Please help me understand this cable.

[kanwar]

Twisted pair cancels the mutual inductance hence cancels the RADIATED EMI as well as Conducted EMI, but at the same time reduces the interference from other stray fields to some extent.

Shielding with mesh or braid locks the core conductor inside an electrical field which acts as a barrier for stray signals from contaminating the audio signal being transmitted by core conductor.

Using twisted pairs without shielding in sensitive areas such as phono to preamp interconnection can result in HUM & Noise.

Kiran,

You have already answered your query, why snake oil is confusing your scientific approach ?

 

[KiranPS]

Thanks Kanwar,

I just wanted to make sure that braided cables are infact snake oil. I did a little research and found that only in balanced connections ( 3 wire) braiding is as effective as twisting but even here not as good as shielding for signal protection. I think these guys are using a 3 wire braid to give the impression that these unbalanced cables are somehow as good as balanced cables just because they have braids.

 

[kanwar]

You will find people on this forum who can "listen to differences between different power cables" as well, let alone the interconnects. This type of "audiophilia" give rise to snake oil charmers aka manufacturers who are genius in making profits...........

Here the cables increase/decrease bass and treble without resorting to tone controls.

 

[malvai]

Braiding does make a difference... I learnt it the hard way... while reterminating one of my tonearm wires from the 30 year old copper wire to a brand new one.

I simply resoldered the new wires and on switching on the set up, i got a lot of hum.... after days of trouble shooting, i decided to go back to the old wires.... once i pulled them out of the packet I found that the older wires were braided, that got me thinking... so I desoldered the newe wires, braided them and soldered them back on! Voila! The hum was GONE.

 

[gobble]

You have already answered your query, why snake oil is confusing your scientific approach ?

Braiding does make a difference... I learnt it the hard way... while reterminating one of my tonearm wires from the 30 year old copper wire to a brand new one. ... The hum was GONE.

Maybe OT but do the audiophools know that braiding two snakes together before extracting snake oil makes a huge difference?

The hum may come back albeit in a somewhat different way though... the improved SQ will make you hum a happy song to yourself hyeah:

--G0bble

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Oh gobble! I expect better respect for the technical details from you!

You can't braid two snakes, you can only twist them. You could plait three snakes. I think it takes rather more to make a braid.

EDIT: no, I think a plait (3 strands) is the simplest braid. I think all these things come under something called Sennits. I could get my sailing and ropework books out --- but I'm sure everybody would rather I didn't :lol:

 

[gobble]

Oh gobble! I expect better respect for the technical details from you!

You can't braid two snakes, you can only twist them. You could plait three snakes. I think it takes rather more to make a braid.

EDIT: no, I think a plait (3 strands) is the simplest braid. I think all these things come under something called Sennits. I could get my sailing and ropework books out --- but I'm sure everybody would rather I didn't :lol:

Oh my bad .. I was only using the language of the OP ... I meant the simple twisting like in twisted pair.

BTW: Did you enjoy sailing and seamanship as a sport or hobby ever? I did briefly as a school boy, cadet and enterprise class ...

:cheers:
--G0bble

Ps: I do have th excellent "Guide to Knots" by Geoffrey Budworth up on the table now, but braiding is only covered when discussing cordage construction and yeah all the cordage have a minimum of 3 strands. I stand corrected and unbraided...

 

[jls001]

EDIT: no, I think a plait (3 strands) is the simplest braid.

Aren't such matters a matter of "plait accompli"?:lol:

Anyways, this thread is now headed to a most familiar territory of cable thread hell where everything beyond a point gets stuck in eternal limbo.

Can some kind souls compile FAQ about cables, snake oil in cables, digital versus analog, and other unresolved issues in audio so that members with doubts can be quickly pointed to the FAQs.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

:lol:

BTW: Did you enjoy sailing and seamanship as a sport or hobby ever? I did briefly as a school boy, cadet and enterprise class ...

I was never really good enough for dingies, and I can't swim . I sailed yachts, crewing and chartering, during 1980s or so. And yes, I was one of those annoying people who was pedantic about ropes!

Cable hell is nothing once us lot get started

 

[digitalv]

I thought I will never get into a cable discussion here again, but, may be one more time...Its a sunday after all...

If you are transferring Balanced Signals (inverted and non-inverted signal), Twisted Pairs will help. Your "source" and more importantly "sink" or "receiver" need to be differential capable to benefit from twisted pair cabling.

But if you are transferring a ground referenced signal (unbalanced) as in RCAs, you are better off with a good shielded cable.

Many may bring in the CMRR (Common Mode Rejection Ratio) nomenclature to support their idea of using twisted pair in an unbalanced circuit, but CMRR is actually more of a property of the differential input stage than any fancy cable.

Here on, I'll try to limit myself not to react to cable voodoo posts!

 

[alexstobbe]

However there is theory that unnecessary shielding "damages" the signal.

I've never heard that before. How does unnecessary shielding "damage" the signal? :sad: I'd love to read some info on the physics behind that.

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