How essential is shielding?

The answer is that you would also be breaking the signal return path.

I thought so, but it was unclear to me what the audible results would be, which the rest of your answer describes very nicely. Thanks, Al.

While the hazards of using unshielded interconnects make sense to me (particularly when they are unbalanced), my experience has been that I like the sound of unshielded interconnects. I'm currently using unshielded interconnects from Morrow, but I have also used ones from Kimber and Anticables. Like other listeners, I have experienced an "openness" with unshielded designs that is appealing to me. I'm not saying you can't get that with shielded designs, but I haven't had much luck finding it, except for a $2k+ pair of Synergistic cables that I owned for a while.

I'm not suggesting that unshielded cables sound inherently better than shielded ones. Just that I've had a easier time finding the sound I was looking for with unshielded designs, at least among more affordable cables. This could, of course, be an artifact of a small sample size.

And, FWIW, I have also experienced a similar improvement in "openness" going from a heavily shielded PC to a lightly shielded PC on my preamp, as reported by Lokie.

Bryon

Devil's advocate: Given that a system is dead quiet with unshielded cables, how are any of you comparing shielded and unshielded cables, and know that the 'openness' that was mentioned (or any other sonic difference) is due specifically to an absence of shielding? One would need 2 identical cables, the only difference being shielded vs non, in order to make a reasonable comparison.

Tholt: Your point is valid and in my case, I made the assumption that it was the shielding, but I could be wrong.

I had a conversation about power cords with Chris Hoff at BPT and his theory is that if you don't have any high register nasties or buzzing then shielding is a form of filtering and detrimental to the sonics. His power cord comes with or without shielding, so this would be a good cord to experiment as Tholt's "reasonable comparison" theory suggests.

it's a wonderful day...have three fingers of good liquor and listen to your favorite album.

One would need 2 identical cables, the only difference being shielded vs non, in order to make a reasonable comparison.

Hi Tholt - This is a good point, and I agree that comparing two cables that differed only in the presence/absence of shielding would be an informative test. But I don't know that it's the only possible source of information about the typical characteristics of unshielded designs.

It seems to me that, for any category of component, whether it be cables, amps, speakers, or whatever, there are at least some generalizations to be made about the typical characteristics of a particular design approach. Hence the countless generalizations that are routinely made about SET amps, electrostatic speakers, passive preamps, or whatever. Many of those generalizations are the subject of some controversy, and nearly all of them have various exceptions, but that does not diminish the value of those generalizations as heuristics for sharing and developing communal knowledge. What I'm trying to say is that I believe that useful generalizations can often be made about the typical characteristics of a particular design approach, even in the absence of carefully controlled experiments.

Of course, I could be wrong about "openness" being a typical characteristic of unshielded cables. It would be interesting to hear from other folks who use them, to see if they have noticed something similar.

Bryon