Not All USB Cables Are Created Equal

[laxu]

I'd say USB cable quality is only going to matter if you are looking to use long cable lengths. And then might be better off with active cables or doing USB over ethernet/fibre cables.

Max Passive USB Cable Lengths

Mode Name	Recommended Cable Length	Bandwidth
USB 1.1 (Full Speed)	3 m (9 ft)	12 Mbps
USB 2.0 (High Speed)	5 m (16 ft)	480 Mbps
USB 3.2 Gen 1	2–3 m (6–9 ft)	5 Gbps
USB 3.2 Gen 2	3 m (9 ft)	10 Gbps
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (USB-C)	3 m (9 ft)	20 Gbps
USB4 (USB-C)	0.8 m (31 in)	40 Gbps

For typical 0.5-3m it's unlikely to make a difference.

 

[Stone]

Shielding is Important, and this is where one might notice a difference using a cheap cable
yes we all Know its zeros and ones and it either works or does not but that has nothing to do with interference which can degrade the sound

USB cable with ferrite 'stoppers' on it, to attenuate conducted emissions along the cable. This will reduce the chance of hash from the switch mode power supply and other PC generated interference 'getting into' the audio circuits of the ADC that's doing the recording.
Look at the USB cable that came with your Fractal it has a ferrite core its not there for show

 

[Piing]

Shielding is Important, and this is where one might notice a difference using a cheap cable
yes we all Know its zeros and ones and it either works or does not but that has nothing to do with interference which can degrade the sound

USB cable with ferrite 'stoppers' on it, to attenuate conducted emissions along the cable. This will reduce the chance of hash from the switch mode power supply and other PC generated interference 'getting into' the audio circuits of the ADC that's doing the recording.
Look at the USB cable that came with your Fractal it has a ferrite core its not there for show

I always add ferrite cores at both extremes of the USB. Also to the Roland 13-pin cable.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

legit can’t tell if OP is trolling. Improvement in what way? faster transfer speeds? more stable in some way?

 

[fretworn]

Interesting watch if you haven’t seen it … love that imager

 

[unix-guy]

Look at the USB cable that came with your Fractal it has a ferrite core its not there for show

You must be outside North America? Fractal includes only power cables with their products...

 

[signalpath]

Can’t wait for the day to see the back of USB-B cables. There are work arounds to stabilize them but you don’t need them with USB-C and thankfully the trend is moving in that direction.

 

[Stone]

You must be outside North America? Fractal includes only power cables with their products...

Yes in Canada my FM9 had one and also when I bought my Helix it also had one as well
My Motu Interface also had one

 

[la szum]

It is transferring a digitized analog audio signal. It will either work or it won't. It won't sound better...or worse.

Except for what Moondog said above.

 

[la szum]

Shielding is Important, and this is where one might notice a difference using a cheap cable
yes we all Know its zeros and ones and it either works or does not but that has nothing to do with interference which can degrade the sound

USB cable with ferrite 'stoppers' on it, to attenuate conducted emissions along the cable. This will reduce the chance of hash from the switch mode power supply and other PC generated interference 'getting into' the audio circuits of the ADC that's doing the recording.
Look at the USB cable that came with your Fractal it has a ferrite core its not there for show

Well said, Mike. Thank you.

If cables don't matter then let's all get the cheapest ones we can find. Maybe we can even dumpster dive for a few!

 

[la szum]

legit can’t tell if OP is trolling. Improvement in what way? faster transfer speeds? more stable in some way?

I don't troll. It's a legit question. Sorry it is so far below your paygrade.

 

[la szum]

I'd say USB cable quality is only going to matter if you are looking to use long cable lengths. And then might be better off with active cables or doing USB over ethernet/fibre cables.

Max Passive USB Cable Lengths

Mode Name	Recommended Cable Length	Bandwidth
USB 1.1 (Full Speed)	3 m (9 ft)	12 Mbps
USB 2.0 (High Speed)	5 m (16 ft)	480 Mbps
USB 3.2 Gen 1	2–3 m (6–9 ft)	5 Gbps
USB 3.2 Gen 2	3 m (9 ft)	10 Gbps
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (USB-C)	3 m (9 ft)	20 Gbps
USB4 (USB-C)	0.8 m (31 in)	40 Gbps

For typical 0.5-3m it's unlikely to make a difference.

