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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
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
Geoff, it’s one of those things where if you did not exist, the universe would have to invent you. One or the other or both. Thanks for putting up with all the crap.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Teo, maybe cut back on the coffee just a wee bit. 😀 What prompted all this anyway? Was it something I said? 😟

teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
No coffee in me, at least not right now. I'm thanking you for putting up with all the crap that people throw at you, and thanking you for responding to their posturing in matters scientific.
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 

kosst_amojan
@geoffkait

Show me the measurements. Real simple. At some point you can exaggerate the problem enough to make an observable measurement, so where is it? You’re explanations don’t even make sense if they’re true. If directionality is a good thing, why don’t amp designers put diode networks in their signal path? Probably because they tried their best to make the outputs behave as unidirectionally as possible. But now somebody wants to put directional wires on it here. Sounds nuts to me. At the very least it sounds like a recipe for distortion. It is, essentially, what you get with a push-pull output stage running a high offset.

>>>>>>You are still characterizing directionality incorrectly. It might be a good idea if you went back to the beginning of this now mature thread and read what was said, about what directionality is, how it was measured, what to do about it, etc. I am pretty sure you’ll find your concerns have already been answered or at least discussed/debated. You can measure directionality yourself, just measure *resistance* of any wire one way then reverse it and measure it again. Let us know what you find. Please keep in mind high end cable manufacturers, and high end fuse makers, at least the smart ones, have been aware of wire directionality for what, 25 years? You’re not (rpt not) the first guy to come waltzing along into one of these threads and exclaim, "what in the wide world of sports is going on here?"

Keep in mind, as I already said, I’m NOT (rpt not) saying directionality is a good thing. It’s a bad thing if it is dismissed or overlooked, at least for audiophiles. It’s something cable and fuse manufacturers and everyone should be aware of if for no other reason than to obtain max sound quality. As I’ve said before, this whole issue of wire directionality opens up a great big can of worms: IF all wire is directional what about the wire in transformers, wire in capacitors/resistors, internal wiring in electronics and speakers and even house wiring? Obviously sound, perhaps very good sound, is coming out of speakers even when wire directionality is not (rpt not) addressed. But wouldn’t better sound be uh, better?
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