This a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the JPS Labs Superconductor V "Ultra high-performance" USB cable. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $1000.
The cable has a decent feel but does not want to be rotated. As you know though, the USB connectors need to be aligned by rotating the cable so this present some inconvenience and pressure on the mating connector. The cable as you see, lacks any hint of it being a premium one with mundane jacketing and such.
JPS Labs Superconductor V USB Cable Measurements
To test the cable I used my Topping D70s which sits on my desk for this kind of testing. The source is my workstation PC. I connected the two first with a generic 6 foot USB cable (double the length of the JPS). This cable is soft in hand, thinner and generally much easier to manipulate than the JPS. Here is the D70s performance with it:
Distortion is at -125 dBFS which is 15 dB better than threshold of hearing. Combined with noise, we are down to about -119 dB which is about 4 dB better than best case threshold of hearing. In other words, this combo is completely transparent. What you hear, is what is in your music. Let's swap out the generic cable for the JPS:
Other than typical run to run variations, there is absolutely no difference. Everything from noise to levels and frequency are the same.
It is often thought that USB cables impact jitter so let's measure and compare that:
The D70s combined with the signal processing in the analyzer are able to easily resolve the rightmost bits of a 24-bit audio sample (see the pulses on the left bottom). Both cables provide the same resolution, noise floor and jitter. Of course, all the heavy lifting is being done by the D70s to eliminate any chance of jitter over its USB connection.
Finally, let's run 32 tones at 192 kHz sampling to push the USB cable harder:
Performance once again is identical with intermodulation/noise floor at whopping -130 to -135 dB! This is 20 dB better than what we need for total transparency. We can predict that the rest of the tests will generate the same outcome so let's move on to listening tests.
JPS Superconductor V USB Cable Listening Tests
I connected the output of the Topping D70s to Topping A90 which in turn drove my Dan Clark Stealth headphones ($4000). I used the high gain on the A90 to make sure I could hear any difference in background noise. I started with the JPS cable and the sound was as wonderful as I remembered on my standard reference tracks (which I have listened to hundreds of times). I then switched to the generic USB cable. Surprising (not), it sounded louder and more dynamic! I switched back to the JDS USB cable and difference vanished, leaving me with less perceived fidelity. Of course, this not a valid test as the switching time is way too long to allow proper comparison for small differences. But if folks want to run by "what I heard," I heard the generic USB cable sounding "better."
Conclusions
USB cables in short length deliver all the bits correctly. The ground connection though from the PC to DAC is an analog affair so in theory, some difference in noise can be there. If there is, and you can audibly hear something the solution is not another USB cable but to use better isolation (Toslink, XLR cables for interconnects, etc.). Measurements here show that there is no difference even in that department when with a "noisy" source like my desktop workstation PC.
Ad-hoc listening tests as usual produce unreliable results which if taken at face value, put the generic USB cable ahead of the JPS cable! So if you want to go by that, we still don't have anything of value here.
As you can predict by now, I can't recommend the JPS Labs Superconductor V USB. It is just a waste of money compared to any half-decent generic cable.
----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The cable has a decent feel but does not want to be rotated. As you know though, the USB connectors need to be aligned by rotating the cable so this present some inconvenience and pressure on the mating connector. The cable as you see, lacks any hint of it being a premium one with mundane jacketing and such.
JPS Labs Superconductor V USB Cable Measurements
To test the cable I used my Topping D70s which sits on my desk for this kind of testing. The source is my workstation PC. I connected the two first with a generic 6 foot USB cable (double the length of the JPS). This cable is soft in hand, thinner and generally much easier to manipulate than the JPS. Here is the D70s performance with it:
Distortion is at -125 dBFS which is 15 dB better than threshold of hearing. Combined with noise, we are down to about -119 dB which is about 4 dB better than best case threshold of hearing. In other words, this combo is completely transparent. What you hear, is what is in your music. Let's swap out the generic cable for the JPS:
Other than typical run to run variations, there is absolutely no difference. Everything from noise to levels and frequency are the same.
It is often thought that USB cables impact jitter so let's measure and compare that:
The D70s combined with the signal processing in the analyzer are able to easily resolve the rightmost bits of a 24-bit audio sample (see the pulses on the left bottom). Both cables provide the same resolution, noise floor and jitter. Of course, all the heavy lifting is being done by the D70s to eliminate any chance of jitter over its USB connection.
Finally, let's run 32 tones at 192 kHz sampling to push the USB cable harder:
Performance once again is identical with intermodulation/noise floor at whopping -130 to -135 dB! This is 20 dB better than what we need for total transparency. We can predict that the rest of the tests will generate the same outcome so let's move on to listening tests.
JPS Superconductor V USB Cable Listening Tests
I connected the output of the Topping D70s to Topping A90 which in turn drove my Dan Clark Stealth headphones ($4000). I used the high gain on the A90 to make sure I could hear any difference in background noise. I started with the JPS cable and the sound was as wonderful as I remembered on my standard reference tracks (which I have listened to hundreds of times). I then switched to the generic USB cable. Surprising (not), it sounded louder and more dynamic! I switched back to the JDS USB cable and difference vanished, leaving me with less perceived fidelity. Of course, this not a valid test as the switching time is way too long to allow proper comparison for small differences. But if folks want to run by "what I heard," I heard the generic USB cable sounding "better."
Conclusions
USB cables in short length deliver all the bits correctly. The ground connection though from the PC to DAC is an analog affair so in theory, some difference in noise can be there. If there is, and you can audibly hear something the solution is not another USB cable but to use better isolation (Toslink, XLR cables for interconnects, etc.). Measurements here show that there is no difference even in that department when with a "noisy" source like my desktop workstation PC.
Ad-hoc listening tests as usual produce unreliable results which if taken at face value, put the generic USB cable ahead of the JPS cable! So if you want to go by that, we still don't have anything of value here.
As you can predict by now, I can't recommend the JPS Labs Superconductor V USB. It is just a waste of money compared to any half-decent generic cable.
----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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