Sonnect Soundwire USB to XLR Cable Test & Shootout

Is the Sonnect Soundwire the best USB to XLR cable ever made? Not sure but lets compare it to products that are often used.
There are loads of bulky boxes and rack units out there but the convenience of a an all in one cable is super desirable for touring and travel and ease and speed.
Let's check out and test the Sonnect Soundwire USB-C to XLR transformer coupled digital audio conversion cable.
I compare the Soundwire to the the Apple headphone adapter as well as to another brand XLR to USB-c and another USB to mini adapter.
The results are quite interesting as I test for frequency response, noise, line balancing and the ability to tolerate phantom power.
• Sonnect's NEW SoundWir...
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00:00 Introduction
01:31 Test Setup
02:23 Laptop Mini Plug Out High Freq Test
03:49 Generic USB to Mini High Freq Test
04:39 Apple USB to Headphone Adapter High Freq Test
05:11 Generic USB to XLR High Freq Test
06:24 Sonnect Soundwire High Freq Test
08:56 Noise Tests
10:26 Transformers
11:02 Low Frequency Tests
12:17 Phantom Power Tests
14:53 Summary

[@erniesanders3724]

When Dave talks, I’m all ears. Never ceases to amaze me with his knowledge and professionalism. The Master.

[@DaveRat]

Humbled and honored

[@UncleWalter1]

David and the Sonnect team are the real deal. It's really great to small companies who dedicate themselves to making the best quality gear they can get the recognition they deserve. When I had a minor issue with my Sound Bullet, David himself was super responsive and it was resolved very quickly.

[@DaveRat]

Agreed

[@maxi1304]

I really like to watch your videos! Very interesting content and i am always impressed what kind of tests you put together. I have already learned allot from you. Thank you!

[@Gem-Ex]

Really nice. Thx man and happy new year

[@dustinthiessen]

Thanks for doing this Dave! I was definitely curious about the SoundWire. might just have to pick one up!

[@DaveRat]

It's cool to get quality gear for our craft

[@peterldelong]

Thanks Dave for the great review and I ordered the Sonnect Soundwire today. I already have their Sound Bullet and love it! Sonnect is coming up with some great products!

[@DaveRat]

👍🤙👍

[@sekritskworl-sekrit_studios]

Dave you are AMAZING!!! Thank you!

[@Ballistic23]

Got mine a few weeks ago. Love it!

[@DaveRat]

🤙👍🤙

[@petesmith6434]

The SoundWire adapter is amazing. Its ability to protect computer equipment from serious damage should a phantom power mistake occur makes the price of this device a good value.

[@DaveRat]

👍👍👍🤙

[@AdamGotheridge]

Merry Christmas! 🎄😎😎🎄

[@DaveRat]

Thank you and to you as well!

[@davidcollins6164]

merry christmas, dave

[@doougle]

I trust your opinion about this. I'm picking up one of these.

[@DaveRat]

Our install guys have been using it and love it. I have not used in the field yet but having a super HiFi USB cable is super useful

[@brucenicoll4373]

Very cool I do remember that running phantom power in to an older iPhone with mini jack can cook the output android was ok

[@DaveRat]

Hit or miss and a bummer if it happens

[@brucenicoll4373]

@@DaveRat you’re right about have a merry Christmas brother

[@DaveRat]

🤙👍🤙

[@DelmaRaySmithJr]

Love Dave.

[@aleksandrasratmanovas1219]

Cool stuff. Foor a full quality evaluation would be nice to see harmonic distortion and digital jitter measurements.

[@tonejunkeee]

Thanks Dave, I hope they make a version that can do input as well. The old Apogee ONE was pretty close (like a remote control with breakout cables)

[@MultiPetercool]

I read the title and asked, why? Delighted to have gotten an answer.

[@DaveRat]

🤙🎛️🤙

[@MultiPetercool]

@@DaveRat I feel stupid for having bought a Focusrite Clarett 2 Pre.

[@gpag12]

Hey Dave awesome video. I got my SoundWire two weeks ago and it exceeded my already high expectations which you saw through this test. One point to clarify from your video regarding phantom power, please correct me if I'm wrong - I believe phantom doesn't cause a pop in the SoundWire because it is ground lifted. Since there is no ground, there is no complete circuit for the 48v to travel

[@DaveRat]

Very cool and that could very well be why it doesn't pop, I didn't test for ground lift And that would make sense

[@AK-nb6hz]

I really want them to do an AES IO. I often work with Digico and it would be great to run my local audio from my phone over AES. I use a Fiio for it but it's kludgey and ends up on SPDIF.

