Why do cables have direction?

We see arrows on interconnects and speaker cables. Why? How could AC signal wires have a direction to them and what does it all mean? We give out our snake award. Have a question you'd like to ask Paul so he can answer on the video? www.psaudio.com...
I am getting close to publishing my memoir! It's called 99% True and it is chock full of adventures, debauchery, struggles, heartwarming stories, triumphs and failures, great belly laughs, and a peek inside the high-end audio industry you've never known before.
I plan a few surprises for early adopters, so go to www.paulmcgowa... and add your name to the list of interested readers. There's an entire gallery of never before seen photos too.

[@meak84]

As someone who “draws “ the wire for a living I can tell you that unless whatever company that makes theses “directionable cables” is doing the whole process themselves from the smelting of the copper all the way to coating and spooling it for consumer consumption they have no clue which way it was drawn

[@DanChampionJr]

Question: Not an argument, since I have no clue, but wouldn't the way it was wound on the spool leaving the smelting/drawing company before it gets coated be a clue as to which way it was drawn?

[@wb5mgr]

Dan because it might get spooled and respooled more than once in the process. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iorKeYZprtRgjLc

[@fonkenful]

Just for fun, add the special sauce of “cryogenic treatment” to the conversation and sit back with a bag of freshly buttered popcorn and enjoy the show.

[@poserwanabe]

This is easy to explain... The reason the arrows are on the cable is because it allows them to charge another 100$ per foot.

[@alexandervyverman3746]

If you hear a difference, you must be able to measure a difference as well. If you can measure a difference, a physical property lies at the basis of this difference. Until someone is capable of showing me these differences, I'm not buying any of this. Audio is AC, it changes direction the whole time to begin with, so if switching sides changes the sound, that means there is assymetrical distortion at play here, which we can test for. But noone from the directional camp seems to be able to provide evidence (and no, "I can hear a difference and I have famous golden ears" doesn't qualify as evidence). @paul: The least you could do is provide which cables you clearly heard a difference with when switching sides, and possibly run some tests to see where the difference might come from.

[@paulhamacher773]

Well put in a nutshell! Thank you!

[@AnonymousUser77254]

An oscilloscope should be able to clear this up in an instant

[@dougelick8397]

No device exists to measure the cognitive dissonance required to defend buying extremely expensive fantasies.

[@tpobrienjr]

Nor is the confirmation bias measurable. It's all held together by conspiracy theory, perhaps.

[@tpobrienjr]

Can you measure it? Can anyone else hear it?

[@tomahack1]

Audiophiles are super humans with the power of super hearing but like all super heroes, they have one weakness..their super hearing goes away the moment their vision is blocked

[@blanchbacker]

Lmfao

[@szulat]

that's "quantum entanglement"! 😉

[@kahuna1247]

I love this comment!

[@travis1240]

So true.

[@uribar-ner5055]

So 👍

[@travis1240]

If electric cables were directional, I would think that telecom companies and electrical engineers would have figured it out by now. Why would the effects be specific to audio signals and only noticed by audiophiles? If a cable were even one percent better in one direction there would be a lot of money to be made in some industries with that knowledge.

[@4dirt2racer0]

i cant edit my own comment for some reason but id like to clarify, i do believe there is some measurable difference on some scale, but i doubt our audio equipment is soo sensitive that it would be affected by somethin that minute

[@stevenp.sparks2953]

@@4dirt2racer0 If your land line telephone came into your house through a McIntosh 300W amp w/ appropriate preamp, and you listened to your callers through B&W 800s, THEN it would matter to telecom companies. Phones are just not NEARLY resolving enough that you would even be able to hear a difference.....

[@4dirt2racer0]

@@stevenp.sparks2953 yea exactly, but most of us don't listen on..300 watts amps, whiches a little higher than I woulda thought.. Is that normal for phone line testing?

[@HASHEAVEN]

@@stevenp.sparks2953 But the studios where music is recorded to end up to your McIntosh and B&Ws dont buy to that cable BS... but somehow you make the music recorded with Belden and mogami 100 times better and more resolving than it was recorded when you use the magical audioquest at your home... I guess studio's equipment aren't as resolving as your consumer audio system...

[@HASHEAVEN]

@@stevenp.sparks2953 Since you brought up McIntosh, Roger Russell proved back in the day that there is no difference between a lamp wire and expensive cables!

[@tvtech2582]

I had to remove all my pipes in my new house and reinstall them because they were all put in with the arrow going the wrong way

[@musicman8270]

Hopefully when you flush the toilet it will only go in one direction, as opposed to audio signals, which tend to travel in two diections.

[@bradleysmith681]

I've replacing all my AC conductors with directional conductors for brighter burning lamps!!

[@chrisw7188]

wait till i replace the fuel lines in my car! cant wait to gain 30 HP !

[@chefchutardo5215]

Directional cable : ac current ??? Something doesnt work right here.

[@markfischer3626]

Wire being cold drawn through dies work hardens it by creating grain boundaries where the crystalline structure of one grain is discontinuous with adjacent grains. Grain boundaries can be broken down by annealing, that is heating it. You cannot cast a single monolithic crystal. Zone furnaces are used to continuously melt segments of materials passing through them to concentrate impurities but they don't create monolithic crystals. The only way to do that is with crystal growing machinery. Atoms line up on a monolithic seed crystal through vapor deposition or a similar process. If you had a single crystal wire you would create grain boundaries every time you bent it. While cold drawn wire even when annealed can have some directional physical properties, AC electricity does not.

[@woox2k]

Yeah... But the thing is that audio signal has no DC content in it, as in the signal always goes back and forth. Even if there is a "best direction" for electrons to flow it would always affect one polarity of the sine wave, no matter how you connect the cable.

[@joyoffilming9500]

Even if cable production induced any preferred direction for flow of the electrons, this would apply to DC only. But music is AC, so direction of voltage and current permanently change their direction. Probably, the bigger effect for sound improvement is pulling the cables on and of from their RCA jackets for cleaning off corrosion. As mentioned in the video by Paul.

