Interconnects, some have directional indicators, why?

Uh, I don’t think so. That was kind of the whole point of the Audioquest dude’s article on wire directionality. You know, the article you apparently mis-read. Besides, if a shield was connected at both ends of the cable you couldn’t really blame cable directionality on the shield, could you? Please don’t try to tell me it has something to do with the contact the male RCA connector makes with the female end.

You misread or did not read the question to which I was responding. He was asking specifically about cables that are not marked with arrows. My answer was correct.

Nor did I misread the Audioquest quote FWIW. While it does mention directionality of conductors, the quote is careful to also mention that they hook them up in such a way that the shield is only connected at the 'correct' end of the cable. Hence the only conclusion that can be drawn remains that the shield is the important bit since the manufacturer took the guesswork out of the 'directionality' of the wire.

Jetter

For single ended interconnects that do not have directional arrows, how can you determine at which end the the shield is connected?

Or if the shield is connected at both ends or neither?

Take apart the plastic covering at the end of the interconnect?

I'll listen both directions of ICs. If one direction is noticeably better than another, the IC is good. If both directions sound similar, then that may be a problem. This test should be done in a revealing and transparent sound system.

The signal goes in a positive wire and comes in a negative wire. Both wires in IC could be all same directions which is wrong. The bad IC has be disassemble (desolder) and check one wire by one to find the correct direction. Taking apart the plastic or connector will not help.

The shield is to block the RF signal from air and nothing to do with the audio signal. The shield can be connected to drain In XLR IC. Electron charged shield is more effective to block RFs. In RCA, grounding the shield diffuses the audio signal. So, I don't connect the shield in my ICs to preserve purity of the audio signal. The shield without the charge works fine. Grounding the shield is one's decision and may be fine for some cables.
Alex

sorry to report, atmasphere, the dude from Audioquest was actually referring to folks like you who insist that any directionality in the sound is due to the shield and who keep insisting there is not such thing as wire directionality whether it be fuses, cables, interconnects what have you. Mr. Low, in fact, is quite outspoken in this regard. Maybe you better read the article again.

Let’s summarize, shall we? copper and any metal wire is direction, both in measurement and in listening. If there is a difference is sound for shielded cables of any type due only to the direction of the sheld the manufacturer of that cable would be well advised to consider the directionality of the conductor as well, you know, in order to acheive maximum results. What cable manufacturer - unless he's lived in a cave somewhere for the past 30 years -wouldn’t do that? By the same token, any cable manufacturer who doesnt employ cryogenic treatment is living in the eighties. Its really a question of staying competitive, at least for the high end. I actually don’t care about mid fi particularly. 

Who inspects the cable to ensure the crystals are properly aligned and then decides which way is best for optimum signal flow? And after this is determined, who, at the factory ensures the cable has the proper orientation? 
Something smells fishy to me here.

Sorry to report, atmasphere, the dude from Audioquest was actually referring to folks like you who insist that any directionality in the sound is due to the shield and who keep insisting there is not such thing as wire directionality whether it be fuses, cables, interconnects what have you. Mr. Low, in fact, is quite outspoken in this regard. Maybe you better read the article again.

Please refer to my original post regarding this ridiculous topic, in which I was careful to include this text:

The above quote is from Audioquest and shows how its the shield connection that is causing the directionality, despite their awareness of how the crystals initially align in their wire.

We've built amps with Audioquest wire before. At the time of installation, Audioquest made no mention whatsoever about directionality.

And also:

If that is not the case and somehow Audioquest was trying to make a point about wire being directional and ***nothing else*** than this paragraph isn't their best marketing.

Emphasis added.

Again, if a wire really has directionality (a **wire** mind you, not a cable) in an AC circuit it will be demonstrating diode characteristics, which will induce a DC voltage at the output. Since this does not happen, again (since I am repeating myself) we know that in fact whether the crystals in a wire have a particular orientation is moot; the wire itself has no directionality whatsoever.

I am sure this is why no instruction accompanied the hookup wire we obtained from Audioquest.

Something smells fishy to me here.

You are correct. Its an obvious hoax.