Can someone recommend some high quality 5M A-B USB cables good for powered devices?

fross · 8 Jul 2012 at 02:13

Hi all,

I'm having some issues with my home studio - I have some USB powered devices (DAC, midi controller, mini mixer) that I want to situate far enough away from my PC that a 3M cable is no longer long enough. I've bought some 5M cheapy cables from two different suppliers on ** No competitor mentioning ** but they have serious issues - the device doesn't recognise, or drops off and reappears constantly etc. The devices work fine with my old cables so I take it it's just these cheap cables being unable to supply enough current. The cables are quite thin so I'm presuming they're not shielded, don't know if that contributes to it.

Anyway, OcUK don't carry any 5M USB A-B cables at all, so I was hoping someone could recommend a brand or source for them that is good enough quality to power some demanding devices, preferably for a good price. Anyone got any leads? (ha, see what I did there)

Cheers!

Tealc · 8 Jul 2012 at 08:54

With long USB cables it's generally a signal timing issue rather than current or signal degradation issues when you go up to 5M length. You can get USB repeaters, or active extender cables but I'm not sure how well, or if they make any difference.

pryere · 8 Jul 2012 at 11:33

I hunted high and low for a good quality cable for camera tethering a while ago. I had to go to that America to get one http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10303&cs_id=1030302&p_id=5450&seq=1&format=2
Works out to £19.00 to ship to UK. Expensive but gets the job done.

fross · 8 Jul 2012 at 11:59

Hmm interesting tealc, I've seen zero issues with my 3m cables though... I do have a big old extender I'm not using (not a repeater) so I might try to verify that by adding the two together and see if I get those issues.

J.B · 8 Jul 2012 at 12:16

For those sorts of devices, wouldn't you be better running them over firewire anyway?

fross · 8 Jul 2012 at 13:18

The devices are USB only.