24 Guage USB Cables

The audiophile crowd is filled with this. Spend a bit of time at one of these conventions, and the amount of bullsh!t to reality is a very fine line. There were some $10,000 cables that *did* audibly sound better.

But in USB, it either carries or it doesn't. I buy more expensive USB cables because I want them sturdy. The $10 ones seem to last about 2 months before I have to go again. I spring for the $20 ones and they last a year or more.

YMMV.
 
I once had a Monster rep try to tell me that the cables are "time aligned" because high frequencies travel faster than slow ones (through the cable) and this causes phase problems. :/
 
Well here's my little USB cable story...

Not so long ago I was hit by (yet another) genius idea, so grabbed my little USB/midi keyboard to record it before it ran off to the land of "how'd that go again?"

No USB cable, so grabbed a brand new one (still in it's wrapper) from the shoe box full of cables and stuff that came with all the gadgets over the years, plugged it all in and....nothing. Keyboard not recognised, no lights, no activity etc etc.

Hmm, well it couldn't be the cable, it's brand new right?

Several hours of uninstalling drivers, re-installing drivers, forum trawling, disabling this and that and all the infuriating troubleshooting/time sink-hole stuff and still it wouldn't work.

Finally, in exasperation, i grabbed the very old USB cable from the printer and viola, lights, sound, activity, instant gratification!

SO why why why?

Well, here's why why why:

IMG_4257.jpg

In case you can't tell from the pic, the square-ish plug end of the old grey cable is about 5mm longer than the new blue one, i.e. the blue one just wasn't making a connection even though it plugged in ok and felt snug etc.

Now, i'd presumed that USB cables were, you know, standardised...but i guess not...

So beware!

And maybe Cliff could model some off those "micro-distortions" for the next update, mmmmm, micro-distortion....no wait, they're un-measurable.

*sigh

Carl
 
Carl said:
Well here's my little USB cable story...

Not so long ago I was hit by (yet another) genius idea, so grabbed my little USB/midi keyboard to record it before it ran off to the land of "how'd that go again?"

No USB cable, so grabbed a brand new one (still in it's wrapper) from the shoe box full of cables and stuff that came with all the gadgets over the years, plugged it all in and....nothing. Keyboard not recognised, no lights, no activity etc etc.

Hmm, well it couldn't be the cable, it's brand new right?

Several hours of uninstalling drivers, re-installing drivers, forum trawling, disabling this and that and all the infuriating troubleshooting/time sink-hole stuff and still it wouldn't work.

Finally, in exasperation, i grabbed the very old USB cable from the printer and viola, lights, sound, activity, instant gratification!

SO why why why?

Well, here's why why why:

View attachment 26716

In case you can't tell from the pic, the square-ish plug end of the old grey cable is about 5mm longer than the new blue one, i.e. the blue one just wasn't making a connection even though it plugged in ok and felt snug etc.

Now, i'd presumed that USB cables were, you know, standardised...but i guess not...

So beware!

And maybe Cliff could model some off those "micro-distortions" for the next update, mmmmm, micro-distortion....no wait, they're un-measurable.

*sigh

Carl
Click to expand...

I've had the same thing happen with USB cables and 1/4" cables. I thought one of my patchbay jacks went bad but then realized that one of my 1/4" patchbay cable plugs was about 3/16" short.
 
Digital cable is pretty black and white. It passes the bits or it doesn't. That said, I believe that having quality instrument and patch cables is important due to durability concerns as well as the high impedance nature of a signal from passive guitar pickups. Having a good buffer in your chain can help with this. I have instrument and patch cables ranging from cheapie no-name cables from the 80s to an Evidence Lyric HG. I keep my traditional pedalboard wired with Mogami Gold and Armor Gold patches and wouldn't want to skimp where that's concerned. For instrument I use Armor Gold and Evidence Lyric HG. As far as bang for buck goes, I think Armor Gold is hard to beat.
 
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