Comparisons
Contents
This cable took about 100 hours to break-in. Although silver provides an enormous soundstage, air, and resolution, copper just sounds more musically shaped (especially for voices) and tonally accurate to my ears. I find silver to be initially impressive but not as involving over time. Of course, this depends on the purity of the silver and Neotech silver and gold/silver stuff is probably the best I’ve heard.
Kimber KS-2436-AG ($1,195 @ 1.0m)
When I first A/B’ed the Kimber with the Curious, I thought they sounded very similar as far as tone and resolution. Over time the Kimber AG is the better sounding cable by providing a smoother and more coherent listening experience. The Curious is slightly leaner with more “exciting” overtones. Whether Kimber AG is worth over three times the price will be something you’ll have to decide for yourself. To my ears, I’m not even sure the Kimber AG is double the sonic performance of the Curious.
Danacable TruStream USB ($895 @ 2.0m)
This is my reference USB cable. It’s not the most detailed cable but, in my opinion, probably the most musically accurate. In comparison, the Curious USB provides a more spacious soundstage with incredible depth and resolution. It’s more transparent and quiet. The Danacable is smoother, has more accurate timbre, and provides more body and weight to the music. Although I would prefer the more holographic sound of the Curious, I felt more at home with the Danacable.
Phasure Lush USB ($269 @ 1.5m)
This cable is aptly named. It’s a very tonally rich cable. Probably the polar opposite of the Curious USB as far as tone. If you’re a resolution chaser, you won’t like this cable as much as the Curious USB. In ways similar to the Danacable, it has a denser and sweeter sound. Romantic if you will. Swapping between the Curious and the Lush and I get a presentation for different moods. The great thing about the Lush cable is that it has the ability to layer the sound like cables at least twice its price. It’s a bit like the warmer counterpart of the Curious USB. The price/performance ratio of both of these cables cannot be understated.
Clarity Cable Natural USB ($1,250 @ 1.0m)
Tonally similar to the Curious USB (It’s the silver silly). The Clarity Cable has a slightly better spatial reproduction and is even more detailed. Timbre is also more accurate and overall smoother. That said, the Curious USB gets 85% of the way there. For what it’s worth, I prefer this cable over the aforementioned Kimber AG for its natural sound. As you could probably infer by now, the Curious Cables USB is looking like more than just an incredible value in comparison to the giants.
Kimber KS-2416-CU ($495 @ 1.0m)
Although I have a proclivity towards copper, I preferred the Curious USB over the Kimber Cu in this comparison. You get so much more sonic benefits at a cheaper price. The Kimber Cu has more accurate timbre but sounds quite flat in comparison. It completely lacks any delineation across performers and really doesn’t have enough air and resolution to sound convincing.
Chord Silver Plus USB ($100 @ 1.0m)
The Curious USB immediately replaced my Chord Silver Plus. It wasn’t even close. Every cable in this lineup sounded better than the Silver Plus. The Chord sounds overly smooth and dulls out all the texture in the music.
Purist Audio 30th Anniversary USB ($1,500 @ 1.0m)
The priciest cable of the bunch, I believe it beats the Curious USB on all accounts aside from the Purist having a more tamed top and low end. Some may prefer the more present and weighty low and top ends of the Curious. Both have dimension and detail but I feel the Purist does it in a more coherent and realistic way. The Curious USB is the more energetic and sparkly cable.
Audience AU 24 SE USB ($595 @ 1.0m)
This cable is a very neutral sounding cable. In comparison to the Curious Cables USB, it’s a bit bass light and relaxed. I found the Curious to be more engaging and fun to listen to. Acoustic decay, maco/micro-dynamics, and resolution were better on the Curious USB cable. The Audience has a calmer, more mellow, and easygoing presentation. In a way, it’s smoother and doesn’t “try too hard.” The Curious USB is definitely more vivid with a healthier dose of clarity.
Vovox textura IC USB ($390)
Like the Lush cable, this cable may complement the Curious USB cable. It doesn’t have close to the amount of layering or dimensionality (probably its largest shortcoming), but it’s superbly musical and provides more meat on the bones. It has better timbre and tonal balance but isn’t as resolving or airy as the Curious USB cable. I find myself going between these cables depending on genre and mood.
