YFS USB cable tour

[nik.d]

Just came back from wonderfull day at Danube river. Sunny, warm, good food. Not here as I see...

Ah yes Peter, I see your feet are very coool on the ground. "Mr. Troll", "F*ck with us", "Crazy". Nice indeed.
In my part of the world we do not talk like that. So, thank you Peter, very kind of you. Few weeks ago: "Change
your attitude" Wow! Thanks again!

I really don't know what made you so nervous? Forgive me, but that's the way I read your post.
Your mixing of the facts from the past, why? Why now?
Mixing local (Dutch) TNT postal service with service what we know as TNT International is very low punch you know.
And what's that "I should be charged this and this, instead this and that"? If I receive faulty unit I expect repair
without any additional charge on my account. What's wrong with that? Pay extra my side because it's cheaper for you??
Leave it aside, it was not pleasant experience for either of us. Costly one for both sides, yes.

O&O

[PeterSt]

George, you just received a warning by email.
And don't attempt any more to justify your "me mixing the facts" because you had your chance and didn't take it. Instead you drag in more nonsense. You are just out of line for reasons beyond me.

In my part of the world we do not talk like that.

And in my part of the world we are more constructive and talk reality as it is over here what this is about.
You can't be jeleaous either :

think it's much easier to circulate the cable inside EU countries only.

assuming that excludes you on your own indication (apparently not knowing much about VAT anyway).
And Norway. Too bad for them.

For reference and your unjustified "change attitude", here :

Re: Cables with BNC Connectors/Adapters Are Generating A Superoir SQ.

[vrao]

The cable will be shipped AM.

YFS/USB does Europe 

VJ

[vrao]

The YFS cable has made it to NL.
So far we have Coen and Stan. Anyone else interested in NL, I  would  suggest to send me a PM.

[manisandher]

Hi VJ, thanks for organising this. I'm looking forward to receiving the YFS at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Cheers, Mani.

[CoenP]

I expect to pass it on to Stanley next week.

Is anyone interested in my impressions or should I reserve them for another time? I can imagine that it might bias your opinions...

regards, Coen

[boleary]

Hey Coen, I'd very much like to hear your impressions. You could p.m. your thoughts if you'd rather not post them on the form. Thanks.

[PeterSt]

Coen,

I just came here (really so) to ask for : and where are the first judgements ?
I say this because this seems a typicle thing to me which requires those step by step impressions. NOT because everybody can readily order one, but because it gives an objective "something" which in this case is better (at least for me) than trying to write that all down afterwards. I may be able to do this but this is not for everybody (including the required more lengthy posts for this).

First judgements always tell (me) something as long as we know that they are that. And the next (day) and the next.

So my idea really is first to not make it a secret and to next allow yourself to be "wrong" and recall that the day after.
BIAS ? we don't believe in such thing anyway (not on this forum) and we will be able to draw conclusions from everybody's (who joins of course) judgement.

Btw, I myself did not join (explicitly) just because I was not up to it (testing Blaxius sh*t). Now I am finally, so don't send it out over the Noth Sea right away, maybe. Not that I wish to be first or soon or anything, but it won't be efficient obviously.

Now let's have some first verdicts ...
Regards,
Peter

[CoenP]

Here we go, if you don't want to know close the window now!

To set the stage first some updates of my reference. For years I've been listening to the stock cable but connector wear or something like that rendered the cable quite useless. Only when plugged in just right it would play without errors but seemingly only looking at it made it all bad again. So I ordered a few sets of higher quality solder mount USB2 connectors. These arrived quite recently and I put them on a cable with I thought was the second stock USB cable but in retrospect wasn't. A few years ago I messed with this cable conducting the 5 volt conductor experiments, so it was the perfect candidate for a first try.

Why all this introduction, well during the soldering I decided NOT to connect the 5 Volt wire at both ends. Now it has become a standard el cheap USB AB cable with ok connectors yet setup as a 'high end audio' 'data only cable'. So I have a cable that is electrically similar to the YFS cable and I can assess the contribution of the unconnected 5Volt to the sound.

Where it not that this cable appeared thicker than my dysfunctional USB stock cable and so it was a different cable after all. To avoid changing two things at the same time I warmed up the soldering iron and mounted the plugs on the stock cable. This time I was even smarter and made it a 'data only convertible' by enabling the 5V to be connected outside of the USB connectors. There are now 4 options: unconnected, at two sides connected and connected at either the PC or the NOS1a.

The first listening of the modified stock cable without the 5V connected was very interesting. There seemed to be a little more focus and cleanness to the sound, but also it was robbed of lower end volume and impact. This is especially noticeable on piano recordings and electronic stuff. After a few days this kind of sound did not do it for me, too bloodless, no drive. Connecting the 5V at both ends (normal USB cable) restored the energy but made it clear that it lacked some focus that I got used to.

