Malaysian inventor Goh Kheng Liang is an expert in keeping things quiet. His Fusion Audio Regenerative Power Supply produces regenerated power supply without any noise (see https://www.av2day.com/2025/04/gohs-fusion-power-regeneration-plant-is-a-silent-killer/) and his latest product, the Fusion Audio ClearLink USB cable removes all the electrical and EMI/RFI noise that the USB connection is well known for sending over to the DAC.
To achieve the removal of all noise in the transmission of data on the USB cable, his USB cable has a box with a galvanic isolating circuit. The box also has a 5 volt power input to power external hard disks as the ClearLink USB cable can also be used to remove noise from external hard disks.
The USB cable itself uses cryoed pure silver conductors.
To test the ClearLink USB cable, I decided to plug it into my laptop with the charger plugged in as that would create a really noisy source since a laptop’s USB output is not optimised for audiophile purposes and the power supply on charging mode would be noisy.
I plugged the ClearLink USB cable to an iFi ZEN DAC2 and used a pair of Sony MDR-M1 Professional headphones to listen to files, including DSD 5.6 tracks, stored in the laptop’s internal memory played on J River v28 and also to streamed files from Spotify.
Initially I used the iFi ZEN DAC2 on USB power and I encountered some problems.
The Fusion ClearLink USB cable is not designed for USB-powered DACs
After listening to music for a few hours, the music started sounding funny with singers sounding like they were singing from a distance in a tunnel with lots of echoes. I touched the box and it was hot. So I stopped the music and waited a while for the box to cool down and once it was cooler, I tried playing music again and it was back to normal.
So I WhatsApped Goh to inform him of the overheating issue I encountered. After troubleshooting, he identified the cause — the ClearLink cannot be used to USB-power a DAC.
He explained that ClearLink USB cable can only output 0.33A if the internal power is used while my iFi ZEN DAC2 requires a 5V 1A power supply. So I was pushing the ClearLink USB cable beyond its limit, which explained the overheating.
The solution was to use an external power supply to power the iFi ZEN DAC2 which I did. After plugging in the iFi iPowerX, everything worked fine.
How did the ClearLink USB cable perform?
It is a super silent cable. And because the noise floor is extremely low, you will hear a lot of details, micro-details and micro-dynamic swings. When listening to well-recorded albums, you will wonder if you are listening to the master tape.
Can the performance be improved?
Since I am the gatal (itchy) type of audiophile I decided to try a few things. First I plugged the Fusion ClearLink USB cable to an iFi iSilencer+ which features active noise cancellation. It did not work — there was no sound at all. So there was some kind of mismatch.
Then I plugged in an Audioquest Jitterbug FMJ, which is a passive filter to remove noise from the data and power lines of the USB connector and in doing so reduces jitter. The connection worked — the music played and I heard a slight improvement to the sound.
My theory is this: The ClearLink USB cable provides galvanic isolation which cleans up the sound. So if the signal from the laptop is dirty, it is cleaned up by the circuitry in the box. And if the signal from the laptop undergoes one round of cleaning via the Audioquest Jitterbug FMJ, the ClearLink box makes it even cleaner.
My theory may, of course, be wrong. But what I hear with the Audioquest Jitterbug FMJ coupled with the Fusion ClearLink USB cable is pure music with no noise at all. In short, listening to music with the ClearLink USB cable is most enjoyable.
I bought the review Fusion ClearLink USB cable.
The Fusion ClearLink USB cable retails at RM2,999. Contact AFC Top Hi-Fi’s Matthew Ong at 012-2876106 for more details.
