JPS Superconductor V USB Cable Review

[pkane]

Just wanted to let you know there are members on this board which, while sharing the same objectivist and measurement-centric views and beliefs, are quite appalled by the discussion style of some. It’s a shame.

Klaus, you find some interesting spots to chime in in the conversation with support for nonsense. You responded to his answer to my post. My post was neither sarcastic nor bullying:

You're making no sense here. Why would galvanic isolation make one USB cable sound different than another?

And here's his answer to me, calling me a bully and claiming my response was sarcastic and making claims about my ego:

I am waiting now for others to contribute here... all those bullies, full of sarcasm, waiting with their finger on the trigger to cut and chop posts, extract bits and pieces to suit their small miserable egos.

So who is the bully here? My small and miserable ego is very hurt

 

[tomtoo]

Even if it is a superconductor it's about to become obsolete:

Evidence for 'near-ambient' superconductivity found in lutetium hydride – Physics World

Superconductivity has been observed at temperatures up to 20 °C in a nitrogen-doped material

physicsworld.com

I see a problem having to run some 10 kbar pipes running to my speakers.

 

[ROOSKIE]

I did this 'comparison' literally hundreds of times (sighted I admit) and feel 'something' must be changed electrically between the two and a null test should easily pick it up - if it's there. 'All' my other not expensive and many home made interconnects sound all but the same irrespective of the RCA plugs used and so on...

With are due respect why hundreds of times yet not inspired to really test them?

Since cables are a comparatively easy item to conduct a controlled blind test with...

If you have one trustworthy assistant you can set up something decent and test yourself.

At the same time, you were able (despite what you are now saying) to clearly hear the difference, which was obvious after performing the listening tests repeatedly.

The bottom line is that you are given the opportunity to create the test environment and create & perform the appropriate set of tests, which will clearly explain what hearing/listening subjective tests are showing, repeatedly.

Speaking of how easy they are to test in a controlled blind test, couple that with the apparent fact manufacturers are not doing so(at least not making results public). Certainly any manufacturers who's cables actually passed such a test would come forth, wouldn't they?

Some people feel that their cars run better with a full tank of gas. This can be something they consistently experience for decades - even if they realize it is possibly silly. Do they actually run better when full vs 1/8 of tank?
My mother swore her brand new car was runing notably better after a recent oil change.
I ran over 2 nails and had the tires patched. I swore driving home from the shop the ride was smoother than it had been in awhile yet I figured I was imaging it ---> then I realized they had reblanced my tires and wheels (I saw the new weights attached)so maybe it was rolling smoother.

Look common experiments have shown one can change the price and label on a bottle of wine and trick many(but not all) folks into 'obviously preferring it' over the same wine in the less expensive & less interesting presentation.
This happens in many forms all the time in marketing, relationships and vast areas much more important than audio.

Biases can also be very consistent. In fact they ARE consistent. That is what makes them biases and not spontaneous or temporary actions. They can also be unconscious, playing out with the individual completely unaware.

All that said 'bias blind spots' are also very real and most of us have not actually participated in much if any controlled blind testing. And often even controlled blind testing will face some limitations that may preclude the ability to fully study a subject. Such as in audio, placing all tested speakers in the same position. Or dealing with 80db playback limits(tonal perception seems to consistently change with playback level, so it is important). Things like that.
In the end there it sure seems to me there are many studies still very much worth conducting and participating in.

Check out the bias codex if you are interested in a cool chart. The subject is hugely studied and there are countless, books, magazines, journals, podcasts and other sources. Decades of investigations with tons of interesting studies and stories.

File:Cognitive bias codex en.svg - Wikimedia Commons

commons.m.wikimedia.org

 

[Purité Audio]

Keith, did you ever compare the Linn 'Black' and 'Silver' RCA interconnects? I've 'done it' so many times and 'heard' an appreciable difference and others claim to have 'heard' exactly the same... Too much money to buy even used and to ship to Amir but I'd love to see the results, especially if a 'null' test could be done between them

D did you ever in all of your years of retail conduct one level matched unsighted comparison even if only for your own satisfaction?
Keith

 

[dtaylo1066]

I'm guessing someone sent Amir the cable, and he was nice enough to test it.

I would agree. And I tried to accurately and politely define my request as "selfish." I think Amir explained his position in a new test and thread today, which confirms your deduction, which is fine and reasonable. And if I went through the trouble of sending him a product for review, I would certainly hope it got reviewed, and Amir seems nice enough and accommodating enough to do just that for about all.

At the end of the day, with much thanks to ASR, I am not investing in cables and interconnects other those those with reasonable build and components, and that fit snugly.

 

[fpitas]

At the end of the day, with much thanks to ASR, I am not investing in cables and interconnects other those those with reasonable build and components, and that fit snugly.

Somehow the rest of the electronics industry gets by in just that fashion. Probably we're just too cloddish to realize what we're missing.

