The phrase "a special cable" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when referring to a specific type of cable that has unique features or functions.
Example: "To connect the printer to the computer, you will need a special cable that supports high-speed data transfer."
Alternatives: "a unique cable" or "a specific cable".
(The Flip, alas, abandons this tradition and requires a special cable).
The company says you can buy a special cable to connect a guitar, so you can replace that track, too.
Even iPhones and iPads can be recharged from the USB adapter, though a special cable is needed to attach them via Apple's clunkier iOS connector.
This year, for the first time, every single event will be live-streamed on NBCOlympics.com, and a handful will be shown in 3D on a special cable channel.
Many e-cigarettes can be charged over USB, either with a special cable, or by plugging the cigarette itself directly into a USB port.
One week later, a "special cable" to The Times told of 503 cases of illness treated with "Preparation 606" in Berlin, including "the various forms of lues," as syphilis was then called.
The shuffle requires a special cable-dock with an eighth-inch connector, so it won't work with iPod accessories that require a 30-pin dock connector.
They'd charged the case and glasses many times without an issue using the included special cable connected to a laptop, battery pack, or Apple iPhone charger.
I hardly ever watch TV and have no interest in image quality, but I have ended up with a top-of-the-range monster, a set so lavish that the salesman, perhaps feeling faintly guilty for taking advantage of my stupidity, gave me a free length of "special" cable I don't know what to do with.
Moreover, the included power cable is nothing more than a special USB cable connected to one of those USB-to-AC blocks.
Par fil spécial (1924; "By Special Cable") is a sardonic account of the world of journalism based on his own experiences as a newspaper editor.