Comparisons with other USB cables:
A few commenters were curious about comparisons to other USB cables. I’m planning a full comparison chart soon but some of these cables are difficult to source. A few guys from the CA and Head-fi communities were kind enough to send their cables in. Please contact me if you’d like to do the same and I’ll add update my impressions.
Nice comparison review!
Hi
Awesome comparison! Thank you very much. Just like to know your thoughts on the Supra usb cable
Cheers
I haven’t heard the Supra USB cable in quite some time but I preferred the Chord SilverPlus over it.
I own the Curious, Chord and Supra. I prefer by far Chord cheaper C-Line, even the Supra.
Curious is a little more detailed but an unnatural sound. I don’t know why i still belive in professional reviews, just my fault.
Wasted money.
The Curious surely doesn’t have a natural tone. Only resolution. I’ll have to listen to the C-Line.
Nice review, and maybe I will get it but there is one cable I don’t know if you ever saw it, its QED Reference USB they promote it with very low jitters 12 ps rms.
Cheers
I’ll take a look. Thanks, Muataz 🙂
Very well written review, as someone whom uses the Audience AU 24 SE | Cabledyne Reference Silver | Neutral Reference I [ improved ] Silver USB cables, and was seriously thinking about adding the Lush……, your review has in fact made me realize I’ve seriously been overlooking the Curious USB cable for far to long. And it’s nice to know that its constructed from silver, as most reviews never hinted at what the actual conductor was.
Thanks for being so insightful on all of your reviews, it makes getting through this whole concept behind CA, all that more entertaining.
Regards,
O_o scar Johnson
The great thing about the Lush cable is its ability to layer the sound well, without sacrificing warmth or demolishing your wallet.
Thanks for the review! I’m wondering if you have any thoughts on the Curious cable versus the Nordost Blue Heaven USB cable or even the Audiowuest Carbon?
I have not heard those cables but feel free to send them in 🙂
Good review, but your breakdown of how USB works is incorrect, pretty much all USB transmission is asynchronous now not isochronous, unless the DAC is really old. Also no need to worry about timing errors or any the waveform problems you wrote about that only applies to spdif not USB. USB is all packets and frames, all are CRC checked and packets discarded if there is an error. The good thing is that rarely happens even with the most grossly noisy and poorly made cables. I’m glad you liked the curious cable, others seem to as well.
Your knowledge of the USB protocol is obviously perfunctory but that’s OK, some of the terms are confusing. Isochronous refers to the transfer type and the asynchronous approach essentially refers to the location of the master clock (who controls the clock). Isochronous and asynchronous are mutually exclusive notions.
USB initiates a transfer with a specific device with of one of four types: bulk, control, interrupt, and isochronous. Bulk transfers are not time-critical (USB hard drives) and frames will be retransmitted when an error is detected.
With isochronous transfers, a certain amount of bandwidth is allocated on the host to accommodate the frames/bits required per second by the audio stream. DACs could detect errors but frames will not be retransmitted. But what defines the notion of a “second”? With synchronous USB, the clock resides on the host. With asynchronous USB, the master clock typically resides on the DAC. The DAC tells the host when to send the packets which essentially defines what a “second” means. This way audio data is “packaged” and streamed properly and the DAC never misses a sample. This does not ensure the integrity of those incoming bits, however, it just guarantees a specific rate using the presumably more accurate/consistent master clock on the DAC. There are reasons why external master clocks exist (timing errors) and many have shown these malformed waveforms while measuring these USB cables.
But the malformed waveforms that so many people reviewing cables like to point out rarely the cause of problems in USB communications. In almost all cases the voltages is enough to be distinguished as a 0 or 1 and assembled into the packet. If there was a problem with even one of the bits being flipped the packet would fail the CRC check and be discarded, but that almost never happens. My real point is just pointing out that when you explain to people the idea that a 0 or 1 could be slightly malformed and cause little errors due to the USB cable you are misleading them, because I am sure you are aware that via asynchronous USB the data is not sent as a bitstream, rather as chucks of data or packets. The only thing that matters is that the packet arrives to the DAC fast enough to fill the input buffer. The whole idea of using packets is so that things like time intervals in communication don’t matter anymore, the protocol just needs to ensure the packets are delivered with perfect integrity (CRC check) and get there quick enough to fill the buffer. This idea of malformed waveforms has little to no place in USB discussions.
