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Cable directionality

It is rather hard to see what difference the insulation might make. Especially since - and I know I'm rather labouring the point! - the signal doesn't have an overall direction!
 
I must admit, his (alleged) comments about cable directionality are at odds with Naim's former no-nonsense approach to hi-fi.
 
Starting with the caveat that I have no references that prove any of the points that follow. I remember reading them some time in the past, and in an email correspondence with Roy Gregory of Nordost he said Nordost believed them to be true (but he also said that Nordost would be soon publishing their evidence and they never have).

I believe that digital interconnects have been shown to introduce measurable jitter. If you turn the cable around the jitter figures change measurably. Nordost said that they had a number of manufacturing techniques that measurably reduced the jitter, and that the direction of lower jitter was predictable and hence could be marked on the cable, but they did not have an understanding of the physics that explained it.

Nic P
 
Nic
But could this feared measured jitter be heard as opposed to measured? If not of distraction value only.
 
Whenever I have heard cable directionality it has been because the cable is grounded at one end. I don't think it has anything to do with the wire and how it is drawn.
 
whatsnext said:
Nic
But could this feared measured jitter be heard as opposed to measured? If not of distraction value only.
Click to expand...

Often I feel the subjectivists are on a hiding to nothing.

If something can't be measured then we just imagine we hear differences.

If something can be measured but is outside what we should be able to hear then we just imagine this as well.

I'm not saying this is the case here with jitter but I do feel my above observations are relevant in other cases.
 
Don't think anyone has come up with what is an acceptable level of jitter, in that it can be heard. My AE produces a high level, apparently, but seems fine to me.

That's not to say designers shouldn't strive for the lowest possible levels, of course.
 
My PSB Kimber cable interconnects have ruddy big stickers attached with a big arrow on them. Clearly they must be directional :)

Now if I carefully peeled them off; stuck them on the other way round; and then sold them on 'the bay' to some poor unsuspecting punter would I be defrauding them?

Hmm
 
kabayiri said:
My PSB Kimber cable interconnects have ruddy big stickers attached with a big arrow on them. Clearly they must be directional :)
Click to expand...

Do the manufacturers give any hint as to what failings will be apparent if you connect them the wrong way round?
 
At Uni in the 80s a couple of my mates worked on 4 and 6 port couplers in microwave engineering.

We are talking about basically printed circuit boards handling signals from even 1Ghz upwards (technically well below X-band then).

The maths is pretty hairy, but when you get to higher level frequencies the copper tracks are really acting like wave guides. Impedance matching is crucial. Power transfer can range from 0 to 100% at a given port.

I think the only music affected by this at normal audio frequencies is Maria Carey though ;) , which explains why she usually sounds bad down any copper.
 
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