The molecular level explanation of "cable burn-in"
According to one cable seller
"The insulation (or dielectric) will absorb energy from the conductor when a current is flowing (i.e. when music is playing). This energy-absorption causes the dielectric's molecules to re-arrange themselves from a random order into a uniform order. When the molecules have been rearranged, the dielectric will absorb less energy & consequently cause less distortion."
So it’s the plastic polymer (as dielectric insulation) to undergo some sort of molecular rearrangements to minimize the distortion. Probably one of the greatest scientific discoveries ever!
“Many premium AC cords constrict or compress the audio transient as their characteristic impedance restricts the transient current.”
We all know impedance restricts current but how possibly “many” premium AC cords constrict/compress the audio transient (when not carrying audio signal)? Then again is it achieved by this molecular rearrangements of the cable insulation?
Unfortunately there are no measurement data or mathematical formulas to be found to back up this amazing scientific discovery. Simply “it happens”. So I came up with a formula for them.
ie: Inescapable FACT: No one understands exactly how electricity works.
That’s why there’s so much Electrical THEORY.
The number of Wiki-Scientists on these pages, attempting to win the IG-Nobel Prize in Pseudo-Physics, is always amusing.
Whenever some highly educated person actually does discover exactly how electricity functions, they’ll be lauded by the scientific community, will have solved some of the disparities between Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, receive a Nobel and we’ll hear about it.
Newton’s THEORIES were largely superseded by Einstein and Bohr's. Then came Feynman’s. For now; none of you can absolutely prove your statements (theories), regarding electricity, FUSES, wires, or anything else, as regards our systems.
The following articles, read in sequence, illustrate my point:
The dielectric in your equation is effectively an insulator and as such does not absorb current. One of the fundamental laws of electrical theory is that current takes the least path of resistance. In this case the copper. It's as simple and as complicated as that. And if this magical formula does exist, the AC power is further altered in the amp and and in no way does it impact the path of the sound signals.
I am retired and i appreciate everybody even those with whom i may disagree... i like too much discussing here and not staying alone... I am not perfect..
But i just say the truth about your too long sarcasm which is not really original... cables matter for many people here then sarcasm must be short and sweet... sarcasm should be a wink, not a long, unoriginal mockery...
i welcome you anyway...
Now because as a child who go sulk in his corner and announce he will never return you wait for what ? Sympathy ? Buy a dog...😉
Or stay here because as empathic as a dog i feel sad that you leave in this way speaking such...Really...
By the way your judgement is too narrow and centered on you... This forum is not a waste of time for everybody...it is for some and not so much for others... In life we are all in different situation and different needs... Cables, friend, information etc there is all opinions here about all that...
I am retired and i appreciate everybody even those with whom i may disagree... i like too much discussing here and not staying alone... I am not perfect... 😊
Whatever your decision will be i wish you the very best....
Oh, mahgister, you silly. Just having a little fun with a topic that gets a lot of disagreement and rightfully so. Learn, happy to, we’re always learning. But your tone was more of an arrogant remark than anything worth noting. And yes, Dill, a member since 2007 and just posting now for the first time. (Doesn’t that tell you something?) like Facebook, this forum strikes me as an enormous waste of time. There’s a big world out there. I enjoy reading about this hobby that I inherited a love for from my father who was in it from the early days when I too was bitten by the audiophile bug. But I’m now regretting my little satirical contribution to this forum. My own fault, I kind of saw it coming. I’ll continue to read what interests me, but you’ll never hear from me again. Caio.
I bought a pair of expensive IC’s. Until that, all I ever used were the thin cheap cables that came with cd players. OMG was the difference huge! From that point on, I believe that cables mattered. In the last four years, I’ve bought seven power cables (all $500 and under.) and to be honest, I’ve not heard a lick of difference, but I definitely am not going to yell and call people names because they can hear something that I cannot.
Very true! thanks for the input. Good audio cables do make a difference but power cables don't. Just get one 10 or 12awg from amazon These days you can find plenty of excellent audio/power cables on amazon/ebay 10x - 100x cheaper than those major brands. I would spend money to upgrade dac/amps/speakers (if i had extra thousands to spend)
MIT, I am thinking of your "poles of articulation" nonsense..... If it sounds different, shouldn’t that show up in some sort of measurement on REW, or an oscilloscope, or at least something? If not, why not?
