-made passive cable, but an extender will remove the risk of dropouts.
 
#26
Zung said:
In my system, swapping USB cables makes the most audible difference.
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Of course it does. Manufacturer guarantees 60% sound quality increase. 😉

Something is very wrong with your system or with that cable if changing a short USB cable introduces change in sound. Likely you have ground loops or bad power earth or a lot of environment EMI. In that conditions, better shielded cable could make a difference.

Linked product is exactly an example of ’audiophile’ USB cable that should be avoided. It’s built using microphone cable with straight wires instead of twisted pair for the data transfer. It barely works at 3m length, meaning that it has data loss even at shorter lengths. I know because I bought one 5 m long, and had to cut it short in several attempts, before connected device could be recognized, while dirt cheap 5 m USB cable worked flawlessly. Expensive cable is now in the parts scrap box.

My hearing is OK and my audio system is at least medium resolution, but there is no change in sound from 1 m ‘audiophile’ to 4 m long standard USB cable.
Of course, YMMV, depending on if your system has technical issues or you have strong imagination.
 
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#28
tombo56 said:
Of course it does. Manufacturer guarantees 60% sound quality increase. 😉

Something is very wrong with your system or with that cable if changing a short USB cable introduces change in sound. Likely you have ground loops or bad power earth or a lot of environment EMI. In that conditions, better shielded cable could make a difference.

Linked product is exactly an example of ’audiophile’ USB cable that should be avoided. It’s built using microphone cable with straight wires instead of twisted pair for the data transfer. It barely works at 3m length, meaning that it has data loss even at shorter lengths. I know because I bought one 5 m long, and had to cut it short in several attempts, before connected device could be recognized, while dirt cheap 5 m USB cable worked flawlessly. Expensive cable is now in the parts scrap box.

My hearing is OK and my audio system is at least medium resolution, but there is no change in sound from 1 m ‘audiophile’ to 4 m long standard USB cable.
Of course, YMMV, depending on if your system has technical issues or you have strong imagination.
Click to expand...
I thought it was a requirement for joining the forum to have a strong imagination and ideally be prone to auditory hallucinations 😉

But seriously, these are all arguements for the OP NOT to use a longer USB cable.
 
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#29
batteryman said:
But seriously, these are all arguements for the OP NOT to use a longer USB cable.
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No, not really. If audio system has no major technical issues, 5 m long USB cable that conforms to the USB specification, will work flawlessly. In my case, even 7 m is fine.

There may be unlucky combination of USB devices that is not happy with long cables. In that case, another option is available: USB fiber optic extension cable (from 10 – 50 m) which guarantees immunity to any ground loops or EMI problems and bit perfect transfer at any length. I'm tempted.

One review: http://archimago.blogspot.com/2015/05/measurements-corning-usb-3-optical.html
 
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#30
Use 3m USB2 cables from Amazon here. Nothing special. USB board is galvanically isolated though. For non-digital devices (e.g. phono), probably would use a low output Z line driver to drive line level cable from preamp to power amps. Maybe something with an output stage more or less like a clean low-ish power headphone amp.
 
#31
tombo56 said:
Hah, I’m sure you’ll get votes in favor of every option.

I’ll start with recommendation against long RCA cables. They have, on average, 100 pF/m (3 Ft) capacitance. Average preamplifiers may have slight treble roll off with long RCA cables and tube preamplifiers would definitely suffer. Though, there are SS preamplifiers with very low output impedance that would be unaffected even with 5 – 7 m long RCA cables.

USB works perfect with 5 – 7 m long USB cables. Just don’t be tempted to purchase any ‘audiophile USB cable‘ of a Chinese origin. I did such mistake and bought 5 m long cable which indeed look high quality, OCC single crystal copper and whatnot: USB cables to be avoided

PC didn’t register that DAC is plugged in, probably high capacitance and fact that data wires are not twisted but straight. It’s made with usual Star-Quad cable that our Chinese friends are using for everything audio related, never mind the standards. Avoid anything similar if more than 1m length is required.
OTOH, DAC worked perfectly well with pure crap 5m USB extension cable + 2m original USB cable from DAC. You’ll may get some FUD stories about noise and ‘lost data' with long USB cables, but that is fiction.
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FYI, $3 15ft Monoprice USB-a to B works flawlessly. I'm having a listening session tonight. Will decide as I also bought 100ft of speaker cable.
 
#32
tombo56 said:
No, not really. If audio system has no major technical issues, 5 m long USB cable that conforms to the USB specification, will work flawlessly. In my case, even 7 m is fine.

There may be unlucky combination of USB devices that is not happy with long cables. In that case, another option is available: USB fiber optic extension cable (from 10 – 50 m) which guarantees immunity to any ground loops or EMI problems and bit perfect transfer at any length. I'm tempted.

One review: http://archimago.blogspot.com/2015/05/measurements-corning-usb-3-optical.html
Click to expand...
Bought $3 Monoprice 15ft'er and she's just fine.
 
#33
:cheers:
Listen for any ticks or short crackling sounds, as is with vinyl LP when stylus hits scratch. That is an indication of data packet loss and that USB devices work at the edge of reliable data transfer. Except that sounds, there will be absolutely no change in sound if there is some data loss.
It’s expected only past 5 m USB cable length, but just to be sure.
 
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#34
The USB specification says it's good for 3 meters. There are devices that can extend that by receiving and regenerating the data. I had one such powered device built into the end of the USB extender cable. USB cable has increasing capacitance with distance just like audio cable. In USB the data pulses have their leading edges rounded off and that gets more extreme with distance.
 
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