[@SpeakerBuilder]

The other factor in the directional Audioquest cables has to do with the use of two identical core signal lines, and the shielding being connected only to one end so that it properly shields RF but does not carry the signal. Audioquest always connects the shield to the receiving device, although I have found other directional RCA cables that connect the shielding only to the sending device. I always thought the purpose of the directionality had to do exclusively with which device carries the shielding, and I never knew the wires themselves were directional. And I have never tried to run them in the other direction, since it doesn't cost any more in time or expense to run them either way.

[@SiavashTechDaD]

Hi Paul , thank you for answering my question . I will indeed try what you mentioned and write back to you . I really appreciate your help and feedback .

[@siyavash0007]

Hey paul. Im from tehran and i learn so many from ur videos. Just wanna say thanks.

[@iRmazz96]

don't listen to his BS...

[@deejeemadrox1866]

Plz, cables are two way directional for ages. There is no one way magical copper trick . It is snake oil. Dislike Paul every day more. Why? He should know better, i cannot believe a smart man like him believe this fantasy. However, he is a great seller. He let alot of us believe it does matter. Thise whi do not, are the real elecrric engineers. Paul is, sorry to say, a charlatan and a salesperson.

[@armelind]

Electricity is movement of electrons (Period). At an atomic level electrons are electrons and will do the same thing in either direction. In an AC circuit, 60 (in USA) times a sec it will go back and forth. The only reason something could sound different is quality of connector or if something was ADDED/Subtracted in the circuit.

[@armelind]

@Dave Micolichek Ummm EXPLAIN IT! Tell me how I am wrong. Not as a challenge but as a "If I am wrong tell me where my thinking is wrong."

[@armelind]

@Klaa2 Explain it to me then. Why am I wrong?

[@YuLiQigong]

Since the signal is AC, why not put 1/2 the strands in one direction and the other 1/2 in the other.

[@xiro6]

it will be better to use 4 cables instead of 2,one pair for going signal and one pair for the return signal.of course,taking care of the arrows on the cable,and it will be better if the amp,speakers,etc,have phisicall connectors for each.

[@gilgalaad80]

you can have even better results with wireless cables.

[@barbiegamaestan456]

Just made a pair of RCA from some leftover sheilded Quadstar XLR cable. The sheild is grounded on the pre-amp side, so I put a direction on the heat shrink. Surprised this wasn't mentioned it would be good to know ps audio opinion on this

[@motocommando2477]

I'm going to add a second comment. As a service technician, one of my duties is to troubleshoot and repair problems with health care related imaging equipment. X-ray, MRI, CAT scan devices, like audio equipment, all use cables. Not to mention software. One of, if not the most frequent, causes of imaging issues is connectivity. Whether a defective or damaged cable, poor termination, bad connector, etc., the end result is the user(Doctor, nurse, tech specialist)has an issue with the quality of the image. A quality issue that I may not see, but they do. Sometimes it's a simple cleaning of the connector. Sometimes a cable is replaced. After fixing all of these things(and most of the time it's out of sight of the user as they have more pressing matters to attend to), the user is asked to look at the results. Many times it's positive and the problem is solved. Sometimes not, depending on who is looking at it. As I said, I may not see the issue, but have to go by what they are saying. How do we explain that? My eyes may not see what their eyes do. I don't know, but this sure sounds like that audio thing of what sounds better or not. I think Paul said it best, that he just doesn't know. But it sounded better. Perhaps it's just a mystery.

[@Kreln1221]

An analog audio signal is an a.c. signal, meaning that it alternates back and forth in polarity. For simplicity's sake, take a pure 440hz "A" note sine wave... In the span of one second, the electrical signal conducts in one direction, positive to negative, and then flows in the opposite direction, negative to positive, and it then repeats the process 439 more times, so half the time, current is flowing one way, and half the time, it's flowing the opposite, so by default, audio cables, mic, line, or speaker, balanced or unbalanced, are all bi-directional.

[@Retep4565]

Whether or not cables are directional could be easily proven or disproven with a properly executed double blind test. The fact that no conclusive evidence has been presented that cables are directional, my guess is that moving your head by an inch would have a bigger effect on the sound you hear. Until proven otherwise I'll categorize cable directionality under the category BS Audio (pun intended).

[@johnholmes912]

you can't "prove" anything with a double-blind test in the scientific sense of the word; by their very nature you are making subjective comparisons..........non-measureable

[@dr.zoidberg4313]

Mine have no arrows... not sure how to proceed. Help please.

[@HareDeLune]

Dr. Zoidberg Listen one direction, reverse, listen again. Done!

[@dr.zoidberg4313]

I hate One Direction. Can I use Megadeth?

[@justingilmore6417]

that's the story of my life.....

[@MalteWilsen]

You can draw arrows on them.

[@adotopp1865]

How does one proceed ? with a permanent marker pen or using audiophile cable directionalality indicator tags?

[@GamingKeenBeaner]

Thank you for explaining the theory behind why people think this matters. The ultimate reason is psychological though. These are AC signals so it truly does not matter. Even if there's some factual basis to the notion that drawing cables creates directionality; half the time the cables are going to be conducting "the wrong way" no matter what you do. There's a good reason there's only a couple of machines that can continuously cast copper wire. Its because its completely unnecessary.

[@bobnixon4015]

Copper is cooper and snake oil is well just that. I hate it when Paul equivocates and claims he's no metallurgist. Cast, pulled, oxygen free copper wire make very, very little difference an audio frequencies. Before retirement I worked on military subsystems with lots of intercabling. Never were we concerned about the type of copper used. Rather accurate construction and dimensions/connectors of all RF/microwave cables dues mainly to the reactive components (transmission line characteristics). Silver was never used except on the inside of resonant transmission lines (waveguides). Plated gold, was used just like in audio because in doesn't oxidize like silver or copper. On a fundamental level Paul is playing into snake oil and the confusion/$complexity$ of a basically simple or "dumb as dirt" audio cabling model. Think about it. Practical Oversimplification in high end audio does not generate $$$.

