This is a review and detailed measurements of the KIMBER KABLE B-BUS USB cable. It is on kind loan from a member. The B-BUS in 1 meter length costs US $60 from the company.
Complain all you want about high-end cables. Where they usually distinguish themselves is the fancy look of their cables. Well, Kimber must have been absent on the day that marketing lesson was taught as the B-BUS is an ugly purple and looks as plain as it possibly could:
Some lofty claims are made about the cable:
I sure hope so after paying 10 times as much for this cable. Then there is this endorsement from the founder of audiophilestyle online blog/forum, Chris Connaker:
You don't say Chris.... Let's find out if there are such interference that have been stopping the rest of us from hearing the "original recording."
USB Cable Audio Measurements
Let's start test this USB cable with one of the best performing DACs out there, the Topping D90:
SINAD measures both distortion and noise relative to our main signal. At 121 dB, it is at least 5 dB better the absolute threshold of hearing. Distortion products are even better at whopping -130 dB. If you can hear them, you can likely tell when I flush the toilet at our house no matter where you live.
Now let's swap out that cable and put in a generic cable ($5) that I thought was Amazon Basics but it was not:
Wow, nothing has changed whatsoever. Output voltage is identical at 4.058 volts. Frequency is right on the money at 1.00000 kHz. Distortion is the same at 0.000094%.
Let's go for a much more sensitive test, namely jitter:
Not a hair out of place when comparing one cable to the other.
We are done here folks. There is nothing to see but the lowering of your bank account to the tune of $55.
Discussion and Conclusions
No, bits are not bits. The PC connection can cause noise to travel into a PC so there is some analog aspect to digital audio communication. It is the job of the DAC to be immune to that noise, jitter, etc. And that is certainly the case with vast majority of audio DACs.
Now, occasionally you may run into a ground loop with a USB DAC where you often hear the activity in your computer. In these cases, I suggest using a Toslink Optical input, or XLR output (if your DAC is so equipped). Swapping cables may randomly make a bit of difference but certainly not a solution to this problem.
Of course if you are not hearing any noise, none is there. The better fidelity you hear including "air" and "imaging" when you swap out your generic cable for premium cables is not there because the sound has changed. It is there because your mind has! You swap cables, focus more on what you are playing and all of a sudden hear better separation of notes, lower noise floor, etc. All of these were always there. It is just that your brain would explode if it had to remember all this detail so it normally ignores them until you start to compare audio components/tweaks. So we know why you "hear" a difference. A difference is there in your mindset. But not in the electrical signals coming out of your DAC.
Remember, no manufacturer ever shows such improvement in noise with their cables even though noise is so easy to measure. Or if they do, they show it on the digital side, not the side you listen to (output of the cable).
So don't let folks reach into your piggy bank and take out money that could go to much better use.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
This winter is dragging on so I am starting to get depressed. What would cheer me up is a higher balance in my back account so please donate what you can using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Complain all you want about high-end cables. Where they usually distinguish themselves is the fancy look of their cables. Well, Kimber must have been absent on the day that marketing lesson was taught as the B-BUS is an ugly purple and looks as plain as it possibly could:
Some lofty claims are made about the cable:
I sure hope so after paying 10 times as much for this cable. Then there is this endorsement from the founder of audiophilestyle online blog/forum, Chris Connaker:
You don't say Chris.... Let's find out if there are such interference that have been stopping the rest of us from hearing the "original recording."
USB Cable Audio Measurements
Let's start test this USB cable with one of the best performing DACs out there, the Topping D90:
SINAD measures both distortion and noise relative to our main signal. At 121 dB, it is at least 5 dB better the absolute threshold of hearing. Distortion products are even better at whopping -130 dB. If you can hear them, you can likely tell when I flush the toilet at our house no matter where you live.
Now let's swap out that cable and put in a generic cable ($5) that I thought was Amazon Basics but it was not:
Wow, nothing has changed whatsoever. Output voltage is identical at 4.058 volts. Frequency is right on the money at 1.00000 kHz. Distortion is the same at 0.000094%.
Let's go for a much more sensitive test, namely jitter:
Not a hair out of place when comparing one cable to the other.
We are done here folks. There is nothing to see but the lowering of your bank account to the tune of $55.
Discussion and Conclusions
No, bits are not bits. The PC connection can cause noise to travel into a PC so there is some analog aspect to digital audio communication. It is the job of the DAC to be immune to that noise, jitter, etc. And that is certainly the case with vast majority of audio DACs.
Now, occasionally you may run into a ground loop with a USB DAC where you often hear the activity in your computer. In these cases, I suggest using a Toslink Optical input, or XLR output (if your DAC is so equipped). Swapping cables may randomly make a bit of difference but certainly not a solution to this problem.
Of course if you are not hearing any noise, none is there. The better fidelity you hear including "air" and "imaging" when you swap out your generic cable for premium cables is not there because the sound has changed. It is there because your mind has! You swap cables, focus more on what you are playing and all of a sudden hear better separation of notes, lower noise floor, etc. All of these were always there. It is just that your brain would explode if it had to remember all this detail so it normally ignores them until you start to compare audio components/tweaks. So we know why you "hear" a difference. A difference is there in your mindset. But not in the electrical signals coming out of your DAC.
Remember, no manufacturer ever shows such improvement in noise with their cables even though noise is so easy to measure. Or if they do, they show it on the digital side, not the side you listen to (output of the cable).
So don't let folks reach into your piggy bank and take out money that could go to much better use.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
This winter is dragging on so I am starting to get depressed. What would cheer me up is a higher balance in my back account so please donate what you can using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/