I’ve gone through more than a few USB to Lightning cables in my car. After recently purchasing my first audiophile cable for the car, I have to offer a very high recommendation for the Audioquest Cinnamon Lightning to USB-A cable.

My previous cable was by Anker and sounded fine to me. I mean, with engine and road noise, a car isn’t a critical listening environment. When the Lightning connection started getting a little loose, it occurred to me that I never tried an audiophile USB cable in a vehicle.

I have a couple of Audioquest Toslink optical cables in use at my house, and the Cinnamon line seems to be the sweet spot for me. Optical cables exhibit very little difference in sound unless you drop the cash for a Lifatec, which I use on my main system.

The first thing I noticed about the cable was more stiffness compared to my previous cable. This is due to the solid copper conductors. More regarding my thoughts on solid conductors can be read in my earlier post “Cables, A Love Story.” I see the extra stiffness as a ‘pro,’ giving me more confidence in the integrity of the cable. There was also much better strain relief incorporated at the connectors. A car cable is subject to a lot of wear and tear, and these factors will likely extend its life a bit.

The sound difference was apparent immediately. It sounded louder! I admit, this seemed weird, but as I switched back and forth, I realized the reason for this. It was presenting more low-mid and mid-range frequencies. More information across the sound spectrum was coming through. This also resulted in a wider stereo spread.

As luck would have it, I recently took a long trip and the cable settled in a bit over a week (yes, cable break-in is real). Over those days, I was able to remove the EQ adjustments on my car stereo, basically reverting to the default ‘flat’ factory settings.

I listened to a bunch of lossless files on my iPhone – The Band, Elton John, Caroline Polachek, Beck, Bob Dylan (a LOT of Dylan), Brian Eno, Joni Mitchell, The Grateful Dead, Jay-Z, Bill Evans Trio, Herbie Hancock, and an audiobook, to name a few. In each instance, there was a smoother, wider sound spectrum that made my old cable sound flat, with no dynamics, depth, or sweetness. Everything sounded nice! I was pretty amazed at how Bob Dylan’s harmonica on ‘John Wesley Harding’ didn’t make me reach for the volume knob!

What I’m hearing now is pretty awesome, and I’m kicking myself for not trying the Audioquest Cinnamon Lightning to USB-A cable sooner. It’s also available in Micro USB, USB C, or just about any combination you may need. It sounds effortless in this less than ideal listening environment. I’d encourage anyone to give this upgrade a try.

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