Actually, #2 I have experimented with. An interconnect shield is typically only hooked up at one end (except for some very obvious Kimbers, Nordost, etc.) and an old MIT sounded very bad the wrong way.
Another really interesting test was done on some FMS hook up wire. I had heard that there could be differences in sound depending on how the wire was pushed, pulled or whatever, so before installing it, I made a cassette copy of a song from a CD to a Nak Dragon using the hookup wire as the "hot" with a set of RCA pigtails made with Kimber 4TC and (ugh!) alligator clips. Then I flipped the wire around and recorded the same song again and listened to the tape with both "versions". It took a few times, but one sounded very slightly quicker and punchier, the other a bit more dull. After listening to it a few more times, I figured I had the differences down and tried listening to the two other coils (of different color) of the same wire I had. I was able to correctly identify the "direction" of the others, whether it was the punchy way or slow way by flipping ends. Sometimes I have way too much free time! Oh, these wires were a multistrand copper of the same gauge twisted around a plastic core. Could the twist have made a difference, I don't know; what do you think? All in my head?
Another really interesting test was done on some FMS hook up wire. I had heard that there could be differences in sound depending on how the wire was pushed, pulled or whatever, so before installing it, I made a cassette copy of a song from a CD to a Nak Dragon using the hookup wire as the "hot" with a set of RCA pigtails made with Kimber 4TC and (ugh!) alligator clips. Then I flipped the wire around and recorded the same song again and listened to the tape with both "versions". It took a few times, but one sounded very slightly quicker and punchier, the other a bit more dull. After listening to it a few more times, I figured I had the differences down and tried listening to the two other coils (of different color) of the same wire I had. I was able to correctly identify the "direction" of the others, whether it was the punchy way or slow way by flipping ends. Sometimes I have way too much free time! Oh, these wires were a multistrand copper of the same gauge twisted around a plastic core. Could the twist have made a difference, I don't know; what do you think? All in my head?