[@Audioholics]

Excellent post! IT's sad to see someone like Paul who has influence in this field and can do the right thing by squashing this ridiculous myth, instead feeds into it by regurgitating the cable snake oil and telling people to trust their own ears.

[@stevemcdonald4400]

I agree.. one speaker maker sold 200 dollar tiny pillows to put in the corners of your house to "maximize the sound"..lol..he did have some cool speakers..they leaned backwards..and had a triangle in the back to keep them from falling over, I stole his idea, but put lead shot and resin counterweights inside the box..looks better and wont fall backwards even when the cat jumps up there

[@davidwoodbridge862]

Well of course the audio signal is AC so it flows both ways/polarities equally anyhow, an AC carrying conductor has ZERO direction ramifications.

[@Cowclops]

Also they sell multi-hundred-dollar power cables, so yes, he's not just failing to dismiss snake oil, he's perpetuating it. Theres like 2 minutes of video before he actually shares any sort of opinion. That "snake award" thing seemed like he was firing up to dismiss cable directionality, but instead its a running joke he has against the people who are calling out his bullshit? Yeah, no thank you. I also love that audioholics is posting on here (one of the most credible sites on the internet when it comes to audio) calling him out too. Shame on this crook.

[@davidwoodbridge862]

So, shame on you, after many Miles/Kilometres of horrid dirty (non-shielded) power cable the last few feet/metres make all the difference! Yeah right! Audiophiles are so easily conned/convinced they deserve to be thoroughly ripped off at every turn. Maybe soon we will see special audio grade circuit breakers in the fuse box selling for a few thousand a piece! I could make a fortune relabelling common circuit breakers and claiming grain oriented (directional) copper and so on. Remember the green pen that you ran round the perimeter of CD's to make them lose/reflect less laser energy (or similar bullshit)? Just laughable all round, but the audiophile paid big dollars in large number before that was rightfully debunked. Human nature is such that if you pay hundreds of dollars for that special cable you WILL hear a difference because otherwise you have to admit to being abjectly stupid to have wasted so much money on snake oil.

[@WolfgangSambs]

Come on people stop bashing and start testing it for yourself. If you can’t hear it, let it go. If you can, work with it. And thank you Paul for explaining, I was looking for this information for some time now ❤

[@Chris-nd5se]

Presumably when Paul says he can hear a difference when cables run in different directions he is talking about when he listens through his ultra expensive Infinity IRS V speakers

[@jabbawok944]

Surly audio signals are in the mean symmetrical AC waves, so the charge spends as much time going one way as another (particularly in balanced cables where there’s me reference to ground) so even if there were some effect to this it would be the cancelled out by the other half of the wave?

[@shammidang5149]

I am from India. I saw this video just yesterday as it was a suggestion on my youtube home page. Made some changes based on the recommendations that is put all cables in the right direction (speaker as well as interconnects). There is considerable improvement. It was purely my ignorance on my part. Thanks a lot for this informative video.

[@Paulmcgowanpsaudio]

That's great! Thank you for sharing.

[@marianneoelund2940]

Arrows on cables are a great idea, and I wish my cables had them. Anyone who's ever set up a system with more than a few components, especially with tape decks and separate dolby units or other processors, etc., knows how annoying it can be, to keep track of which cables are connected to inputs versus outputs, when handling the far end. I have a switch box which does many of my component interconnections, and every time I go to use the "aux" input and output cables for a unit that I'm temporarily connecting into the system, it involves a few minutes of frustration trying to figure out which cable is the input, and which is the output. If I had arrows, it would be obvious: Connect the cables with the arrows pointing toward inputs, and away from outputs, indicating the direction of information (power) flow. Helps avoid accidentally connecting outputs together. Now, as far as whether or not there is an audible difference from turning cables around, I should probably point out that audio signals are a.c., so current flows in both directions through the wire, regardless of which way you're using the cable. If there is some difference in direction of current flow, the cable is going to produce even-harmonic distortion, used either way. With regard to material science, I should note that mono-crystalline copper is an extremely soft material. My MS professor told a story of one of his graduate students, who had successfully grown a mono-crystalline bar of copper, and as he was holding the bar by one end while excitedly telling the professor about his achievement, the bar literally started to sag from just its weight. When copper (or any metal) is deformed or drawn, atomic dislocations ripple through the material in random directions; as these dislocations meet along lines, they "entangle" which resists further dislocation movements and causes the metal to harden. Drawn copper is harder and tougher than annealed copper, giving it desirable strength characteristics, but this has nothing to do with its electrical properties. The most important contribution to electrical performance, is purity, and that isn't directional. Crystal structure is (pardon the pun) immaterial to electrical applications.

[@iRmazz96]

thank you! i love science and hate snake oil.

[@linkeddevices]

You're missing a major point... Most directional cables I've seen are because one end of the shield is lifted. That means stray emf will only go one way toward ground rather than bounding back and forth and/or cause ground hum

[@adamyelle4901]

That's the story I've heard with the cables I own. Are the cables superior as a result? No idea. They look nice, I'm happy with how the system sounds, and I picked them up for a good deal at a local audio show.

[@lupahole]

This video officially makes your company BS Audio.

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

So many things that audiophiles say they hear are just in their head. Not saying this falls into that category (though it probably does) but I have heard so many people say they hear things that are proven to beyond the capability of humans to hear, so, just gotta put that out there.

[@paulhamacher773]

and they didn't do an ABX test. i wonder why everybody takes the reliability of his ears as "measuring devices" for granted and isn't interested in a verifiable result. in the end just to verify that your ears are really as trustworthy as for which you take them. is there a fear of being disappointed? i don't care about being disappointed by the limits of my hearing capabilities. i hear what i hear and if i know the limitations i can save a ton of money!

[@oscargr_]

I put my cables in the wrong way, and it actually sounded better. LoL My point is... If people think they heard a difference, they are always going to say the "correct" way around sounded "better".

