DH Labs USB Cable

The new DH Labs USB cable continues our tradition of offering state-of-the-art digital audio cables at affordable prices. As with our other digital cables, our new USB cable combines top quality materials with precision manufacturing and solid engineering.

Although the USB interface is very different from the S/PDIF and AES/EBU interfaces, the requirements for a good USB cable are similar to those for conventional digital cables.

We start with silver-coated OFHC copper conductors, and we insulate them in a low-density gas-injected dielectric. The combination of these two materials provides a more uniform attenuation vs frequency curve, which helps to preserve waveform shapes at the Megahertz frequencies where digital cables operate.

At these frequencies, it is very important to maintain the very tight control over the insulation thickness, and we also cable (twist) the conductors on a machine that runs slowly and with uniform (constant) tension. These techniques combine to maintain a highly uniform characteristic impedance, which minimize signal reflections (and thus cable induced jitter). At Megahertz (and Gigahertz) frequencies, cables behave as wave guides. Dimensional discontinuities – such as inconsistencies in insulation thickness or non-uniform spacing between the conductors – are a major reason for poor digital cable performance.

Finally, we use 100% shield coverage (the shield is also wrapped at constant tension, to avoid “VSWR spikes”) and top quality connectors.

Experience all that USB audio has to offer with DH Labs!