USB audio cable with solid silver conductors and 72V DBS
Diamond USB is a digital cable for linking computers, streamers and music servers to DACs and other audio components fitted with a USB input. It works with the majority of computer-based audio systems and comes in five terminations, covering both traditional ports and the more recent ones.
Conductors and insulation
The conductors are solid-core Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS). A solid core removes the electrical and magnetic interaction that arises between the strands of multi-wire conductors, while solid silver with a smooth surface limits the distortion produced at the metal's grain boundaries and makes the dissipation of radio-frequency noise more linear.
The insulation is Hard-Cell Foam, a rigid foam injected with nitrogen to form tiny gas pockets. Nitrogen stores no energy, so none is handed back to the conductor as distortion; the stiffness of the foam also keeps the signal conductors at the same spacing from one end of the cable to the other, giving a constant impedance.
Noise reduction
The three-layer Noise-Dissipation System alternates metal foils with carbon-loaded synthetic materials. These layers absorb and reflect a large share of radio interference before it gets to the grounded shield, so the disturbance cannot modulate the ground reference of the connected equipment.
The 72V DBS system biases the dielectric with an electrostatic field: the insulation absorbs and releases less energy in an irregular way, and timing shifts between different frequencies are reduced. An RF trap stops the DBS elements from inducing high-frequency noise in the signal conductors. The conductors are also Direction-Controlled: their orientation is chosen so that noise drains away from the points where it would create distortion, and it is shown by the arrows on the connectors.
Terminations and lengths
- USB-A > USB-B: from a computer or streamer with a USB-A port to a DAC with a USB-B socket.
- USB-A > USB-C: from a source with a USB-A port to a device with a USB-C socket.
- USB-A > Micro-B 2.0: for devices with a Micro-B 2.0 input.
- USB-C > USB-B: from a computer or mobile device with a USB-C port to a DAC with a USB-B socket.
- USB-C > USB-C: between two units that both have a USB-C port.
Lengths: 0.75 m, 1.5 m, 3 m and 5 m.
