[SatchmoColtrane]

I don’t care, to be honest... Such expensive things are bought primarily for what? To please us audiophiles. Right? Right! Am I happy with this purchase? Undoubtedly! And I don’t care about the opinion of someone on the Internet who persistently demands some kind of proof, sorry

No need to apologize. Just having some fun at the end there. Appreciate the back and forth all the same. Be well!

 

[Vlad Koon]

And all the best to you!

 

[ttt123]

Just to add some points, this is a divisive area (one of them), and there is some data showing differences, but which are still not conclusive enough for either side.
Audio has many areas of disagreement, and yes, a lot of it is subjective.

- Many trust what they hear with their ears
- Many do not trust their ears, unless they have graphs and other proof
- Many cannot hear any difference
- Many start off negative, and after hearing that there is a difference, start looking for explanations. But believe what their ears tell them, in the meantime. ( I am one of these people.)

So there is no universal rule for all to follow. Everybody chooses what their experiences and world view allow them to accept. And this also will change over time.

If you don't hear anything, and do not believe, then be happy, as you are getting maximum enjoyment, and saving a lot of money.
If you do hear differences, and are enjoying, then be happy. But watch your wallet, as the chase is never ending, and ever expanding. And you really have to exercise some discipline, and not go crazy with more and more expensive options. This is the greatest danger, and the hardest thing to control.

And there is no need to attack the other viewpoint. Just enjoy your music, the way that YOU are happy with.

You never know....one day you may change sides in your beliefs. I know that has happened to me.

 

[Polky74]

Guys... I'm sorry for those who don't hear a difference... but the cables make a difference and it's also very evident. If you have tried and feel no difference you are really lucky... so you don't have to worry about spending a lot of euros/dollars to improve your system because for you it is already perfect like this... I almost envy you... (personal opinion)

 

[SatchmoColtrane]

Did a deep dive down the rabbit hole last night and am realizing that yesterday was an exercise in circular logic for both sides of the argument. I can only find one post on another forum with actual readings from using a different USB cable and that person also gets taken down a peg or two at the end by my understanding. I will remain skeptical but the subject does interest me a ton. I usually love getting into the weeds with stuff like this but it certainly can get heated.

As Vlad and others have said - audio is a personal journey so people will buy things that make them feel like they are getting better sound. Whether or not that is actually “true” is where it gets foggy. I just can’t get down with people saying “IT MAKES SUCH A HUGE DIFFERENCE” but can’t actually show the work or explain why or how that is possible. My brain needs evidence and documentation especially in a subject where there is so much evidence and documentation when it comes to so many other aspects of it.

Regardless - I appreciate this enthusiastic community and hope no one walked away with sore feelings yesterday.

Noob question, but there is no questyle app right so I can EQ things right?

Man, here you are just asking a simple question and probably got buried in notifications regarding usb cables and their effectiveness hahahaha. Sorry about that.

Questyle does not have an app for EQ.

 

[Vlad Koon]

If you don't hear anything, and do not believe, then be happy, as you are getting maximum enjoyment, and saving a lot of money.
If you do hear differences, and are enjoying, then be happy. But watch your wallet, as the chase is never ending, and ever expanding. And you really have to exercise some discipline, and not go crazy with more and more expensive options. This is the greatest danger, and the hardest thing to control.

Yes, I completely agree! I'm already thinking about buying a more expensive USB cable, more than $50, made of pure silver
There are just some people who can't even tell the difference between a serif font and a sans serif font And this is not sarcasm! I'm serious!!! One of my friends showed a colleague at work two sheets of paper with the same text. Only on one sheet of paper the text was typed in a serif font, and on the other sheet - in a sans serif font. And my friend asks his colleague which option he likes better. And he answers him: is there any difference? And here you are talking about the difference in sound between USB cables This reaction was quite expected…

 

[ttt123]

Yes, I completely agree! I'm already thinking about buying a more expensive USB cable, more than $50, made of pure silver
There are just some people who can't even tell the difference between a serif font and a sans serif font And this is not sarcasm! I'm serious!!! One of my friends showed a colleague at work two sheets of paper with the same text. Only on one sheet of paper the text was typed in a serif font, and on the other sheet - in a sans serif font. And my friend asks his colleague which option he likes better. And he answers him: is there any difference? And here you are talking about the difference in sound between USB cables This reaction was quite expected…

I find myself periodically mired in another even more divisive subject than USB/IEM cables. (hard to imagine!).
MicroSD cards affect the music played back in a DAP. Lower noise cards improve Bass, dynamics, micro detail. Even people who can spend US$3000 - $4000 on an IEM cable, will look (figuratively) at me as if I had leprosy.