Well said moto_man thank you for the input. They got nothing. Another magic lamp named "poles of articulation" actually it’s not really appealing.
Iconoclast (Galen Gareis) I looked it up their speaker cables look so much like the Kimber cables but 3x more expensive. They probably get their cables (bulk) from the same cable manufacturer in southern California. If you know him personally want to support his business or an influencer for him then so be it. If you care about your money buy the cheaper Kimber cables or even better try Amazon. if you don’t like things made in China go back to buy from Kimber.
theskipperthree
"this forum strikes me as an enormous waste of time. There’s a big world out there."
Oh, mahgister, you silly. Just having a little fun with a topic that gets a lot of disagreement and rightfully so. Learn, happy to, we’re always learning. But your tone was more of an arrogant remark than anything worth noting. And yes, Dill, a member since 2007 and just posting now for the first time. (Doesn’t that tell you something?) like Facebook, this forum strikes me as an enormous waste of time. There’s a big world out there. I enjoy reading about this hobby that I inherited a love for from my father who was in it from the early days when I too was bitten by the audiophile bug. But I’m now regretting my little satirical contribution to this forum. My own fault, I kind of saw it coming. I’ll continue to read what interests me, but you’ll never hear from me again. Caio.
@llg98ljk
You don't need a lot of money to get to audio nirvana. I have spent about $45,000...over a period of 56 years. That's about $820 a year. My wife spends more than that on cigarettes.
I hope to finish with my essay on my 56 year journey soon, and I will post it here.
@liquidsound
And some people believe there is a man in the sky with a white beard that will take care of them when they die, if only that they would behave. They do believe this really happens.
@dill. I take objection to your post. That attitude would seem to place you in the 1% crowd who seemingly has sufficient resources to continue to upgrade equipment seeking to lift that final veil and achieve nirvana. For the rest of us 99 percenters. we are resigned to reach a point of good enough.
Being a KEF fan and owning a pair of R3 Metas, the implication is that I shouldn't be happy until I have a pair of Muons sitting in my living room. Just maybe I'm unwilling to sell or mortgage my house or clean out my retirement accounts in order to meet you lofty standards. Yes, I am a proud member of the good enough club.
I believe that I can hear the difference between cables that I have put into my system. The physics of why that is the case . . . I haven't the slightest idea, although it seems like manufacturers believe that they need to say something to explain why you need to fork over sometimes big $$ beyond "buy my cable . . . it sounds better" and we end up with a bunch of technogobbledygook that probably has nothing to do with why the cable sounds different but sounds very scientific -- MIT, I am thinking of your "poles of articulation" nonsense. So, the debate regarding why cables sound different continues and until some group designs a method of doing a real A/B blind test that eliminates any variances other than the cable, this debate will go on and on.
This brings me to the next logical point. If it sounds different, shouldn't that show up in some sort of measurement on REW, or an oscilloscope, or at least something? If not, why not?
Back in the eighties, I bought a pair of expensive IC’s. Until that, all I ever used were the thin cheap cables that came with cd players. OMG was the difference huge! From that point on, I believe that cables mattered. In the last four years, I’ve bought seven power cables (all $500 and under.) and to be honest, I’ve not heard a lick of difference, but I definitely am not going to yell and call people names because they can hear something that I cannot. Maybe someday I’ll be able to try some expensive cables and see if then I can hear an improvement. But until that time comes, why should I care what others think? Or how others spend their money? When it comes to HIFI, I trust my ears and not others beliefs.
In my 40+ years of audiophile listening, I do believe that break-in of speaker cables and interconnects is necessary and happens. I don't prescribe to know the physics behind it however it's been a phenomenon I've experienced many times over with a variety of cables, inexpensive to expensive. I recently purchased a set of Iconoclast speaker cables and interconnects. I really appreciate the time Iconoclast (Galen Gareis) took to develop his white paper on speaker cable design. I really like how the cables perform in my system. While they don' specify a break in period, after about 100 hours of play they have smoothed out and sounded for lack of a better work more refined. They have a few conductor choices of copper-types and one with silver plated copper. They say each measures the same, but the types of conductor do sound different.
The best joke and sarcastic sentence must be short...
