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JPS Superconductor V USB Cable Review

Rate this USB Cable

  • 1. Waste of money (piggy bank panther)

    Votes: 283 96.9%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 8 2.7%

  • Total voters
    292

sniegs

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What's the point of measuring USB cables, the signal is either there or not (0/1)... .
Something of a nightmare on the science side this time.
 

theREALdotnet

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What's the point of measuring USB cables, the signal is either there or not (0/1)... .
Something of a nightmare on the science side this time.

It is of potential interest to rate cables by how much of the time the signal is there vs not. Steady state measurements in the analog domain don’t tend to show you that. Eye diagrams can give very good and easy to understand clues about the transmission qualities of digital cables, but as Amir has said, this can become expensive at today’s USB data rates.

A good way of rating cables would be by bit error rate, but again, requiring specialist equipment. Bit errors in USB audio can be detected by the receiver, but I’m not aware of a commercial DAC that would indicate detected bit errors. Even then, the issue is that those errors are presumably rare. One thing is for sure, they don’t affect audio quality in any analog way, like as colouration, sound stage, etc.
 

sniegs

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Could agree about bit errors at very long lengths, no more.
One could draw parallels with the length of the Internet cable (speed=conductor material, shielding, length).
For example, HDMI cables are given the performance label as the latest class (eg 8K) not by the number of wires or port changes, but by its quality, aluminum, copper, shielded, etc., but in theory it is the same old cable.
 

Martin

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Oh this is more fun than you could ever dream of.... Check out their website.... Jpslabs.Com. Start making your Christmas list.
Snake oil as far as the eye can see…
Why don’t you try responding to any of the actually decent questions that were directed at you? If you want a decent discussion, that’s the proper start.
Because he is a troll - eloquent, maybe - but a troll nonetheless.

Martin
 

Madlop26

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Sort of negates the statement that they obsolete products. :p


I'm also typing this on a 10yo air. About to upgrade, and am mightily pissed off at the price apple is charging for the 32gb ram upgrade. But similar performance windows machines are heading towards similar prices, and I've never owned a windows laptop that is usable beyond 5 years.

So I'm probably going to have to hold my nose and pony up for a new macbook pro.
Apple.....right.
Many people complain about apple but it seems to me they lack some objectivity. To determine a product has shortcomings you need a point of reference. If there was a laptop with the reliability, power and longevity of an apple laptop, at a lower price, then certainly I would complain too, but do we have that point of reference?. I have owned 5 windows laptops, none live beyond 3 years, since 2011 I have bought 3 Apple laptops all of them are still alive.
 

KSTR

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I have owned 5 windows laptops, none live beyond 3 years, since 2011 I have bought 3 Apple laptops all of them are still alive.
What? Apple is a company and Windows is an operating system. You simply cannot compare companies with operating systems.

For like 20+ years I've had numerous laptops from a multitude of companies running a multitude of operating systems, and the only laptop which died with a true hardware defect of non-replacable parts was from HP, all the others are still up and running (that is, the handful that I kept for nostalgic reasons or whatever).
 

dananski

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I see a problem having to run some 10 kbar pipes running to my speakers.
Heh yeah. The first article I read neglected to mention that, but even so I'm sure someone would try it if they're spending this much on cables in the desperate hope of improving the sound.
 

AudioSceptic

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Apple.....right.
Many people complain about apple but it seems to me they lack some objectivity. To determine a product has shortcomings you need a point of reference. If there was a laptop with the reliability, power and longevity of an apple laptop, at a lower price, then certainly I would complain too, but do we have that point of reference?. I have owned 5 windows laptops, none live beyond 3 years, since 2011 I have bought 3 Apple laptops all of them are still alive.
Is that for >1 user? I'm typing this on a 2012 MacBook Pro bought as a refurb in 2013.
 

egellings

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My point exactly.

If I had a product that I'm absolulety confident to present an objective performance and value proposition and see/hear about anyone claiming to objectively prove otherwise, I would intervene to show them the error of their ways. I believe anyone who's confident in their product would.

By not engaging in here, they cease to stand by their claim, which is the equivalent of admitting that they're STRAIGHT OUT LYING to their customers.
What if a cable vendor truly believes that his magical cable is magical sounding? Is he lying then?
 

fpitas

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What if a cable vendor truly believes that his magical cable is magical sounding? Is he lying then?
That's a good philosophical question. I guess if they truly believe in mysterious X Factor stuff, they aren't exactly lying. Just kind of goofy.
 

antcollinet

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What if a cable vendor truly believes that his magical cable is magical sounding? Is he lying then?
The point @Hatto was making is : if they truly believe - why are they not "intervening to show us the error of our ways"? It is a valid question.
 
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AudioSceptic

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That's a good philosophical question. I guess if they truly believe in mysterious X Factor stuff, they aren't exactly lying. Just kind of goofy.
Indeed. Which is worse: a fantasist who genuinely believes in nonsense, or a liar who knows it's nonsense but claims to believe it anyway.

Regardless, we should expect them to prove their claims in double-blind subjective tests.
 

egellings

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Someone witnessing a sleight of hand trick for the first time might mistake their real-world observation (in absence of universal awareness) as evidence and claim objective belief in magic.
What get me happens when a magician shows a viewer the mechanism behind the trick, but the viewer discounts that and still believes that magic was responsible for the trick's outcome.
 

Hatto

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What get me happens when a magician shows a viewer the mechanism behind the trick, but the viewer discounts that and still believes that magic was responsible for the trick's outcome.
When someone who geniunely believed magic to be responsible for the observed event is exposed to the actual mechanism behind the trick, it triggers cognitive dissonance. Weak minds would disregard factual evidence in order not to face the reality that they've been wrong right from the start, to preserve he integrity of their insecure nature.

That's when it turns into subjective belief in magic.
 

Martin

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When someone who geniunely believed magic to be responsible for the observed event is exposed to the actual mechanism behind the trick, it triggers cognitive dissonance. Weak minds would disregard factual evidence in order not to face the reality that they've been wrong right from the start, to preserve he integrity of their insecure nature.

That's when it turns into subjective belief in magic.

Or delusion (noun): a false belief or judgment about external reality, held despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary,...

Martin
 

theREALdotnet

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That's when it turns into subjective belief in magic.

Who was it that said, “any sufficiently expensive cable is indistinguishable from magic”…?
 
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