advertisement


Shunyata Venom USB should not be making this difference

In other words: because there are differences between olive oils there must be differences between usb audio cables.

If that's what you got from that...well says a lot about the ability for your mind to expand beyond your self determined bias ridden parameters.
 
Thanks; will keep an eye out as I haven’t seen it for less than £400 here either. I also paid a fair bit more than you for the USB cable, so well done there! Ah well, was still cheaper than an AQ cable.

Yeah, I fear the prices are going to go up now considerably since those price raises.

I probably just got lucky with the price I paid for mine...I tried quite a few AQ cables also at much higher prices and the Venom still stood out. I think the investment is worth it as its completely fit and forget because it's that good. I probably won't ever change mine.
 
Olive oil???
I love the stuff
Much more interesting than venom-ous exchanges (pun on thread title intended) between obtuse people intent on not even attempting to understand/tolerate dissident thought :)

This thread seems to have become a battle of the inquisitions :)
 
Marcustubesnow, re signal level in usb cables. The loudness of the signal in encoded in the data, resistance in the cables doesn't affect the loudness of the encoded music, just the level of the voltage used to signal a switch between 0 and 1. There's is no possible way one usb cable can make the music louder than the other it would haven't decode, edit and then remove the bits, perfectly. That would require a dac and a A to D device to be microscopically embedded in the cables.

Now, knowing what you think you hear is impossible, really impossible, do you think it's still real or just a bias effect?
If a cable passes noise, then my observation is that noise could be 'parasitic' inasmuch as it gets amplified and thus draws power which could otherwise go to amplifying the signal. It also, of course, reduces the SNR. I perceive this as a reduction in dynamics, which can often be mistaken for a reduction in overall volume level.
 
This thread seems to have become a battle of the inquisitions

It's like someone turned on a lamp in the dark and moths (some long-dormant) emerge from the shadows to flutter furiously around the unbearably tempting light, hoping to box the other species out of access to the light but of course the rivals just flit a few centimeters to the side and the futile, erratic dance carries on until the light finally fades.
 
Last edited:
Don't ferrite only block common mode noise if both wires are wound around halves of the ferrite? With the wires just passing through its a different story.
 
Don't ferrite only block common mode noise if both wires are wound around halves of the ferrite? With the wires just passing through its a different story.
Each turn increases the inductance. There is some effect even if the wires simply run straight through.
 
If a cable passes noise, then my observation is that noise could be 'parasitic' inasmuch as it gets amplified and thus draws power which could otherwise go to amplifying the signal. It also, of course, reduces the SNR. I perceive this as a reduction in dynamics, which can often be mistaken for a reduction in overall volume level.
Noise in digital cables can't be "amplified," since DAC receiver chip is not an amplifier. As long as the zeros and ones are properly recognized, the . music and it's volume are preserved.

Noise can be interpreted as jitter, but modern DACs are exceedingly good at rejecting it.
 
That's not strictly true. Shorter versions of the same cable will pick up less noise than longer versions. This holds true for any construction type. What's not known is what level of noise can have an audible effect for each source, dac and siting.

I've never heard any noise from usb, that changed with the cable. My current dac appears immune, my old mdac clearly picked up cursor movements on my macbook.
 
My new Shunyata Venom USB cable arrived yesterday, a 3m one since I needed a longer one. Immediate improvement over the Furutech cable it replaces - fuller and richer sounding.

Bring it on!
 
Slightly off topic, but here goes. I doubt that any of you would have read this piece I'll be referring to, but it appeared in a US magazine titled Fanfare. It's a long running magazine for the hard-core classical music listener. Back in the late 1980s and '90s (IIRC) the primary audio reviewer was Neil Levenson. He was a talented reviewer and (again, IIRC) used Naim equipment for a long time. Another contributor was Mike Silverton, who was a died-in-the-wool cable denier and pretty much fell into the objectivist camp.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I'll never forget the column in which Mike Silverton reported his experiment with different speaker cables. For many years he'd denied the possibility that speaker cables could make a difference. There was NO WAY they could. It was *impossible* from an electrical engineering standpoint and from a commonsense point of view. Snake oil. Utter BS.

I don't remember what the subject speaker wires were - they might have been silver, for heavens sake - but he was honest enough to admit that he'd been wrong and that, in fact, speaker wires made a difference. A "huge" difference, for him. I appreciated that he was humble enough to admit that he'd been wrong. Though I've never, in fact, done much experimenting with wires.