But what can I say....some people are born to suffer obloquy. With the faint hope that other benighted souls may be saved, in the future, when the truth is revealed to all.

Yes, I completely agree! I'm already thinking about buying a more expensive USB cable, more than $50, made of pure silver
There are just some people who can't even tell the difference between a serif font and a sans serif font And this is not sarcasm! I'm serious!!! One of my friends showed a colleague at work two sheets of paper with the same text. Only on one sheet of paper the text was typed in a serif font, and on the other sheet - in a sans serif font. And my friend asks his colleague which option he likes better. And he answers him: is there any difference? And here you are talking about the difference in sound between USB cables This reaction was quite expected…

I highly recommend the DDHIFI cables, TC09S (C to C), and MFi07S (C to lightning)

 

[BeardSplinter]

Science and data in general is a great way to help narrow our observational focus or to better understand things. It is not absolute in all circumstances and should not be used to limit our experiences or the potential for growth.
Results are only 1-1 for the specific design, and execution of that test. Maybe we need to invent or obtain better tools to measure what we are trying to understand?

To me it seems simple enough to measure if someone had an extremely sensative and neutral driver, and a likewise sensative mic we could keep all things the same other than the cable and do some spectral analysis.

The what (digital data) in this example is not as relevant as the how. Cables effect this how, or movement of the what and have many factors that could change the sound.
Why limit the possability that noise, speed/signal strength could effect how the DAC does its job And the output it creates?

 

[Vlad Koon]

I find myself periodically mired in another even more divisive subject than USB/IEM cables. (hard to imagine!).
MicroSD cards affect the music played back in a DAP. Lower noise cards improve Bass, dynamics, micro detail. Even people who can spend US$3000 - $4000 on an IEM cable, will look (figuratively) at me as if I had leprosy.

But what can I say....some people are born to suffer obloquy. With the faint hope that other benighted souls may be saved, in the future, when the truth is revealed to all.

Everything, every little thing, affects the sound/final result, as I personally became convinced of a long time ago. It's funny, but for many people there is not much difference between Windows and macOS, for example. After all, according to their logic, both systems have windows, scroll bars, context menus, a mouse cursor, etc., so many do not understand why they should pay more and switch to Mac. But Mac (or rather macOS), like sound, is all about details and little things that build up the overall picture of something truly serious and good. Not ideal, of course, but close to it. A user on one forum wrote that he bought himself an iMac (an all-in-one PC from Apple), but he doesn’t see much of a difference compared to Windows. He writes that Windows 11 has already come so close to macOS in terms of functionality, interface, ease of use and everything else that the line between these two systems is practically blurred

Therefore, I am no longer surprised by anything in this world. Very often, many people do not see or hear things that are so obvious and understandable to you that sometimes it seems as if something is wrong with you, and not with these people.

After listening to the iBasso CB18 USB cable for about a week and directly comparing it to the included Questyle M15 cable, I can say that the included cable is a rare piece of crap! Sorry, @Questyle, but it's a fact. Moreover, this can also be heard during direct comparison, when you first connect one cable and then the other, and if you are guided by motor memory. It can't even convey the depth of the soundstage, although my DAC and IEMs are capable of it! The sound with it is quite flat and muddy This is especially noticeable on live recordings. With the included cable I just don't want to listen to anything There is no audiophilia with him. While with iBasso CB18 I have an eargasm

 

[ttt123]

Science and data in general is a great way to help narrow our observational focus or to better understand things. It is not absolute in all circumstances and should not be used to limit our experiences or the potential for growth.
Results are only 1-1 for the specific design, and execution of that test. Maybe we need to invent or obtain better tools to measure what we are trying to understand?