Then I experimented with the other data only cable and got the same results as with the data only set up standard cable yet with a quite different sound as basis. The latter is interesting since the cables construction is identical to the stock cable. It only has a thicker mantle on all conductors and tinned conductors instead of copper ones.

Then arrived the YFS cable.

It feels heavy and well made. The outside looks like a fine metal mesh and within are some stiff conductors this is not your supple garden variety cable. You get what you (will) pay for.
Plugging in the cable and firing up the NOS1a supersharp focussed sounds emanated from the speakers. Voices sounded natural and smooth with enhanced dynamics. Particularly noteworthy of this first session were the extreme naturalness of the applause on the Avishai Cohen live album and strinkingly real ticks on the snares of his bass. This lasersharp concentration of transients was also present on other albums especially in the mid and higher end of the spectrum. Great guitars and cymbals. The clarity also revealed details and instruments that I've never heard before from my system and in many albums a space ore presence could be heard.

Like Peter indicated above it needs some more time to get the impression into a worthy report. The second day I got back on my feet. Despite all the dynamic goodness I was less enthusiastic about the lower end performance that remained less defined and powerful as I am used too. As by now will not surprise you, I recognized the similarity with the previous 'data only' cables. Even more so I found the supers sharp focus to cause the soundstage to be incoherent like 'each instrument/sound on its own'.
Furthermore I also noticed a haze in the sound that irritated me. For me this sound, ripped of its initial impressiveness, was not acceptable anymore. A disconnected it and started listening to the stock cable again to get a sound 'reset' and a second round for the YFS cable... To be continued  .

My observation so far: I like full USB cables better than data-only cables.

regards, Coen

[PeterSt]

Well well. So one serious report about a USB cable in general and already seemingly clear properties pop up (about the no power = no bass). Very well done Coen.

Regards,
Peter

[michaeljeger]

Hello Coen

Thanks for the very well written report.
When reading it yesterday, I actually got curious and unpacked Peter's stock cable and attached it to the PC-NOS1a.

I was quite surprised. Peters stock cable is more detailed in the highs and also the sound stage seems more coherent that the more expensive other cable I am currently using.
About low end defenition I am not sure yet, have to do more listening.

It seems that Peter really picked a great stock cable here.

- Michael

[christoffe]

Hi,
interesting.

I’m using the data only YFS **Reference** cable in my system  since over a year and changed to a „normal“ cable  back today.

For the comparision I played  the  CD from Stanley Clarke

 http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Garden-Stanley-Clarke/dp/B001VFM0QU/ref=sr_1_10?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1416399145&sr=1-10&keywords=stanley+clarke

first two tracks, where we can hear lots of an acoustic bass and  cymbals.

First impression with the 5V powered cable, a little bit more ambience, the sound of the cymbals is more room filling, and the acoustic bass got more body, but not more bass overall.

The orientation/location  of the instruments  decreases in the soundstage, bass strings sounds less precise, and the cymbals don‘t sound right anymore. With the YFS **Reference** cable I hear at first the click on the cymbals, and then immediately the sound of the „shell“ follows, which I don’t hear with the „normal“ cable.

Conclusion for me: The YFS **Reference** cable is more accurate and I see no reason to go back to a 5V USB cable. But we know, every system sounds different, and we have to evaluate what cable creates  the best sound in our system.

Joachim

Edit: I'm using the YFS Reference USB cable, maybe this creates the difference.

[PeterSt]

a „normal“ cable

Which is not the one we provided with your NOS1 ?
Can you still find that ?

Regards,
Peter

[christoffe]

a „normal“ cable

Which is not the one we provided with your NOS1 ?
Can you still find that ?

Regards,
Peter

Hi,

no, I can't remember. 
The beginning of listening with the NOS1 USB version was with a normal USB cable, then came a cable from Entreq which created a better SQ and then the YFS.

The YFS **Reference** has an extra/additional shielding and this influences the SQ. (keyword: every cable is an antenna)

Joachim

[vrao]

Hi,
I've compared 2 YFS cables, one Cu with Ag coating (V4, the model that you have), and the other pure Cu(custom). this is in comparison to the Phasure cable. Bass is excellent. I've listened to a 3m drum, which sounds like a 3m drum (sound pressurizing the room is disorienting). F4 takeoff, sound pretty authentic (hold on to your pants .. etc). Subharmonics go well below 30 Hz. There is slightly better bass resolution with the YFS cable (actually overall resolution, and better SNR). There is a slight noise with the Phasure cable, one will notice better after hearing the data only cable. The edginess with the V4 is "reduced" with custom cable. Laser sharp imaging is seen with both.  There there are a few differences b/w the 2 models I tried, with sound staging and spectral balance when compared to Phasure cable.

Coen, I would play it for a few hours/overnight to maybe burn them in again. Maybe that might help.


**edit** The tour cable is Ref Data cable