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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
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hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,832 posts
 
Feeling sad for Audioholics author. Ear damage limits one's perception of reality me thinks.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
blindjim wrote,

"Though, Power Cords especially. Why?
Because you can not reverse the ends. They don’t fit. Even if you push really hard!!"

>>>>Power cords are like fuses in an AC circuit. I.e., they’re directional. Of course I’m not (rpt not) suggesting you can flip a power cord around like a fuse, obviously you can't. But what I AM saying is that manufacturers should be AWARE that wire is directional, all wire, just like Audioquest, to name one, states. And like HiFi Tuning states. Even the teeny tiny strands of wire in stranded cables and power cords are directional. Thus, IF the manufacturer is AWARE of wire directionality AND he CONTROLS the manufacturing process - so when it comes time to affix the connectors on the power cord - he knows which end is which. Follow?

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The Audioholics article is apparently 13 years old yet contains the same misstatements of the facts and the usual appeals to "reason" and double blind testing as today’s uber skeptics. 13 years old but still fresh as a daisy! My favorite Audioholics response? This gem: "Let’s not forget that an audio signal is AC, and effectively random from a physical perspective. Nothing can align to a random signal by being anything other than random."

Cut me some slack, Jack!

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