 

[mhardy6647]

We (i.e., some) seem in this thread (at this point) to be veering perilously close to the "They laughed at me at The Institute. Fools! I'll crush them like ants!" school of technology development and innovation.

What is it about pieces of wire that bring this out in people?
(Rhetorical question)

 

[RF Air]

We (i.e., some) seem in this thread (at this point) to be veering perilously close to the "They laughed at me at The Institute. Fools! I'll crush them like ants!" school of technology development and innovation.

What is it about pieces of wire that bring this out in people?
(Rhetorical question)

The church of hi fidelity (Rhetorically speaking)

 

[DSJR]

D did you ever in all of your years of retail conduct one level matched unsighted comparison even if only for your own satisfaction?
Keith

Oh come on guv'nor - I worked at a Linn/Naim dealership (itself a huge subjectivist minefield) and left the retail side retail in 2004!!!! That's nineteen years and almost a third of my life ago and believe me, the journey's been a rocky but enlightening one since and I ain't given up learning/unlearning more just yet!!!

All the sensible objective 'stuff' and realisations coalesced many years later when I DID do some unsighted comparisons and realised that level differences usually account for any perceived changes within reason. I do remember the odd occasion when I 'thought' I heard a difference and yet nothing was changed from A to B - other tales of the same thing told here, so I'm not alone in deeply un-trusting my ears, especially now with them as they are - the HD25SP on-ear headphones do seem to inject high frequencies better when I'm not wearing the hearing aids for some reason and they're still ok if 'lively' when I am, but that's a different subject

I mention the Linn Black interconnect as to itch a scratch I bought a used one recently to see if it really did appear to change the sound of the CD player I wanted to use it with level matched but sighted and A then B I could swear it appears to lighten the tone ever-so-slightly and emphases 'acoustic' a little more than the home made RG59 based cable I was using. Of course it's not scientific in any possible shape or form and on the face of it, these cables look to be straightforward screened coax types and nicely soldered up into the custom but basically competent generically sourced plugs which you can have customised with labels or whatever if you order enough. This well used cable does what I think I need it to do, but if anyone in the US has a set (unlikely to be any/many Linn electronics owners here though), perhaps Amir could give 'em a go.

 

[Purité Audio]

Thanks DJ, I just wondered, when I started PA and began plugging and unplugging and comparing, it pretty soon became apparent that ( expensive) cables which I had bought pre PA and which I believed made an improvement were in fact not making the slightest difference.
I suppose cables/accessories are a nice little earner.
Keith

 

[AudioSceptic]

Unbelievable, do you even grasp a 1% of what I said:

"The USB cable will play an infinitely more important task, if you choose a DAC with its USB card (module) that is galvanically isolated from the DAC These DACs are usually much more expensive than the one you used for testing, and the USB cables in question would sound vastly different. Would they measure differently? They SHOULD, in this case... ESPECIALLY at 1024DSD / 1.536MHz rates.

If they don't (measure differently) => the measuring equipment test jig is not used in the appropriate user case/scenario, AND the test-sets are of insufficient ability to capture what we humans can hear."

To be clear, are you claiming that, when used with a DAC with the USB connection designed as you say, this cable will produce results measurably and audibly different to those from a generic cable of normal/adequate quality?

 

[AudioSceptic]

Can we at least agree that this cable is directional?

Cable, No. Connectors, Yes.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I am waiting now for others to contribute here... all those bullies, full of sarcasm, waiting with their finger on the trigger to cut and chop posts, extract bits and pieces to suit their small miserable egos.

Oh dear.

 

[JRG123]

$1,000 for a printer cable. And then people criticize Apple

 

[Robbo99999]

Oh come on guv'nor - I worked at a Linn/Naim dealership (itself a huge subjectivist minefield) and left the retail side retail in 2004!!!! That's nineteen years and almost a third of my life ago and believe me, the journey's been a rocky but enlightening one since and I ain't given up learning/unlearning more just yet!!!

All the sensible objective 'stuff' and realisations coalesced many years later when I DID do some unsighted comparisons and realised that level differences usually account for any perceived changes within reason. I do remember the odd occasion when I 'thought' I heard a difference and yet nothing was changed from A to B - other tales of the same thing told here, so I'm not alone in deeply un-trusting my ears, especially now with them as they are - the HD25SP on-ear headphones do seem to inject high frequencies better when I'm not wearing the hearing aids for some reason and they're still ok if 'lively' when I am, but that's a different subject

I mention the Linn Black interconnect as to itch a scratch I bought a used one recently to see if it really did appear to change the sound of the CD player I wanted to use it with level matched but sighted and A then B I could swear it appears to lighten the tone ever-so-slightly and emphases 'acoustic' a little more than the home made RG59 based cable I was using. Of course it's not scientific in any possible shape or form and on the face of it, these cables look to be straightforward screened coax types and nicely soldered up into the custom but basically competent generically sourced plugs which you can have customised with labels or whatever if you order enough. This well used cable does what I think I need it to do, but if anyone in the US has a set (unlikely to be any/many Linn electronics owners here though), perhaps Amir could give 'em a go.

