• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Audio Reviewer Becomes Distressed When his Blind Test Fails to Show Expensive USB Cable is the Best

Chrispy

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 7, 2020
Messages
7,751
Likes
5,910
Location
PNW
While I won't bother watching this video (subject matter, unknown party behind it, silly list of audio gear recommendations), thanks for the warning :) Yet another idiotic "audio" youtube channel and "reviewer" to avoid.....
 

DanielT

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 10, 2020
Messages
4,750
Likes
4,631
Location
Sweden - Слава Україні
It could be anything. Shame he didn't record that interaction so we could judge how "exact" his wife described the sound as opposed to how much he read into her comments.
It is one thing to subjectively describe how one experiences that something sounds. I do not mind that. That in itself can even be fun to read. But one should then be aware that this is based on the person's liking, taste, perceptions, prejudices, etc., etc.

It is a COMPLETELY different thing if you set out to objectively try to prove or disprove something.

There is also a methodology around this with blind tests. It might not be so stupid if he read about it before he completed his test.

I know I'm talking about textbook page 1A now. Very basic level. Apologies for these basics. Everyone who reads at ASR probably already knows this.
 

DanielT

Major Contributor
Joined
Oct 10, 2020
Messages
4,750
Likes
4,631
Location
Sweden - Слава Україні
There are different methods of how to test and evaluate how things sound. I'm pasting from another forum.

"Now I myself have listened to my speaker cables and they are not only neutral (white) but also silent. ... "
 

Attachments

  • ht_test.jpg
    ht_test.jpg
    73.6 KB · Views: 95

coonmanx

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2021
Messages
387
Likes
305
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
Dang it! I got suckered in again. You guys are importing click bait trash into our threads. This guy doesn't know what he doesn't know. He read some articles (a couple) and has not got a clue about what his testing showed. He then goes on to make false claims about why there was no difference. Anyone watching him needs to get on ASR and do some learning. I will never get that time back and everything he says is rubbish, but he is so serious!
So all in all, this guy on this video gets a Bozo award. I need a Xanax after watching that.........
LOL. I clicked on the video, heard him start talking and immediately quit watching it. Yikes!
 

Victor Martell

Active Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2018
Messages
175
Likes
214
There are some actual differences in USB cables. [snip] . You could get dropped frames.

Usb 1.1 required no more than 400 pS (pico-seconds) of skew between D+ and D-. Usb 2.0 reduced that to 200 pS. There might have been differences in capacitance too.

There are also unshielded "low-speed" cables and shielded "high-speed" cables. Who knows what he used.

Anyway, nowadays, any decent certified cable will meet all the needed specifications and they should all work the same, as far as bit error rate and retransmissions. If one thinks a cable makes any difference, use Performance Monitor (under windows) and you should be able to see Transfer Errors/Sec and Iso Packet Errors/Sec. USB ports always (AFAIK) buffer data, so the pico-second bit timing will not make it up to analog playback.

Also, computers often have different types of USB ports on them, which can usually be told apart by their color. I don't know if he used the same port types for all the DACs. Experimental setup and methodology was a bit thin.

Marc

Great post! Indeed - is it possible to get dropped frames, etc? Sure! Has it been proven it makes and audible difference? No.
Reminds me a bit of UFO believers... Is it possible there is intelligent life out there somewhere ? Sure, after all it exists here ( well... :D ) Is there proof that we have been visited and/or contacted? Nope. But people minds run wild on the "possible" not on the "proven"...

GIven that bits are bits, and most have accepted it, arguments on digital cables fall on:

1) The bogeyman of electrical noise (not this discussion though)
2) USB Asynchronous mode! :D as soon of believers find out about this, their imagination runs wild on the "possible"...

