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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...


128x128fsonicsmith
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 

sebrof
There are a couple of guys here on A-Gon that, when I see they posted in a thread, even if the topic is of no interest to me I usually click and read. I often learn something.

There are a couple of guys here on A-Gon that, when I see they posted in a thread, even if the topic is something I may be interested in I pass on by because I know the thread has, or quickly will, become gibberish.

It's not often I see them all in the same thread, so this thread is kinda weird as it pegs back and forth...Bam, good info...Bam, nonsense...Bam, good info...

>>>>What a tease!
sebrof's avatar
sebrof
835 posts
 
sebrof
>>>>What a tease!
I will take the secret as to the identity of those I referenced in my earlier post to my grave!! Nobody will ever find out ;)
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Sebrof, I think I know. I went into the archives and scanned many of your posts. Now I remember you. 😀

sebrof's avatar
sebrof
835 posts
 
Sebrof, I think I know. I went into the archives and scanned many of your posts. Now I remember you.
Geoff, I seriously doubt I'm anywhere near the top of the list of people you have reason to remember...  :) :) :)

(But you did make me look at my old posts so you got me)
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Can anyone tell me if this is accurate and has it been debunked as of late?
Yes and no, the only wire that was, was LC-OFC (Linear Crystal- Oxygen free Copper) developed by Hitachi and Audio Technica some 25 years ago.
It was heated up to a point where it crystallised the copper at the same time of being drawn into strands.
Stereophile presented microscopic photos of the crystal structure and they were arrow shaped and lined up nose to tail, naturally the arrow head was pointed, and was considered as the flow direction.
Sounded very good, BUT!!, trouble was that it was as fragile as cast-iron or glass. You couldn’t bend it much at all, if you did it cracked and cause micro air gaps between the crystals (sort of diode effect). Which resulted in worse sound than normal copper.

Cheers George
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