SATA Cable Experiment - Does Quality Affect SSD Performance

Nahhh, Speed Holes is the way to go

Hi folks, i just happen to come across this > Reference SATA Cable - JCAT . next-gen computer audio. I wonder if anyone has something similar to this ? Any opinions ?

NavyLCDR said:

I think you should definitely purchase it and then tell us the phenomenal improvement in system performance that you get out of a $400 SATA cable.

Can't afford. Just hope to know the results of anyone who might be using such sata cable.

sportster said:

Can't afford. Just hope to know the results of anyone who might be using such sata cable.

The main selling point of such a cable is NOT the improvement in transfer speeds that you might be able to achieve with it, as modern NVMe connections can perform significantly faster at just a mere fraction of the cost involved. So, what you are looking at here is specifically designed for those types of audiophiles who strongly believe that it helps with the sound quality of their audio system. Typically, that would be related to the playback of digital audio, mostly music files played through a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) system. Personally, I, own a decent stereo outboard DAC that I have hooked up to my laptop via USB and that I use with a beefy stereo power amplifier paired with big floorstanding loudspeakers. I won't go too far into further details, but my stance here is that these cables are nothing but a pure waste of money in that regard also.

Electronic noise patterns that are emitted by SATA devices via EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) / RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) can be picked up by nearby electrical conductors found in electronic components and in cables.

This specific propagation of noise can be attributed to what, in physics, is called capacitive coupling. It matters because DAC chips have both digital and analog components in them, the latter type of components are inherently sensitive to noise. Other components commonly found in units that incorporate (a) DAC chip(s) also include an I/V stage that is placed after the chip, it too has a tendency to be rather susceptible. But a modern, well-designed external DAC unit uses things like decent isolation transformers and thick metal shielding to effectively suppress the phenomenon, enough to make it completely inaudible to whoever listens. If done right (!), these electronics design implementations are waa-aaaa-aaaaaaay more effective than any $400 SATA cable could ever be. (In this life, and the next.) But I have seen external DAC implementations where the internal USB input interface module that is inside the external DAC unit's own separate housing didn't have a metal shield between all of the unit's other circuitry and it, just like I have seen colorful remarks that went along the lines of either "the voltage regulators in the DAC are already sufficient to fully eliminate all these unwanted side effects" or "USB just plain sucks for audio". As a result, whole forum websites have been filled over the years with countless misinformation/disinformation about these old subjects. All that I have learned from them is to stay away from flatearthers─those people are just making too much noise─and keep doing my own research. That's it, we're done talking! lol