Low Mass Revealer Music Link – Audience Studio TWO USB Cable
Audience Studio Two is a $539 USD USB Cable with a Type-A to Type-B connector termination, picking up right where the world of the OHNO cables ends and starting the quality audience is best known for in the high-end world. Today we will review the Studio Two UsB cable and explore what it does to sound.
Introduction
Audience is a company best known for creating some of the best sounding mini-sized speakers, the Audience 1+1 V5, which we’ve reviewed on Audiophile-Heaven. They also are masters of cables, their products often being used in studios that create some of the most popular music you’re most likely enjoying today. We explored the Audience Studio One Speaker cable, a set of cables that impressed me greatly, and we did review the Audience Forte F5 Power cable, which is solid and reliable and which was also a favorite of mine, still being part of many systems that allow me to enjoy my favorite tracks.
As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Audience has provided the sample for this review, in exchange for my honest opinion.
Product Link
Official Link – https://audience-av.com/cables/studio-two-usb/
Build Quality / Design
Audience built the Studio Two USB cable with geometry and construction techniques liberally borrowed from the top-tier designs of Audience, to make it still affordable, but to create an experience above what Audience offers with their OHNO line of cables. Like all audience cables, Studio Two is a low-mass design, and the company is best known for avoiding the use of heavy jacketing materials and heavy connectors, as mass absorbs energy and audience builds their cables to improve and never dull the sound.
This should in return give Studio Two an open and honest / transparent sonic character. All Audience cables are directional, but here that won’t be needed as you typically only have one output on the PC computer in the style of a Type-A USB port, and you only have the Type-B input on the DAC you’re using.
Physically, Audience Studio Two is a refreshing change for the audiophile world, it is a beautiful, lightweight, flexible and snappy looking cable. This is important because it will not place any strain on the USB output of your computer / streamer, nor place any strain on the USB input of your DAC. Most audiophile cables are incredibly thick and heavy, but this entire weight is usually supported by the USB connectors which can get damaged, while Studio Two simply looks amazing.
There is no added USB Delay or any issues when using an audiophile USB cable, and the whole idea is for the cable to give your music a sweeter, more euphonic and pleasing sound, generally through better geometry, better transmitance, noise rejection and other techniques. We have already discussed how cables can impact the sound and why in multiple other cable reviews, but the bottom line is that an upgraded USB cable can at worst not show much improvement and at best significantly improve your system. It cannot physically damage the signal, so operation is always free of faults.
As a fun added part, I recently posted a photo on some of my channels, but while I was at the gym, I saw Lidl, a corporation known for their aggressive profit making schemes, to be using cable risers on the rooftop of their shops. While that doesn’t have anything to do with the cables, if companies that put profit above everything else are willing to use actual cable risers, maybe the whole audiophile cable upgrades and high-end fluff is something you ought to look into, especially above a certain price level. You can order a base version for $399 USD, but a longer version can be custom tailored for you, and will add to the price.
Sound Quality
Pairings – To test the Audience Studio Two USB Cable, I have used it in between my PC computer and a couple of USB DACs, including Rose Technics RT-5000, Dethonray Listening M1, and HIFIMAN Serenade. Most of those DACs do not have any kind of galvanic isolation and are quite sensitive to the quality of the USB signal they receive, although I also tested the Audience Studio Two with DACs that are not sensitive to the quality of the cable, including Aune S9c PRO, and JDS Labs EL DAC II Balanced.
Overall Signature – DACs that are sensitive to the cable quality will show an instant jump in clarity, quality and a far lower noise floor when you implement the Studio Two USB cable in your system. Very similar to what the Studio One Speaker Cable does to a system, but to a lesser degree, Studio TWO USB feels like it improves the sound by making it more engaging, more dynamic, and tends to reveal information that usually gets lost in the background noise floor. When testing whether Studio Two is sensitive to interference I tried placing it above a wifi router, PC computer that is rendering videos and a large outlet with 10 plugs in it, and it makes zero difference to the cable, signal will come out just as crisp and clean with zero added distortion.
When you first integrate it in a system, first thing you notice with the Studio Two USB cable is how it opens up the soundstage, I keep seeing this trend with good USB Cables, but soundstage tends to be limited by the background noise floor, as instruments blend more together and there is less separation with noise, and that can be optimized by using high-quality USB cables.
Happily, I am noticing a rather significant improvement when using the Studio TWO USB cable, there is more space between instruments and the definition is just quite a bit better for each individual instrument. This is far easier to notice in compressed and complex rock / metal music, where we have multiple layers of guitars being played at the same time, and the song poses a challenge for the DAC / AMP system already, so every bit of extra definition helps.
Audience Studio Two also has much more effect at very low or very high volumes, the extremes being where things usually get out of hand and are harder to control. At very low volumes, the cable seems to define each sound better, increase resolution and cancel the background noise, while at very high volumes, THD is already rather high, so using the Studio Two USB cable improves control and lowers distortion. It is generally a welcome addition to a system, it does not seem to change the actual sonic character much outside of improving technicalities and resolution.
Value and Conclusion
The price / performance of a cable increases with the cost of your system, and the whole point is for you to get upgraded cables as one of the later steps of your audio journey, as in the beginning increasing the quality of your speakers, AMP, DAC will matter more. This being said, if you reached the point where you have a high-end flagship system, implementing a high-quality cable will most certainly not hurt and as long as the cost of the cable is around 10% of the total cost of your system, you should be good to go.
At the end of the day, Audience created a flexible, fun to use cable with their studio two, it will not send your equipment to be repaired due to its weight, but it will allow your DAC to shine, lower the noise floor of your system, and create a sound that will be more pleasing to the ear, giving you a tangible upgrade for a fair price, considering the world of cables.
PROs
- For systems that are sensitive to the cable quality, it can significantly lower the noise floor of the system
- Can open up the sound and make it more transparent / more dynamic
- Flexible and ergonomic
- Looks very good
- Reasonably priced for the audiophile cable world
- Overall a fully recommended product
Cons
- On the pricier side of things considering the vast majority of DACs we usually review
- Custom lengths can get expensive fast
Product Link
Official Link – https://audience-av.com/cables/studio-two-usb/
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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