Cusat50 for me?
Printed From: Graham Slee Hifi System Components
Category: Cables and Interconnects
Forum Name: Interconnects for Turntable and Headphone
Forum Description: Technical Q&A, hints and tips
URL: https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=734
Printed Date: 27 Mar 2026 at 5:57am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Cusat50 for me?
Posted By: Fidel IT
Subject: Cusat50 for me?
Date Posted: 21 Dec 2009 at 10:52pm
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Hi all,
I am looking for a way to further enhance my setup and am considering the cusat50 interconnect. The only problem is I don't really know what to expect. I know that my current interconnect is the weakest link in my system. At the moment I'm using a profigold cable like the one shown here: http://www.profigold.be/en/products/?page_id=149 - http://www.profigold.be/en/products/?page_id=149 It's supposed to be a decent cable.
It is a lot cheaper than the cusat50 though. And by a lot I mean 1/7th of the price.
I am quite happy with the sound I have right now, though the annoying thing is that I have a lot of cell phone interference through my headphones when one is nearby. Is this something the cusat50 would get rid of due to its better shielding?
Also, what can one expect soundwise from a better interconnect cable? I'm not ready to spent that amount of money on a cable if sound doesn't improve. I can always leave my cell phone in another room
 I know I sound sceptical, It's just that I don't have the possibility to test this cable. As I'm very happy with my solo, the cusat50 is the only interconnect I would consider.
Thanks to all who can shed some light on the above questions.
Fidel
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Replies:
Posted By: Fidel IT
Date Posted: 28 Dec 2009 at 11:01pm
| Seeing as there isn't much response to my questions above, I have decided to just go for it and put an order in. Will let you all know how this story ends. |
Posted By: tg [RIP]
Date Posted: 28 Dec 2009 at 11:25pm
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Fidel, busy time of year for many. I do not have personal experience of either the CuSat or the mobile phone interference in respect of which you enquire. Certainly the CuSat has received good report from a number of users whose discrimination I respect. My only experience of mobile phone interference has been with cheap PC sound cards or more particularly onboard sound chips picking up the signal and mixing it into the sound output quite obviously. You can hear when they "check in" and hear an incoming call before the phone rings from the incoming signal. I do not know if this is the type of interference to which you refer, particularly I do not think you have mentioned your source. My better quality, semi-pro Terratec and M-Audio Firewire units do not suffer this problem and neither does the rest of my higher fi gear, either speaker based or headphone rigs. I do use all shielded cables. Perhaps this will help some though I am sure your experience will be more valuable. Look forward to your findings. ciao, T. |
Posted By: Fidel IT
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2009 at 12:08am
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Hey Tg,
To answer your question with regards to my source. It is a Cambridge Audio Dacmagic. My PC aswell as my CD player are connected to it. Both using high quality cables. CD player is using a high quality oehlbach optical cable into the dac, and my pc is a Xfi Elite Pro playing flac files through foobar with the wasapi plugin. This card is connected using a Supra high quality coaxial cable.
To be honest the cheapest and I guess lowest quality cable in my system are the profigold rca's between my dacmagic and my graham slee solo srgII. From there it goes into my HD650 headphone. I am very curious what the cusat50 will do to the cell phone issue and to the sound of my setup in general.
I will let you know.
regards
Fidel
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Posted By: tg [RIP]
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2009 at 8:59pm
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Fidel, one thing does occur to me from your description above that I would suggest to possibly address your issue. That is to use the optical cable from the PC and the Coaxial from the CDP. This will cost nothing to try and provides complete circuit isolation from the PC. One other cheap tweak, only applicable if you are using the SMPS with your Solo, if you have the PSU1 ignore this one. Connect an earth wire from the grounding post on the Solo to the PC case, a single strand of CAT 6 or similar, clamp it down on the PC under one of the case screws at the back. The ground wire is only applicable if you are using the SMPS, it drains the residual current from the case to earth, I found it to improve the NOVO noticeably. Caveat, Graham may have now addressed this issue. If connecting it to the PC case whilst using the optical cable to isolate seems counter intuitive, take note that connection to the PC case is merely a convenience, any piece of equipment with a mains earth connected to the case will do. (eg amplifier etc). The object of the optical cable is to remove the possibility of parasitic waveforms travelling into the DAC and potentially corrupting the analogue signal. It is conceded that Coax is generally the superior connection and also that Optical receiver chips often have a 96KHz limitation and cannot be used with higher resolution data. Perhaps these two things are worth a try. ciao, TG |
Posted By: Fidel IT
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2009 at 6:56pm
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TG,
Thanks for the advice.
