Regardless of the technical details, arguably one reason people might hear differences in USB audio is Observer bias - Wikipedia.
In the article under discussion here, Darko is saying āall I do are subjective reviews, so any impression I feel I have is valid and Iāll tell you about it.ā He isnāt telling you why he has these impressions (few reviewers ever do). They could well be due to observer bias.
This isnāt just Darko. All audio reviews are almost entirely subjective, apart from quoting specs and measurements. There is nothing wrong with that, since the experience of audio is deeply personal thing. Preferences vary.
The trick to a good review is making the reader understand what the reviewer experienced, and to then make it easy for the reader to relate to it. āIf you like dark chocolate, this is some of the best Iāve had. It tastes a bit like brand A with a hint of brand B. If youāre more a milk chocolate person, you best look elsewhere.ā That kind of thing.
My personal bias is to believe that any well functioning USB cable is as good as any other, so my āobserver biasā would most likely lead me toward believing the $1000 USB cable made no difference. This makes it pretty hard for me to relate to the USB cable review from Darko that I quote above, which is pretty thin on details. The way he describes the differences he hears is so vague Iād find it more believable if he just said āI canāt tell if the differences Iām hearing are due to the cable or the beer I just drank!ā
Spot on. Darkoās āconversationā reads like one of those made up religious student vs. atheist professor dialogues so popular in the world of low-end apologetics. It is vital to continually misdirect the target audience of the credulous from the core issue of who it is that is actually making the claim.
Youāve just reminded me of a female colleague of mine from many years ago. She was the daughter of a minister (or someone very involved in the church) and told me about the meetings of her āgroupā.
I asked her the kind of thing they got up to and she told me that the previous evening theyād talked about how a conversation between Jesus and Dot Cotton (a character from a UK soap opera) would go.
Equipment
location a = Dell Latitude 7390
location b = Kingston DataTraveler 111
Method
Original file stored on location a
Creating copy of file on location a to be the seed for all of the transfers
Copy file to location b
Delete file from location a
Copy file to location a
Delete file from location b
Repeat steps 3 - 6 x100
original file data file name: 10 Every Season.m4a bytes: 42430048 sha256
da9517d40a038321f2bd008feb1d3596534a9e37a6c51d34253b2af7d8c06be8 sha512
f3967a89942b1dc8980d1f3bc97d5977370a3bb2f6a22916e8bb4dce6a00985c2b939d334578d7c66db0d52f54e631d50532a0fa9fefe5bd2efb5bdc14f1e0b7
@Slavisa_Dragasevic For clarity, is the thesis that the file will be different at the end of the 100 transfers or something else?
You appear to be assuming that the way in which audio is transmitted via USB to a DAC is the same as how data is transferred to an external hard disk. It isnāt.
It may be because Iām ill with c-19 but unfortunately I donāt have a clue what you mean.
This thread is about Darkoās assertion that he can tell the difference in sound between different USB cables and the wider point that such as view is extremely contentious with folks who agree, folks who have tried and disagree and folks who flat refuse to even countenance the idea that this can be possibly, based on their understanding on how things work. Ditto Ethernet cables.
My response above was to highlight that the transmission of data to hard disks over USB is fundamentally different to asynchronous audio transmission and hence irrelevant to the matter of whether USB cables can sound different.
āFundamentally differentā seems to be putting it rather strongly. The main differences are use of isochronous rather than bulk transfer, which relates to guaranteed bandwidth for audio data, and the fact that the USB audio class doesnāt require (or normally use) error correction. What do you think about these differences is important with respect to sound quality?
fundamentally different? I donāt think so.
both receive blocks of data.
And this this thing about Darko, some people claim they have been abducted by aliens
sufficiently different for me to stand by my main counter argument that claiming that copying a file to a hard disk 1000 times with no error proves that USB cables cannot sound different.
I tend to agree that itās not a proof that USB cables canāt āsound differentā (for some interpretations of those words), but maybe not for the same reasons that you have in mind.
USB audio data is transfered in blocks 8000 times / sec. if block of data is missed this can manifest as a audible glitch (ticks or pops). this is the only sound that USB cable can produce (if itās broken)
Agreed. If it can/does make a difference, it wonāt be ālarger sound space, blacker blacks, more detailed highsā, it will be binary: no sound vs. sound - and there is a whole error detect and correction mechanism built around that to ensure a āno soundā event doesnāt happen.
This āones and zeroā discussions has made Darko allready quite pissed off on Facebook a few weeks ago.
I even saw people react like āwell they donāt make them for nothingā?
So the blind conclusion is if manufacturers create something and telling you itās good for this or that and you really need one people are going to spend 100 dollar on an USB cable.
The Lets Make Fun Of The Audiophools Facebook group is one you might check out on this because there are a lot of āsnake-oilā discussions and hilarious tales.
I hope everybody stays sharp and donāt believe everything companies claim. They want to make profit, even if it takes a āTell Sellā story to enforce their claim.
Donāt spend you hard earned money on things you can do without, thatās what i am saying.
But hey, if you like that shiny, fancy golden carbon USB cable than go ahead and be proud.
To add a little thought here
During my 15 years in a HiFi Shop and now 30 years as sales rep in this wonderful business, I figuered out almost NO ONE does leveling on a system to compare but custumors are judging on this false promise of the louder. So I donāt giver a ā ā ā ā on wether a component ist better or not aslong as I didnāt get it in my system and do at least a correct Volume Setup. BTW. my stereo setup is not in my listening room! Does it fullfil the blind test?
