Furutech Nanoflux speaker cables

Seems they come with spade connectors for the amplifier end and banana connections for the speaker end.

Interesting that the OP can hear a difference but does not know which is 'better'.  I accept there may be a real subjective difference, but to be objective, the comparison should be with unamplified live music.  (Amplifiers, loudspeakers and microphones introduce their own distortions).  The direction that sounds more realistic should be counted as the better.

If there is a difference, should there be twice the difference if the cable length is doubled?

@pinwa

I looked at Furutech’s website as quoted by @gkelly, and assumed that, like Oscar Wilde, you would be easily satisfied by the best! Sounds as if you knew the answer anyway because you borrowed custom cables terminated in reverse.

Furutech also says its NCF "generates negative ions that eliminate static. Second, it converts thermal energy into far infrared. Furutech combines this remarkable material with nano-sized ceramic particles and carbon powder for their additional ’piezoelectric effect’ damping properties".

As a physicist I am sure you will agree that negative ions increase static, which is a surplus of electrons. As for converting thermal energy into infra-red, that’s what everything does around room temperature. But wait, there’s more: mechanical vibrations are converted using the piezo effect into yet more electrons, presumably to give some added snap, crackle and pop!

But now I am really confused - the borrowed cables have spades on one end and bananas on the other and you hear a difference when they are swapped, but your speakers only accept spades. What gives?

@pinwa 

When you wrote " It isn't like I don't understand the basic physics and electrical engineering that supposedly governs what a cable can and can't do" I came to the conclusion you might be a physicist.  You said Wilson puppies needed spade connectors and elsewhere you have described blowing up several of their tweeters, so I assumed these might be the speakers you were using.

I would like to believe you when you say the cables are directional.  Usually this means cables are shielded and only one end of the shield is grounded, and this normally applies to interconnects.  On Furutech's website there is a diagram which indicates the speaker cable is shielded, but there is no indication of whether the shield is grounded!  There is the equivalent of a choke which removes some EMI.  The main conductors seem very close together, so I suspect this is a high capacitance cable which rolls of some high frequencies.

By the way, I use spade connectors on my Quad electrostatics (ESL-2905) which are regarded as very accurate transducers and have amplifier-like specifications.  In a rash moment I bought a secondhand cable set with banana connectors for my KEF Reference 1 speakers.  I have not got around to bi-wiring or cable swapping because I am very happy with what I am hearing!