[@coldfinger459sub0]

I did see a grounded Sheild cables that get attached to chassis ground. I know in my business for communication wires we use grounded shielded wiring that is only attached at one in at the main device and ungrounded at the other end and the communication cables travel in the center.

[@brianparenteau5310]

This is the correct answer. It is referred to as floating to the ground. It results in emi and rfi from the shield to be kept at source and not transferred downline to the next component.

[@isettech]

From the ISM (industrial, Scientific, Manufacturing) world, the only parameters that are measurable include resistance, capacitance, inductance, dielectric constant and absorption, which influence propagation velocity and frequency. None of these are changed by the draw direction of the conductor. Balanced wire for interconnects and line power cord with the 3rd conductor only have directionality so when the 3 pin connectors are attached, a pair does not have to be crossed to add the connector. On power the end of the cable connects to the male or female connector with the hot and it's color in the correct place. If you put the connector on the wrong end, the ground either has to be pulled between the conductors to reach the correct connection, or the hot and neutral need swapped to reach the correct terminals. This only has to do with the color of the wire for it's function and nothing else. Same for XLR which has a drain wire in addition to the braid. This helps prevent phase reversal in balanced cables as neither end should have swapped connections.

[@bradleysmith681]

isettech please! There is no place for real science here. These snake oil salesmen have discovered a new factor in conductivity that no other scientist is aware of.

[@mikemccomas9268]

Considering that the signal being connected is AC it is hard imagine that one phase functions better than the other. Every cycle flips polarity so is half of the signal hamstrung by the cable's directionality? High quality interconnects and speaker wire is a good idea but that's one rabbit hole I am not going down.

[@lxm2600]

ALTERNATING CURRENT, if there is a difference the cable has semiconductive properties and is crap BOTH ways as it would modify the signal asymmetrically regardless of which way it's plugged.

[@sonngo4269]

My understanding and how I make my own RCAs, is that the arrows are meant to indicate the RCA shielding direction (2 conductors and the shielding, not coaxial). It does make a difference in that the shielding is solder only on one end to ground (usually at the source). If it does not to go to chassis ground, at the very least, this will make the noise from the shielding travel longer than the audio signal, hopefully filtering it out before it gets to the amp.

[@aussie8114]

My Chord Company cables had the ends put on a different way to the printing on the cable so now I’m faced with a conundrum, do I follow the arrows or do I follow the direction of the printing. The seller told me to ignore the arrows and go by the printing. I haven’t had a good nights sleep in the last 6 years worrying about this 😴 😂😂😂😂😂

[@stevenc8054]

Awesome. Funny. I can relate.

[@barlow2976]

I've got a great idea for a game show. Audiophiles take a challenge to prove they can identify (in a prolonged blind test) their 'superior' gear, which is also their 'stake', and as such will be lost if they fail. Naturally a prize, as an incentive has to be offered, perhaps an upgrade of their choice. I anticipate problems finding enough willing contestants. Would you step up to the plate Paul?

[@phungyi4947]

I did find though, that knotted speaker cables strangled the bass response of my system. Untangled they sounded full again.

[@joshhyyym]

if you found the opposite I could easily believe it as the knotted wire would have a greater inductance

[@ottonormalverbrauch3794]

"Try not to influence yourself" is your advice when listening for comparison. I seldomly heard a clearer direction given to the trapdoor of autosuggestion...

[@fonkenful]

AKA expectation and confirmation bias.

[@StormCentre88]

As far as the audibility claims go; Sounds like BS to me. Musical signals (in the cable) are bi-directional by their nature. That means (like a sinusoidal wave) whenever they cross the zero point the electrons reverse direction. So, given that, how can it matter?

[@pedrojmorais]

Sometimes the direction is due to the shield connection. RCA cables may have three wires: signal, ground and shield, signal and ground connect on both ends, but the shield only on one, for directing noise towards the ground of the source. Or to shield the cable with a good cable for shielding without introducing it to the sound.

[@donaldheitger6731]

Ground loops can be prevented,certain cables with a shield and separate ground have this ability.

[@hosseinmontazeri491]

snake oil indeed, if it was true, also all the little wires inside of an amplifier would have arrows on them, AC current doesn't care about direction.

[@grob318]

The thing is, once the signal gets to the speaker crossover, it is going through the connector, solder joints, flat solid copper of the circuit board, solid wire of capacitors, etc. and light bulb protection circuits and then small gauge wire to the speakers. So what does it all mean? I use good RCA and speaker wire and follow the arrows, but I really cannot say that it all makes any difference. I used to tri-amp to avoid all that, but downsizing now.

[@DMC428]

Directional cables for AC signal? 😅

[@oli5120]

Late to the game here, I've heard the direction of a cable also due to the fact that the shielding is connected onto the negative side at the "source end", could that be correct ?

[@Troubleshooter125]

True story: back around 1982 or 83, I was listening to my system (Luxman PD444 w/ Fidelity Research FR66ss arm and Mark Levinson MLC-1 cart, Levinson ML-1 & ML-9 and Quad ESL-63 speakers) when my best friend and audio salesman called. “Try reversing your pre- to power run,” he told me. REALLY, I thought, but I figured what the heck, and it was easy to do with the Camac connectors on the Levinson gear, so I did. BANG! Sound opened up, became way more airy and detailed. I was astonished, but skeptical enough to want to double-check, so I swapped ends again. UTTERLY CLOSED DOWN, or at least back to the quality it had been previously. Subsequent experiments my friend and I did verified this effect for both interconnects and speaker cables, completely repeatable and predictable based on the direction of the lettering on the cable jackets (which in the case of Levinson wire ran from sink (power amp) to source (preamp) for best results. I should also mention that my friend has also experimented with balanced cables from several manufacturers and found the same results. I’ve heard the same theory regarding the wire drawing process and crystalline directionality that you mentioned, and from my own Double-E point of view, it sounds likely, though I’m not a metallurgist, either. I will insist that cable directionality, at least as it applies to drawn wire cables, is an actual phenomenon I have heard multiple times since that first incident, and I have no reason to question it. Cable direction dependence is very, very REAL.