[@DaveRat]

Interesting

[@zolof911]

Great idea! Perfect when all your local inputs are full.

[@DaveRat]

🤙👍

[@JBF-GST-Tanda]

It's said that both AES3 and SPDIF use the same data format. The only two difference are voltage levels and impedance.

[@drlarcey]

Merry Christmas Very cool

[@DaveRat]

🤙👍🤙

[@Lu_Woods]

Amazing differences. I have a Zaolla guitar cable and you can immediately tell there's more better content. Love these real life tests, thanks!!

[@DaveRat]

🤙🤙

[@seanflora397]

8:45 - I know you know this: 180k is not ten octaves above 20k. It's a bit more than three octaves. It is approaching ten TIMES the others' top frequency, but definitely not ten OCTAVES.

[@DaveRat]

Yeah, that's true

[@--AP--]

Thanks Dave for your thoughts and expertise. Really appreciate it. Even though you mentioned differentiating between a cable only solution versus a box, it would still be helpful to compare this to a radial pro 2 usb (similar price category) to compare the tradeoffs between having the seperate box or not. Thanks again!

[@huibvandervoort7521]

Would realy love to see that comparison too!!

[@DaveRat]

Any idea if that unit work with an iPhone or Android with USB C? If so, will definitely look into testing.

[@--AP--]

@@DaveRat. Tested and it definitely works on both ios and android. The radial has a USB-B input. I don't have a USB-C to USB-B cable (on order), but I did send it through a USB-C to USB-A adapter and then to the radial and it worked right out of the box on a USB-C ipad and a USB-C android phone. It would not work with an older ipad with a lightning to USB-A adapter where it gave a "requires too much power" warning. There are certainly times where a smaller (lighter) solution is more warranted, but, I do like the volume control, mono sum, and ground lift on the radial. I'm curious about how else they compare. Thanks for all that you do!

[@DaveRat]

Interesting and will see if I can give it a test

[@thomasmork8084]

The Radial (and many other interfaces) work fine with a lightning camera adapter and a charger. I’ve done that for years. I got my Soundwire from the first batch and it is awesome. I was listening through my Mac and a RME Fireface UFX III over Madi to a DiGiCo console. Plugged the Soundwire straight from the laptop to the inputs of the console and man… it’s almost impossible to blind test in a reliable way, but that Soundwire sure sounded great! Thanks @daverat for all your fun and educational videos!

[@glynnetolar4423]

Expensive for what it does. Useful though and you're paying for that convenience too. There are other solutions but they are not as portable. It works be interesting to see a more orange to orange comparison with things like the Pevy USB-P.

[@stevenwolfie]

i think i need to buy that cable!!!!

[@DaveRat]

🎛️🤙🎛️

[@MrMercho4416]

Emptying my Change jar and selling some stuff right now!

[@dingolovethrob]

fabulous review. - one question Dave, what sample rate are those library of WAV files that you had prepared?

[@DaveRat]

24bit 192k up to the 90k tones, then 32bit 384k up to 180k, then 32 bit 768k above that

[@dingolovethrob]

Man. that's thorough! 😀👍 @@DaveRat

[@humaneeater]

Dave, do you have a download link for these WAV sine files? Would be lovely to get!

[@FVDaudio]

From bullet... Due to the nature of some facilities or being located at the extremes. I prefer soundtools sniffers/senders. Obviously it depends on the application or need. Merry Christmas 🎉✨

[@DaveRat]

Merry Christmas and differing tools. I use the bullet for pink and an XLR headphone amp. I use sniffer sender to test

[@rowanjones3476]

Why not send it to Audio Science Review and get Amir to hook it up to an audio precision test set? I’m curious to see band plots of how it stacks up in terms of noise, distortion, jitter resilience etc compared to the cheap and ‘reference’ options. There’s some tough competition in hybrid analogue/digital io unit market now and he’s got quite a large table of performance data this deserves its place in. Good to see you looking at features like phantom power behaviour, which he doesn’t.

