How does the signal current flow?
I've just asked this question on another forum and I am awaiting answers from the science brigade.
Stranded or solid. If a bunch of wires are in contact then they must be seen by the signal as one wire BUT one wire with many interfaces.
So, many hear no difference but how many of these that can hear no difference have ever had a hearing test - it might just shock them.
It's no surprise to me that Nordost use multiple, seperated conductors (no cross talk) that's what I arrived at after more than 3 years of trying just about every configuration under the sun.
Sheilding - I used to prefer non sheilded wire but that was until I tried using a dialectric that had about 3-4mm between sheilding and signal wire and that made a very big difference indeed.
Bare wire is to be preferred to anything that has a skin-tight covering (it's irrelevant what material is used) - again this was after so many experiments.
There are those who use cotton sleeving and swear by it and I can see why as cotton will not inter-react with whatever you use for a conductor. Only problem with this is how do you sheild this cotton sleeved wire?
Double sheilding (which is what I use) means a dead quiet cable, coupled with bare wire ( I use high quality silver/plated HCC) means a very, very neutral cable and neutrality is what I'm after.
I think it's crazy to talk about using different conductor types to 'tweak your system'. If using neutral cables you can hear unnatural warmth or brightness, you need to look at the components of your system.
For those who say all wire sounds the same - to take this to a logical conclusion means that for any given cap of the same rating/voltage - the sound will be identical -now this is plain nonsense.
Take a coupling cap - are you telling me that polyester/polypropylene/PIO(aluminium/copper/silver)/Teflon or what I use silver foil all sound the same, when all these different caps have different properties - no way.
Don't forget the blindingly obvious (which is why so many miss it) - everything you hear through your system is conveyed by cables, which is why not only conductor type but also design is so important.
go back to the 70/80s when even the best commercial companies were selling equipment with nothing better than bell wire.
I've listened to most of the old amps whether solid state or valve and compared to he best of todays offerings those old amps were crap - s/s, dull and lifeless; valve, overly warm and with little real bass, mostly bloated.
What's the difference today, certainly not the designs - this was all worked out decades ago from before WW11 up until the mid 60s.
So what's the difference - components and wiring, you just can't compare things like naked Vishay Z foils to anything that has gone before. VH Teflons/Mundorf S/O / GS. or hand made silver foils like I use - way, way better than those from the past. Do you have to pay a fortune for seriously good caps - try ERSE - outstanding and cheap.
Bizarrely this does'nt apply to valves/tubes. With all our knowledge of metals and with CAD you would think that today we could blow away everything produced in the past but with a few exceptions this is just not the case.
It must also be obvious that only in systems that are very neutral and sensitive will cable differences be heard. This does'nt mean you have to have a really expensive system but rather a system that has been put together with care and balance.
