Steve (Williewonka), re the blog post you referenced, keep in mind (as I'm sure you realize) that for current to flow a complete circuit has to be present, from source to destination and back to source.
When the output of one component provides a signal to the input of another component, there indeed has to be a path for the corresponding current to return to the source of the signal. And the quality of that return path will matter just as much as the quality of the path for the "signal." In fact, it will often matter more, as explained in the next paragraph.
Depending on the internal grounding configuration of the two components, even very small amounts of resistance in the return conductor may contribute significantly to ground loop issues, which can in turn result in issues involving high frequency noise as well as low frequency hum. While the resistance of the signal conductor in a line-level interconnect that is conducting an analog audio signal will only matter if that resistance is a significant fraction of the impedances of the connected components, especially the input impedance of the destination component. And for line-level analog interconnections, that resistance will be a totally miniscule fraction of that input impedance in nearly all home audio systems.
Regards,
-- Al
When the output of one component provides a signal to the input of another component, there indeed has to be a path for the corresponding current to return to the source of the signal. And the quality of that return path will matter just as much as the quality of the path for the "signal." In fact, it will often matter more, as explained in the next paragraph.
Depending on the internal grounding configuration of the two components, even very small amounts of resistance in the return conductor may contribute significantly to ground loop issues, which can in turn result in issues involving high frequency noise as well as low frequency hum. While the resistance of the signal conductor in a line-level interconnect that is conducting an analog audio signal will only matter if that resistance is a significant fraction of the impedances of the connected components, especially the input impedance of the destination component. And for line-level analog interconnections, that resistance will be a totally miniscule fraction of that input impedance in nearly all home audio systems.
Regards,
-- Al