Directional Vs Non Directional
Mar 13, 2006 at 6:11 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 22

animalsrush

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What is the diffrence between these two. Is there a sound improvement, less interfernce . Also what happens if you switch directions on a directional cable

Just curious
P
 
Mar 13, 2006 at 6:14 PM Post #2 of 22
I've heard your music will be played backwards. It comes in handy when searching for hidden meanings in old Led Zeppelin and The Beatles CD's.
 
Mar 13, 2006 at 7:11 PM Post #3 of 22
from what i've read it just changes the sound and takes a while for it to get back to "normal". something to do with electrons of course
 
Mar 13, 2006 at 7:26 PM Post #5 of 22
the only reasoning i can come up with is if the connectors are different and it's supposed to go one way, or it is burned in a certain way from the manufacturer
 
Mar 13, 2006 at 7:28 PM Post #6 of 22
Quote:

Originally Posted by animalsrush
What is the diffrence between these two. Is there a sound improvement, less interfernce . Also what happens if you switch directions on a directional cable

Just curious
P



As I undestand it,
It involves the shielding being attached to one end and not the other. In theory there is an improvement in noise surpression.
 
Mar 13, 2006 at 7:34 PM Post #7 of 22
Seems strange because according to my physics course, what receives well emits well.
About the shielding, even if it s connected to one end, the noise will propagate in the cable and reach the other end.
 
Mar 13, 2006 at 7:50 PM Post #8 of 22
Directional makes a slight difference in my system, as my amp was better grounded than my cd player, so it was better to have the cable technically the "wrong" orientation...

That said, I have tried swapping it's direction since I upgraded my CD player, and i'm blowed if I can hear any difference.
 
Mar 13, 2006 at 8:03 PM Post #11 of 22
yeah, that's why this dude was also made to the $100 bill.
biggrin.gif
among all the conventional US bills, $100 bill is the only one that has a face of a non-President.
 
Mar 13, 2006 at 9:58 PM Post #12 of 22
I am no acoustic engineer but I think it has something to do with what they called the 'Skin-effect' in EM(or the magnetic field and current density at the surface of the conductor). Basically by arranging and twisting strands of copper wires in certain way based upon the flow of electric current, the magnetic interference of the conductors can be minimized, and hence reduces signal loss.

IMHO, the difference between a $50 cable and a $500 one is not significant enough to justify the cost. Unless you are running it across the Pacific Ocean, a decent low cost cable would do the job. On the other hand, you wouldn't want use a coat hanger to connect a CD player to your pre-amp. However, it does look kind of impressive with these chains and ropes lying behind your system.
tongue.gif
 
Mar 13, 2006 at 10:08 PM Post #14 of 22
I have one or two directional cables. As already said, the directionality has something to do with grounding and I remember doing a test to verfiy this (can't remember the exact procedure at the moment). In any case, I found the sound quality to be the same if both units connected at the ends are well-designed with proper grounding.
 

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