Your post is not even humorous...
Welcome here though... You will perhaps learn ...
My sincere best ... 😊
My speaker cables have achieved greater transparency and neutrality in their sound reproduction abilities due to the introduction of concentrated and directed external sound focused to aid in the cable's molecular strand orientation. You can achieve this at home with any system by shouting at your cables, that's right, shouting at your cables! It's best to perform this exercise with no music playing since you do not want any reproduced musical signal to interfere with the intended orientation you are trying to achieve. Very simply, stand over each run of cable and while leaning over, cup your hands and shout. It doesn't matter what you shout. It can be something like, "Get in line you stupid cable, YOU SOUND LIKE GARBAGE, you need to get your particles in line so you sound better." Shout, loudly, 3 to 4 times for the left channel and 3 to 4 times for the right channel. Preferably leave the door to your home or apartment open so you don't induce any acoustic feedback or echo which could unduly affect the molecular orientation you are trying to achieve. Now that you've completed this no-cost upgrade to your speaker cables, put on your favorite reference music, sit back and listen critically and don't tell me you can't hear an improvement in transparency and neutrality, presence, and overall inching closer to the absolute sound of real music reproduced in your home. If not, repeat the exercise described above until you can hear improvement. Trust me, be patient, it will come.
My speaker cables have achieved greater transparency and neutrality in their sound reproduction abilities due to the introduction of concentrated and directed external sound focused to aid in the cable's molecular strand orientation. You can achieve this at home with any system by shouting at your cables, that's right, shouting at your cables! It's best to perform this exercise with no music playing since you do not want any reproduced musical signal to interfere with the intended orientation you are trying to achieve. Very simply, stand over each run of cable and while leaning over, cup your hands and shout. It doesn't matter what you shout. It can be something like, "Get in line you stupid cable, YOU SOUND LIKE GARBAGE, you need to get your particles in line so you sound better." Shout, loudly, 3 to 4 times for the left channel and 3 to 4 times for the right channel. Preferably leave the door to your home or apartment open so you don't induce any acoustic feedback or echo which could unduly affect the molecular orientation you are trying to achieve. Now that you've completed this no-cost upgrade to your speaker cables, put on your favorite reference music, sit back and listen critically and don't tell me you can't hear an improvement in transparency and neutrality, presence, and overall inching closer to the absolute sound of real music reproduced in your home. If not, repeat the exercise described above until you can hear improvement. Trust me, be patient, it will come.
I think once a cable is burnt IN (best to measure that time), then you can only use it for 2x the burn in time before it is so altered that it is burnt OUT (you know those atoms and molecules get so dizzy from changing around that they start twisting the sound bites). But the shroom stash that made me hear the difference between un burnt, burnt IN and burnt OUT cable is now also gone. Darn. Shopping Amazon for pixel dust now. Do you SMOKE pixel dust or make cookies with it?
Instead of arguing without end about what most cannot verify nor understand completely anyway i proposed in my post above a simple experiment...😊
Nobody payed attention...😊
Most people prefer to buy something as a new cable for example especially a costlier one as programmed consumers they prefer purchase than making experiments. I know that...
Now this is my post above :
«Simple evidence for that :
put a piece of shungite on the cable connector ends: compression of the signals ...
put a quartz piece on the ends of the same cables connector : decompression of the signals ...
now combine them and hear the result : a balance with improvement in many case... It depend of the cable quality and design ...
No cables designer working with " basic established science/engineering principles in cable/wire electronics" will do that...
By the way i designed my own devices as a shield against EMI and minerals filters : "golden plate" ( shungite+a copper external face + quartz at some point for a better acoustic balance)
I dont buy tweaks...😁 I prefer homemade...»
Now think a second about what i said about shungite and quartz...
Think...
And read that :
"Quartz is an excellent electric insulating material and presents the following electrical properties: electrical resistivity (350°): 7×107 ohm x cm. dielectric constant (20°C – 1MHz): 3,76."
"Despite the poorly ordered structure, shungite has a relatively high electrical conductivity [50,51]. The resistivity of shungite-1 is about 1 Ω cm, whereas the resistivity of shungite-3 is about 10 Ω cm [50]."