To me it seems simple enough to measure if someone had an extremely sensative and neutral driver, and a likewise sensative mic we could keep all things the same other than the cable and do some spectral analysis.

The what (digital data) in this example is not as relevant as the how. Cables effect this how, or movement of the what and have many factors that could change the sound.
Why limit the possability that noise, speed/signal strength could effect how the DAC does its job And the output it creates?

Agree. The principle of science is to take new/different data, and explain it. When there is no good explanation, within current knowledge, then search for one.
The fact that it cannot be explained easily is not reason to deny it's existence.
Yes, you can question the validity of the data/observation. Was it due to wishful thinking, bias, mass hysteria/psychosis, etc., etc. Does it seem possible that "all" those people are delusional, or lying? That is highly unlikely (to me), so there must be something we do not understand, and cannot measure. So we go on a search for understanding.

This is the scientific method, which strangely enough, people deny, quoting science. As if science were finite, and totally understood, and there is nothing left to learn.

If it cannot be measured, it cannot be real is not science, but it is the age old way of denying anything we do not understand, and cannot explain. It also makes us feel better, as we have the appearance of being knowledgeable, and in control of the world. But that illusion is far from reality.

 

[dubudubutofu]

Does ier z1r have good synergy with m15?

 

[monokrome]

There are quite a few videos on YouTube with explanations. You can also Google it. If a person categorically does not believe in improving sound with a USB cable and has completely closed this issue for himself, then there is no point in explaining or proving anything to him. It's just pointless!

Phono/TRS jacks and similar use an analog signal. They receive audio and if the signal quality is low or the audio is interference with, you get noise or other similar distortions.

This is different from USB audio, which uses a digital signal - like HDMI. The way that this works is that the source sends packets to the output device. The output device is your Questyle M15 in this case. When your M15 receives a packet, it makes sure that the packets are received in the correct order and emits the sound. If it receives a corrupt packet or doesn't receive one at all, no sound is played.

Digital is a binary operation. Sound or no sound. USB has no affect on audio quality. The only thing that matters is the protocol used by your source & destination, which - for audio - doesn't change between cables.

Anyone suggesting that a different USB-C cable changes audio quality is living in fantasy land.

 

[sp33ls]

The discussion between ArmchairPhilospher and GoldenOne in another HF thread is pertinent to this topic.

 

[AxelCloris]

We've removed a number of posts from the thread for going off-topic, getting too personal, and going against Head-Fi's posting guidelines. Thank you to those who kept the discussion focused on the M15, we greatly appreciate it. Now, back to the Questyle.

 

[freemental]

My modifications for the convenience of the Questyle M15.
I bought a darkening clear film and covered the screen with it because the LEDs are too bright.
I made a new cable because I can, because I wanted to check whether the cable makes a change in the sound (I didn’t find any effect) and I wanted a cable that was a little softer and a couple of cm longer. The cable consists of an 8-core high-quality wire made of silver-plated purified copper, solder with some percentage of silver and high-quality USB connectors. The total diameter of the wire is at least 2 times thicker than the original cable. I listened to Letshuoer S12 on my phone and didn't notice a difference with the original one (no magic). So I don’t agree that the original cable is bad, at least not worse than mine (here, of course, you always have the trump card that I’m deaf and unintelligible, but I hear the difference with headphones cables, and I hear differences in the sound of different operational amplifiers in my speaker amplifier). My thoughts on this matter are that a $10 USB cable will be better than a $1 USB cable, but I don’t think that a $100 cable will be better than a $10 cable (except for visual appeal, I think the rule of reasonable sufficiency applies here)
The latest improvement is magnetic fixation to the case. I used 4 flat magnets, 2 each for the phone case and the M15 case (I took them out of the lid of the cardboard box for the helmet), but you can use 2 flat rectangular ones. I covered the magnets on top with masking tape to prevent the surface from being scratched (not pictured). Looks good, fits well