Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Full disclosure right off the bat : Velesco provided a promotional code to cover the cost of their new Black Squid Type-C cable. What follows is my honest and unbiased review. Benson again with a USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable review. Today I am reviewing BlackSquid's "USB Type C Cable (3.3ft/1m) - Type C to Type C Reversible - USB 3.1 Super Speed - Fast Data Sync & Charging Cord" Today I am starting something new. This cable is not a legacy USB cable like the majority of my previously reviewed products. Instead, this is a pure C-to-C cable meant to be used with newer accessories such as Type-C chargers, Type-C hard drive enclosures, or Type-C docking stations. This cable from Black Squid is a Full-Featured Type-C cable, meaning that it not only supports charging capabilities and basic USB 2.0 data, it also supports USB 3.1 SuperSpeed for much faster data transfer with supported devices (5gbps), and also allows for the extra wires to be repurposed for Alternate Modes such as VESA DisplayPort. All told, this cable should have 10 more wires than a standard USB 2.0 Type-C to Type-C cable to support the extra functionality. My test setup today include my trusty Chromebook Pixel 2015, and a Chromium OS USB-PD Sniffer (codename Twinkie). Please check it out by searching google for "Chromium USB-PD Sniffer". This product is also available on Amazon here : Plugable USB 3.1 Type-C (USB-C) Power Delivery Sniffer I will be testing this cable with the following 3 available chargers to cover a wide range of possible Type-C chargers. * SONEic - USB Type-C (USB-C) Rapid Wall Charger & USB Type-C to Type-C Cable, 15 Watt/3.0 Amp for Nexus 5X/6P, LG G5, Nextbit Robin, Lumia 950/XL and All USB-C Devices - Black (Charger+Cable Included) -> Type-C charger up to 5V 3A. * Apple Apple 29W USB-C Power Adapter -> USB PD capable. Up to 14.5V at 2A. * LG Electronics 4K UHD 27UD88-W 27" Screen LED-Lit Monitor -> Advanced 4K display/docking station with Type-C port. Supplies up to 57W at 3A. Let's test the SONEic Type-C charger with the Chromebook Pixel using the Black Squid cable. Pixel's ectool output : localhost ~ # ectool --dev 1 usbpdpower Port 0: SNK Charger Type-C 4618mV / 3000mA, max 5000mV / 3000mA / 15000mW Port 1: SRC Twinkie analyzer data : > tw vbus VBUS = 4698 mV ; -3062 mA > tw cc CC1 = 0 mV ; CC2 = 1691 mV This looks good. The Black Squid cable is allowing the SONEic Type-C charger to advertise 3A capable (indicated by the 1691 mV reading on CC2), and Pixel is drawing 3A at 4.6V. The next charger, the MacBook 29W charger, will show a different result because it is a USB PD capable charger, and Pixel will attempt to negotiate over PD to a higher voltage. Pixel's ectool output : localhost ~ # ectool --dev 1 usbpdpower Port 0: SNK Charger PD 14403mV / 2000mA, max 14800mV / 2000mA / 29600mW Port 1: SRC As you can see, Pixel has negotiated 14.4V at 2A over the BlackSquid cable to the MacBook charger. Let's take an even more detailed look at the negotiation process. Using Twinkie's tracing function (tw trace 1), I can decode the CC communication on the fly to the serial console : 965415.351337 SRC/0 [2161]SRCCAP 5000mV/2400mA 14800mV/2000mA 965415.352976 SNK/0 [0041]GOODCRC 965415.354247 SRC/0 [0161]GOODCRC 965415.355646 SNK/1 [0241]GOODCRC 965415.357082 SRC/2 [0566]PSRDY 965415.358336 SNK/2 [0441]GOODCRC 965415.359645 SNK/3 [0641]GOODCRC 965415.360980 SRC/1 [0361]GOODCRC 965415.362336 SRC/4 [196f]VDM Vff00:DISCSVID,INI:ff008002 965415.363836 SNK/2 [144f]VDM Vff00:DISCSVID,NAK:ff008082 965415.916464 SNK/3 [1642]REQUEST{2} 200320c8 [965415.918361 PD TMOUT RX 581/582] RXERR SOP 965415.919653 TMOUT 965416.009340 SNK/6 [0c41]GOODCRC The two interesting lines above are the SRCCAP, which is "Source Capabilities" where the charger sends to the Chromebook the list of available voltage and current limits it supports. Secondly, the "REQUEST{2}" from the sink is the Chromebook Pixel choosing the second voltage level from the menu of the sources' capabilities, indicating it is requesting the 14.8V level. As we can see, Twinkie confirms that the charger is supplying 14.4V at 2A through the BlackSquid cable to the laptop: > tw vbus VBUS = 14407 mV ; -1989 mA > tw cc CC1 = 941 mV ; CC2 = 0 mV The final charger is actually LG's Type-C docking station + 4K monitor. Let's plug it in via the Black Squid cable and see what Pixel thinks : localhost / # ectool --dev 1 usbpdpower Port 0: Disconnected Port 1: SNK Charger PD 17612mV / 3000mA, max 19000mV / 3000mA / 57000mW It's negotiated to 17V charging with this display at 3A. > tw vbus VBUS = 17652 mV ; -3001 mA At the same time as fast charging, the display also turned on and Pixel drove the external display at full 4K resolution (3840x2160) at 60Hz. I also confirmed that a keyboard and mouse attached to the display's integrated USB hub work too. For a USB 2.0 High Speed data test, I’ve hooked my Nexus 5X to my Chromebook Pixel via the BlackSquid Type-C cable to test large file transfer via MTP. It just works, no problem! For a USB 3.1 SuperSpeed data test, I've hooked up my Chromebook Pixel to a SuperSpeed Type-C external drive enclosure :ORICO Aluminum Tool Free Type C USB 3.0 to SATA III External Hard Drive Enclosure for 2.5 inch HDD/SSD [ Optimized For SSD, Support UASP ] Silver (2598C3) I confirmed when attached to my Chromebook Pixel via the Black Squid cable that it enumerates at SuperSpeed, indicating that the cable definitely has the required extra wires to support the faster operation. I have also done a 4-wire measurement of impedance on Vbus and Gnd using a bench LCR meter to see if this cable is within spec for IR Drop (Section 4.4.1 of the Type-C spec) : Vbus : 0.132Ω -> 0.396mV Gnd : 0.071Ω -> 0.213mV These are within the limits of 500mV for Vbus and 250mV for Gnd! Very good! This cable will not cause excessively slow charging. For other more subjective judgements of this cable : Just like the last BlackSquid cable that I reviewed, I am impressed with just how thin this cable is considering it has, at a minimum, 15 separate wires inside. The actual cable diameter is even thinner than some USB 2.0 cables I have seen, and the cable is still very flexible. Both Type-C plugs are of the stamped kind, which is good, but not great. Other cables including ones from Google and Apple use a deep-draw extrusion method to build the plugs, which is stronger and nicer looking. Overall, I am impressed with Black Squid's fit and finish with this cable. In conclusion, Black Squid's Full-Featured Type-C cable is an excellent full featured cable that shows the promise of Type-C use cases to come. Using this single cable, I was able to fast charge my laptop while simultaneously displaying 4k60 video to and accessing a USB hub on an external display. Well done!