«Another carbonaceous filler used in the present work was shungite. Shungite is a mineral that has recently increased in popularity. Shungite is a microheterogeneous natural mineral complex containing non-crystalline carbon, silicates, a small quantity of metal oxides, and organic additives [31,32]. Originally, shungite was described thanks to the resources obtained near the village of Shunga (Russia). Shungite rocks are classified into five types depending on the carbon content. Some deposits consist of almost pure carbon (up to 98% by weight, so-called type I). The most popular variant of shungite is type III (with a carbon content of 20–35 wt.%) [33,34]. Shungite may differ in structure and properties, depending on the place of origin. Shungite is a hard mineral with a compact structure and black color. Its density, depending on the variety, ranges between 2.04 and 2.25 g/cm3. Due to the fact that shungite contains nanotubes and fullerenes in its structure, this mineral is highly porous. Shungite also exhibits conductive properties and considerable mechanical strength [35,36,37]. Its modulus of elasticity is the highest among all of the carbon materials, including graphite. Taking into account the reactivity of shungite, it can be observed that it is more reactive than coke and, at the same time, more resistant to the oxidation process than graphite»
Antonets, I.V.; Golubev, Y.A.; Shcheglov, V.I.; Sun, S. Electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of lightweight and flexible ultrathin shungite plates. Curr. Appl. Phys.2021, 29, 97–106
Now if you had $10000 to spend then you would invest in a pure class A amplifier(s) that is capable of doubling the output power as the load impedance gets halved and a pure linear preamp that has a constant gain through its operating range and has two sets of balanced outputs. If you have that knowledge and skills you can build (or re-build) your own dream amplifier(s) and preamp. buy two identical old Krell or Levinson power amps and get their circuit diagrams somewhere. then you'll be relying on computer modeling to re-design the amp to produce the correct values that you want. Of course you must use the finest components available to achieve this goal such as ultra precision resistors and capacitors from Japan. For the preamp you can this volume potentiometer from a company in Korea I know it's outrageously expensive but such an engineering marvel, a perfect linearity Vo=aVi+0, a is the gain factor constant and 0 is zero. A $1000 power cable with a magic lamp attached or a $1000 volume potentiometer with its data sheet. It took me about 200 hours to complete the project and I invested most of my weekends for 6 month. Well this is a different topic and i'm too tire to write any longer
I use two pairs of the 8tc to connect my monoblocks (actually a pair of stereo amps) to the speakers and use their interconnect cables as well. I once had a chance to try their very thick top of the line speaker cables (select?) on my system and found no audible difference or perhaps my brain rejected to believe there's any but I was confident that it wasn't obvious like upgrading from the Monster to the 8tc. If I ever get to buy new speaker cables or interconnects I will buy from amazon. I already bought amazon power cables and I love them the search words are "10awg audiophile power cable". If you had $1000 to spend to improve your audio system you would want to upgrade your DAC. Yes all thanks for the Chinese.
I was going to make a separate thread about the magic dielectric bias system but decided not to. I'm aware that there are similar magic fairy lamps used in the cable selling industry - MPC Network Box etc.. as one member stated they could simply use magic stones like shungite/quartz instead of spending money on tooling extra labor to attach those magic lamps to their expensive cables and name them like "time-dependent (hence 200 hrs of burn-in time required) dielectric wave quantumiser" or some other extra fancy pseudo-science nomenclature. My speaker cables are the Kimber 8tc that I bought many years ago and I would say they're "good enough" I would like repeat "good enough"
PVC and PETE have different dielectric constants that affect the properties of the cables between the two PETE has a lower Dk so absorbs less electric charge consequently it's a better insulating material for audio cables. (the other way around for capacitors) But this is not the issue here. The problem is this novel behavior of dielectric macromolecules in cable electronics according to the website. I suggest their research be submitted to the IEEE review board for authentication. This could be someone's PhD dissertation and publishable in a high impact engineering journal.
Anyone needing a rationale for experimenting with new cables in their system and/or feeling dissuaded by the Church of Denyin'tology's antiquated electrical doctrines: take heart!
Many new electrical facts have been established in the past 100 years, that support audible differences, between various cables, fuses, etc.
