Cables - 3rd Party/Upgrades & Recommendations

Man, you never disappoint! Nice cables and nice pics.

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Thank you for the kind words! I figured since you mentioned me I may as well get an account here and say hello to everyone :slight_smile:

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Really nice work! I’ll have to keep you in mind for sure.

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I may as well post a few of my other cables since I’m here already :grin:

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You make really beautiful cables sir.

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Alex @lost33 has inspired me to buy some things to satisfy my curiosity about how they sound, although I’ve probably taken on some things that Alex is not crazy enough to explore,

I bought a used Black Cat USB cable on US Audio Mart last week because I was curious about whether I could tell the difference between my $20 Schiit cable and a more expensive “audiophile” USB. There are a few USB cable makers that claim to isolate the noise in the power wire away from the data wires, and that seems to make more sense to me (although I’m very ignorant about electronics) than what metal was used for the wire. I was actually looking for a used Curious cable, which I believe @andris has, but couldn’t find any, so I bought this Black Cat cable instead.

I’ve A-B’d between the 2 USB cables a lot, sometimes switching every 5 minutes and sometimes listening to one for several hours and then switching. Someone else on the forum had suggested the latter and I have to say that immersion following by switching does highlight big differences very well.

There are huge differences that I can consistently hear every time. Going back and forth between the cables, the soundstage was noticeably bigger with the Black Cat, and instruments had more texture, which was great. However mids seemed recessed and I have to admit I so disappointed that it was messing with the sound that I was going to either throw it in the box where unused cables go to die, or maybe try to sell it to someone else (but feel guilty about cheating them).

All the A-B’ing had been done on my brand new Verite, and before I ended this disappointing experiment, I switched to my Stellia, at which point the the missing mids were back again, but the highs seemed to be extended, albeit in a smooth manner (not screeching treble, which I am allergic to). After reading through the Verite Open thread, I came to the conclusion that the Black Cat USB was somehow amplifying the recessed mids in the Verite that I hadn’t really noticed in my “fun listening”. But at least I wasn’t disappointed any more in the cable, because if the VO mids really do irritate me, I can start pad rolling!

Conclusions:

  1. There are differences in soundstage and whatever the audiophile term for “texture” is for instruments like guitars, violins, cellos etc. The Black Cat cable has more of both.
  2. I don’t know if the Black Cat cable is adding some kind of distortion to monkey with the sound, or if it is simply more transparent.
  3. Irrespective of whether or not it is technically better, I like the differences that the Black Cat introduces, and I will continue to use it. For instance, when I switched back to the Schiit cable after several hours on the Black Cat, the soundstage collapsed so much that the music sounded compressed. It’s all relative - I would not have described the music as compressed 2 weeks ago.
  4. I enjoyed listening to music before I bought the Black Cat, so I’m certainly not recommending that people spend huge amounts of money (the BC retails for $750 new) on something that may not provide any value to you. If you are curious, buy a used cable because they are a lot cheaper. And even then, I’d probably wait until you’ve gotten your DAC, amp and headphones to the level of enjoyment you’re after, because this is really icing on the cake.

OK, now you can all throw rocks at me.

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Do you have any ferrite collars around? It might be a fun/interesting experiment to put one or two on your stock cable and see if it makes any difference.

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Oh gosh what have i done, created another crazy audio monster!!!

Great on your experiences and thanks for sharing them!!

All that matters is what YOU hear!!

Keep experimenting!! Maybe a DIY amp???

Alex

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Haha, yes, my new year’s resolution will be to learn to solder!

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What a great idea. I don’t have any ferrite collars but if they’re cheap, maybe I’ll order some from Amazon. Or I wonder if I could pry one off a cable that came with a collar.

I should do a 3-way comparison between cheap Anker USB, Schiit USB and Black Cat, all with and without ferrite collars.

Take a look at the Noir at DIYAUDIO.COM

The DIY Store sells the kit, pcb, parts and case I believe…

Its out of stock but keep an eye on it when they come is they sell out fast!!

The Whammy is another great amp…a bit more complex to build.

The BH Crack also is a great Tube amp to build!

Alex

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Thanks Alex. Are you suggesting that I learn to solder by building an amp?

Is there a safer way for me to learn how to use a soldering iron?

Well, you need to get a soldering iron, solder 60/40, some small hand tools, cutters, needle nose pliers, a sponge and some real components to practice with…

Several practice kits out there :slight_smile:


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There are many online videos on how to solder etc…

Its not hard, but takes some pratice and patience…

Take a look at my whammy build channel in my Discord as well…

I have many hints and tips etc…

Alex

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I am in agreement with you that there are differences. Build quality is far better on the branded ones. I have three USB stations. I use Cardas USB (standard), and ifi Mercury 2.0. Each station has some type of USB decrappifier on it (Schiit Wyrd, Uptone Regen, and the ifi IGalvanic). I’m more likely to spend $100 for a Cardas USB cable than $750 for a Black Cat one, but it’s a hobby and if you can get the performance from it, that’s always a plus. I think the Curious cables are worth a look too. Using a short Curious USB from my microrendu to Ultradigital converter.

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Agreed, the Curious USB has gotten a lot of good press and it was actually @andris mentioning that his Curious USB added 10% to the overall sound quality that made me…errr…curious about whether I’d notice a difference.

I wasn’t curious enough to spend $750, so I got the Black Cat used for $350 on US Audio Mart, thinking that worst case I could resell it for something close to that. I couldn’t find a used Curious (a new 1m cable is $390), otherwise I probably would have got that. And I’ve satisfied my curiosity that they do indeed sound different so I’ll stick with the Black Cat.

On another note, I’ve never bought used cables before. If they can be bought at a fraction of the original price, I might only buy used going forward.

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I should have added that I would have picked the ifi Mercury 2.0 for my experiment had I known about it, because it satisfied the criteria I was looking for (separate cables used for audio and power, and shielding) and it’s a lot cheaper than the Black Cat and Curious.

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I’m a big Cardas fan. Most of my system ICs are made by Cardas. Some I’ve bought new, but I have plucked a few of them off the used market. Cardas will inspect, authenticate and refresh them for $25. You pay shipping both ways. They repackage them and issue a certification that helps resale. I’ve also bought long headphone cables and had them reterminated. I took a six meter Cardas Cross headphone cable for an HD800, and turned it too a 1.5 meter HD800 cable and a 4.5m single extended headphone extension cable. Cost for that is $60 per termination.

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I bought the two ifi Mercury 2.0 on Ebay for $75 each. They were slightly used.

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I’m so honored to have been an inspiration for cable experimentation! :smile:

However, I do want to be clear that I didn’t spend anywhere near $750. I got the Curious USB Hugo Link, as I currently have a Chord Hugo 2, and that cable is $170. Even the “standard” Curious 0.8M USB A-B cable is $350. You don’t get anywhere near $750 until you’re looking at a particularly long “Curious Evolved” cable.

Anyway, I want to definitely stress that, until folks have a very resolving system, don’t bother too much with cables, as you won’t notice much of a difference. That doesn’t mean using the free cable that came with your 10-year-old printer, but just get something decent, like the Schiit cable or the basic AudioQuest ones. Cables do matter, but DACs/Amps/Headphones matter a lot more, so don’t ever let your cable budget eat into those.

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