Thanks, I know data transfer speeds can vary with different USB cables. I think most people have
experienced a "slow" charging USB Cable with their cellphones. Change the cable and suddenly
it is charging faster. Different cable = different result.

I also get people (some people) are saying that will be irrelevant related to sound, and the quality of
that sound as it is transmitted through a USB cable.

I can't help but wonder if it is like headroom in an amp, though. The more headroom a USB Cable has (faster
speeds and more bandwidth) then wouldn't it make sense that the signal would be cleaner and distort less??

Maybe that is a wonky analogy, but it does seem to be at least somewhat plausible. To me.

 

[Stone]

Thanks, I know data transfer speeds can vary with different USB cables. I think most people have
experienced a "slow" charging USB Cable with their cellphones. Change the cable and suddenly
it is charging faster. Different cable = different result.

I also get people (some people) are saying that will be irrelevant related to sound, and the quality of
that sound as it is transmitted through a USB cable.

I can't help but wonder if it is like headroom in an amp, though. The more headroom a USB Cable has (faster
speeds and more bandwidth) then wouldn't it make sense that the signal would be cleaner and distort less??

Maybe that is a wonky analogy, but it does seem to be at least somewhat plausible. To me.

In the end Dave all that matters is that your happy with your cables, same as me i dont buy cheap cables nor do i buy super expensive Pseudo- Science audiophool snake oil, but i stand by that a good a good cable makes a difference

YMMV

 

[unix-guy]

Thanks, I know data transfer speeds can vary with different USB cables. I think most people have
experienced a "slow" charging USB Cable with their cellphones. Change the cable and suddenly
it is charging faster. Different cable = different result.

I also get people (some people) are saying that will be irrelevant related to sound, and the quality of
that sound as it is transmitted through a USB cable.

I can't help but wonder if it is like headroom in an amp, though. The more headroom a USB Cable has (faster
speeds and more bandwidth) then wouldn't it make sense that the signal would be cleaner and distort less??

Maybe that is a wonky analogy, but it does seem to be at least somewhat plausible. To me.

No. There's no "headroom" for bits.

There are bits. They have a value. The value is 0 or 1.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I'm possibly *the* last person to believe in any vodoo, but USB cables can be very, very different. For reasons I have absolutely no idea about.
Most noticable when charging phones. Using the same PSU, some cables charge my phone like double as fast. Or rather, the turds need double as long.
Same goes for standard USB-A to B/C connections. Most obvious HY family update tip? "Make sure to use a decent USB cable!"
And I'm afraid that's sound advice.
Just that there's no way to tell a good cable from a turd. I've bought some pretty expensive ones and they were utter shite whereas some €1 cables just did the job (until they broke, which indeed happens more often on cheaper cables, business as usual).

 

[Sascha Franck]

And fwiw, of course there's no difference in data "quality" caused by USB cables, be it audio or whatsoever. Just different speeds and what not.

 

[FuzzyAce]

No. There's no "headroom" for bits.

There are bits. They have a value. The value is 0 or 1.

I'll take every bit of headroom I can get.

 

[laxu]

I'm possibly *the* last person to believe in any vodoo, but USB cables can be very, very different. For reasons I have absolutely no idea about.
Most noticable when charging phones. Using the same PSU, some cables charge my phone like double as fast. Or rather, the turds need double as long.
Same goes for standard USB-A to B/C connections. Most obvious HY family update tip? "Make sure to use a decent USB cable!"
And I'm afraid that's sound advice.
Just that there's no way to tell a good cable from a turd. I've bought some pretty expensive ones and they were utter shite whereas some €1 cables just did the job (until they broke, which indeed happens more often on cheaper cables, business as usual).

For power delivery, the USB cable needs to work with the USB Power Delivery specifications so this is the case where the cable does matter. It is often not intuitive to know if the cable is capable enough to allow devices to negotiate a higher power delivery capability.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I don't troll. It's a legit question. Sorry it is so far below your paygrade.

Ha no I was just curious in what way you were noticing an improvement or whether it was purposefully vague. Definitely keen to hear more!

 

[la szum]

No. There's no "headroom" for bits.

There are bits. They have a value. The value is 0 or 1.

Are all 0s and 1s created equal then? Are they neutral and impersonal? Devoid of value?

And if "headroom/bandwidth" is not important then why do people want more of it rather
than less?