I couldn't find anything like, "Updated Electrical Theory For Idiots", but- did manage to find something resembling a cartoon, that even a child could follow. It neither mentions AC/sinusoidal waves in wires, nor does it go into the photon propagation of electromagnetic waves. It does, however, emphasize/demonstrate how Electrical Theory has progressed, since the 1800s:
It's an established (measured) fact that an electromagnetic wave's propagation and speed, are dependent on the materials, of which the transmission line (cable) are made (ie: Dielectric Constant/permittivity). The better (lower) the Dielectric Constant the better the flow and the longer it takes for that material, to become polarized. One reason anything that comprises an RLC circuit (ie: capacitors, cables, PC boards), takes time to, "form", or, "break/burn-in".*
*Something that makes the Denyin'tologists apoplectic.
Even the most inane (regarding the Sciences) must admit; braiding and twisting wires eliminates/reduces EMI interference.
That must lend credence to various cable geometries.
That better dielectrics enhance the propagation of electromagnetic waves (ie: your music signal), lends the same credence to choosing cables with better materials (ie: Polypropylene, Teflon, air, etc).
Of course: anything the Church of Denyin'tology's popes can't fathom, they'll summarily dismiss.
As simple a device as a fuse is: it still carries a sinusoidal signal/voltage, ALWAYS from source to load.
NOT back and forth!
Also (as mentioned above): any fuse acts as an RLC circuit, the 'C' of which will be determined by properties of its wave guide's/ conductor's surroundings (ie: glass, air, bee's wax, ceramic, end cap materials, etc).
Any commonly drawn wire will exhibit a chevron pattern in its crystal lattice, so: why not "directionality" and why OHNO Continuous Cast, single crystal wire sounds better, to so many?
Stated above are scientifically tested, measured and proven facts.
There is no "contest", or "dispute" involved.
The OP mentions Maxwell, but: obviously they have no understanding of his theory and possible ramifications as regards the above.
Anyone that feels compelled to harp on not hearing any differences, is obviously too obtuse to understand the term "variables" (as frequently mentioned) and worthy of disregard.
My only goal in these threads has ever been to encourage those with a mind to experiment with their systems, based on the latest (20th/21st Century's) findings of ACTUAL Physics/science and ignore the Cargo Cult's incessant runway building (objections, convolutions, deflections and obfuscations).
So far all I hear is that different insulating materials, because of their dielectric strength affect the current running through them but there is nothing in the literature that I’m familiar with that explains any sort of permanent change, molecular alteration, rearrangement of the atoms in the insulation in a permanent way to explain "breaking in" of a cable. If anyone has read or knows some actual science behind this, please let us know.
Even the lamest of those, willing to do a bit of research, could pick up an encyclopedia (old as the 60’s-70’s) and find information on Maxwell’s equations(1873), Dielectric Absorption, Poynting’s theorem (1884) and Quantum Electrodynamics (on which we were being lectured in the 1960’s).
Another thing to consider is manufacturing impurities.
I’ve never had a piece of electronics materials I couldn’t smell when first used and heating up. Goes away with use. Or just time. But usually heat and time.
Presumably whatever this is (highly dependent on what it is and how made, but usually some kind of petroleum product) has some passing effect, however slight.
So far all I hear is that different insulating materials, because of their dielectric strength affect the current running through them but there is nothing in the literature that I'm familiar with that explains any sort of permanent change, molecular alteration, rearrangement of the atoms in the insulation in a permanent way to explain "breaking in" of a cable. If anyone has read or knows some actual science behind this, please let us know. Anyone? @kingsleuythough made an interesting point about reactance in "how the cable reacts to the counter emf that the unit is trying to push back into the power cord". Richard Heyser at Cal Tech's JPL studied this phenomenon and would publish its effects along with the rest of his reviews on speakers for "Audio Magazine", still I think, was the best reviewer out their on speaker systems and those amazing "polar plots"; well I'm getting off subject.
Unfortunately there are no measurement data or mathematical formulas to be found to back up this amazing scientific discovery. Simply “it happens”.
I suppose: if one is determined to ignore* the facts/data gleaned, over the past’s many decades of experimentation in QED, as well as basic Electrical Theory; they may choose to infer & believe such simplistic silliness.
Back in March 2022: a thread about power cords and break/burn-in was started.
I hate to type, so: I'm going to copy/paste some of my speculations.
