Cable Directionality??

[Stephen328]

I was recently reading some of the theology behind audioquests cables and came across their claim that cables work better in one direction than the other. Ive heard this claim before and really dont believe it has any truth behind it.

First of all doesnt this defy the basic laws of physics? Besides the current moving through the cable is constantly switching directions, so how could one direction be better than another?

Just for the hell of it I decided to test this. I unhooked one of my speakers, flipped the mono switch and played a few songs. After listening to both directions several times, It seemed to me the first direction sounded a little bit better especially in the bass. But hell I think Im imagining things.

Anyway, anyone have any sort of logic in which a cable could perform better in one direction? Thanks.

[easylistener]

Stephen I am with ya. Except for the cables with the built in filters. They are directional. The others I don't think they are directional.

[efzauner]

Wire directionality is total nonsense. No ifs or butts. Your observation is correct: the Audio signals are AC anyway, the electrons change directions!

There may be cables out there with some sort of built in filter or matching networks or capacitance/inductance compensation network . Those would be directional, But the actual merits of the network may be very questionable. There are also cables that have a dedicated ground wire or shield such as coax.

The audio cable industry is full of snake oil. Watch out!