My point is that the transition between a zero and a one isn’t clean due to the design of the cable. The digital signal has to be treated as more of an analog waveform. https://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/all-ones-and-zeros.htm
The clocks also have to sample at the “right” time but this is timing is difficult to achieve.
VERY NICE REVIEW. I HAVE OWNED AND TRIED SEVERAL CABLES- CURIOUS, NORDOST, WIREWORLD
AUDIENCE AND THE LATEST CARDAS CLEAR (CLEAR HS USB)
MY FAVORITE IS THE CARDAS IT HAS GOOD RYTHYM AND TIMING, SOUNDSTAGING, DEPTH AND HEIGHT AND A VERY NEUTRAL TONE
WOULD SUGGEST YOU TRY TO REVIEW
I tried the Cardas vs Audioquest Carbon, Neutral Audio of Italy, and LAT international. The Cardas is easy to listen to. Audioquest definitely more dynamic and vivid, but a little hard on the ears. The LAT is about right between those two, more vivid than Cardas, easier to listen to than the Audioquest.
Based on this review, I would like to try the Lush USB cable. I’m pretty sure the “winners” in these tests will vary somewhat with equipment, but not by much.
Thanks for the review. I have both the Lush and Curious USB and prefer the Lush. I found the Lush to be more detailed than the Curious but in a more even manner. The Curious is indeed more exciting and a bit lean.
Thanks for the revieuw.
Please, could you tell me the difference between the TruStream and the Lush?
Does these 2 cables compare to the Puist 30th ann?
Thank you.
Lush has a richer and denser tone than the TruStream. TruStream is more dimensional and more tonally accurate IMO. Purist 30th doesn’t have a deep or full low-end but is silky smooth with proper timbre.The Purist is more detailed and resolving than both the Lush and TruStream, but less warm sounding.
Ok thanks!
Would you describe the Lush as a bit to much dense sounding (for a natural sound)?
Both the TruStream & Lush will add body/weight to the sound, right?
And the Lush would be superior to the Vovox?
Both Lush and Vovox have more body than both the Curious and TruStream trading off depth and resolution. There’s a naturalness to the Vovox and most of their stuff just sounds “right” as in what the artist intended (as far as tone and timbre). I feel the Lush is the warmest cable I’ve ever tested and it colors the sound a bit more with a richer midrange. However, it does have better depth, separation, and layering than the Vovox.
My at home set up has included an iMac with Pure Music, an old but fine Kimber silver USB cable, Chord Hugo TT, Danacable Reference cable, Focal Utopias. I was totally happy then read your review. I auditioned the Curious Cable USB after about 150 hours of break in and am so pleased by the music transformation. All the adjectives other reviewers have used are seconded here. I’ve not heard the other high end cables you’ve mentioned but you have opened my ears about the role of the USB cable. Thank you.
How would you describe the differences between the Lush and the Vovox Textura? Thanks
Lush is richer and has better layering of the soundstage. Textura has better tone & timbre which sounds more like what the artist/engineers intended. The slight lack of dimension vs the lush could be a deal breaker for some. The TruStream is basically the Textura with more detail and dimension. Vovox gets close to the Danacable sound.
Thanks. It sounds like the Danacable is the one to get.
I’m not really a music person, since I’m mostly a world warrior, wandering around for new challengers. Instead of music, I’m often just listening to announcer tracks of “YOU WIN”. What are the best cables to hear that?
Hi Jay,
Have you tested the WaveWorld Starlight or Nordost usb-cables?
And how do WaveWorld&Nordost compare to the Danacable Trustream?
Thanks!
Unfortunately, I haven’t heard both cables. If someone wants to send it in, I could make the comparison.
