Single ended interconnects are directional because they are grounded at the source end only, for lowest hum pickup and resulting low noise.
Directionality of wire
I am a fan of Chris Sommovigo's Black Cat and Airwave interconnects. I hope he does not mind me quoting him or naming him on this subject, but Chris does not mark directionality of his IC's. I recently wrote him on the subject and he responded that absent shunting off to ground/dialectric designs, the idea of wire directionality is a complete myth. Same with resistors and fuses. My hunch is that 95% of IC "manufacturers", particularly the one man operations of under $500 IC's mark directionality because they think it lends the appearance of technical sophistication and legitimacy. But even among the "big boys", the myth gets thrown around like so much accepted common knowledge. Thoughts? Someone care to educate me on how a simple IC or PC or speaker cable or fuse without a special shunting scheme can possibly have directionality? It was this comment by Stephen Mejias (then of Audioquest and in the context of Herb Reichert's review of the AQ Niagra 1000) that prompts my question;
Thank you for the excellent question. AudioQuest provided an NRG-10 AC cable for the evaluation. Like all AudioQuest cables, our AC cables use solid conductors that are carefully controlled for low-noise directionality. We see this as a benefit for all applications -- one that becomes especially important when discussing our Niagara units. Because our AC cables use conductors that have been properly controlled for low-noise directionality, they complement the Niagara System’s patented Ground-Noise Dissipation Technology. Other AC cables would work, but may or may not allow the Niagara to reach its full potential. If you'd like more information on our use of directionality to minimize the harmful effects of high-frequency noise, please visit http://www.audioquest.com/directionality-its-all-about-noise/ or the Niagara 1000's owner's manual (available on our website).
Thanks again.
Stephen Mejias
AudioQuest
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-15-audioquest-niagara-1000-hifiman-he1000-v2-p...
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As I've posted elsewhere, it IS true that I am new to the A-Gon fora. That's because I used to be a regular on AA and it sufficed. But that asylum has become dead and this one seems more active so I've migrated here. I have 40 years experience in the hobby. Sorry for torturing you with big yawns. I know that feeling and my apology is sincere. I am fairly certain that Chris does not ground his IC's on one end and yes, I made an exception for that when I posted. Here are Chris' comments; https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https://blackcatcable.com/blogs/news/5965201-directionality&c=E,1,CZTsGYkSx3yJ1ygMD6zVhmyvrpZ2uv2n-LeadEheXdsxsgPmIjEiN_cPBDgsM4uiyM9MgcSeSGWoY4E5WadYmr2-97nMZth-m_2kPw,,&typo=1 |
What I gathered from Chris’s article is that: *He hears a difference but doesn’t feel it’s a "life or death" difference. *He fairly certain it’s not due to diodic effect. *He cannot explain it except that it’s not due to diodic effect so simply move along folks, nothing to see here. How nice that he can relieve us of this "life or death" burden. Here is a related article on the matter dealing with objectivity vs subjectivity. What I like most about it is the shot of a t-shirt that states: I am an engineer. To save time, just assume that I’m always right! All the best, Nonoise |
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