Nordost Tyr 2 Review (USB Cable)

[Inner Space]

No specialised knowledge is required, just some basic logic: how do computers manage to transfer data at such high speed with just "ordinary" USB cables?

That's a fun point, isn't it? The money these guys make from these rip-offs is transferred bank-to-bank with bog-standard cables and interfaces. Don't they worry a few bucks might get lost along the way?

 

[Roland68]

No specialised knowledge is required, just some basic logic: how do computers manage to transfer data at such high speed with just "ordinary" USB cables?

Often much worse than you think, but the missing or incorrect data is just sent until it is complete. But audio data is only sent once as Steam without any correction.
Originally, USB was just a cheap solution for the greed is awesome mentality. Which idiot came up with the idea of laying a power supply line (and a dirty one at that) inside the shielding of a data line, for which there is a defined characteristic impedance. What a piece of rubbish. More about that here #377

 

[AudioSceptic]

That's a fun point, isn't it? The money these guys make from these rip-offs is transferred bank-to-bank with bog-standard cables and interfaces. Don't they worry a few bucks might get lost along the way?

 

[AudioSceptic]

Often much worse than you think, but the missing or incorrect data is just sent until it is complete. But audio data is only sent once as Steam without any correction.
Originally, USB was just a cheap solution for the greed is awesome mentality. Which idiot came up with the idea of laying a power supply line (and a dirty one at that) inside the shielding of a data line, for which there is a defined characteristic impedance. What a piece of rubbish. More about that here #377

OK, that might be true, but we need hard evidence that expensive cables deal with these issues better than "bog standard" ones. Given the cost of stuff like the Nordost, there's surely some scope for improvement. BTW does the data in a CD player also get sent only once from transport to DAC?

 

[solderdude]

Often much worse than you think, but the missing or incorrect data is just sent until it is complete. But audio data is only sent once as Steam without any correction.
Originally, USB was just a cheap solution for the greed is awesome mentality. Which idiot came up with the idea of laying a power supply line (and a dirty one at that) inside the shielding of a data line, for which there is a defined characteristic impedance. What a piece of rubbish. More about that here #377

There are balanced datalines. Unless the power wire is very close to one and further away from the other dataline the garbage on the +5V should be common mode so not influence the data.
So data transfer may be more rugged but common mode garbage on power and ground line can still make it into the audio when the receiving end is poorly designed.

Audio is indeed streamed but has a check for validity. Toppled bits won't reduce audio quality but generate ticks (when the audio data is corrupted and not recoverable).

 

[Roland68]

OK, that might be true, but we need hard evidence that expensive cables deal with these issues better than "bog standard" ones. Given the cost of stuff like the Nordost, there's surely some scope for improvement. BTW does the data in a CD player also get sent only once from transport to DAC?

Please don't get me wrong, I don't believe in overpriced cables either.
USB is and will always be a crutch, but a USB cable that has the power supply line well isolated from the digital line can help. However, the sending and receiving stations also play a role here.

When transferring digital data from the CD player to the DAC (SPDIF, AES, i2s or i2s over LVDS), whether internal or external, protocols, cables and interfaces are used that guarantee a very high level of transmission security. Of course there can also be harmful influences from the outside, but they weren't built in right away .

 

[JSmith]

There are 10 votes for this cable to be great, pleased customers?

You don't understand... most USB cables use only 0's and 1's, but these more expensive cables cover the whole numerical range in between with finer gradients of extrapolation (i.e 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9) allowing the listener to discover amazing detail and nuance never before heard in audio. Get with the times man, these are a bargain I tells ya, a bargain.


JSmith

 

[Roland68]

You don't understand... most USB cables use only 0's and 1's, but these more expensive cables cover the whole numerical range in between with finer gradients of extrapolation (i.e 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9) allowing the listener to discover amazing detail and nuance never before heard in audio. Get with the times man, these are a bargain I tells ya, a bargain.


JSmith

No, no, you are completely wrong. They are a big step further.
A two-digit hexadecimal value is transmitted for each bit. Hence the much higher resolution and incredible detail...

 

[Madlop26]

You don't understand... most USB cables use only 0's and 1's, but these more expensive cables cover the whole numerical range in between with finer gradients of extrapolation (i.e 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9) allowing the listener to discover amazing detail and nuance never before heard in audio. Get with the times man, these are a bargain I tells ya, a bargain.


JSmith

No, no, you are completely wrong. They are a big step further.
A two-digit hexadecimal value is transmitted for each bit. Hence the much higher resolution and incredible detail...

