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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.