I think it's because we all know how it would end if the rules of decency were dropped if even just for a day.

The meek would inherit the earth. ;-)

Can the leek really do that?

It's been playing second fiddle to the onion for far too long.

You all are thinking about this wrong.
Sure, $3500 is a lot for a USB cable, but if you send just 1GB worth of data over that cable then it's only 3.5 ten thousand's of a penny per bit.  That's just $0.0000035.  

Isn't that mere pittance worth paying to ensure that every single one of your precious bits arrives in perfect and pristine condition?!!!!


(Hmmmm, maybe I should've pursued a career in marketing.... at least marketing of overpriced goods.  ;-)   Honestly, this seems like an excellent example of going waaaay past the point of diminishing returns. )

mike_mccue


I think it's because we all know how it would end if the rules of decency were dropped if even just for a day.

The meek would inherit the earth. ;-)

...six feet at a time, as Heinlein once said.

I don't how it works but with that cable, I'm sure it's working.

After reading the descriptions of these cables, I decided to buy them all. USB, speaker cables, power cables, the whole nine yards. $90,000 for assorted cables. Donna will get over it, eventually.
But now I know my tracks will not be compromised by trilobites and other nastiness.
And my Realtek sounds better than I could have possibly imagined.

mike_mccue

I thought that data packet transmissions systems such as USB corrects it's errors by requesting a replacement packet. Yes? No?

During the initial device detection stage yes, according to the website link you posted, but I'm not seeing how USB handles streaming data such as audio. That's the key difference. It's different than transmitting a file of known size such as a .DOC, .PDF, .JPG ... etc. If you have an inferior cable and there is excessive packet loss because of the cable, I could see how a better quality cable could help, in the same way a shielded cable is recommend for USB 2.0. I didn't see any details on this, but I'm assuming audio is transferred via USB very similar to how picture data is on a fax because everything else seems to be very similar according to that web site. And I know during the picture transfer stage of a fax, if you get packet loss, db loss, or noise, it effects the quality of the image when it's printed on the receiving end.

http://www.beyondlogic.org/usbnutshell/usb4.shtml

That's a great web site. What it explains is very similar to how fax machines work.

I think the answer is Yes and that there is no way for a "audiophile" USB cable to improve some portion of the audio stream or spectrum. When you read the review on the guys web page that speaks of enhanced clarity in the bass and dynamics... that's the "marketing speak" that makes people look like fools.

It can't improve the audio stream or spectrum, but it can improve the integrity of that data and how accurately it is sent to your audio device.

If there is some uncorrectable error caused by a USB cable the buffer runs dry and you get nothing.

I would think it would depend on which stage of the audio data transfer you're at. Again, I'm assuming that since the other similarities to facsimile data transmission are almost dead on, that audio data is transferred very similarly also, and on a fax, that stage can definitely be altered without the transmission being truncated.

BTW FAX is considered secure because the manufacturers have made it is easy to use an encryption appliance. Encryption is easy in email too... but there are so many options that the FAX appliances seems easier by comparison.

I wouldn't say it's a matter of being easy, but rather a matter of a PDF not being intercepted while in transmission. At least, that's what the IT Directors would tell me at the banks I used to service. But like you said, this has nothing to do with EC. I got off on a tangent there. :)

I think we all agree that $3500 for a USB cable is absolutely ridiculous. :) Do I think a better made cable could make an improvement, yes, but not to the extent that web site and the reviewer is claiming.

Bub,

Here's what I was going to say in reply:

 I think there may be some confusion... To the best of my knowledge, with USB "media" files are not actually streaming... the "media" is simply data in packets that move into a buffer on a ADA appliance so fast that it seems as if it is streaming.

 When the data starts spewing out of the buffer it needs to get synced by the "clock"... and so audiophile conversations about clocks, oversampling etc become pertinent.



 However, I just went a read a bit of wiki and I see this:

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB
 
USB device communication is based on pipes (logical channels). A pipe is a connection from the host controller to a logical entity, found on a device, and named an endpoint. Because pipes correspond 1-to-1 to endpoints, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. A USB device can have up to 32 endpoints: 16 into the host controller and 16 out of the host controller. The USB standard reserves one endpoint of each type, leaving a theoretical maximum of 30 for normal use. USB devices seldom have this many endpoints.
There are two types of pipes: stream and message pipes depending on the type of data transfer.

• isochronous transfers: at some guaranteed data rate (often, but not necessarily, as fast as possible) but with possible data loss (e.g., realtime audio or video).
• interrupt transfers: devices that need guaranteed quick responses (bounded latency) (e.g., pointing devices and keyboards).
• bulk transfers: large sporadic transfers using all remaining available bandwidth, but with no guarantees on bandwidth or latency (e.g., file transfers).
• control transfers: typically used for short, simple commands to the device, and a status response, used, for example, by the bus control pipe number 0.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 
 I have never really acknowledged that USB actually "streams"... so maybe there is something to the idea of audio transfer being an actual stream.

 The idea makes me curious... but it also prompts me to wonder what gear streams and what gears is simply using packets. In other words I suspect that not all the USB gear in my studio uses streams exclusively... and in fact I now realize that I do not have a single piece of gear that uses USB for an audio connection (for the simple reason that I have a few firewire systems) so I guess I've never even thought about audio over USB.

 This makes me wonder how our I/O devices work. In other words, there may be a few audio appliances that use USB as a stream and there may be a bunch of USB based multichannel I/O that simply transfer packets.

 I'd like to learn a little bit more about it.


 all the best,
mike

Streaming USB data is still buffered and packetized, and still contains CRC redundancy error checking.

The difference is, when streaming, missing or problematic packets are not re-transfered.

When doing packetized digital transfers, it is impossible to get "more accurate" transfers, unless you are comparing to a bad transfer with dropped packets or uncorrected errors. And the result of dropped packets or uncorrected errors would not likely be subtle in the real world.