Has anyone compared sablon against curious usb cables?
I am using the curious in my current setup and am curious about the sablon. Appreciate opinions.
I will try to answer your question.
First to kind of address wisnon comment about powered vs data USB cables. Yes that is true but in my experience only to a small degree compared to the best comparable powered USB cables. I have tried a few data only USB cables and some made a slight improvement over a powered USB cable while not so much with the others. In all cases it was so small an improvement I would not pay extra for it vs a comparable powered version. This is only my experience and I have not tried all data only but have tried some of the better ones so YMMV.
Also, the Curious Cable is specifically designed to act as a data only cable while still being a powered cable. So it should be able to compete head to head to data only USB cables and beat or at least hold its own against them.
I have tried many, but not all, of the better regarded USB Cables out there. Some as reasonable as $60 to $150 and others that cost over $1,000. (Though an Audiophile buddy uses one that goes for around $2,000 and he swears by it. I am hoping to bring one of the Sablon Elite for him to try.)
For me at one point I liked the TotalDAC USB. Then I had the chance to try the Curious USB. Talk about how different they sound. It is like one is vanilla and the other is chocolate. One is more analog and tube like but I would not say the other is more SS, just more open and cleaner.
But after having both in my system for a while, I decided that the Curious brought more to the music. That is till I heard Sablons new 2017 Reserve USB Cable, data only.
I had heard all the hype from all the users about how this was the best thing since sliced bread (I never could figure why use sliced bread as the thing to beat, lol) and its "magic". Oh please, wrong and wrong!!
It is so MUCH better then sliced bread and it is definitely not "magic" because this is so very real sounding and no slight of hand involved.
Mark Coles is no wizard but he has done something very real and tangible with this new USB cable design of his. And that is what the music sounds like when using it. Very real and tangible.
The instruments have a lifelike sound to them and an almost reach out and touch them quality.
The noise floor is...well I can not detect any noise. The background is...black.
But no notes are rounded or cut off, high ones or low ones. Highs are extended like they are in real life. Bass is full and deep and in control and not flabby, out of control or lacking depth.
Because of the lack of noise the dynamics are now on a different level then what other USB cables have done that I have experienced.
The transparency and resolving power is so much better but without being artificial or harsh. There is no spotlighting that I can detect.
I must say I can not fathom what Marks new Elite will be like if all the good press is even half right.
AS far as the Sablon vs the Curious lets just say the Sablon is a more lifelike sound and presentation.
The Sablon is a USB Cable that is MORE THERE THERE.
Mark, bring on the Elite!!