I will also be interested in comparing Curious with Wireworld Platinum Starlight. Thanks
Unfortunately, I haven’t heard it. If someone wants to send it in, I could make the comparison.
If the reviewer used DACs which support a bit-perfect test file, he would find out that all USB cables deliver the data with 100% accuracy. Meaning the bits that describe song being played gets to the internals of the DAC with perfect fidelity. Yet the music sounds different. Reason? Its the radio frequency noise from the source travelling along the cable and upsetting the ground plane of the DAC. Even very small amounts of noise and at various frequencies are audible. So each cable, due to the metallurgy and construction will transmit or attenuate the RF noise in a different way.
Solution? Pile on the ferrites. Put on different spec units … to cover up to 2.5Ghz. Add 10,20,30 …until you can no longer hear a difference. Then you will get the pure fidelity of the music …not something that the RFI into the DAC’s ground plane colors.
Interesting review.
I would be interested on hearing your opinion on the Chord Sarum T USB cable as this is what I currently use as part of a complete Chord Sarum T loom.
Before you ask, no I’m not prepared to send it in as this cable costs £1500 per metre.
Thank you for the great review and comparing so many top of the line USB cables. Saves tweakers like me a lot of money from buying unknown expensive cables. : )
I too have a collection of budget USB cables and I was a huge fan of Curious USB cables until I discovered Audiocadabra Ultimus3 power isolated silver USB cables. They both have very similar design at first glance but the Audiocadabra Ultimus silver USB cable sounds more open, transparent and musical to my ears. The latter is also priced very decently despite using solid silver. The value Audiocadabra USB cable offers is simply off the charts!
I would appreciate if you could please include Audiocadabra Ultimus3 power isolated silver USB cable in your comparison. I value your thoughts more than paid professional reviews.
Keep up the good work! ; )
Very helpful review. Same question as with your excellent interconnect cable review. are you encumbering these beauties with ferrites in the final configuration?
I’m getting a few ferrites in for testing. Will keep you posted. Kubala sosna wasn’t keen on sending a demo cable in.
Your thoughts/experience with Kubala-Sosna USB cable?
Very helpful review. One thing I do wonder about is the extent, if any, that a usb regenerator (e.g. tx-USBultra or ISO Regen) will nullify some of the differences between usb cables that feed into it. Is there any case for running a higher quality cable out of the regenerator than the cable running into it?
Any reason you don’t make comparison to the SOTM USB cable (looks like the dCBL-UF) shown in your photo?
Didn’t think anyone would see it 😉 It was a prototype and I haven’t heard the production version yet so can’t really comment. The filter block on the prototype does do something similar to what it does for their CAT7 cables (resolution, transparency, and very resolving of micro-dynamics).
Thanks for the feedback. Was it the silver or copper version? I’m just about to order the SOTM trifecta and wondering whether the SOTM USB or the Danacable would work best. I like the idea of the resolution and transparency, and possibly blacker silences that I imagine the SOTM would deliver, but imagine the Danacable would add more emotion? May from SOtM obviously recommends the SOtM cables and I absolutely trust her judgement, but just a bit worried that the sound mind end up too sterile with all the filtering – I’m ordering their CAT7 filter as well. (I have Naim amplifier which I love because of its engaging although not perfect character and I much prefer the copper power cables over the silver power cables on the SOtM power supplies). I’ll need two USB cables (sms200 ultra to tx-usb ultra and tx-usb ultra to my Hugo 2. I’ll probably end up buying the system first and then the cables later depending on how it sounds.
Love your reviews, btw – very helpful. And very jealous that you get to try all this gear !
This was a silver USB cable. As you could probably tell, I’m more a copper guy so I would recommend the SOtM copper USB cable for more warmth. Danacable also gives you a 30-day trial so no risks there. He voices his stuff very well (listens to mostly female vocals).
Great review and comparison of Curious Cables versus the competition! As far as portable audiophile-grade micro USB cables are concerned, the Moon Audio Blue Dragon is my choice when it comes to sound quality and value. This is what I use with my Chord Mojo. Do you have any experience with this usb cable?