Reminds me of a very funny post of someone using an audiophile expensive USB cable to connect to a PRINTER :D lots of fun raving about how image quality was improved, colors were crisper, etc... Tried to search for that, but was unable to find it though... not lying, though... I saw it! :D very funny...

v
 

cany89

Active Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2020
Messages
251
Likes
127
The guy in the video had a comparison between Chord Qutest and ADI-2. He said Qutest got more soundstage and I immediately closed the tab.
 

antcollinet

Master Contributor
Joined
Sep 4, 2021
Messages
7,408
Likes
12,291
Location
UK/Cheshire
Great post! Indeed - is it possible to get dropped frames, etc? Sure! Has it been proven it makes and audible difference? No.
Reminds me a bit of UFO believers... Is it possible there is intelligent life out there somewhere ? Sure, after all it exists here ( well... :D ) Is there proof that we have been visited and/or contacted? Nope. But people minds run wild on the "possible" not on the "proven"...

GIven that bits are bits, and most have accepted it, arguments on digital cables fall on:

1) The bogeyman of electrical noise (not this discussion though)
2) USB Asynchronous mode! :D as soon of believers find out about this, their imagination runs wild on the "possible"...

Reminds me of a very funny post of someone using an audiophile expensive USB cable to connect to a PRINTER :D lots of fun raving about how image quality was improved, colors were crisper, etc... Tried to search for that, but was unable to find it though... not lying, though... I saw it! :D very funny...

v

Dropped frames are very audible, they will normally be clicks/pops. If you are not hearing them it's because you've not got them.
 

posvibes

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2020
Messages
362
Likes
490
I love the old saw " I'm an audiophile I can tell differences, my wife is not an audiophile but I will call on her when I doubt myself, because she is not an audiophile and she can tell the difference within seconds and I trust her judgement because she is not an audiophile".
 

Victor Martell

Active Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2018
Messages
175
Likes
214
Dropped frames are very audible, they will normally be clicks/pops. If you are not hearing them it's because you've not got them.

err... sure - BUT a properly functioning cable and/or interface should not drop so many so that is audible.. that's the point - again, a bogeyman - if you fear this, you're just looking for justification to spend too much money on a USB cable... My advice? if you want to, just do it and feel good about it, you don't have to really need it - your happiness will come from being able to afford a beautiful looking cable that costs $2K a foot, not from the service it provides, given that it will be exactly the same that a $9 cable! :D You do you!

v
 

antcollinet

Master Contributor
Joined
Sep 4, 2021
Messages
7,408
Likes
12,291
Location
UK/Cheshire
I agree. That is the point I'm making.

Dropped frames are audible as a serious degradation of audio quality. So you can tell if your el cheapo cable is working because there are no dropped frames. If you can't hear them on a cheap cable then it is working exactly the same as an expensive one.
 

Victor Martell

Active Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2018
Messages
175
Likes
214
I agree. That is the point I'm making.

Dropped frames are audible as a serious degradation of audio quality. So you can tell if your el cheapo cable is working because there are no dropped frames. If you can't hear them on a cheap cable then it is working exactly the same as an expensive one.

Oh - right - then we agree! rock on! :D

v
 

aedagnino

Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2021
Messages
60
Likes
94
[QUOTE
Could it be that he indicated via tone, body language, etc. what she would think about the sound in the various cables? It's easier than you think to be affected in this way.[/QUOTE]

Clever Hans did it before!
 

Jimshoe

Active Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2020
Messages
196
Likes
379
Location
London UK
The incidence of perceived differences in digital cables is often inversely proportional to the listeners level of understanding of how digital (audio) works.
 

Pdxwayne

Major Contributor
Joined
Sep 15, 2020
Messages
3,219
Likes
1,172
When I was doing audio captures recently using ADC to perform REW real time analysis, I noticed that my laptop left side port got higher noise level than right side ports. Anyone noticed difference between ports noise?
 

ahofer

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 3, 2019
Messages
4,947
Likes
8,694
Location
New York City
OMG, that's just awful. It's like someone getting punched in the face three times and still claiming he's not being abused.

Also, who, exactly, "doesn't believe in cables"? I've got a bunch lying around here that seem real enough. It's more the obvious test evidence that seems hard for some to believe in.
 
Top Bottom