[@Tubetinkerer]

Troubleshooter125 🤦‍♂️

[@colinvannbohemen11]

i shall never forget the time i collected and took to my friend's home, a set of expensive "directional" speaker cables. he was blind but owned a $70g audio system. after connecting the speaker cables my friend stated one channel was now different to the other. after some deliberation and listening, i had to agree...and discovered one of the two cables fitted was the wrong way round. i reversed that one cable and have never doubted cable direction from that day forward.

[@bradleysmith681]

No, you 'think' you heard a difference but didnt..

[@marianneoelund2940]

The mistake you made, was to not first try simply disconnecting the cable, then re-connecting it the same way - in other words, just break/remake the connections. I'd wager that would have produced the same change as reversing the cable direction.

[@Ritefita]

Don't you think the direction could mean the side where the shield meets the ground? I saw the video here about a one sided shield grounding. So the arrow can show the side wich catches (or not) all the noise.

[@IndySnowman]

Some cables utilize a twisted pair with a shield connected at one end. In this case you want the shield end connected to the component output for better noise rejection. Not snake oil at all.

[@matrixmodulator]

what you mean by that "a twisted pair with a shield connected at one end" ? can you show a diagram or how its done or more info?

[@temp7774]

2:24 - well this is a craziest S**t I ever heard from Paul!!!! Highly entertaining channel :)

[@giovannigalveston6852]

Like many have stated, this applies to the shielding not being soldered on one side specially for star quad cables used for rca analog applications. Its to ge the maximum rf and noise rejection when there are many electronics involved such as power supplies, phone, laptop chargers etc. all those power supplies can add noise if they are too close to the analo rca cable. There is no issue if its a star quad cable with a floating shield on one side. Has nothing to do with enhancing the audio signal in any way. Its about protection.

[@God-yb2cg]

I love this channel!

[@flyingjeff1984]

I have a VERY expensive set up. The only way I found to get the 'noise' out of the phono circuit was to switch to the cheapest, oldest RCA cables in my junk box. The expensive cable? Noisefest.

[@deejeemadrox1866]

So true. The only way thise expenive snake oil cables can sound "different" is to add something to the signal, like noise, a rf vatteie antenna, a resistor or capacitor. Noise floors of cheap cables are great so there you go. You Add some 'mustard' and then say it sounds better. Can you hear it! Yes they di, but only with there eyes wide open and knowing what they are listening to. Ong, how lucky. Blind tests are invalid.

[@seagoat651]

I just flipped my cables around put on a beatles record and helter skelter started playing backwards...there is a god. Seriously though.If I disconnect cables I prefer to put them back in the same direction for no other reason than "just because".Slightly OCD?

[@bradleysmith681]

william louthen Ha!! That made me laugh..

[@dell177]

The one reason I can think of that might make a cable directional is if the shield on an interconnect is only connected one on end to prevent curent flow in the shield.. The end with the shield sb connected to the source component.

[@jjhack3r]

That’s impossible on an RCA cable. The shield is one of the signal wires and won’t be disconnected on one side. It’s also impossible to have any effect on XLR cables because the direction is already determined (male on one end, female on the other) ac audio signals are “push pull”, alternating current. No matter which orientation the cable is connected, the current is exactly the same pushing and pulling.

[@dell177]

@@jjhack3r What if the cable had 2 conductors and one of those was connected to common on BOTH ends?

[@m.9243]

Paul, may I offer a correction here on what you said about RCA plugs corroding. Most RCAs worth their salt, would have gold plated pins and body in which case there's no oxidization issue. The effect we hear if we unplug and plug again RCAs is mostly, IMHO, due to just plain dirty particles and moisture that affects the conductivity between plug and socket. In fact, a meticulous clean up with menthylated spirit of such connections, does have a positive effect on the sound, and is highly recommended on a regular basis (..say, once every six months or so..) Same applies to power cable pins, keep them clean and shiny and you have perfect conductivity.

[@georgebedorf7950]

gold is best only if it is mated with gold. Otherwise an inter-metallic reaction over time will result in corrosion. Do not waste money on cables with gold connector unless the connectors on the device are also gold.

[@m.9243]

Thanks George. I take it as a given that, most audiophile products use gold plated RCA sockets. Therefore, we have a connection of gold on gold (plated) in which, no corrosion should be evident over a period of time. Personally, I do have a fully balanced system (XLR) in which, both the plugs and the input sockets have gold plated pins. I use high quality cables and don't plan to buy any more!

[@Tubetinkerer]

Audiophiles and their understanding of the physics involved... Hilarious. Directional copper, resonance of plastics, emerald cable supports, wooden volume control buttons, paper in oil caps, audiophile green markers for cd-edges..... Wisen up and spend your money on a decent equalizer and be done with it ! And throw in a book on the basics of audio signals while you are at it.

[@johnc8910]

Ah, you remember the wooden control knobs. These: boingboing.net/2005/11/07/astronomically-overp.html ?

[@bradleysmith681]

Tubetinkerer Isn't that the truth?? The non-science is unreal... Some simple reading would help..

[@bradleysmith681]

John Casteel Too funny..

[@biologicalagent]

As a speaker is pushed and pulled, the electrons will flow one way then the other. *If* there is directionality, then that’s unfortunate - because both speaker wires are two way streets.

