The new Atlas Cables Element USB cable draws on the technology the company developed for its HDMI cable range, and is 'designed to set a new standard of sound quality for computer audio cabling applications'.
The company explains that central to the design is the reducting of jitter transferred between electronic components, and this is achieved using the company's parallel-lay twisted-pair conductors, precision measured and micro-trimmed to ensure each is the same length.
Atlas says this 'ensures there is minimal time difference between each pair,' and that this significantly reduces the "skew effect", which is typically to blame for jitter.'
Silver-plated high-purity oxygen-free copper is used for the conductors, which are triple-shielded to isolate the data, power and ground conductors from each other, and then shielded with an outer screen to reject noise.
The connectors are an in-house design, with both headshell and metal components 'designed to keep the characteristic impedance of the cable as stable as possible to reduce jitter even further'.
Finally the cable is designed to be both thin and flexible, making it easy to hide away in installations.
Atlas Cables MD Kevin Kelly says that 'Every aspect of our new USB cables has been designed to enhance sound quality by reducing the jitter issues normally associated with USB cables.
'By stripping away the problems inherent with USB and overcoming those issues with applied engineering, we feel we have developed a product that will re-set the bar to which premium USB cables will need to be judged.'
Atlas Cables Element USB is available now in Type A-to-Type B or Type A-to-miniUSB, and starts at £35 for a 0.5m length. The 1m version is £37.50, 1.5m £42.50, 2m at £47.50, 3m at £57.50 and 5m at £77.50.
Written by Andrew Everard