P.S: My post just above was written before Jim's post immediately above it appeared. I haven't yet read the Stereophile article he linked to, but I'll post back later if it prompts any further thoughts.
Best regards,
-- Al
Best regards,
-- Al
Directional speaker cables - switching direction
Al, link works if you remove last characters after "9". Their test proves what you just said - digital cable is not exactly symmetrical presenting slightly different characteristic impedance on both ends. This is very different from directional properties of wire alone carrying analog audio signals. Many people believe that we should be able to determine that cables are not directional if they present the same measurement from both sides hence two cables with the same measurements should sound identical. I don't believe this to be true. I seriously doubt that one can measure any difference between oxygen free copper (thousands of crystals) or zero crystal copper that comes from continuous casting process - a slow cooling in heated molds to avoid crystallization. Best instruments wouldn't be able to measure this but many claims it makes a difference. Would I be able to tell the difference chopping off 3' of one of the speaker cables - most likely not but my cables are very neutral sounding. Perhaps audio possesses a little bit of black magic? |
Thanks, Kijanki. Agreed on all counts, although IMO the words "little bit" in your post should be particularly emphasized. To quote an excerpt from page 4 of the article: I performed the same tests using the low-jitter PS Audio Lambda transport as source. The results were very different. With a good source, cable direction didn't make a difference in the measurable jitter (fig.10). This suggests that the SV-3700or any poor-quality transmitterreacts with the cable's impedance to create jitter-inducing reflections in the interface. The directionality was probably caused by differences in the way the two RCA plugs were soldered to the cable; any bumps or discontinuities in the solder or RCA plug will cause a change in the characteristic impedance, which will cause higher-amplitude reflections in one direction than in the other. These reflections set up dynamically changing standing waves in the interface, introducing jitter in the embedded clock. These problems were reduced by the Lambda's higher-quality output circuit. In short, the worse the transport, the more cablesand their directionaffect sound quality.Exactly what I speculated in my previous post, with some added elaboration based on the measurements that were performed. Best regards, -- Al |
I agree. Existing technology test equipment cannot measure the differences.... That does not mean they do not exist though. But the trained human ear can hear the differences. >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Existing technology..... >http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/general/messages/55/558658.html . Jim |