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Monoprice Monolith USB Cable Report

Posted by Duster (M) on April 8, 2019 at 12:45:49

Text taken from a previous post in Cable Asylum:

https://www.audioasylum.com/audio/cables/messages/17/176484.html

-snip-

"I have a secondary USB DAC/headphone amplifier that is primarily used for a television/home theater application, but also listen to it as a change of pace for a USB computer streaming audio application. For the purpose, I currently use a relatively good-sounding Belkin Gold 2.0 USB cable for the secondary USB application, but I've been wanting to try a solid core conductor USB cable instead. While the reference USB cable for my primary USB headphone application is an otherwise excellent sounding Neo by Oyaide Class S USB cable featuring an advanced stranded conductor design, I have no experience of a solid core USB cable for either headphone amplifier application, as of yet.

There are relatively few solid core USB cables compared to a typical stranded USB cable product intended for use with computer peripherals, and in the case of the solid core AudioQuest products in the audiophile marketplace, they are priced a bit too high for my wants/needs for use with a non-critical listening application. This is not to say it's not important to fine tune any device I listen to at any given time, but at a suitable price point. What also made the AudioQuest offerings unattractive is many models feature silver plated conductors, which is something I tend to avoid for audiophile purposes. However, after trying a high-quality Monoprice Commercial Silver Series HDMI cable featuring silver plated copper conductors, I changed my mind about the topic when it comes to an HDMI digital audio application. The twisted pair for the digital audio signal run of a USB cable is similar to that of the twisted pair for the digital audio signal run of an HDMI cable, so it makes sense to give a silver plated copper USB cable a try for a secondary application. At least I'll gain experience of the cable type, with right of return if I'm not satisfied.

What also makes the Monoprice Monolith USB cable attractive is the low-cost involved for a 2 meter length at only $19.99 (1 meter length is $14.99), which is substantially less than an AudioQuest USB cable product with a similar design. While I don't anticipate that the low-cost product will be a jaw-dropper, it just might outperform the respectable Belkin Gold 2.0 USB cable that's only a cut above a typical USB cable intended for use with computer peripherals."

-snip-

As a follow-up to mentioning the Monoprice Monolith USB cable as an inexpensive new solid core USB cable intended for audio applications, I've given it enough time to burn-in so as to properly evaluate it vs. a competent Belkin Gold Series 2.0 USB cable intended for use with computer peripherals. The Belkin Gold is a comparatively good sounding USB cable for audio use vs. other mundane USB cables I've tried, and it has a good reputation as an entry level USB cable for audio use when purchased at deep discount price on the web. However, the low-price of the new Monoprice Monolith USB cable should fit the budget of any serious end user who seeks a very good sounding product for little cash outlay.

While both USB cables sound good in their own right, the solid core Monoprice Monolith USB cable is clearly better at providing a more focused soundstage presentation, whereas the presentation of the stranded Belkin Gold Series USB cable sounds notably more diffuse in comparison, with spatial cues and ambient information less defined in character vs. the Monoprice Monolith USB cable, to my ear. While the Belkin USB cable does sound quite musical and pleasant to the ear, subtle timbrel information is better conveyed by the Monolith USB cable which makes it a higher resolution cable product, in my experience. It's so good, it rivals the subjective sound quality of a much more expensive stranded Neo by Oyaide Class S USB cable for a more critical listening USB application. In fact, I purchased another Monoprice Monolith USB cable to swap-out for that application, so I'll find out which product actually spends more time there, over the test of time.

See link:

• https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=33464   (Open in New Window)

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

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