[jrebman]

I'm an EE as well, and I'd suggest just closing the theory books and listen.  On any capable dac, even some really inexpensive ones it shouldn't be too hard to tell the difference.

When I tried the Starlight over the usb on my async cosecant, I wasn't expecting any difference but it was pretty obvious from the first notes and just got better after that.

Sorry, no, I have no explanation for this, but even inexperienced listeners have heard the difference in my system when they had no idea what, if anything had been changed.

-- Jim

[skunark]

Perhaps you need to read this from the dB Audio Labs site:
 
"How is The Essential USB Cable sonically superior from other USB cable choices? It offers newfound improvements in harmonic decay, soundstaging and low level detail extraction. Soundstage width, depth and focus are taken to new levels. A newfound high frequency accuracy that allows for a better sense of liquidity and palpability. Instruments and singers just sound more real. Music is portrayed within the sound field like never before. In a nutshell, you haven’t experienced everything from the Tranquility DAC until you hear it coupled with The Essential USB Cable."
 
And here is why:
 
-Proprietary shielding geometry for the voltage and data conductors
-True 100% EMI and RF shielding applied to the data transmission pathways
-Transmission line theory optimized with extreme care to wave propagation
-Special non-magnetic dampening materials on ends to control micro-voltage issues
-Consistent conductor spacing that is not typical of hand made designs
-Specially treated unstressed conductors and grounding pathways
-Conductors and shielding terminated with special silver solder
 
Steve

Yeah, i find their website contradicting check out the USB section under "tech talk" (for some reason you can't copy and paste it):
http://www.dbaudiolabs.com/ 
or oddly here: http://web.me.com/ehider/db_audio_labs_website_backup/Tech_Talk.html

It correctly states that the USB interface won't add jitter to signal, so all of the "extra" RF features just make for a solid connection, but won't make the digital data any better.   Again the data either arrives or it doesn't, a USB cable can't add any "coloration" to the sound. Just the DAC itself and the output stage really will do that.

[*Scotty*]

I reposted this here in case people missed the links to comprehensive information on USB audio data transfer posted in the
 The Path of Least Resistance Circle.
It appears that USB audio transmission is a more complicated subject than many believe. A USB connection may not add jitter but it is not free from the spectre of distortion of the analogue audio signal.
Here are links to more information on the subject. The first link is to excerpts from an article discussing the pitfalls of isochronous data transmission and the second link is for the complete article.
This article was written by an engineer in the BurrBrown group at TI who developed the 2700 series of USB codecs.
An explanation for dealing with the missing packets of data is contained in the article.
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/wavelength2/brick_2.html
http://www.planetanalog.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=12801995
Scotty

[davidR]

I've been wondering about this cable. Thanks for the solid review!

Yeah, i find their website contradicting check out the USB section under "tech talk" (for some reason you can't copy and paste it):
http://www.dbaudiolabs.com/ 
or oddly here: http://web.me.com/ehider/db_audio_labs_website_backup/Tech_Talk.html

It correctly states that the USB interface won't add jitter to signal, so all of the "extra" RF features just make for a solid connection, but won't make the digital data any better.   Again the data either arrives or it doesn't, a USB cable can't add any "coloration" to the sound. Just the DAC itself and the output stage really will do that.

Aren't you forgetting that the "dumb data" connection of "simply 1's and 0's" is connected to an extremely noisy source via the voltage & ground wires courtesy of the pc?; and even digital transfers of data using a physical cable are still analog in nature? C'mon flat earth friend, if we had everything figured out every single one of us would have perfectly recorded music played back perfectly in our listening rooms for a small price with no need for those pesky concert tickets anymore.

[*Scotty*]

According to the engineer who developed the TI/BurrBrown 2700 series of USB codecs the world is not flat. The USB interface when used for audio transmission adds measurable distortion to the recovered audio signal. That interface includes the the USB cable between the two USB devices which is why we can hear the cables. The USB transmission of streaming audio data is far from perfect at this time.
Scotty

[skunark]

I did some research over the weekend on the USB standard and how audio portion was implemented.   I did a brief post in another thread here

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=80197.msg771115#msg771115

Long story short, USB clearly has issues on how it implemented the audio and when there is a failure  you will loose 1ms of audio.  I do see now how folks would see an improvement with a properly shielded USB cable. 

[truant]

I had the same LFD cables as well.  You've got to try the Crimson Music-Links.  But, since this isn't really the place to go on about this particular topic you're welcome to email me if you want to follow up.  I'd be interested to hear about your experience with the Compact 7s...they are on my very short list of speakers when I get around to that upgrade.
Are you using the Tranquility and/or the Essential usb cable?

royshouse@earthlink.net