Tangent topic to thread obviously, but I always wondered what folks did re hearing aids and headphones - I don't have hearing aids, but my Dad does and the smallest thing will set them off ringing if there's something in close proximity - I couldn't imagine them being used with headphones when they sit so close. I always thought the best approach for folks with hearing aids would be to add their hearing aid EQ into their headphone EQ......I mean I know that can be complicated, but using REW I know I could do that if someone gave me a frequency response curve of their hearing aid effect......I could add that onto any EQ you want to listen to. Thing is, I don't know if these hearing aid manufacturers offer frequency response curves of the changes their hearing aids are making after they've been tuned to you - if they do in fact offer that, then for sure I could wack that into a headphone EQ for you - in which case you would of course remove the hearing aids when you listen to the headphones because the hearing aid EQ is already included. That sounds like high fidelity to me!

EDIT: if you have a frequency response graph of your hearing aid influence, then I can add that onto a headphone EQ of your choice....I'd suggest actually starting with adding it onto a bog standard Harman EQ as that would be a clean slate starting point, as I imagine most of your headphone EQ's have been you tailoring your EQ to your own subjective sound either with or without hearing aid, so you don't want to do "double processing", so it would make sense to add the hearing aid EQ onto the most average neutral source that we have for headphones (as a starting point at least), which would be Harman.

 

[mhardy6647]

$1,000 for a printer cable. And then people criticize Apple

Well, in fairness -- Apple'd only charge $300, and they'd offer it in a palette of pleasant, stylish, and hardware-coordinated colours. Of course, they'd obsolete it in 18 months, due to advancements in technology and aesthetics -- and they'd also brick every product that had used that connector.

 

[DSJR]

Tangent topic to thread obviously, but I always wondered what folks did re hearing aids and headphones - I don't have hearing aids, but my Dad does and the smallest thing will set them off ringing if there's something in close proximity - I couldn't imagine them being used with headphones when they sit so close. I always thought the best approach for folks with hearing aids would be to add their hearing aid EQ into their headphone EQ......I mean I know that can be complicated, but using REW I know I could do that if someone gave me a frequency response curve of their hearing aid effect......I could add that onto any EQ you want to listen to. Thing is, I don't know if these hearing aid manufacturers offer frequency response curves of the changes their hearing aids are making after they've been tuned to you - if they do in fact offer that, then for sure I could wack that into a headphone EQ for you - in which case you would of course remove the hearing aids when you listen to the headphones because the hearing aid EQ is already included. That sounds like high fidelity to me!

EDIT: if you have a frequency response graph of your hearing aid influence, then I can add that onto a headphone EQ of your choice....I'd suggest actually starting with adding it onto a bog standard Harman EQ as that would be a clean slate starting point, as I imagine most of your headphone EQ's have been you tailoring your EQ to your own subjective sound either with or without hearing aid, so you don't want to do "double processing", so it would make sense to add the hearing aid EQ onto the most average neutral source that we have for headphones (as a starting point at least), which would be Harman.

I've had three tests in the last year inlcuding another to confirm what was going into my lugs was the correct eq (a sodding great peak at 5kHz or so with less boost above - I have two printed plots). For some obscure reason, the Sennheiser HD25SP's seem to work with or without the aids, but the over ear cobbled HD265's I use (parts not available now, so 580 ear pads and so on) are not so 'kind.'

The one thing pertinant to this thread is that I can still perceive *some* differences, but I do acknowledge that I can't trust my hearing in any shape or form now!!!

Sorry everyone, this has drifted way off silly-expensive bits of wire that claim all sorts but can't achieve better results in practise to a basic cable...

 

[Robbo99999]

I've had three tests in the last year inlcuding another to confirm what was going into my lugs was the correct eq (a sodding great peak at 5kHz or so with less boost above - I have two printed plots). For some obscure reason, the Sennheiser HD25SP's seem to work with or without the aids, but the over ear cobbled HD265's I use (parts not available now, so 580 ear pads and so on) are not so 'kind.'

The one thing pertinant to this thread is that I can still perceive *some* differences, but I do acknowledge that I can't trust my hearing in any shape or form now!!!

Sorry everyone, this has drifted way off silly-expensive bits of wire that claim all sorts but can't achieve better results in practise to a basic cable...

If you like, PM me your frequency response graph of the hearing aid you're using now, and at some point over the next days/week I'll incorporate it into a headphone EQ for you.

 

[RF Air]

Well, in fairness -- Apple'd only charge $300, and they'd offer it in a palette of pleasant, stylish, and hardware-coordinated colours. Of course, they'd obsolete it in 18 months, due to advancements in technology and aesthetics -- and they'd also brick every product that had used that connector.

Apple and Sony use that same proprietary playbook which has angered me enough to steer clear of their products (as I type this on my 10 year old MacBook Pro)

 

[fpitas]

Oh dear.

Definitely an, "Oh Snap!" moment for us.