Directionality of wire

stfoth
Geoff--how about audible directionality in glass optical "cable?"

I wouldn't think so. I pointed out recently on this thread that cables like those that employ carbon conductors shouldn't exhibit directionality. Since glass is homogeneous it should not exhibit directionality. Metal conductors, you know, like copper, silver and gold, etc. have crystal structures and thus are not amorphous, especially after the metal wires have been drawn.

Geoff--I asked the question of anyone who may be aware--of course, if inherent directionality was noted in other applications, it might support the directionality camp.  Their research and usage could have some transferable context.

If not, I would think that the absence of it in other applications where stakes are infinitely higher and arguably more sensitive than our measly listening devices would support the non-directionality camp.

Then, of course, perhaps one could argue that it's apples to oranges and that there is something inherently electrically different and unique about audio from everything else.  Couldn't definitively argue against that.  I have a difficult time believing "we" are that unique, though.

I didn't take Almarg's response as anything other than experiential and anecdotal, which he qualified, FWIW.  You may know him well enough to read between lines.  I dunno.

Anyway, I have not been able to detect any difference from flipping cables around, but I, of course, have stone ears, crappy gear, and am too dumb to even understand how MQA is supposed to work.  And I use comparatively inexpensive (so, probably crappy) cables--mostly stranded copper speaker, rca, and xlr.  A couple of rcas with a touch of silver.  Silver plated solid copper for digital, because I got a deal on them.  Might directionality only apply to premium cabling?

Hmmmm, I wonder...are skeptics of wire and fuse directionality also skeptical of other controversial tweaks? Or is it just wire and fuse directionality that irks them? In addition one wonders if these skeptics are full time skeptics or just "weekend skeptics." Do the fuse skeptics accept, for example, the Warren Commission Report on the assassination of JFK, you know, something that’s obviously controversial, and obviously of more import than a little old audiophile fuse? Or the 9/11 Final Report which also is controversial and of much greater import than mere fuses.

Yes, I know him well enough to read between the lines.

I’m a skeptic. I’m too dumb to make sense of it, and I haven’t personally been able to "hear" directionality. Even if I could, I’d probably take the next step to question whether it was actually an inherent directionality of the actual wire I was "hearing" as opposed to something else like a connection being better or worse after fiddling with it or of any of another million factors that could affect perception within the few minutes.

I can even get on board with the concept of the structure of the metal looking different in one direction than the other--whether from extrusion, rolling, forging, casting or whatever method one might choose. Seems like it should be electrically insignificant.

I’d love to be able to "improve" my listening experience with something as simple as flipping a wire or a fuse but haven’t heard such a thing.

But, I used to be a skeptic of how much a impact a rectifier tube could make...until I "heard" it.


C’mon man, no one ever actually walked on the moon.

--Only those things one finds for himself to be true are true--