That a highly complex musical signal, MIGHT affect Poynting vectors and signal speeds*, in interconnects, in a much more profound manner than a simple AC (ie: a fixed 60/50 Hz) signal, in a PC, seems likely (at least) to me, as; in EVERY formula regarding *those two, a signal's frequency (frequencies) always factors in greatly.
Further: the above and what I'll c/p (seems to me) lends credence to how the application of a stronger, DC voltage/field, outside a dielectric (ala Synergistic MPC and Audioquest DBS systems), might stabilize those vectors and signal speeds, PERHAPS eliminating some time smear and, "burn-in".
Bear with me a minute, in my folly, far as a possibility on why a power cord might make a difference.
Based on some of the theories on how electricity works, simplified:
The conductor acts as a waveguide for the signal/voltage.
Within the conductor: when excited by an AC current, electrons oscillate, generating photons/electromagnetic waves that travel, always from the source, to the load.
Keep in mind: all signals (ie: music, AC) are sinusoidal waves
Those photons/electromagnetic waves travel through and outside the dielectric, which (according to it's permittivity/Poynting vectors) will have various effects on those waves. One of the most obvious is the dielectric's effect on the speed of the signal.
The better designers of printed circuit boards, even take the above into account, when choosing materials for their products.
I posted a link on the first page that included data on the manufacture of semiconductor chips and what was observed when materials were cryo'd, during the process. Short version: better contact/lowered resistance between layers.
Under the scanning microscope: much smoother surfaces observed.
I would hope, by now, it's a given that various cable constructions, twists, braids, etc, can make for a cleaner transmission of signals (ie: Litz, etc).
Just seems to me (a hypothesis): given the above (some theories and some things established/measured/proven), it's not a big stretch to believe a power cord, built of the best conductor (ie: Ohno CC silver), wrapped in a very low dielectric coefficient dielectric (ie: Teflon), cryo'd for the smoothest transfer of those photons/magnetic waves and twisted in some crazy way, might not smooth out some of perturbations/noise, from the crap an AC waveform had to go through, back to it's generator. (run-on, much?)
I haven't tested this, actually comparing two circuits, but: it wouldn't surprise me, if a power supply that used a choke, would be less affected by a better power cord, as the former can eliminate a lot of the high freq garbage, etc, that's either created by, or makes it through all the big converting/filtering stuff, before.
Never thought about PCs before the good stuff hit the market, but: the Physics/QED made sense.
I tried 'em, I like 'em and the science makes my head feel better.
OH, and: it takes some time for the dielectric to form, take a charge, polarize, or however one chooses to define the process, when a dielectric is subjected to electromagnetic waves, which affects the Poynting vectors, measurably/predictably.
The lower the material’s dielectric constant: the longer that takes.
I tend to agree with this statement. We measure what we CAN measure, and the measurements prove or disprove corresponding preconceived explanations of natural phenomena. So far so good. But there is a certain circularity at work: these measurements are meant to take ambiguity out of answers to certain questions only. But how about questions which have not been asked yet, either because they're considered silly, or because the underlying phenomena had not yet been noticed. As an example from my own line of work: only two generations ago, questions asking for a link between immunology and cancer were considered besides the point. I one wanted to do research in this area, funding was almost impossible to come by, because one was trying to link two separate disciplines with their own funding priorities. Only the tenacity of a determined few found out that cancer and immunology are intimately linked, leading to a completely new approach to cancer therapy (monoclonal antibodies against check-point inhibitors) and saving countless of lives in our days. Back to audio: psychoacoustics is a field of research that brings the disciplines of psychology and physiology in touch with acoustics and electronics. Now we are tasked to ask new questions and devise experiments and measurements which will provide new answers. That is how scientific progress works.
put a piece of shungite on the cable connector ends: compression of the signals ...
put a quartz piece on the ends of the same cables connector : decompression of the signals ...
now combine them and hear the result : a balance with improvement in many case... It depend of the cable quality and design ...
No cables designer working with " basic established science/engineering principles in cable/wire electronics" will do that...
By the way i designed my own devices as a shield against EMI and minerals filters : "golden plate" ( shungite+a copper external face + quartz at some point)
" basic established science/engineering principles in cable/wire electronics"
- Maybe that is not good enough to explain the difference that what different people with different hearing ability and brain function hear in their different systems with different components in different rooms. Maybe the rudimentary measurements made by the "science/engineering" community falls short when the human brain is involved.
