Beware of the cable claiming long burn in period.

Why didn’t you return the cable before the return time period had lapsed if you didn’t like the cable?

If the digital cable is a coax with RCA or BNC plugs just for the heck of it flip it end for end. Listen to it after reversing it and listen again after a few hours of signal passing through it. Good chance it will sound different. Hopefully better to your liking.



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@ shkong78

Flip the cable end for end and listen if it make a difference. What are you out, other than a little bit of your time.


Quote from article:

[" After measuring the first two products (the PS Lambda and the Panasonic SV-3700), I went back and repeated my measurements to make sure the analyzer was giving consistent results, and that my test setup was correct. When I remeasured the SV-3700, I got about half the jitter than when I first measured it!

What caused this reduction in measured jitter?

Changing the direction of the digital interconnect between the transport and the jitter analyzer.

This phenomenon was easily repeatable: put the cable in one direction and read the RMS jitter voltage, then reverse the cable direction and watch the RMS jitter voltage drop. Although I’d heard differences in digital-cable directionality, I was surprised the difference in jitter was so easily measurable—and that the jitter difference was nearly double.

To confirm this phenomenon, I repeated the test five times each on three different digital interconnects. One was a generic audio cable, the other two were Mod Squad Wonder Link and Aural Symphonics Digital Standard, both highly regarded cables specifically designed for digital transmission. The generic cable wasn’t directional: it produced the same high jitter in either direction. But both the Wonder Link and the Aural Symphonics had lower jitter levels overall, but different jitter levels depending on their direction. Moreover, the generic cable had higher jitter than either of the two premium cables—even in the latters’ "high-jitter" direction."]

End of quote.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/transport-delight-cd-transport-jitter-page-4#OWq65osrZl7FLAUR.99



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I’m not a robot

wolf_garcia4,612 posts

02-22-2019 2:28pm

I have an expensive (bought it used so not so expensive for me) solid silver coax sp/dif cable from my CD player to my DAC

@ wolf_garcia

Does it have arrows, or some type of designation, for direction?
I have yet to run across a solid core center conductor coax digital cable that is not directional. Even manufactured digital S/PDIF cables where the manufacturer says his cable/s is not directional.
Especially a silver center conductor coaxial digital cable.

One direction will sound better than the other be it copper or silver.
Jim


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wolf_garcia4,614 posts

02-23-2019 1:42am

Yes my expensive "digital" cable is directional, and if you plug it in backwards all hell breaks loose.

LOL, well maybe not that dramatic of a sound difference.

Quote from Stereophile article Link:

Page 3

Measurement surprises

I had planned to try measuring jitter differences in digital interconnects only after I’d finished measuring transports. If there were measurable differences in cables, I thought they would be revealed only by averaging many measurements with each cable (to reduce the influence of random noise), and then processing the data to uncover the tiniest of differences. The System One has a "Compute Delta" function that extracts only the difference between two measurements. My preconception was that any measurable differences between different coaxial digital interconnects would be marginal at best.


Continued on page 4

After measuring the first two products (the PS Lambda and the Panasonic SV-3700), I went back and repeated my measurements to make sure the analyzer was giving consistent results, and that my test setup was correct. When I remeasured the SV-3700, I got about half the jitter than when I first measured it!
What caused this reduction in measured jitter?

Changing the direction of the digital interconnect between the transport and the jitter analyzer.

This phenomenon was easily repeatable: put the cable in one direction and read the RMS jitter voltage, then reverse the cable direction and watch the RMS jitter voltage drop. Although I’d heard differences in digital-cable directionality, I was surprised the difference in jitter was so easily measurable�"and that the jitter difference was nearly double.

To confirm this phenomenon, I repeated the test five times each on three different digital interconnects. One was a generic audio cable, the other two were Mod Squad Wonder Link and Aural Symphonics Digital Standard, both highly regarded cables specifically designed for digital transmission. The generic cable wasn’t directional: it produced the same high jitter in either direction. But both the Wonder Link and the Aural Symphonics had lower jitter levels overall, but different jitter levels depending on their direction. Moreover, the generic cable had higher jitter than either of the two premium cables�"even in the latters’ "high-jitter" direction.


And then this,

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-3700�"or any poor-quality transmitter�"reacts 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.


Was it the only reason? Maybe.

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.

What ever the reason I have found Digital coax cables with RCA plugs are directional regardless what the manufacture of the digital cable might say. Even those with arrows should be listened to in both direction to hear which way sounds best.
Jim

• http://www.stereophile.com/content/transport-delight-cd-tran

Though Stereophile contributed the proper coax cable directionality to how the solder was applied to the RCA connectors that may be a factor but not the only one.
Robert Crump was posting about solid core wire directionality back in 2000. Bill Lowe, AudioQuest, in the 1980s - 1990s.

Any of you guys experiment with making your own ICs and speaker cables using Wonder Wire silver clad solid core copper wire back in the late 1980s - 1990s? The wire came with a pamphlet saying the wire was directional. A piece of masking tape was installed on the end of the wire to identify the direction the wire came off of the spool.

Here are a couple of several posts where bob Crump commented on solid core wire directionality.

Posted by rcrump on September 30, 2000 at 06:45:41

In Reply to: Re: maybe rcrump... I don’t know, but... posted by Greg R. on September 29, 2000 at 19:47:48:

Solid core wire is extremely directional so just mark the end with some masking tape as it comes off the spool. Orient the wires so you have piece of masking tape at either end and terminate the wires. Throw it on a MOBIE or whatever overnight and then listen to it noting which way gives the highest image height. This is the correct orientation.

If you run the signal and return wires in the same direction you will end up with hot spots in the stage, normally at or close to the speakers, low image height and have a gaping hole in the middle of the stage...Keep in mind I am referring to the sound of the stage (reflections) not the individual instruments spread across the stage....Interconnects or speaker wires that have pianos wandering all over the stage normally have their signal and return going in the same direction....

Posted by rcrump on October 2, 2000 at 03:59:51

In Reply to: Re: Is stranded core directional also? posted by steve b on October 1, 2000 at 18:05:36:

Steve, I don’t want to speculate why wire is directional, but it is as poor Greg has found in a later post....I spent about three months playing with such things before I released my commercial interconnects and speaker wire and went about as crazy as Greg is going right now and can’t tell you how much wire I trashed as I forgot to mark it with some masking take as I took it off the spool....Directionality in wire will be measured some day as it appears to be an FM distortion and wandering pianos (small phase changes with frequency) will be a thing of the past. Until then use your ears to discern directionality of wire. Stranded wire likely suffers from a lack of focus compared to solid core as some of the strands go one way and some the other, but this is pure speculation on my part.....Just enjoy the ride!

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=cables&n=12372&highlight=rcrump+wire+direction


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Yeah, but he's been waiting a long time for just the right moment to post his first.

lucky_cat

Noblesville, IN, United States

Joined July 26, 2016

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michaelgreenaudio643 posts

02-25-2019 3:06am

Hi durkn

Thanks for sharing your comments. Internet trolls have no place on these forums, they are in need of a life. I’ve done documented breakin for over 3 weeks non-stop playing of the same recording. I’ve been doing this style of breakin and referencing for well over 30 years.

As for the people that can’t hear breakin...well...I guess they can’t hear it. Nothing more can be said about it. For those of us who have mastered the art of burnin and the maturing of audio parts and pieces, it’s a fun adventure.

One would think in a hobby of change one would enjoy the process but many of our fellow listeners have never made it beyond instant coffee. They sit on the sidelines and cheer or heckle but never get into the game. Their loss.

MG

+1

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@ fleschler ,

PLEASE, don’t encourage him.



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