So you think wire conductors in cables are directional? Think again...


Here is a very relevant discussion among physicists about the directionality...the way signal and electrons should flow... based on conductor orientation. Some esoteric, high-end manufacturers say they listen to each conductor to see which way the signal should flow for the best audio quality.

Read this discussion. Will it make you rethink what you’re being told and sold?

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/is-a-copper-conductor-directional.975195/
edgewound
djones,
Has your side of the aisle ever asked you to stop helping them? In your entire life have you ever produced an applicable analogy?
Kind of funny the RF folks now are criticizing about cable directional.  RF folks are known for their measurements so they have to live and die by it.
If you insist on measurement, you got to put up or shut up.

In RF, there is something called "insertion loss" or RF people would call it "SD21" or "SD12".  SD21 is the insertion loss in one direction whereas SD12 is insertion loss in the other direction.  And these are never the same especially in RF.  You measure insertion loss in one direction, then the other direction, and the results are close but never the same.

Also if RF folks also are making fun of cable lifters, remember that RF cables are very sensitive to the cable bending.  If you bend the cable just slightly, your SD21 will change.  Expensive RF cables are less sensitive but they all are.  

You see, there a lot of these voodoo scientists ... errr... I meant "objectivist".  They keep pounding on the word "measurements", but they themselves can't withstand close scrutiny.  A lot of these people are using the word "measurement" as a mean to an agenda but a lot of them don't know what they are talking about.


There used to be a working link I've used in past discussions on cable directionality and it's not coming up anymore.
(http://www.tubemastering.com/philtaylor.pdf )It had to do with Pink Floyd and the building of a studio on the Astoria (David Gilmore's house boat), a boat they used to record on. In between sessions, they swapped cable directions and easily heard the differences, preferring one way over the other.

The best I can do right now was to find an article that doesn't go into it in such depth but speaks to the differences in cabling that can be heard. 
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/recording-david-gilmours-island
Scroll down to the "Grounding on Water" section in grey.

There's also this from Tony Farinella who makes the cables that David Gilmore uses: http://sparebricks.fika.org/sbzine28/ggg.html
There is a section where he discusses cable directionality.

Let's see... another non working link to TapeOp about the house boat and cable directionality....can't find anything else for the moment.

All the best,
Nonoise

Andy2:

What/who are RF Folks?

I can only think of "radio frequency" off the top of my head.

DeKay
Drive your car to work, then drive back. Your mpg is not the same both way because one way will have more uphill or downhill vs. the other way.

Same for electrons. They will expend different amount of energy differently directionally because the metal structure is not uniform.

At least that is the theory, but as far as if you could hear a difference, I don't know.  My old age hearing probably not good enough.