[@marianneoelund2940]

If any cable had a directional property, it would cause even-order harmonic distortion, as the positive and negative currents encounter different conductivities. I have yet to see anyone discuss or demonstrate such harmonic distortion in any cable. A few more points: * No table of metal conductivities has direction-dependent values listed. * No tables specifying copper wire resistance distinguish between directions. * Crystal boundaries are not "barriers" to conduction. * There is no point in casting "monocrystalline" wire, because as soon as it's handled (flexed), dislocations form at the atomic level and new crystal structures are produced. * The most significant contributions from metallurgy to cable engineering, concern what happens when you put two different metals together to make connections. This happens in connectors, multiple times, especially considering the layers of plating applied to connector parts. If one is looking for the source of any audible changes after swapping cable direction, the connectors would be the first place to look. It's surprisingly difficult - nearly impossible - to make connectors that give completely consistent contact resistance every time they are mated. So why have directional arrows on cables? There is a practical reason: To help you keep track of which cable end is connected to a source (output) and which is connected to an input. If I'm connecting a record/playback device which needs two stereo patch cords, I can plug them into the recording device input with the arrow pointing to the device, and into the recording device output with the arrow pointing away from the device - then when I connect the other ends to the receiver or preamp, the arrows tell me which cable needs to connect to the input, and which needs to connect to the output, without tracing them back to the other end. Anyone who has a "rats nest" of patch cords can appreciate this convenience. In other words, the reason for putting arrows on cables, is the same as the reason for color-coding the two channels differently. Speaking of which, who believes that using the white connectors for the right channel, and red connectors for the left channel, would sound different than the other way around?

[@ProjectOverseer]

I was always told that "copper" when heated and pulled into strands the internal crystal structure has a direction - the direction it was pulled in. Apparently, voltage has less resistance in the direction it was drawn from? As I'm writing this, you just said basically the same lol

[@DMZamora]

Yes, but we're talking about alternating current here, musical signal does not flow in a single direction. In my book, oxidation does the trick.

[@ProjectOverseer]

Daniel Zamora Power Supply: The primary purpose of a power supply in a power amplifier is to take the 120/220 VAC power from the outlet and convert it to a DC voltage (VAC is an abbreviation for Volts Alternating Current, and DC is an abbreviation for Direct Current). Conversion from AC to DC is necessary because the semiconductor devices (transistors, FETs, MOSFETs, etc.) used inside the equipment require this type of voltage. (By the way, FET stands for Field Effect Transistor, and MOSFET stands for Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor). Many different types of power supplies are used in power amplifiers, but in the end they all basically aim to generate DC voltage for the transistor circuits of the unit. The very best of amplifiers have two totally independent power supplies, one for each channel (they do share a common AC power cord though). Truly excellent amplifiers will also have a separate (or at least separately regulated) power supply for the input stage (those circuits that do not actually drive the speaker). Under heavy load, the power supply voltage internal to the amp can sag (and this can lead to distortion). By having a separate power supply for the signal level signals in the amplifier, the distortion added by a sagging power supply is kept out of all but the final (output) stage.

[@DMZamora]

I'm not talking about the current from AC outlet, and you much probably know it. Ever saw a waveform of a musical signal? It varies around the 0V line, both to the positive and negative sides.

[@marianneoelund2940]

@Chris Bishop Internal design and operation of amplifiers implies nothing about the signals going into and out of them. As Daniel correctly explained, all audio signals between components are a.c., and if the copper in cables had a directional preference, it would cause distortion regardless of which direction it is connected.

[@ProjectOverseer]

Marianne Oelund Thanks for the info 👍 But where did I state that directional cables have validity? I just said, I was told this is why they are called directional. Many believe it has fabulous audio benefits, and to be honest, I'm not totally convinced. As for the DC vs AC There was a running argument on the old Live Audio Board (the precursor to ProSoundWeb) where one person insisted that an amplifier which had only a positive output (Class A, for example) was a DC amplifier. He based that opinion on a strict interpretation of the words that make up the initialisms "AC" and "DC." Since that Class A amplifier's output current wasn't alternating in direction, it was direct current. The truth is that the terms AC and DC are misnomers, and when we talk about signals we talk about the static component (DC) and the time-varying component (AC). All signals have both.

[@mattdudamusic]

Another rationale for the arrows on RCA cables is to indicate which end of the cable has its shield connected to ground.

[@motorradmike]

mattdudamusic, agreed!

[@drumphil00]

You're going to worry about the end of the cable that the shield is connected, and you're using unbalanced RCA I/O??? Which end the shield is connected doesn't even really matter with pro gear with balanced I/O. With properly designed pro gear that doesn't directly connect the shield to signal ground, the shield can and should be connected at both ends of the cable to the chassis.

[@motorradmike]

drumphil00, I do not have any “pro audio” gear with true balanced interconnects. My RCA wire configuration is kind of semi balanced. Yes, you can argue about it not making any difference because of components chassis ground, etc. I have been doing this for almost twenty years and have compared it to several high end / jeweled boutique RCA interconnects. So rather than shooting me down, make yourself a pair and try them. The proof might just be in the listening. The fact that I CAN hear an obvious difference in my very modest Schiit, NAD, Oppo, Nakamichi, Music Hall, Beyerdynamic and Tekton system is my call.

[@drumphil00]

If it makes an audible difference, it will still make the same audible difference when plugged in backwards, because audio signals are AC, and the electrons move back and forth in BOTH directions. And if we're talking about which end a shield is connected (as in not at both ends), it means that the shield isn't audio ground (like it is with unbalanced RCA), or having it disconnected at one end would mean that the circuit would be broken, and no audio would be going anywhere.

[@bjornahh87]

drumphil00 and then you have electrons leaking all over your precious carpet and floor... no it will always take the way of minimal resistance to ground..

[@coreyfinch5718]

I'm confused. I suppose there could be a difference with DC, but since audio is inherently AC signal, any affect upon the signal due to "directionality" would happen during half of the wave of the lowest frequency of the the signal, regardless which way the cable was turned. Or am I missing something?

[@bradleysmith681]

Corey Finch no, you're not missing anything. Cables do not have directionality. And you are correct. If they did have directionality, then it would affect only one half of the wave. It's nonsense.

[@BrianSu]

I think the arrows on some cables have another purpose. They indicate which end the shielding is connected to

[@gamerpaddy]

i had that oxidization thing on mine recently, the high's just went away. but now i need to figure out, how to get rid of a humming problem. my amp is connected to a USB dac. but at 50% the volume it has noticeable humm. when i disconnect it from the dac, it goes away. i tried using those transformer rca decoupler / isolators. no luck. also tried different wall sockets, plug orientations and put the cables away from any mains cable. maybe a USB isolator next time. btw after pulling those cables and changing its crystaline structure, why not inductively heat it up afterwards to make the crystals organize itself like it would be when casted this way. no need for expensive or exotic machinery. but i doubt that this has any effect on the signal at, just a mind thing. you dont hear it if you dont know about it.

