Swapping usb cable on Rose CD player-ripper

Function CD play & Ripping
#1

Question here from a enthousist RS151 user.

I’m thinking about buying the RSA780 player ripper because i’m hardly using my cd transport anymore. Soundquality match between my RS151 and my cambridge Edge NQ preamp and 2 Edge M poweramps is amazing. Using all Ansuz A2 power cords, xlr interconnects and speakercable (also A2 Jumpers) to my Usher Audio Dancer 2 DMD mk2 speakers, so far truly wonderful to hear the set play.

So my question; i heared the Hifi Rose rsa780 player ripper with the original usb cable on a friends setup. To be honest i wasn’t blown away.
Most of my media i will rip to my 4TB internal but then still have loads of cd’s

My friend has several USB cables, some connected to the 780 sounding extreme good but some others no better then the usb cable included. With the right cable sounding extremely better. Curious was great, audioquest coffee really bad but sounded awesome without de dbs

Any experiences? Is this bad sounding due to the directional build of usb cables. Source to dac is directional A to B. Rose player is B to A and doesn’t follow direction of the usb build. Any thoughts?

Thank you so far for any tips on the usb cables

#2

@Oskamkees

The RSA780 follows standard USB specifications for digital transmission, and under normal conditions, the data itself does not change depending on the cable used.
However, depending on the system environment—such as power, grounding, and connected equipment—users may perceive differences in sound quality.
USB cable directionality is not officially considered a factor that affects performance. For stable operation, we recommend using high-quality USB cables that meet the required specifications.

1 Like
#3

USB is bi-directional by definition (just like Ethernet. Or any other wire, really). Anyone selling you a “directional USB cable” is a crook and a swindler.

Oh, and any perceived sound difference is purely psychological. Also, not a single person at Ansuz would know how electricity works even if they stuck a fork in a power outlet.

2 Likes
#4

@BorisM

People have different perceptions and beliefs.

It’s fine to share your opinion, but please refrain from using any derogatory language in this forum going forward.

4 Likes
#5

Yeah Boris, and stop denigrating my use of Audioquest cable lifters that I precisely space in multiples of pi.

#6

Thanks for the one constructive reaction.

  • USB B to A, Hifi rose rsa780. Tried the Audioquest Coffee, only sounding real good without the dbs.
    Curious USB bij far better then the basic usb, Audioquest Carbon and Cinnamon, Supra Excelliber and the Chord Shawline usb cables.

For working connection indeed no differences, usb protocol is the same so no difference.

Soundquality wise, no matter what others think/say/believe there surely is a difference. Even more then what some makes you want to believe, surely not night and day but directly audible.

If others don’t hear this all good and be happy it doesn’t cost you anything.

#7

:man_facepalming:t2:… because of twenty characters

1 Like
#8

Dear Rosehan, can you tell me if Hifi Rose designs their devices based on science or belief?

I practice my belief in church/temple/moskee…but not in audio cables selling for insane amounts :wink:

2 Likes
#9

@Eleven,
If you have speakers on speaker stands or Towers and are moved out into the room… You are going to want to have cable lifters for your speaker cables.

No, not due to sound quality, but for aesthetics and WAF. (Assuming you’re not like Boris living in his Mom’s basement but are actually married.)

Cable lifters help to keep the cables in place and make them more visible so you don’t have a potential trip hazard. not to mention they help corral those dust bunnies.

#10

Wow.

Ok, first Rose didn’t update their USB connection and stuck with USB B (2.0) which is the older standard and has slower data rates and power capabilities.

That said. Cables do make a difference to a point. It depends on the application as well as the cable.

At a minimum you can buy a cable that meets spec, or you can see cables that exceed the spec.
The biggest area that will impact your sound is the quality of the components in the cable.

This doesn’t mean you need to go out and spend $$$$ on a cable. But that you will want a reputable brand cable over the really cheap cables.

To give you an example outside of Rose… With my Onix Alpha dongle dac, the cable does matter. Using a USB-C 4 cable over the USB-C older standard cable made a huge difference. Mostly due to the better components in the cable including a thicker gauge wire and able to handle more power. There’s a cable that has a USB-A in and a USB-C in w a single out. The USB-A connector handle power so you would plug it into a power brick, while the data comes from the phone. This is necessary because not all phones provide enough power to drive all of the dongle dacs. But that’s just a single example.

YMMV.

#11

Indeed no need to spend loads of €€€€/$$$$ on a cable on a player/ripper costing €389-

Also right on the construction and used materials making a cable just OK or excelent. Cable i would choose doesn’t exceed the price of the player/ripper, has the powerline extra isolated and outside the cable design, highest quality materials and connectors and is long enough to give the RS780 a place not having it straight op my RS151.

USB on the RS151 are 2 X usb3. Maybe the used usb2 on the player/ripper could be making it compatable with older products?

And to some point there is a truth and ground of some hating them towards upgrade cables, most are stupidly expensive and the profits on those are ridiculous.

But like all things in life it’s your own choice. Why marry a hot looking high maintenance girl, Why buy a way to pricy premium brand car? Why buy a bigger house? Why buy a sailyacht? Why buy a expensive hifi setup? Excamples are maybe enless.

Personally i’m in no way seeking a WOW factor for friends or others, more seeking a good price performance that i find exceptable in all.

#12

How right you are with that statement. :+1:t2:
Think of your ears; they’re not up to the task anymore. You’re just making the people who sell you these cables rich.

