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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
jea48
4,486 posts
 
Jea48 8-19-2017
Al,
Question.
Does the hot/signal conductor, of an IC, hold any more importance carrying the audio signal from the source to the load than the ground/return conductor?
If yes please explain.
If not please explain.
almarg: 8/19/17
I would put it that in the case of an unbalanced line-level analog interconnect the hot/signal conductor may actually be **less** important than the ground/return conductor. For a couple of reasons:

(a)The resistance, inductance, perhaps skin effect, and perhaps other characteristics of the ground/return conductor may affect the amplitude and spectral characteristics of ground loop-related high frequency noise and/or low frequency hum.

(b)Those characteristics of the ground/return conductor may also affect the extent to which a small fraction of the current in the hot/signal conductor may follow a return path other than that ground/return conductor. Such as the AC power wiring (as in a ground loop), or possibly even the ground/return conductor of the cable for the other channel.

jea48 response:
Al, that might be the reason why I have read many DIY cable builders say they increase the equivalent wire gauge size of the ground/return wire in their DIY ICs

almarg: 8/19/17
However, while those two factors can certainly be expected to have sonic consequences in some applications, and while they can create slight inequalities in the current being conducted in the two wires, I’m not sure how or if they might have a relation to directionality.

Best regards,
-- Al

jea48:
And there is the rub. The why. Bob Crump found it existed by experimenting and listening, the same way, imo, any designer of audio equipment does. Design it, built it, listen to it. If it doesn’t sound right measure it if possible. Tweak it, listen to it, and so on.

Bob admitted in the thread he couldn’t explain why he could hear directionality in solid core wire. He had theories. He admitted he couldn’t bench test what he was hearing with any test equipment know to him at the time, year 2000. To date it seems it still can not be measured, tested, with any available test equipment.

Jim

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nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,903 posts
 
Ta-da!

This has been pointed out before and glossed over so maybe having some well respected names put to it will give some pause. 

However, it won't deter them.

All the best,
Nonoise
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
It’s a shame Bob didn’t live long enough to see the HiFi Tuning data sheets on fuse directionality. Everyone talks about wire directionality but no one does anything about it. If only Bob and Curl had experimented with fuse direction back then they would have known the answer.

Question to self: can’t anyone measure the resistance (conductivity) of a cable or wire or fuse in both directions? Duh! Why don’t they? They’d rather fight than switch. The pathological skeptics seem to be getting up a full head of steam. Think I'll take cover. 

🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🚶 🚶 🚶



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georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
but nobody has ever measured directional wire or fuses. I'd say that's because it doesn't exist. Pathological denial of the existence of a phenomenon beyond measurement? I guess if rational thought is pathological, I'm guilty.
+1, it's all voodoo, led by you know who.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/81/6b/b2/816bb2ce803a876c3b46601f55730cac.jpg

Cheers George
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