Am I A Liar? Directional Audio Cables

[morris_minor]

. . well, not me. I always (try to) tell the truth!

But Graham Slee; his latest blog post might be of interest:

http://www.gspaudio.co.uk/blog/am-i-...es_post40.html

[Richard Kimber]

That's an interesting read. Thanks.

- Richard.

[sq225917]

That's an interesting piece of conjecture wrapped up with an anecdote, but it's nothing more than that, no proof, no measurements, no reliable listening tests. Just a nice story about dielectric breakdown testing wrapped up with common knowledge about how induction heating works.

[Reffc]

It's nothing new and as with some other manufacturers, whether deliberately or not (and I suspect not as Graham Slee is well respected in audio circles) science is explained without actually relating it to a tangible impact on normal listening. Talk of propagation velocity and insulation properties, and effects on audio spectrum are meaningless (and I don't mean they don't exist) unless some reference point is made and down to earth explanations are presented in lay man's terms.

The truth of the matter is that the effects of what has been explained on cable performance, IMHO pales into insignificance when compared with what connectors are used and how well that they are terminated. Dielectric constants should be low (under 2.3) for any good quality cable but the results of flash testing and residual charge? I don't buy it because once the cable is used in an alternating field which is what an audio circuit is, then over a period of time (which could be seconds, minutes or tens of minutes...who knows?) whatever bias is there most likely doesn't remain there and even if it did, the impact on listening or measurable spectrum (say from a signal generator) would show minuscule if any audible difference IMHO. remember, even for those with great hearing, an audible difference would have to be around 1dB or more at the frequencies affected and that's highly unlikely. Can the phenomena introduce spurious distortion? I can't see how, and again, we're back to what is audible and what is not.

This may sound sceptical, but its born of knowledge from designing, constructing or assembling various cables. Its not so much that the science is altogether at fault, its more to do with sensible design perspective and a reference point being made. All IMHO