Hearing loss at high frequencies is a natural, gradual aging process (presbycusis) that often begins early. It’s difficult to express as a single percentage because the loss is frequency-dependent, but the ability to perceive high-pitched sounds declines continuously.

Here are the key findings on high-frequency hearing loss:
Onset at a young age: The loss in the very high frequency range (around 20,000 Hz) begins shortly after birth.

Decrease in hearing frequency:
Under 25 years: Sounds up to 17,000 Hz or higher can usually still be heard.

At age 30: Hearing ability often declines to frequencies up to approximately 16,000 Hz.
At age 40: On average, only frequencies up to approximately 15,000 Hz can be perceived clearly.
From age 50-60: Sounds above 12,000 Hz are often difficult to hear.
Hearing threshold increase: Studies show that the hearing threshold increases by approximately 0.66 dB per year of age at 12 kHz and by as much as 1.02 dB at 16 kHz. This means that sounds must be louder to be perceived at all.

Impact: High-frequency hearing loss first affects sounds between 2,000 and 5,000 Hz. This leads to problems understanding speech (especially with consonants like f, s, t), even if the overall volume is still perceived as sufficient.

Prevalence: Approximately half of people over 75 suffer from significant, often high-frequency, hearing loss.

In summary, high-frequency hearing loss is a gradual process that increases significantly from the age of 50 onwards and severely limits the perception of frequencies above 12 kHz.

:thought_balloon: Everyone who plans to buy such cables should think about this before letting themselves be ripped off. :thought_balloon:

#13

Only thing people forget is hearing loss isn’t a flat 12khz or 16khz in lots of cases.

Been in the Army (special forces combatmedic and intervention specialist) for over 20 years. Left side have coming and going (fatugue or stress depending) tinitus from wapenfire. This doesn’t mean im not hearing things in the upper regions of khz. In fact it’s sometimes like waves, having a good cable often brings a good flow and peace in music that even at higher volumes keeps it relaxed to listen to.

Funny still is, or maybe learned to addapt, that during listning i hear more into the music as others. Addapting in learning to listen maybe, in any way it helps.

2 Likes
#14

You do not have to keep proving just how ignorant you are bout everything under the sun.

THere are much better ways of routing cables than lifters…

Which is more than sufficient for UAC2 and any audio signal that needs to be transmitted.

And at a maximum, too. Either cable meets the spec, and everything is transmitted perfectly, or it is not. Of course homegrown junk like Curiosity does not meet any specs (the manufacturer is quite proud of not having any idea of what USB is and how it works) and “works” in a rather random manner, if at all.

:man_facepalming:

1 Like
#15

Yes, I agree that the use of USB-B (2.0) is for compatibility. USB-B (3.1) would be better… at least to a degree.

The use of USB-B is based on the idea that you get a better connection and that want it to stay put if you move the gear… also you’re not constantly plugging and unplugging it. I think that the USB-B (3.1) has a larger gauge of wire within the cable, and you tend to see UBS-B (3.1) cables w USB-C on the other end. While USB-B (2.0) has USB-A connectors. The difference will be mostly in speed of communications, which are already ‘fast enough’ for audio. I would like it because its USB-C on the other end and that’s becoming the new standard connection. (Now you need to check the USB-C cable rating.)

And yes… these uber expensive digital interconnects are not worth it. There is the issue of diminishing returns. But hey, its your money.

Note: I bought a more expensive Toslink cable because I liked the woven sleeve over the plain black coating. (But we’re talking only a couple of bucks. )

#16

Boris did you say something?

No really, parroting the obvious.

And yes, you can exceed spec.
(e.g if spec calls for 14 gauge minimum, that’s the spec… but you could use 12ga wire as well.)

#17

Nothing you could comprehend.

You can. Could wire up your house with 2 inch thick wires, too, it’s just not going to do anything useful. Using USB-4 cables between USB 2 ports is not going to work any better than using USB-2 cables (real ones, of course, not some random wires twisted together like AQ or Curiosity, of course). And moving audio data over USB-4 connection is not going to work any differently, let alone better, than doing iot over USB-2 ports either.

1 Like
#18

Okay, I’ll just chime in here for a second!

I have a CalDigit Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) Pro cable (0.5 m) that I bought out of curiosity.

I can’t hear any difference compared to my cable (USB-C data cable 0.5 m, USB-C 3.2 cable 100W/4K@60Hz/20Gbps).

So much for that!

I should bang my head against a wall for my neurons to start working properly again for buying such a cable.

For speed, I can understand it. Anyone who makes money with this needs fast data transfer. But for that, you also need the right devices that support it, like Thunderbolt SSDs.

But for music…:man_facepalming:t2:…:man_facepalming:t2:…:man_facepalming:t2:

I’m perfectly happy with my 20Gbps cable.

I use it for ripping to my external drive. The Thunderbolt cable doesn’t rip any better than bit perfect.

Oh, Mikey, actually, I was ripping a CD the other day and I heard the angels playing their harps at Mondschein. That’s when I told myself it could only be the Thunderbolt 5 cable. :man_facepalming:t2:

#19

:laughing: Things are really happening here again, and it’s absolutely fantastic. :joy:

:v:t2:

#20

Boris,

Your lips are moving, but nothing of value comes from it.
Now go away unless you can say something interesting.

The topic here is audio cables and clearly, while you have an opinion, you’ve already expressed it… and no one really cares… except Bonte because he’s bored and wants you to be the Troll.