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Some interesting info about conductors

post #1 of 8
3/19/08 at 7:03pm
Thread Starter 
Hey, check this out...!

-Brad *sits and waits for usual suspects*

Canuck Audio Mart :: View topic - Heres a clue...........................
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post #2 of 8
3/19/08 at 7:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grizzlepaw View Post
Hey, check this out...!

-Brad *sits and waits for usual suspects*

Canuck Audio Mart :: View topic - Heres a clue...........................
"Distortion" in cables, been there...

-

Testing done by Bruno Putzeys--Chief Engineer Class D Audio at Philips Digital Systems Labs.

Distortion: Not only sine wave, but also extremely complex full-spectrum multitone testing (including signal sequences derived from actual music). There were NO differences between the cables tested.

Graphs over the full audible range...
"Cheap A/V Cable"


"a Japanese manufactured cable with audiophile pretenses by a brand named Hisago."

image credits:Steve Eddy


Phase noise: While this would have shown up anyway in the above tests, it was separately checked at frequencies well above the audio band. Nothing showed up.

"Micro phase shifts": The AP2's resolution is so good you can read the length of a cable to within a few inches by measuring the phase difference between input and output. Apart from this, nothing turned up.

In-Out difference. Actually, two different cables of equal length were fed the above distortion test signals in opposite phase. The two outputs were summed through a trimmable network to null the output. Well, the output nulled completely (better than 120dB across the audio band).

Understanding Sonic Differences of Cables


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post #3 of 8
3/19/08 at 7:43pm
That is in fact very interesting that a bad cable can add a *lot* of distortion to the amplifier, but before we get carried away with this, what does this a lot of distortion mean here ? Well with the Bryston 2B Power Amp mentioned in the article the distortion figures are, from the Bryston Website

Harmonic distortion < 0.005% from 20Hz to 20kHz at 100Watts
IM distortion < 0.005% from 10 milliwatts to 100 watt

An impressive little piece of hardware no doubt !

So worst case your Harmonic Distortion goes up by something under 0.015% to something less than 0.02% and your IMD goes up by something under 0.015% to something less than 0.02%.

You will pardon me for not losing too much sleep about this
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post #4 of 8
3/19/08 at 8:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnFerrier View Post

...
"Cheap" cable
...

"Expensive" cable...
I didn't read the link above as having anything to do with "cheap vs expensive" cables.

edit*

I agree that the price of a cable is generally not indicative of its sonic or tonal quality. Build geometry (a simple effective design), proper shielding (depending on how much EMI is in the area of your audio system) and craftsmanship are the most important factors. In that order, IMHO.
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post #5 of 8
3/19/08 at 8:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grizzlepaw View Post
I didn't read the link above as having anything to do with "cheap vs expensive" cables.
Cable Distortion and Dielectric Biasing Debunked - page 2
Bruno calls one "a cheap A/V cable" and the other "a Japanese manufactured cable with audiophile pretenses by a brand named Hisago."

I'll change my previous post.

-

More about Bruno Putzeys on Wikipedia and in an IEEE Spectrum article last month Bruno Putzeys: The Sound of Music.


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post #6 of 8
3/20/08 at 1:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grizzlepaw View Post
Hey, check this out...!
Well, if Winston Churchill says it, it must be true!

See ya
Steve
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post #7 of 8
3/20/08 at 5:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnFerrier View Post


"a Japanese manufactured cable with audiophile pretenses by a brand named Hisago."

image credits:Steve Eddy
Actually there are quite obvious differences between the cables even from the graphs above. However when the distortion is down at those low levels I will still be getting a good night's sleep
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post #8 of 8
3/20/08 at 5:42pm
Grizzlepaw, what kind of testing do you perform at Virtual Dynamics? How do your cables stack up in testing? Would you be kind enough to share graphs, statistics, equipment, and methods with us?
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