Anybody here terminate DH Labs BL-1 cable?

For RCA, connect the shield and - together only on one end. Usually on the source.

On the far end leave the shield unconnected, and connect the - to the outer RCA shell and the + to the center pin.

It helps if you mark them before assembling. :)

I’ve experimented extensively with the"floating shield" architecture that Erik describes, also using the BL1 and agree, but with one little modification, if the source does not have a ground pin on the power cable, I attach the end connecting neutral + shield + drain, to the component in the "chain" that has a ground pin on the power plug.

Components that have no ground pin cannot remove the noise from the interconnect effectively and it is passed onto the next component in the chain.

In the event neither component has a ground pin on the power cable, grounding the case(s) reduce noise levels.

All my IC's use this architecture

Regards

Thanks for your responses!

What confused me about the BL1 is that it does not have a shield but rather is a twisted pair with a drain wire (as opposed to coax that has one wire with shield)

@williewonka what you mention is interesting. One of my sources is a VDAC2 (w/ VPSU)  and that uses a C7 (figure 8) connector without ground. In that case you are suggesting using the end with the shield to my amp?

On a slightly different topic, I am also trying to assemble a power cord for the VDAC2. Since its a C7 it does not have ground and only requires 2-core cable, but the bulk wire I found was only 3-core (I bought some Furutech). I wasn’t sure whether to just float the ground wire on both sides. I asked Furutech support and they said to do it that way

BL-1 does have a shield!

You just don't realize it. It's super-thin foil. You are probably cutting through it when you pull off the insulation.

Right.. but do you use that shield on either end?
I thought you only use the 2 wires + drain