[@DaveRat]

Yes, I'd be cool to see more tests. For me, anything with a box or a rack mount is in a different category. AFAIK, this is the only high quality USB to Balanced pure cable solutions out there

[@twocentman]

Amir receives alot of critics about his so called neutral measurements. Sometimes I think he doesn't use a testload at all. Not a place for solid engineers. Sorry to say.

[@shanithezimhoni]

Watching this knowing my next gig will be on jbl monitor speakers as foh, connected to a thirty year old 8 channel yamaha using the shittiest noisiest cables and di’s

[@ChristopherWilsonUK]

I would have liked to have see the test against the DACs built into the Behringer mixer as well. This is what it’s for. With my SQ-5, CQ-18T and DM3S I can feed them all digitally via USB, which seems best when I can, as I skip one round trip from digital to analogue and back. For iPhones, you need the USB camera adapter. Also saves any phantom power risks. I think the cables in the video come into their own when used on stage where generally all the inputs are analogue.

[@DaveRat]

Although the cable as many uses, I was looking at standalone cable solutions that allow you to hook your cell phone or laptop audio out into a sound system. This is common for playing music or test signals from your cell phone or laptop into a console, power amplifier or powered speaker when setting up, testing or operating a sound system. Boxes, rackmount units, and mixing consoles have a wide variety of other ways to adapt from digital to analog or digital to digital but that's a huge and wonderful but different endeavor.

[@pcmelgar]

Hey Dave this cable looks amazing! And can’t wait to get my hands on one of them when they are back in stock! I’m curious to see what the latency is when using it in Ableton or MainStage for playback using midi instruments.

[@gil_carter]

Thanks Dave, great review. Any thoughts on susceptibility to EMI noise on these cables? Does the signal travel unbalanced from the USB-C port until it reaches the XLR with transformers inside, and hence only balanced for the last inch of the journey? I wonder if an AES or network or power cable nearby would induce some noise?

[@AT-wl9yq]

Unless I missed it in the video, it was never made clear if the USB port on the computer was putting out a digital or analog signal. It can be either. If the signal is digital, then the cable he's reviewing is really a small bus powered DAC made to look like an adaptor cable. Given all the sample rate settings he had available after he plugged it in, would tell me it is a DAC, and not some analog to analog converter setup. If so, the analog signal starts at the balanced output of the DAC in the cable. So, unless you have a really odd problem, you shouldn't have any noise issues to worry about. They make "cables" that go the other way, as well. If you need to get an analog signal into a computer, you can get a cable like this with an inline AD converter (some people call them audio interfaces). A good example is a USB mic. People think you don't need to buy an audio interface for them. Technically, that's correct, however, you still need an AD converter. A small bus powered interface is hidden in the cable, or the mic itself.

[@DaveRat]

It has a dac, hence the settings Short, shielded unbalanced line level cables rarely have interference issues. Mic level yes, long cables, yes. The inherent noise in the other products was so much higher than any interference noise could ever be, that I would consider the concern to be non relevant

[@gil_carter]

@@DaveRat thanks!

[@thijsvdakker1615]

Nice comparison, but how about the simple line cable, stereo Jack to 2x mono jack and a DI box? That’s my way to go usually… could be way cheaper than 200 euros..

[@DaveRat]

Well, if you have a stereo mini on your phone or device and trust the D/A converter on your phone or device and don't mind carrying the extra weight and stuff, all good. But for those that are pro level touring engineers and flying around the world, having minimal weight and size, max reliability and max quality are things that can be desirable. On the upper levels, 200euros is a bargain not to need to carry a the mess of a di box, 2 xlR cables and a mini to dual 1/4" adaptor and have lower quality audio.

[@cgtbrad]

I've seen lots of guys blow up headphone jacks / consumer DAC's by plugging them into lines that have 48v on them. I now carry a Radial JPC and strongly encourage bands to use it. If they insist on using their own contraptions I stipulate that it is at their own peril.

[@mwestcc]

cool

[@DaveRat]

👍🤙👍

[@stevenichols5708]

Just curious, Do you know what DAC chip is being used?

[@DaveRat]

That I don't know

[@johnmccallyite]

Howdy!