There have been many references on this thread of the human tendency towards "confirmation bias". I think this bias can run both ways. We can hear a difference when there isn't one and we can not hear a difference when there is one. I'm trying to be objective and just listen. I consider myself a bit of a skeptic, but since my good buddy loaned me the Venom (because he upgraded to a higher level Shunyata) and because he says it made a difference for him in his system, I'm trying to see for myself. I respect him. We've known each other for ~50 years, not that that matters. But it does go partway in explaining why I respect his opinion and want to see for myself if this USB cable matters.

And for all you other skeptics out there, I have a simple suggestion. Try a different cable, a well-regarded one. See for yourself whether it makes a difference. Have some fun. That's all I'm trying to do. It's not like I'm trying to discover another universe or anything.
 
My new Shunyata Venom USB cable arrived yesterday, a 3m one since I needed a longer one. Immediate improvement over the Furutech cable it replaces - fuller and richer sounding.

Bring it on!
Interesting,

That was OP's impression at the beginning as well.
 
Slightly off topic, but here goes. I doubt that any of you would have read this piece I'll be referring to, but it appeared in a US magazine titled Fanfare. It's a long running magazine for the hard-core classical music listener. Back in the late 1980s and '90s (IIRC) the primary audio reviewer was Neil Levenson. He was a talented reviewer and (again, IIRC) used Naim equipment for a long time. Another contributor was Mike Silverton, who was a died-in-the-wool cable denier and pretty much fell into the objectivist camp.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I'll never forget the column in which Mike Silverton reported his experiment with different speaker cables. For many years he'd denied the possibility that speaker cables could make a difference. There was NO WAY they could. It was *impossible* from an electrical engineering standpoint and from a commonsense point of view. Snake oil. Utter BS.

I don't remember what the subject speaker wires were - they might have been silver, for heavens sake - but he was honest enough to admit that he'd been wrong and that, in fact, speaker wires made a difference. A "huge" difference, for him. I appreciated that he was humble enough to admit that he'd been wrong. Though I've never, in fact, done much experimenting with wires.

There have been many references on this thread of the human tendency towards "confirmation bias". I think this bias can run both ways. We can hear a difference when there isn't one and we can not hear a difference when there is one. I'm trying to be objective and just listen. I consider myself a bit of a skeptic, but since my good buddy loaned me the Venom (because he upgraded to a higher level Shunyata) and because he says it made a difference for him in his system, I'm trying to see for myself. I respect him. We've known each other for ~50 years, not that that matters. But it does go partway in explaining why I respect his opinion and want to see for myself if this USB cable matters.

And for all you other skeptics out there, I have a simple suggestion. Try a different cable, a well-regarded one. See for yourself whether it makes a difference. Have some fun. That's all I'm trying to do. It's not like I'm trying to discover another universe or anything.
I have tried many cables and analogue ones can sometimes make small differences here and there. I settled on lower end Audioquest for RCA/XLR and speaker cables, PS Audio for power. They are all well made and sound as good or better than anything I can get.

However, for digital cables, I use a combination of Audioquest and generic. I don't hear any differences in this cable application. I also tried Pangaea one that separates power and signal in a shotgun run - no difference.
 
@DimitryZ
Thanks for sharing. I was just looking at your system pics, trying to figure this very question out.

None of my cables are exotic or pricey. Partly because of how my room is laid out I need long runs between the preamp and power amps. Those are simply 15 footer "Worlds Best Cable" off of Amazon. Well shielded, nicely terminated. Inexpensive.
 
My new Shunyata Venom USB cable arrived yesterday, a 3m one since I needed a longer one. Immediate improvement over the Furutech cable it replaces - fuller and richer sounding.

Bring it on!

Same here - although I didn't go for Shunyata but Wireworld.

Big improvement in sound, very satisfied with the upgrade.
 
My new Shunyata Venom USB cable arrived yesterday, a 3m one since I needed a longer one. Immediate improvement over the Furutech cable it replaces - fuller and richer sounding.

Bring it on!

Same here - although I didn't go for Shunyata but Wireworld.

Big improvement in sound, very satisfied with the upgrade.
 


advertisement


Back
Top