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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...


fsonicsmith
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Almarg
Note, however, that for the reasons I stated earlier in this thread I for one do not totally rule out the possibility of wires (as used in cables) being intrinsically directional in **some** applications, to at least a small degree. In contrast to my opinion about fuses.

That’s preposterous. Why on Earth would you believe cables can be directional but not fuses? I trust you’re referring to unshielded cables, NOT balanced cables or single ended cables. What physically is going on with cables to make them directional? Oh, no! You’re not going to say the directionality is caused by how the RCA connector is reinserted into the RCA jack, are you? You know, the old "fuse holder" argument? I especially like your characterization of the effects as "at least to a small degree" even though you’ve never actually tried it or heard it. That’s awful decent of you, you big smoothie.
almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
That’s preposterous. Why on Earth would you believe cables can be directional but not fuses?
Because as I’ve said numerous times in numerous fuse-related threads in which you’ve participated:

If Geoff’s comments about all wires being significantly directional are to be believed, then these differences [referring to the almost infinitesimal direction-related differences in fuse resistance that are reported in the HiFi Tuning paper which you continue to cite] would be totally swamped by BOTH the resistances and the alleged direction-related resistance differences of the vastly longer associated wiring. In the case of mains fuses, that would include the power transformer and the power wiring in the component, as well as the power cord and the AC wiring in and outside of the house.
Those having an understanding of how resistances or other electrical quantities that are in series combine, as well as an understanding of the fact that most cable parameters and cable effects are proportional to length, will understand that. Or, more precisely, **almost** all of them will. There are always a few outliers, as you would say.

You may disagree, and for that matter I’d expect that you will find some way to disagree. But I wouldn’t be so quick to characterize my contention as "preposterous."

Regards,
-- Al

shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,491 posts
 
+1 Almarg

...a voice of reason in an ocean of purveyors of fanciful misinformation
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
Hilarious coming from one of the biggest fish in that ocean shadorne.

Dave
smikell
2 posts
 
Ignoring all the wonderful comments before me, the original statement was about an NRG-10 AC cable being directional. Forgetting audio signal connectors for a second, and commenting strictly on AC power cables ONLY, I find the whole subject silly and mute based on one simple fact. AC is alternating current, as in it changes direction 120 times a second, or sixty cycles. That's why every AC-DC power supply design uses some form of a bridge rectifier. And to state on the NRG-10 web-page, "No matter how perfect an AC power source, distortion is added within any AC cable, especially within a stranded cable. Even the most sophisticated filters and power supplies cannot eliminate this cable-induced distortion." I would think that just a few audio equipment designers would have been insulted by now.
Thanks, Steve
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