[@DaveRat]

👍🤙👍

[@yoloyolo1832]

Please make a video to „chassis sensitivity vs Speaker sensitivity“ couldn’t find anything suitable on the internet ✌🏻

[@HazeAnderson]

WANT! 😆

[@DaveRat]

🎛️👍🎛️

[@lucasetten]

6:16 .... oh my ears.

[@DaveRat]

🎛️👍🎛️

[@16LiveRecords]

Interresting, that their online specs did not say it can go that high in samplerate when it came out. 🤔

[@DaveRat]

Agreed, kid of cool to exceed specs!

[@beachsidetech]

Hope they make a 3.5mm trs version without the dac. That would suit me better.

[@gregorykusiak5424]

One thing you didn’t really reference enough in this (for repeated views?) was the level differences as reported by the dorrough meter: you could ballpark HF roll off slopes leading up to Nyquist filters for a better representation of the frequency response curves of each. Irrelevant with the big money cable, but not with the more budget alternatives (especially the one you fried lol).

[@ToddDolce]

Please don't laugh at my ignorance but I'm still trying to learn all that I can about this world of audio and microphones. So will the sonnect soundwire allow me to connect my RE20 mic into it and go directly to my DAW on my PC without an audio intetface? I mean I only record in mono anyway so only being able to plug into one of the two connectors wouldn't bother me. So am I understanding this right? I guess I would lose control of gain settings but I think for travel the direct bypass of an interface unit would be great.

[@DaveRat]

The sound wire is a USB to XLR output that will allow you to play high quality test signals or music on your cell phone or your laptop and connect it to a mixing board or powered speaker or amplifier or anything that has an XLR line level input

[@ToddDolce]

@@DaveRat Thanks Dave. Sorry for having to ask. And by the way....Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you! I discovered your channel when exploring how to refoam an RE20. Fan ever since!!

[@DaveRat]

Thank you and happy holidays! And no worries on the ask All good. And thank you for hanging out!

[@natehunsicker570]

That’s really impressive HF response, but not that surprising give the 24/384 DAC. I’m going to assume that is an unbalanced signal from the DAC that is then balanced and isolated through the transformer? This was the only balanced signal in the test group, so it’s not surprising that it outperformed all the others in noise. Could you compare this to something like the Radial JPC that is electrically balanced? Obviously the poor DACs used in a laptop’s headphone jack or an Apple adapter will still not perform anywhere near the spec of the Sonnect, but I’d like to see how a well a purpose built DI compares in noise and LF response. I think there are some compromises made when converting an output made to drive headphones and converting it to line level, even when using high quality components that people might not consider. It would be interesting to see those effects quantified and show how (I assume) the soundwire would still outperform another $200 solution.

[@DaveRat]

There are loads of boxes and rack mount units that require extra cables adapters and wall warts out there. And for somebody who wants to carry that around or that type of connection makes sense All good and I'm sure there's units that perform as well if not better. But that's apples to oranges. I'm comparing cable type adapters that do not require a metal box. Units you can carry in your pocket with no extra adapters or cables that's useful and valuable to people that travel. It's like testing a laptop against a mainframe computer two different beasts with different applications and purposes that have overlap If you know of any other cable only solutions I would be not against testing against that

[@graealex]

I would not have guessed the "cheaper" XLR adapter to be utter rubbish. It's not even balanced, so even without the DAC distorting like crazy, there is zero benefit over the headphone DACs. Would have also been interesting to hear how bad the distortion would sound. I would assume that this particular unit was faulty, because this degree of distortion should be more than noticeable, without an oscilloscope.

[@imark7777777]

Definitely cool definitely cool expensive but like most things that are cool. Would love to see the reverse and a combination of both. Something with stereo in an out would really be nice for zoom type things. However at 200 bucks I would suspect a two-way device would be somewhere between $300-$400 not necessarily some thing I would want to be like hey just take this with your laptop when you go to that conference kind of thing. a little hi for me if I could justify the price but it would be a by once cry once, as long as I wasn't using it in situations with unknowing masses who like to put Phantom power down the wrong connectors type of people who are likely to plug cables in and use that to hold there laptop from falling off a table.

[@TJF97]

ouchie that 12k blast

[@Sonnect]

Absolutely loved watching this! 🫶 It's funny, Dave here is doing tests we didn't even think of doing 😅 glad they turned out OK tho and sooo interesting seeing the results!! 🙌 David - Sonnect

[@matijatatomirovic3351]

One of the rare cases where expensive cable does what manufacturer claims it does.

