“Noteworthy in the above is the fact that the Capacitance doubles and the upper Cutoff Frequency (where above which the signal begins to be attenuated) almost doubles. So in the event that we “double-up” our audio cables, we actually extend their bandwidth – albeit we are talking in the region of radio frequencies so there is no real benefit there with respect to extending the fundamental audio bandwidth.
“What IS significant though is the fact that all of the above leads to a potential reduction in reflected energy and/or standing waves within the cable, and that is because of two primary factors. By lowering the Character Impedance and consequently, raising the Cutoff Frequency, we “push” or force any potential reflections up to twice the frequency at which they would otherwise occur. That then leads to two other outcomes. First, higher frequencies find it more difficult to propagate down the length of any conductor due to the “skin effect,” and are therefore usually attenuated more with respect to those that occur at lower frequencies. As a result, lower magnitude levels of reflected energy translates into less interaction with the Source and Load circuits. That means less potential for the formation of any associated Phase Distortion artifacts as outlined above.”
Please note that this is the opinion of Bob Smith. I’m not an EE to assess his opinion.
I doubt folks are going to go “all in” with modding all of their IC’s this way, regardless of the cost or the myriad of interconnections contemplated. So the fear of HYDRA is avoided.
The questions for many are a bit different:
(1) What audible improvements could I achieve for those 1 or 2 critical sources (that is, those sources representing ~80%+ of my listening time) when those sources are connected to my receiver, integrated amp or preamp using paralleled IC’s?
(2) Could I realize a significant improvement using the Schroeder Method with IC’s of a more *modest* cost that rivals or exceeds the cost of my expensive IC’s?
(3) And if I didn’t want to engage the “enticing offer” from my favorite cable manufacturer to buy his/her best IC set due to the law of diminishing returns, then could I nevertheless achieve even better quality by buying another run of my present cable using this method?