I do not have the option to switch the cables as my cd player only has an optical out and no coaxial. The cell phone noise also occurs when playing cd's with the pc turned off, so I guess changing the cable around is not going to work in this scenario as I'm using the optical out from my cd player.
I use the solo with the PSU1 so that's not it either. I think it has to be either the Profigold interconnect or the stock HD650 headphone cable that is picking up the noise.
regards
Fidel IT
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Posted By: Fidel IT
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2009 at 9:25pm
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Ok, I plugged the PSU1 into a wall socket instead of the extension block I was using. The cell phone pickup signal is now gone, and for some reason the sound quality of my solo improved by quite a bit???
Don't know what to account for this change... Was it the fact that I never unplugged the solo from the socket since I first bought it and that it needed a little reset when plugging it into the wall... or would the extension block be a limiting factor?
Anyone any insights on this one?
Fidel IT
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Posted By: Fidel IT
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2009 at 10:11pm
Did some research and apparenlty It is a well known fact to plug your audio gear in a wall socket when possible. Have learned something today and will never forget it.
Still cannot believe the difference in sound 
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Posted By: mrarroyo
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2009 at 10:56pm
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Congratulations, and the best part is it was a free solution. Cheers! ------------- Miguel |
Posted By: tg [RIP]
Date Posted: 31 Dec 2009 at 1:43am
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I am not even going to attempt to second guess this one. Sounds like a 3-way win to me, free, problem solved, bonus improvement over and above problem removal and the CuSat still to come - ear heaven I do recall one fellow having interference problems with his turntable setup and thinking it was the Era Gold - no changing of cables or earthing things could remove the problem. He moved to a different apartment and the problem was no more. Hamlet Act I Scene IV - IIRC. |
Posted By: Fidel IT
Date Posted: 31 Dec 2009 at 11:37am
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Thanks! The idea came to mind when I turned on my desk light. There was a very audible pop noise when switching it on and off through my headphones. There were 8/12 outlets in use on the extension block (lamp, solo, pc, ...) so I unplugged the solo and plugged it into a wall socket.
The rest is history!
Now onto the cusat
 Fidel IT
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Posted By: Fidel IT
Date Posted: 12 Jan 2010 at 8:08pm
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Well, I've had the cusat50 for a few days now. They look very nice and are very well built.
As I said before, this IC cost about 7 times the one I was using before....
Is it 7 times better... of course not,
Is it worth it... absolutely!
When first connected I noticed a difference but was unable to pinpoint the exact differences. A few hours later I went back to the original IC and could then easily pinpoint its flaws.
I would describe the differences with the cusat50 and the profigold IC as follows:
- sound is more coherent.
- Yet another sparkle has been added to the music.
- More definition in the bass.
Wondering what further burnin will do...
So to answer my own question: Yes, the cusat50 is definitely for me.
