How do quality cables make a difference?
Ever wondered why audiophiles and videophiles alike get so excited about cables? Here's why...
Everything along the signal path makes a difference. Picture, if you will, dirty panes of glass, each representing several different components — maybe an amplifier, a speaker, and a couple of cables. They all compromise the original signal. Cleaning any one of the panes of glass (improving any single component), will improve your "view" of what's behind the glass. Usually, improving the cables is the least expensive way to make the most improvement.
Skin Effect is one of the most fundamental distortion mechanisms in cable, and probably the most misunderstood. Contrary to normal cable-hype, skin effect does not alter all of the high frequency signal, and it does not cause any relevant power loss. Skin effect does cause discontinuity in the transmission of high frequencies within different parts of a conductor. Also, in a conventional stranded conductor, skin effect encourages current to jump from strand to strand, causing a signature harshness to the sound.
Strand Interaction is the single greatest source of distortion in cable, and one of the easiest to avoid. As mentioned above, whenever current crosses the poor oxidized contact between bare strands, the signal will be altered. In addition, the magnetic fields of the various strands are constantly interacting, causing confusion (smearing), and causing the contact pressure between strands to be constantly modulated. AudioQuest's Semi-Solid Concentric-Packing almost eliminates these problems. Solid conductors are the complete solution.
Cable Geometry is the relationship between conductors, both of similar polarity, and opposite (+ and -). At its simplest, a twisted cable has a clear advantage over a parallel model. A single four conductor helix obviously outperforms the same conductors in two pairs, and a Circular Array of six or more conductors allows even better performance. Too much intimacy causes overly high capacitance, braids cause magnetic confusion... It's worth getting the geometry right.
Conductor Material Quality makes a world of difference. However, the best materials will not rescue an inferior design. Impurities in the conducting material cause a harshness signature similar to strand interaction. The best materials have very long grain structures and superior contact between the grains… all that going on inside every single strand! The quality of a conductive path is most defined by a conductor's surface. The surface is a meeting of the area of greatest current density inside the conductor, and of the greatest external magnetic field density. The surface is like a rail-guide for the entire energy envelope.
Insulation Material Quality is a major source of distortion in a low level cable. Air is the best, so the best cables include as much air as possible. Solid materials all affect the signal, and are best chosen for the nature of their distortion, for having a lack of discernible character. "Low loss" is not itself important, as the little bit that is lost is not heard. The energy that is stored and then released back into the conductor is out of phase. This will either rob intelligibility (be dull), or add irritation (be bright).
Dielectric-Bias System (DBS, US Pat #7,126,055): All insulation slows down the signal on the conductor inside. When insulation is un-biased, it slows down parts of the signal differently, a big problem for very time sensitive multi-octave audio.
AudioQuest's DBS creates a strong stable electrostatic field which saturates and polarizes (organizes) the molecules of the insulation. This minimizes both energy storage in the insulation and the multiple nonlinear time-delays. Sound appears from a surprisingly black background with unexpected detail and dynamic contrast.
Greatly improved performance is made possible by a constant 48V or 72V charge on all cables' insulation. As these voltages are well above the voltage of an audio signal, the result is considerably more transparency and dynamics than possible even from a cable in continuous use, with equipment that is never turned off. Because DBS battery packs are attached when the cables are assembled, they do not require an additional run-in period. Because there is no "load" on the batteries, they will last for years. A test button and LED allow for occasional verification of battery charge.