Interconnects, some have directional indicators, why?


I'm curious as to why some interconnects are directional? Is there a physical internal difference and do they generally sound better and cost more than non-directional cables? Thanks for your interest.
phd

Showing 2 responses by teo_audio

The lattice structure of solidus wire, ie, electron orbital locked frozen crystalline wire, it can and mostly will be directional, depending on the method of creation.

The same goes for the dielectric. Flicker, Johnson, and shot noise all play their part -it’s quite the stew, and a polarized one at that.

Almost all dielectrics in use are mildly thermoplastic in nature, and will exhibit polarization when extruded:

http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/14fd7ed4543a437e93aefcb66482ae59/plastic-measuring-cylinder-illuminated-by...

This will organize the fields in play, when under high rates of change or in transients.

When looking at the ’polarized’ image supplied above, imagine a more polarized, organized and aligned structure exuded around the wire. Add in that to the electrical fields in modulation that are interacting with the wire, the polarizing effect is again in the wire (due to it’s manufacture and fundamentals in bulk lattice of elements-like wire), even though it is not transparent to light and we can’t use a polarization filter to see it.

So the wire and the dielectric each independently act predominantly with opposite field characteristics, one current (wire) and the other voltage (dielectric). One can even find resonance patterns at a given frequency or delta.

The pairing makes for a very ’ac’ responsive activity when the ’cable’ (metal wire and dielectric skin) is hit with the varied changes of flow and value we call ’signal’ (delta). Since it predominantly interacts with the peak transients and we hear via transient function (delta), this activity and interaction of the cable with the signal -is heard by humans.

The only cable in the world that escapes this basic consideration, is the liquid metal Teo audio cables.

The interaction of signal and conductor, in the liquid metal cables, is more akin to how light interacts with a fluid or gas. More of a free form plasma effect and interaction. For the first time ever in audio, it’s a completely different beast. It’s a change in the basic analysis and equations in use. In the fluid metal, which is fluid at the molecular level, there is no polarization possible, in the classic sense of how all solids function in their enforced polarized interactions with electrical fields. The result is electrical considerations which beggar belief.

Most cables are manufactured with these directional issues taken into account, as the effect is on record as being heard. Not that many folks articulate the issue of lattice alignment and polarization, and not that many who hear it in audio cables understand the issue of polarization..and precious little science is put into the area of trying to see how much a person can hear of such things.

When we add in the differences in human hearing in individuals, then add in intelligence, cognition, and data gaps, we get this argumentative stew that might be called ’the cable wars’.
GS5556 says:

To state that wire has "directionality" is to toss aside the laws of quantum physics. First. the conductivity is proportional to current density and electric field, irrespective of the physical dimensions of the conductor. Second, the net drift velocity of the electrons is zero. If one direction in the material favored the other, there would be a net change in velocity in that direction and every wire would have an electric charge.

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I personally was talking about micro changes or differences in how transients are expressed (when a dynamic force is applied, to a lattice arrangement like many of the wires we use in audio) depending on polarity. ie delta and polarity. Complex harmonics, which music is ...and wide band, through the ’native’ skin effect range, all this complicates the matter but exacerbates the ’transient interference’ issue.

Physics has no laws, just theory and exploration. Engineers have laws and dogma. Quantum physics is especially devoid of laws, it not being anywhere close to being defined.

As for polarity, or a one way, it’s just been done with light. Whod’a thunk it.

http://phys.org/news/2016-11-one-way-street.html


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