
If purchasing the cable online, commercial use extension cables are available. These numbers usually mean, the higher the number, the better quality cable. When purchasing a cable, take notice that there are numbers usually following the manufacturer’s name, such as 2.0 or 3.1. Many times increasing the quality of the cable will also obtain better performance from the devices which are connected. There are many grades of USB cables and extensions available. Anything longer than that transfers no signal to the computer. The maximum distance to be able to extend a USB cable for this specific configuration is 5 meters. This happens because the distance is too far away. The reason the sound is not working is that the resistance is too high. When the two devices are directly connected, there is sound. There is no sound when connecting a home theatre to a home computer using the extension cable. Downstream and upstream data traffic gets buffered eliminating signal loss.

As an alternative, there is a USB repeater cable also available. A hub allows for multiple USB cables to be connected and run multiple devices. Though it is said that USB cables can be extended as long as 80 feet for this connection, if the signal loss is occurring then it is recommended to switch to a USB hub or a cable that contains signal boost capabilities.