[@bjornahh87]

what youshuld do is try with a different usb cable, not all of them are shielded so the possibility is that you have interference that is making its way via the usb cable, or if you use a higrade usbcable, the just buy a cheap one and test it out on diifferent usb ports too, could be the grounding in the ub connector at the pc side that is faulty.. best of luck and hope it helps...

[@scorpven]

RCA 3 conductor cables with the outside shield not connected on one end is a shield drain and sometimes called a ground lift in professional audio, and as such directional. You have to be a professional installer to understand and connect this type of cable correctly. The idea is to send the signal flow in opposite direction and the noise picked up on the shield in the opposite. Some people call this a balance RCA cable because it is not a coaxial cable due to the 2 signal wires being the same, usually a twisted pair surrounded by a shield.

[@terryreese663]

Hmmmm. I do not know about a bunch of the crystal structure of drawn copper stuff but with RCA interconnects, there is a significant difference. A one end shielded cable in which the grounded end is connected to the source nets definite benefits in reducing EMI/RFI induced to the system. This has worked over and over for my system. I am wondering if the same one end shielded speaker cable could net the same results. I have never tried this with speaker cables but it would make some sense that if EMI/RFI can be induced to this wire, then shielding back to its source could benefit the overall sound.

[@oswaldjh]

The direction of the pulled wire makes a big difference. This is why manufacturers always orientate their machines to pull from north to south in the northern hemisphere and south to north in the southern hemisphere. Think about that next time you're pulling your own wire.

[@oscargr_]

Jerry Oswald. Bullshit. Good cable manufacturers pull their cables towards Mecca.

[@oswaldjh]

Oscar Gr : Only if your audio system is only going to be used atop a Minaret for the Islamic Call To Prayer.

[@oscargr_]

Jerry Oswald. Oh, yeah.. all my experience is based on that application. LoL

[@Stoney3K]

The only reason for arrows on a cable is just for convenience and reference so you can figure out which signal goes where. Audio is AC so the electrons are going just as much one way as they are going the other.

[@JoeBorrello]

I agree with the previous comment about this almost certainly being snake oil. Let me add one key point, if it hasn’t already been stated (sorry, I didn’t read ALL 363 comments). If you try it yourself by listening with the cables in each direction and deciding if it “sounds better” one way, this is completely subjective. This can be a legitimate observation, but it is IMPERATIVE that this be done in a controlled randomized double blinded manner. For example, generate a series of random numbers to determine the direction of the cable for each trial, have the observer leave the room between trials, the cable is unhooked and re-hooked for every trial, the person manipulating the cable leaves the room before the observer enters, the cable is hidden from the observer, etc. It’s a lot of work, which is why most people won’t do it properly and end up certain there is a difference when there is not.

[@cbcdesign001]

Even if you buy into the whole drawn manufacturing process altering the structure of the copper conductor, that in no way explains why that creates a preferred direction for conductors carrying AC signals. It's just nonsense to suggest otherwise. This does nothing to promote high end audio quite honestly, it just damages the reputation of the industry.

[@child_of_god_]

The actual electrons go both directions, back and forth, as it is an ac signal driving the speakers. Socthe theory of copper crystal wouldn't make any difference either way

[@russellhltn1396]

I find it hard to believe there would be an audible difference unless there was a measurable electrical difference. Be it resistance, impedance, inductance, etc. I'd have to see the difference on a test instrument to believe it.

[@bradleysmith681]

Russell Hltn If this were true, it would show up as measurable distortion.

[@cncgeneral]

So are you saying that there is increases resistance in one direction? If that's the case, a slight increase in CSA will solve any directionality problems you may have. It does not stand to reason that the crystalline structure of a wire would affect sound at all, the electricity travels in both directions to produce a wave form. The best speaker cables you can buy are the thickest ones you can find with as direct a connection to the drivers as possible (soldered to the tinsels is ideal). The best interconnects are the ones with the most secure terminations and the thickest shielding.

[@zogzog1063]

In my view: - Speaker cables: No difference. - Balanced interconnects: No difference. - Unshielded interconnects: No difference. - Shielded interconnects with the shield connected at both ends: No difference. - Shielded interconnects with the shield connected at neither end (the 'floating' shield): No difference. - Shielded interconnects with the shield connected at one end only (usually the source end): yes there is a difference. Whether the latter is audible, I am not sure but I guess on a high end system it could as it is no longer a symmetrical cable. The talk of crystals in the copper might affect overall quality but it is hard to believe this affects direction. It sounds like pseudo science / psychobabble. (I am not a metallurgist but a trail lawyer with 20 years experience - ie a well tuned BS Meter.)

[@firsl9467]

I have this set up and Everyone that replied saying that there is no difference did not consider this scenario. "Shielded interconnects with the shield connected at one end only (usually the source end): yes there is a difference. "

[@paulb.3227]

In my view: you must be deaf.

[@djsparkyy]

A lot of people hating on the guy seem to be ignoring the fact that he said he thinks it doesn't really matter.

[@joshuascholar3220]

Total nonsense. You know as well as I do that an audio signal goes both negative and positive, the current flows both ways - so there can be a no such thing as directionality to an audio cable because there's no single direction to an audio SIGNAL. I can't even bring myself to listen to this nonsense video. If if you think you've ever heard a difference a cable plugged in one way to one plugged in another then you've just proven that mere listening is not reliable and you need better tests than your impression.

[@csdstudio78]

Today's business model is apparent. Stretch the 'truth' as far as you can, someone will eventually believe it. :)

[@stevedresen8497]

Thanks for saving me the words.

[@is1dre]

Although the cable signal is an alternating current, small impurities in the conductor act as diodes allowing signal flow to be better in one direction over time. Regardless of the purity of the metal used, there are still diode effects in all conductors. In addition, the insulation material will change when it is subjected to an electrical field.

