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Interconnect Directionality

Have I lost my mind? I swear that I am hearing differences in the direction I hook up my interconnect cables between my preamp and power amp. These are custom built solid core silver cables with Eichmann bullet plugs. There is no shield so this is not a case where one end of the cable’s shield is grounded and the other isn’t. 

There are four ways ways to hook them up:
Right: Forward. Left: Forward. 
Right: Backward. Left: Backward
Right: Forward. Left: Backward
Right: Backward. Left: Forward. 

There is no difference in construction between forward and backward, but here are my observations:

When they are hooked up forward/backward there appears to be more airy-ness and what appears to be a slight phase difference. When hooked up forward/forward or backward/backward, the image seems more precise like they are more in phase. The difference between forward/forward and backward/backward is that one seems to push the soundstage back a little bit while the other brings it towards you more. 

What could possibly cause this? Does it have something to do with the way the wire is constructed and how the grains are made while drawn through a die? Am I imagining this? Have I completely lost my mind?
mkgus
thecarpathian's avatar
thecarpathian
5,119 posts
 
Darn! I missed pop quiz one. Trick question as photons are never at rest. That is a misnomeric moniker.
But then we can get all sciencey and discuss invariant mass and relativistic mass, except for it's time for me to take my milk of magnesia, do a push up, and cry myself to sleep...
jag's avatar
jag
99 posts
 
i thought this was crazy s**t until i noticed that my cables had little arrows, so i promptly changed the direction. big difference in sound. as pointed out it’s the way the copper is drawn out and so has a perceptible impact on the flow of electrons that constitute the audio signal. makes sense i guess.
thecarpathian's avatar
thecarpathian
5,119 posts
 
Hi jag, that arrow could be more indicative of a shield/ground directional indicator and nothing to do with metal extrusion or crystalline directionality. And electrons don’t really flow. They more or less just sit there and vibrate. Also, they do not constitute the audio signal. But you are definitely correct about the ’crazy s**t’ part! Ha, beat you to it, geoff!
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The elephant in the room 🐘 of course is that photons (the electromagnetic wave) travel a long way through solid copper wire. Don’t they? If photons traveled on the outside of the conductor they would not (rpt not) need the drift electrons 🔛 in the copper to carry the charge/current.
thecarpathian's avatar
thecarpathian
5,119 posts
 
Mayhaps they do both...hmm. Even more curious, I wonder if a photon within a carrier can be subject to quantum entanglement. What are your thoughts on this?
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