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Posted By: tg [RIP]
Date Posted: 15 Jan 2010 at 5:17am
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Good to hear your thoughts on it Fidel, thank you for your precis. |
Posted By: RobW
Date Posted: 16 Jan 2010 at 3:28am
| ... love happy endings. |
Posted By: John C
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2010 at 5:15pm
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I'm pleased to hear that the Cusat50 is doing it's job seeing as it's me that makes them . ------------- http://www.gspaudio.co.uk - Turntable and Headphone Audio |
Posted By: Graham Slee
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2010 at 5:58pm
Yes, only the most talented people work here  ------------- That none should be able to park up and enjoy the view without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps |
John C wrote:Posted By: Cyreg
Date Posted: 16 Mar 2010 at 4:15pm
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Still using my 1.5m Cusat in my TT setup and still very pleased. Thanks John ------------- TecnoDec/RB250/MP110>GramAmp2C/PSU1; Cyrus CD8SE; > Exposure 3010S2D INT > Harbeth C7ES-3 '35th Anniversary' cabling: IC 2x DNM V3; LScable Exposure DMF-two; Furu TP60 + MWaY and BlackCable pc's |
Posted By: Lucabeer
Date Posted: 17 Mar 2010 at 8:56am
| What I can say, though I am no expert on cables, is that since a Cusat50 was installed in my system (thanks, Graham!) I have no longer experienced ANY interference from radio or TV. good shielding work! |
Posted By: j633295
Date Posted: 07 Jul 2010 at 9:38pm
Hello John C  I have just received the cusat50 1.5m (1+1) you made last week.  Please could you tell us how long the burn-in period should be? |
Posted By: John C
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2010 at 11:27am
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Sorry for late reply. Busy..... It's really due to the insulation being in tight contact to the conductors. The best thing to do is to manipulate the cable slightly to break this bond. Don't bend in too tight a radius though as this could damage the cable. ------------- http://www.gspaudio.co.uk - Turntable and Headphone Audio |
Posted By: Graham Slee
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2010 at 7:59pm
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I think I must supplement John's reply regarding the insulation and the contact or grip with the conductors because without qualification John's explanation may sound a bit "Beltist" It is a well known fact that insulators have an effect on conductivity of the conductors they surround. If anybody doubts what I am saying they should take a look at the overhead electricity supply cables and notice they do not have insulation. On a micro level they should research the inductance of perfectly straight short lengths of pcb track. An insulator attached to a conductor has the effect of "slowing down" the signal being carried and when this happens the behaviour is the same as that of an inductor. The size of inductor which would apply to overhead electricity supply cables if they were insulated would be so large as to consume a good proportion of the electricity being carried - this is why the cables are carried overhead in free air. It is not a case of insulation not being required because they're overhead. The short length of pcb track has a very small inductance by comparison and therefore only affects radio frequencies but that's still important in audio to prevent instability. Another component that has the property of going inductive is all capacitors. They too are conductors held apart by insulation. They too exhibit inductance at high frequency and you can see that from manufacturers data sheets (inductance curves). Due to simple normal use of interconnects a thing called age hardening occurs where the insulation contacting the conductors hardens and will eventually lose its grip on the conductors. How long? A lot depends on other assisting mechanisms such as expansion and contraction due to temperature changes (I do not recommend deep freezing). Another assisting mechanism is manipulation which one member once termed "cable whirling". A slight occasional twisting grasping either end of the cable (not the connectors) should do the same. ------------- That none should be able to park up and enjoy the view without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps |
Posted By: Frostg
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2012 at 3:02am
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Can you advise please on cables from a DAC to the Solo UL? Cusat50 or Graham's other cables? And why one is better than another? Also I know the length is buy what you need but what difference (apart from it will reach!) does getting a longer interconnect make, say 1m or 2m? Thanks |
Posted By: garygillespie
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2012 at 7:59pm
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I see on the main site there are two Phono Interconnect Cables listed Cusat50 & Agsat90. Since you can't click on the Agsat90, is the Cusat50 an updated cable? |
Posted By: garygillespie
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2012 at 8:14pm
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My set up is really low to the ground, so I also wanted to know if having the cables run along the ground would that hurt the sound in anyway? |
Posted By: suede
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2012 at 8:58pm
I can hear a difference between my 2 m and 0.6 metre cusats. It's not at all big but I'm certain it's there. The longer cable just sounds ever so slightly less vigourous. Still a great, full bodied, clean and natural sounding cable with loads of vigour in it but just very slightly less so than its 0.6 metre cousin. My tip is to get the shortest length you require and I guess that pretty much goes for any type of audio cable |
Posted By: garygillespie
Date Posted: 25 May 2012 at 12:59am
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I'm going to have to put my audio rack (something like an Quadraspire) on a tiled floor; so should I buy 4 Sorbothane pads to put under the legs, or should the feet that comes with these should suffice? |
Posted By: less
Date Posted: 08 Aug 2012 at 3:40pm
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Hi Gary, your post is a little off topic, and this reply is somewhat late! Presumably your tiles are on top of a concrete floor? Are you near a busy road or other source of structural vibration? The Quadrapsire racks seem a little on the light side to me but I have seen favourable reviews for them. Essentially your rack should be providing a solid vibration free base for your equipment to stand on, especially if you are using a turntable or CD player. You need to ensure that any metal in your rack is not able to transfer vibrational or RF energy into your system. Graham (Slee) has posted elsewhere on the forum about these matters, so have a look around. Although late I hope this is of some help to you. Regards Les ------------- I don't do mediocrity! Les Sutherland |