[lmf22]

Has anyone found a good USB cable for the BDA-2 DAC? I'm currently using the Wywires Silver series and it's great, but always wondering if it could use an upgrade.
I have narrowed down the choices to Wireworld Platinum or Audioquest Diamond. Both has great reviews, but I was not able to find anyone who actually tried it on a BDA-2.

[barrows]

I would recommend reading the HiFi News USB cable tests.  Both subjective evaluation (listening, blind) and measurements, which mostly seem to confirm the subjective testing (whaddaya know!).
I use, and love the Nordost Blue Heaven, but would love to upgrade to the Heimdall at some point.  USB is high speed signaling, and as such I tend to shy away from hand made cables which may not even meet the Class II USB spec.  Charles Hansen (president of Ayre) has noted some of his customers have had problems (dropouts etc) with some "audiophile" USB cables, so be careful when experimenting.
High speed signaling has different needs than an analog cable.

[paul79]

I've been through the wringer with USB Cables, and the Totaldac USB Cable/Filter is my favorite by quite allot.

What it does differently is really lock the artists in place with image focus and transparency like no other. The inner detail is really quite spooky. This focusing allows you to hear easily, how close or far away the artists are, and exactly what they are doing. Transitions from soft to loud or loud to soft, are much more prevalent also (dynamic contrasts?).   It is also the most musical sounding cable, all the while. Really quite special.

I also like the Audioquest Diamond. Somewhat laid back presentation. Smooth yet detailed and really highlights the ambient resolution. This is at the expense of some image focus and inner detail, however.

The Totaldac cable just sounds more real to me, in my system.

[Spritz57]

Out of curiosity, what are folks connecting with the USB cable?  Hard drive to computer (or BDP) or computer to BDA?

[paul79]

The only USB Cable that matters typically, is the one from computer to DAC or computer to USB to SPDIF converter.

[lmf22]

Thanks for the suggestions! I found a USB Cable Shootout on Audiostream that included the Audioquest Diamond and Wireworld Platinum. I think I am leaning more towards the Audioquest because "The Audioquest Diamond’s greatest sonic attribute is its extreme smoothness in the midrange and high end that at the same time, is detailed and very revealing" (http://www.audiostream.com/content/usb-cable-shootout). It sounds like the description of a good analog (turntable) setup, which I tend to like (I have the Clearaudio Concept turntable and Audio Research PH6 phonostage).

On the other hand the Wireworld is "the ‘fastest' sounding of the three cables reviewed, and offers outstanding definition and resolution" and "is one revealing cable that will allow one to hear all the detail present on a recording." This worries me because I have a lot of mediocre albums, and this description makes me think they might become fatiguing.

The BDA-2 is already a very smooth sounding DAC. Will the Audioquest Diamond make it too smooth and unexciting/boring?

Here's my system if it helps:
Desktop computer running JRiver 19 with Fidelizer 5.0 ---> Wywires USB Silver Series 1.5m ---> BDA-2 ---> Wireworld Gold Eclipse 7 interconnect ---> Octave V70SE tube integrated amp ---> Transparent Musicwave Super speaker cables ---> Dynaudio Contour S3.4 speakers.

[paul79]

Best thing to do is try it.. You are the only one that can determine what sounds best in your system.

IMO, the Totaldac is absolutely the most analog sounding USB cable in my system, with regard to body and weight. No other USB Cable I tried got this right.

[Samurai7595]

Have a look here:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/2014-recommended-components-cables

[unincognito]

$5 cable from monoprice, tested using measurements taken using an audio precision analyzer

[werd]

$5 cable from monoprice, tested using measurements taken using an audio precision analyzer

If you don't mind your bda sounding like a 90ish Oki microline 320 - 9 pin dot matrix printer.  Go for it!

[Ern Dog]

My experience is pretty limited with USB cables.  I started out using the stock cheapo and recently upgraded to the Audioquest Carbon.  It was a very significant improvement.  I had no idea how much my previous cable was holding me back.  I'm using it from my Salk streamer to an MHDT Stockholm dac.

[Ern Dog]

That Totaldac USB cable sounds interesting too.  It would be fun to try it and compare it to my AQ Carbon.