You two guys are clearly way ahead from me....lol

 

[DualTriode]

You don't understand... most USB cables use only 0's and 1's, but these more expensive cables cover the whole numerical range in between with finer gradients of extrapolation (i.e 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9) allowing the listener to discover amazing detail and nuance never before heard in audio. Get with the times man, these are a bargain I tells ya, a bargain.


JSmith

So much dither in between.

 

[srkbear]

I visited several “high end” audio retailers in the past year, including Star Power, Best Buy’s “Magnolia” partnership, Ed Kellum and Son (local Dallas outfit), and AudioConcepts.

All had massive point of sale racks of AudioQuest, WireWorld, and other “boutique” cable solutions that were “kept in the back”—hinting of lusciously premium options meant for only an elite set of decadently wealthy consumers to discover, only if they were REALLY serious about their audiophile credentials.

“You can get the Forest and it’ll do just fine, but I have the Vodka”

“Jim, could you help this customer? Jim’s a manager and he really knows WireWorld better than the rest of us—he’ll explain the Starlight”

“You’re spent $4,000 on an an amp—if you had a cheap amp then it would be a waste to buy premium cables. But with an amp that expensive you need a Nordost”.

Don’t even get me started on Moon Audio’s “select which Dragon cable” menu when you try to purchase some cans on their website.

 

[srkbear]

There's nothing new about these tests. There was a test over twenty years ago of a coat hanger vs a top end digital cable, that showed there was zero difference. Sadly the plonkers that buy that crap just won't be swayed by science or logic.

I can attest that I was swayed away from falling prey to “premium” cables via this site, so I guess I qualify as a plonker…

 

[DonR]

I can attest that I was swayed away from falling prey to “premium” cables via this site, so I guess I qualify as a plonker…

We are all plonkers about something at some time in our lives. There is no shame in that, only in continuing to be one when you know it's a lie.

 

[srkbear]

I'd say maybe, and just only maybe, aesthetically better....and that's questionable....

I think there’s something to be said for build quality when analog headphone cables are involved. The cables that came with my Focals were stiff, unwieldy nightmares. I found a nice balance of cost and build in an outfit called GUCraftsman, that set me up with a perfectly ergonomic, impeccably-built 4.4 to mini XLR single crystal copper cable for my Utopias that set me back $189, and I haven’t regretted the expense at that price point. But I learned through this site that paying $100+ for digital cables was foolishness.

 

[srkbear]

We are all plonkers about something at some time in our lives. There is no shame in that, only in continuing to be one when you know it's a lie.

That’s why I applaud @amirm for posting these reviews periodically for the benefit of potential plonkers visiting this site!

 

[DonR]

I think there’s something to be said for build quality when analog headphone cables are involved. The cables that came with my Focals were stiff, unwieldy nightmares. I found a nice balance of cost and build in an outfit called GUCraftsman, that set me up with a perfectly ergonomic, impeccably-built 4.4 to mini XLR single crystal copper cable for my Utopias that set me back $189, and I haven’t regretted the expense at that price point. But I learned through this site that paying $100+ for digital cables was foolishness.

Headphone and microphone cables take the worst abuse of all. Built quality is of utmost importance there.

 

[Ro808]

 

[voodooless]

Aren't those photon's going to introduce noise?

 

[srkbear]

View attachment 196687View attachment 196688

“Moonglo digital interconnects are a unique product designed to eliminate the effects of mechanical noise and resonance found in digital signal cables. Both versions consist of two separate Teflon coax cables. Each coax contains a silver-plated, multi-filament center conductor. This is covered with a layer of Teflon, which is in turn shielded with a layer of silver. This is then covered with a layer of extruded Teflon. The coaxes are twisted together with two cushioned filaments of Teflon and jacketed with another layer of Teflon. This is a superb way of eliminating timing errors, jitter, and mechanical noise in the cable.”

Teflon must block those Moonglo photons, @voodooless.

And my absolute favorite:

This simple and elegant Nordost philosophy was born out of the excesses of the 1980s. During this period, the cable industry was discredited by voodoo technologies that meticulously claimed to have reinvented the wheel of wire production. Such promises were either plain weird or just bogus, and the absence of a legitimate scientific foundation undermined the credibility of audio cable in the eyes of many consumers. The Nordost Corporation was determined to re-establish this credibility. And to do so, the fledgling company understood that cable needed to build on more legitimate scientific grounds.

 

[mhardy6647]

Aren't those photon's going to introduce noise?

so, you know how there are truth and beauty quarks? maybe there are quiet photons?
(and, no, in fact I am not a physicist -- how did you know?)