I guess the question I’d have for those who think that audiophile USB cables make a difference is this: do you use those cables to connect your computer to your printer? Do you trust whatever interconnect the maker of your desktop computer’s case or your laptop runs between the case and the motherboard, or the cable from your keyboard or mouse or trackball? If you do, doesn’t that belie the notion that audiophile USB cables make a difference? If I thought they did, I’d certainly want to use them everywhere. Data going over a USB connection, say between my USB flash drive and my computer, is at least as important, and often far more important, than the stream of bytes that represents the music I’m listening to at the moment.
hi,
You wrote about silver-USB cables and copper-USB cables…..
Which copper-USB cable do you find the most detailed?
thank you.
Hi,
Can you test some cable usb multiple? like cable lightning 3 in 1 ou others?
Too much choice for me
Thanks
Best
“An audio signal needs to be heard in real-time”. It is not an audio signal. There is no audio between the source (e.g. master tape) and your sound system. That is all digital
ALL of the following statements are IMPOSSIBLE under the current laws of Physics. The DAC is reconstructing an Audio signal from digital data
“The Clarity Cable has a slightly better spatial reproduction and is even more detailed”
“The Curious is slightly leaner with more “exciting” overtones”
“the Curious USB provides a more spacious soundstage with incredible depth and resolution”
” it has a denser and sweeter sound”
“Timbre is also more accurate and overall smoother”
“It completely lacks any delineation across performers ”
” having a more tamed top and low end”
“The Audience has a calmer, more mellow, and easygoing presentation”
“It has better timbre and tonal balance but isn’t as resolving or airy as the Curious USB cable”
“Very clean, pitch black background”
“Incredible soundstage and depth”
“Slight grainier upper-mids with a slight emphasis in the upper octaves”
“A great balanced sound that’s never irritating or fatiguing”
The only things that can make a difference to the sound are the quality of the original encoding and the quality of your sound system
Is it really sound bright? Maybe Silver is more transparent and dynamic than copper and just simply mirrors Brightness of Dave?
Just like maybe Sotm Usb ultra is also not bright, but transparent and just shows Dac qualities.
The Curious USB cable would be considered a bright cable IMO.
Ive tried the following USB cables:
Phasure lush usb – it sounded to “slow” for me but the soundstage was quite impressive.
Anti-Cables – thin sounding, lacking in body but high resolusion.
Nordost blue heaven – exaggerated bass and snappy perhaps too snappy.
Wireworld chroma 7 – too bright but quite good soundstage.
Ansuz a2 – Ive only heard this in a store, compared it to anti-cables and Phasure, seemed to be more “hifi” in a negative sense, not very full sounding, Im not very much into Ansuz cables.
Supra – still my favourite, it lacks in airiness, but apart from that the most engaging usb cable for me. It’s a shame that the Phasure usb sounds too slow, kinda liked it apart from that.
Any suggestions for me?
Vovox perhaps.
Try the Danacable TruStream.
Found a cheap Vovox vocalis so I bought it, just got it.
However it seems to sound like you described it.
It’s not very snappy and it lacks in soundstage reach.
However it has a “continuous” flow, reminds me of canadian Luna Cables, and some typical “vinyl” sound.
It’s also full and dense.
I might very well replace my trusty Supra with it.
Also bought Meicord ethernet, it sounds more “direct” compared to Supra which sounds a little bit too soft.
Finally, bought dutch power cord M-way 2DW Gold, quite cheap, however I enjoy it.
Sounds mostly right, quite warm, it’s not a world beater but it seems to do quite little wrong so far.
Completely agree. The Supra is a bit soft – but there is something that sounds right about the Vovox. I’ll have to try the Meicord.
Hey Jay, I’m wondering if you have heard the JCAT Reference USB cable? Any thoughts on it compared to the Curious USB? Thanks
I have not – but I presume it’s a warmer sounding cable over the Curious USB. I may be getting the JCAT in soon. I just received the JCAT ethernet cable last week so will be doing some listening.