[@marianneoelund2940]

Please stop promulgating this nonsense. Impurities in metals are randomly distributed and do not and cannot, produce any kind of diode action. Diode junctions can only be made by careful arrangement and control of impurity concentrations in semiconductors, or by using metal-semiconductor interfaces. If there were any kind of directional difference in a conductor, it would result in harmonic distortion of ac signals which would have been detected and reported long ago.

[@robertkeefer7791]

One way to clean the connectors is to spray Deoxit D100 on them and work them to help clean them out.

[@flatfingertuning727]

An issue I've not seen mentioned is that if one only connects amplifiers to the "input" end of a cable, and avoids connecting the output ends of cables together, one can avoid accidentally connecting equipment's outputs together, an action which could potentially have very serious consequences. Normally one would need to make a pretty big mistake to accidentally connect outputs together, but if cables get tangled and confused it could happen if one doesn't have any labels on anything. Putting arrows along the length of a cable won't be sufficient to ensure that the right speakers get connected to the right outputs, but will guard against many dangerous ways of miswiring things.

[@jdekong3945]

Happy 4th of July Mr McGowan

[@usersky007]

It's cables-day again guys - let everyone have fun! Late edit: Now seriously Paul, this is not like an ordinary post, it's deeply out of reach with phisical reality. There is NOTHING phisical flowing preferentially from source to amp to speakers, absolutely nothing. No electrons flow mostly that direction, no current (and few of those here know the difference between electrons flow and current it seems). Nothing real travels that dirrection. It's just INFORMATION flowing that dirrection and this is totally abstract concept. Any other phisical reality oscilates equally, constantly back and forth and I mean statistically 100% equal every single second. Even if crystals ... or whatever would have some dirrectional bias (debatable to the end of days), it is totally irelevant. So what arrow? This very video makes me wonder how deep the misunderstanding of phisical reality goes into PS Audio products design. And I have my share of joy watching regular snake oil videos but this is an entirely new dimension.

[@andregoulet3446]

True! From my own experience several years ago I had cables made by my technician and they had an arrow which I believed pointed to the source and I thought they sounded better on the opposite side Until I realized they were in the right direction;)

[@DaveJ6515]

I have had both experiences. Some cables I had twenty years ago had the arrows, but there was no difference at all when swapping them. It’s totally different with the cables I have now. The difference is there. But you also need a very good setup to notice it, otherwise I wouldn’t bother.

[@inmyopinion6836]

BECAUSE , they go places !

[@computerschreck]

I'd like to differentiate. In analog audio (or just about any kind of AC), as far as I know, a wire is a wire is a wire - and I haven't seen or heard any proof of anything else yet. In digital data transmission, there very well can be a direction to a cable, for example in active cables for video (ones that have built in line drivers on them). There actually are things like active HDMI cables that can be 120 or 150 feet long and come with a weird looking power adapter combo on the source end, which will be clearly labeled, and a big fat plug on the sink end which will be clearly labeled as such.

[@tdemask]

I’ve noticed that my speaker cables have more depth and airiness when I draw arrows on them.

[@saxonliw9502]

For unbalanced interconnects with shield, the tendency is only one end is earthed. This does not have any effect with balanced XLR interconnects. The direction indication is more for installation reasons. If you do have many cables running around, the direction indications do help you narrow down the choices trying to find the correct cable. In this case, it's not snake oil but those who have stage audio experience will know snake cables. :)

[@maxheadrom3088]

Single crystal copper cables is something I'd like to put my hands on. I know continuous casting processes for aluminum that are not single crystal (paper and laminates) but I also know the single crystal process for silicon. From my point of view, the arrows could help when setting up your system if you are doing a 12.1 system and all your wires are on the floor - or to really know which end is being swapped more often for your A/B tests. I'll look for papers on copper crystalography to check if any relevant difference can be observed. For RCA, maybe a wire with impedance matchin circuitry on each end could explain that.

[@tpr299]

I had to reverse the direction of my discharge pipe coming from my toilet. The waste just didn’t want to leave the bowl,, and flow towards the sewer. After changing the direction of the pipe things flow much better now. The plumbers who did the installation just weren’t well versed in the plastiology that involves how the PVC was drawn through the pipe forming flange. Next time I’ll hire a more expensive plumber.

[@sefton999]

Audio signals flow in both directions. Your explanation would only be valid for DC, which I even doubt.

[@commodoresixfour7478]

Dam it! That actually makes sense, and now this little fact will bother me with my setup.

[@picobyte]

Snake oil! AC signals vibrate. Any directionality in wire would distort in both directions that cable is. It would act like a bad performing diode in series with the speaker.

[@johnsenchak1428]

In my opinion is the complex audio signal going through a two wire copper that has varying capacitance per foot

[@uribar-ner5055]

It really puzzles me, why Paul is saying all these things? He sure does know better!

[@carlubambi5541]

There is a non directional and directional cable .The problem is how the wires are spun and placed next to each other .Cw or CCW ..Also remember this wires in parallel become bifilar capacitors !

[@jpdj2715]

I do not believe directionality is about the copper crystals - yes these exist. With RCA cables, it will be about a shield that is connected to ground in one end and floats on the other. Then, some cables have filters integrated - think of the separation filter in a 2- or more-way loudspeaker. Such filters likely have some direction/polarity/phase sensitivity.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

"From what I have heard" is not "this is the measured difference and scientific reason why it behaves directional". Cables could also sound different because the connectors connect differently, couldn't they? I am very skeptical. Tried it, no different so far.

[@milkman100001]

if you pull copper wire it snaps .its poured into a holding tank and through to rollers while still malleable .they then roll it into shape.

[@Petex90]

No, the directional or "battery powered" cables aren't any better, but it's a known fact that it just sounds better if you think that it will sound.. :)

[@curtispooler6497]

Paul good advice have a good day

[@SaturnV2000]

Electrical engineers around the world are laughing at this video. This is worse BS than the guy pitching eight feet of speaker wire for $1200. EVERYTHING sounds better once your wallet and bank account are empty.