Review on 🎧 High-performance AudioQuest Forest USB A to USB B Cable - Extended length of 4.92 ft. (1.5m) by Paul Andrews

[I posted the same review for Audioquest Forest 3ft Digital Coaxial Cable and Audioquest Evergreen 1ft RCA Cable]. I use a Schiit Eitr/Modi Multibit/Magni 3+ stack on my desk in my home office for headphone listening. It packs a lot of power when it's set up, but its footprint is small enough not to get in the way of my work, which is an important consideration since I sketch a lot at my desk. It would be possible to grab something from iFi or Chord, which would be really good and even more compact, but the point is you don't have to buy everything separately. I've accumulated three pieces of the stack over the course of about a year and a half. Unfortunately, while my stack was pretty good, it didn't sound as good as I thought it would. It felt a little congested, a little blinding, a little cramped. Sound stage, separation, details. I felt that they should have been better based on my experience with other Schiit components at the audio show, and then I was won over when I had a chance to hear the exact same setup but with different cables. You see, the Schiit Triple Stack is a cable-centric system. You will need a USB cable from your computer to Eitr, then a digital coax cable from Eitr to Modi M, and then an RCA cable from Modi to Magni. There are many possibilities for a signal picked up by less than stellar compounds. See, I've heard so many times that cables are cables, that there are cables, that I just did it, even though it intuitively seems wrong to me. It seems reasonable to think that better conductors mean better signal and sound. With digital cables, the controversy is even greater due to their binary nature. But after all, even a square wave/pulse can get confused by a bad conductor or interference, right? At least I think so, not that I'm an expert. In college, I dropped most of my science credits and electives into chemistry. Probably should have added more physics. Aside from that, I used cables from the bottom of the barrel. Why? Dogma. I've been told so many times that cables are snake oil that I didn't even doubt that cables could be the problem. Good old blind faith. But the facts were undeniable. A stack with decent cables sounded better than my stack and I heard it with headphones I'm familiar with (HE-400i). I can't speak to the difference between decent cables and really expensive cables, but I can say with confidence that going from complete junk cables to decent cables absolutely makes a difference. So, after some digging, I settled on green. Audio Quests (USB, digital coaxial and RCA). It would have cost a little over $100, but I figured if the $100 Audioquest cable set couldn't beat the cables I had, then maybe it's time to just sell my stack and something less cable dependent to buy. The good news is that the new cables worked like clockwork. The RCA analog cable made the biggest difference, but I've swapped old and new cables ad nauseam and they all made a difference. The cumulative effect of replacing all three bad cables with three green Audioquest cables didn't go unnoticed. Everything has become smoother and clearer, the separation and the picture have improved significantly. Unplug your audio devices and you'll find that your audio sounds a little flat, a little sticky, a little clipped or compressed, maybe a little harsh or overt. Well, I suggest you buy some decent entry-level audiophile cables. Again, I have no idea what the difference is between a $100 cord set and a $1000 cord set, but I do know that the difference between free cords and $100 cords is very audible. Update December 21, 2019 - I am using a pair of Vanatoo Transparent One Encore bookshelf speakers on my desk along with the headphones I described in the review above. This is a direct digital system, so they sound best with digital sources. I got around to comparing the Audioquest Forest USB to the Revain Basics USB cable I used to power the T1E. Forest was significantly better than Revain Basics USB. The divisions have become more precise. The transients are a bit sharper and the textures are a bit more detailed. I couldn't bring myself to buy another Forest though, as Schiit Audio sells a USB cable called "PYST" for $20 ($24 here at Revain, which was better with Prime as the cheapest shipping via Shiite where I live). is $8). I love Forest, but I also wanted to see how PYST USB would hold up against Forest. Well I've been hearing about my T1Es with the PYST USB cable for a while and have switched back and forth between the Forest and PYST a few times and my first impression is that they are about the same in terms of overall detail. PYST is a bit more punchy, with more bass and brighter highs. The forest is a bit richer in the middle. Separation, reproduction and detail are fairly even. As much as I love the Forest, I have to give PYST credit for competing with the Forest in terms of overall sound quality at a $26 lower price point. However, PYST is only 1 meter long, so its use is limited. Forest's 1.5m cable barely reaches the middle of my desk where the headphone stack resides, so Forest's availability in various lengths gives it a versatility advantage. I also appreciate the slightly more relaxed, smoother delivery of Forest in headphones, as fatigue is a much bigger issue for me when listening with headphones. If I ever need another USB cable for audio and it's limited to 1m, I'll probably go with PYST as it's a $24 cable that competes with a $50 cable. I would be curious to do a 5 way comparison between Forest, PYST, Pangea, Wireworld Ultraviolet and Belkin Gold one day. I'll let you know if I ever do. On the other hand, Revain Basics doesn't work for me as PYST sounds much better and is only $24.