USB cables all sound the same. It is impossible for a cable for digital transport to manipulate a bit stream in a consistent manner and sound different. Any errors a cable might introduce would not result in any subtle change, any consistent error would sound catastrophic. It takes a DSP and processing to consistently alter a digital audio stream.
Wake up dear audiophiles, you are being taken to the cleaners.
Michael, Audio Engineer, CTS-D
Hey Michael
You know that and I know that (35 years as digital network designer)
The only reason we are told otherwise is because, with digital, the nonsense equipment peddlers have a problem. So they have to invent science and differentiators which sound plausible to their customer base whose experience has only ever been analogue
I love the way that digital comms experts are refered to as ” Bits-are-bits trolls”
Closed-minded willfully ignorant strictly by-the-book meter-reader engineer types believe that most of the differences obvious to audiophiles between cables, amplifiers, DACs, use of “tweak” accessories, etc. are hype and illusion. I learned otherwise a long time ago. I’m an audiophile and also an electronics engineer and programmer who respects and uses science within its sphere of applicability. Some people never get beyond worship of scientific measurements, supposedly the scientific method, which assumes that for anything to be real it has to be demonstrable in a lab experiment, and then replicated. So much the worse for these people – they’re missing out on a whole world of perception and experience – of musical, intellectual and spiritual enjoyment.
These fanatical objectivists seemingly never learn, don’t want to learn, a lot of things in audio. Presumably because of ego, fear and a lot of other psychological mechanisms.
What they simply won’t recognize is that the ultimate subtlety and resolving power of human hearing perception is vastly beyond present (and any projected) instrumentation capability and acoustical/neurological theory. All of the present and forseeable practical recording and reproduction technologies produce easily perceptible distortion, both in the amplitude (like harmonic and IM distortion) and the time domain. The hearing mechanism is especially sensitive to the time and frequency smearing types of distortion. The common effect of all these is a clearly perceived blurring, smearing, flattening and veiling of the sonic “picture”, along with various tonal imbalances such as overbrightness and bass boominess or looseness.
Jay, have you had a chance to listen to the Curious Evolved cable? It came out more recently and I’m interested to hear your sonic impressions relative to the original curious cable. Would also love to know where the new cable ranks amongst the others.
I’ll request a demo 🙂
I love how we’re not even engaging the Bits-are-bits trolls now. I think this is probably better for everyone’s mental health.
No wonder these cables are expensive
They would have to extract the bitstream, decode it, consistently change every sample to give, for example, “smoother, more accurate timbre “, re-encode it and pass it to my DAC. Wow
And I thought they were just wires
USB Cables make for interesting discussion. I have tried three cables (one from a USB hard disk, one about $100 and another about $200 retail), and I have trouble hearing any appreciable difference between any of them. My equipment is not particularly high end nor run of the mill. My bookshelf speakers and integrated amp (class D with Sabre DAC) are newer models that are well-reviewed and regularly sell new for about $3500, and I use a newer very decent Windows laptop to stream and play local flac files using JRiver. Shouldn’t I be able to detect differences in cables more easily? My hearing hasn’t been checked since I was a kid, but I have no complaints regarding hearing nor do those I engage with.
Adding more context, my speakers are setup with some care on $200 24″ stands – and tweeters are 3.5 feet from the wall behind and 3 feet to the side boundaries. ‘Center’ imaging is a strong point (I am quite pleased), but I lack palpable or even perceivable soundstage width or depth (something I have never heard, anywhere – but granted, I’ve heard very few systems in a decently setup room).
What advice is out there in regard to my system achieving an appreciable soundstage? Given the context expressed here, might the Curious USB reveal it? Do I need to try an even more expensive cable?
Hi Mike. Which cables did you try specifically?
Hi Jay. In addition to the cheap hard disk cable, I am testing an Analysis Plus Purple Plus and Morrow Audio Reference USB cable. Any thoughts, suggestions or promises 🙂 are appreciated. Thanks.
Jay, great review. Have you be able to test out the curious evolved.
Jay me again, I see that you may review the Curious Evolved. I have one and I am thinking of pairing it with a DanaCable around my Innuos Pheonix. Do you have any thoughts on that and placement of these cables fore and aft the Pheonix.