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cable dielectric cause of artificial sound

Hi folks, I would like to know what your opinion is about the following issue. About 90% of high-end cable manufacturers use PTFE as dielectric. Many of their cables sound much alike and they have a few of these characteristics in common: clean, relaxed and laid back sound but at the same time very dynamic (though a bit artificially), very quiet ("black background"), very good (also artificially) left/right separation. But I think albeit these traits, they tend to sound "technicolored", "sterile" and unengaging (lacking PRaT also). Some cable manufacturers are using bleached cotton as dielectric. These cables sound different: they have more natural dynamics, a mellower sound, more intimate soundstage, more tonal colors and so on. Are these differences mainly due to the dielectric material used? Why is for so many manufacturers PTFE still the ultimate dielectric for the use in audio cables?

Chris
dazzdax
rhyno's avatar
rhyno
649 posts
 
my audio junky friends & i have found that dielectrics, teflon included, invariably screw things up.

downside is the availability of cotton-dielectric (the VHAudio wire is a good gauge, but poor quality), and the difficulties of construction / durability of bare wires. cleaning terminals w/ progold is all the confirmation i need of the negative impacts of oxidation.

the ideal strikes me as high purity wire in a vacuum. tough to come by though..
rhyno
gregm
3,404 posts
 
high purity wire in a vacuum
Snag is, the contacts are still exposed and need cleaning periodically... not to mention the difficulty of the implementation (which you do mention).

At the end of the day, JD's use of gold wire -- despite the cost -- seems like the most practicable solution.

After all, paladium would be text-book ideal -- but at a more than textbook price.
rch102a97
162 posts
 
Kapton sounds better than Teflon. Cotton absorbs moisture. How 'bout paper, used about 50 years ago.
gregm
3,404 posts
 
How 'bout paper, used about 50 years ago
Why not. It's got a dielectric constant of 2 (dry, at normal room temp). I tried it and it didn't make me run out of the room. OTOH, I can't recommend except for very careful and foolproof implementation otherwise one runs the danger of wires shorting...
electroid
283 posts
 
JD wrote: "I assure you the interconnects your so happy with will be gone from your system for ever"

If I found something that made the image any bigger than these I don't know what I would do. Like I said I want to try Mapleshades "ribbon in a bag" type interconnect. Thanks again.

ET
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