[@DaveRat]

Or actually more than they claim!

[@jamesmhebert]

Because it’s measurable and not subject to opinion. Go, Sonnect, and thank you Dave!

[@DaveRat]

🤙👍🤙

[@theacethree7943]

why does it matter if it distorts above the range of human hearing let along the speakers...

[@DaveRat]

The question is why is it distorting. And if it distorts massively and visibly on the scope at or near the upper end of human hearing, it most likely is distorting audibly as well. The ability to accurately reproduce sound an octave above what you will use it for is a good sign that it will be clean and accurate in the usable range But If your standards or application is ok with mediocre sound and you have cheaper speakers, then yes, it does not matter I purposely stayed away from perceptual opinions in the vid What really is clear is the added noise

[@theacethree7943]

@@DaveRat agreed on the noise. The noise is wild compared to the nicer cable. Is there a difference between the distortion you showed vs audible distortion?

[@DaveRat]

We did listening tests and compared the Apple versus the sound wire and all of us agreed to sound wire sounded clearer. That said we didn't do blind listening tests. Maybe I'll do a actual listening test but I try and do videos with provable repeatable scenarios that can be heard over KZbin by the listeners and not really give opinions or observations they can't be shared directly

[@theacethree7943]

@@DaveRat thank would be great!

[@AtheHD1]

why doesn't it charge my Macbook though?

[@DaveRat]

Phantom power charging a Mac book would take long enough for the Mac book to be obsolete before reaching a full charge. Other than that it would be cool

[@pressorv]

usb to rca works well for now

[@DaveRat]

Yes, for RCA where there is no advantage to balanced and no fear of phantom, it's the way to go unless ya need ground isolation

[@Skooh2000]

That is not the cable you want to forget in the boards at your last gig.😊

[@DaveRat]

True and that's exactly what I'm sure will happen. We're trying to figure out a way that tag them so they don't vanish from our systems

[@jedgould5531]

Comparing data to audio is apples to elephants. 3:58 I’m looking at a subtitle saying ‘UBC C to 1/8” stereo mini to stereo mini to XLR.’ Aside from the wording confusion, doesn’t it matter a whole bunch how the audio is encoded to digital at the beginning of this chain? I am glad your first comparison demonstrates that larger connectors are not necessarily better. 6:16 Of course you didn’t compare each of the pull-down settings. 7:01 Was not clear on test procedures and objectives throughout. May have helped to better see your connectors, especially at the end when you were talking about a “big box.” Ask someone to review your videos for clarity, perhaps a fellow engineer?

[@DaveRat]

Low noise, balanced line, phantom power impervious and wide freq responce are the fundamentals. Once those are solid, then sound quality can be compared. Don't hit those and don't bother w sound quality as it fails before even getting there

[@ahmadsyafiqyaacob9309]

I want that T-shirt. Send me link.

[@DaveRat]

californiacut.com/collections/unisex-tshirts

[@TomCee53]

Not ten octaves, that would be 1024x. You meant ten times. 😂

[@DaveRat]

True

[@ajfager2333]

Turning on phantom power should charge your phone! 😂

[@DaveRat]

That would be a slow charge. The IEC specifies a maximum of 10 milliamps for phantom power per microphone. So that comes out to about 5 watts. USB 2.0 does about 2.5 watts And USB 3.0 does 4.5 w. Plus, dropping 48 volts to 5 volts probably cause some loss as well with the circuit. But theoretically it could maybe slow your phone discharge down

[@vk3fbab]

A lot of this noise will most likely come from cheaper ADC and circuit design. If you were designing a USB powered ADC you'd need to do a good job on the power supply as USB power probably carries a bunch of really nasty high frequency switching components. So good power filtering and shielding will be important. It's also possible that crappy software drivers don't do you any favours especially if there are sample rate conversions just a little bit off. Like everything pro audio you get what you pay for. The money is spent on R and D and getting things right across hardware and software.

[@DaveRat]

🎛️👍🎛️

[@glynnetolar4423]

I believe you mean DACs.

[@DaveRat]

Yes DACs

[@vk3fbab]

Yes I did good pickup but both types of design have similar requirements for power supplies and shielding of high frequency switching. Probably more important for ADC as you might record that noise forever.