" basic established science/engineering principles in cable/wire electronics"
- Maybe that is not good enough to explain the difference that what different people with different hearing ability and brain function hear in their different systems with different components in different rooms. Maybe the rudimentary measurements made by the "science/engineering" community falls short when the human brain is involved.
I was as much a skeptic as many of you with a science background. Then came the 2010 RMAF, where Nordost demonstrated their various speaker cables, beginning with a regular copper litz from Home Depot, and working all the way up to their top-of-the-line (Walhalla? Odin? I don't remember). Even my wife, who is somehow hearing impaired could hear the difference between the electrician wire and their lowest price point cable. It was really very obvious. When the demonstration approached higher and higher price point I could hear less and less difference, however: a clear sign of diminished return. But the first three or four wires sounded indeed different and increasingly better, in the sense of more musical. So, concerning the question about burn-in: if one hears a new cable, it might indeed sound different compared to what one was used to, so far so good: but after a few days of "burn-in" it begins to sound more pleasant until it finally hits its stride. Or so it goes. What about "ear burn-in"? Could it not be that the user's ear gets increasingly adapted to the new sound until - paired with expectation bias after a considerable outlay in treasure - final epiphany happens? That would put all the "burn-in" discussion onto a more human, i.e. physiological and psychological, level IMHO. Now, as previous comments pointed out, there is indeed a sonic difference not only between the type of metal in the conductor, but - perhaps even more importantly - the material of the insulating dielectric surrounding the wire. I was surprised myself. To my ears, and in my system at least, there is a clear audible difference between speaker cables insulated with PVC and those insulated with PTFE or PE. Following Maxwell's paradigm of the signal mostly traveling by modulation of the electric field around - and not inside - the conductor, the dielectric surrounding the wire will inevitably have some sort of physical effect; whether this effect leads to an audible difference, I can only say from personal experience: when I exchanged my Mogami Gold wire (with direct contact of PVC insulation around the copper conductor) to a single wire running in a PTFE tube, but not touching it (so, the dielectric being air), the sound became immediately "sharper", more "precise" and less "muffled", absolutely no question. I did many A/B comparisons, also with friends, and the difference was clear, not huge, mind you, but really noticeable. Since then, I have all my speaker drivers re-wired with a single silver-clad copper wire of various diameters running in a PTFE tube w/o touching it. My explanation as an organic chemist is that with PVC, the wire is surrounded by many large and "soft" chlorine atoms, "soft" meaning that the electrons in the outermost shell are quite mobile (contrary to Fluorine, for example, where they are strongly tied up and therefore "hard"). To me it seems quite possible, that these massed chlorine atoms somehow interact with the electric field surrounding the wire and its signal modulation. Maybe the physicists among you can put my conjecture on more solid ground?
The website makes all these unverified pseudo science claims that go against basic established science/engineering principles in cable/wire electronics. Of course no lab data nor mathematical formulation. That’s what people do when selling snake oil. Maybe their cables create too much "standing waves" so "the DC phase alignment" needs to be achieved (by their patented dielectric bias system). I bet it's some high quality research that can be praised by the IEEE reviewers.
Cables are the obligatory passage of many audiophiles who for a reason or another because they cannot tackle the essential of acoustics focus on gear and especially cables.. ( and no acoustics with an (s) is not reducible to mere room acoustic or your mere ears biases )
Read me right cables matter. But it is in no way the essential...
Then yes i was whipped in my young audiophile age by the great numbers of audio threads about cables ..Most useless debates or useless fad recommendation ... a great trauma for my audiophile childhood...
You had seen it right ... 😁😊😊😊
Childhood trauma? Anyone whip you with a power cable when you were a kid for bad behavior?
Dang! I thought I 'd read something new, but yes, indeed, same old crap letter by letter and word by word of settling an insulation material to "getting used to" molecular mode LOL!!
If you look a Belden wire catalog they make all types of wire and fiber optics. They rate the insulator in capacitance per foot and the longer the cable the higher the capacitance becomes. The indicatance is from the wire and is rated in frequency as reactance Xc. You can check Belden silver plated wire and teflon insulator and compare it to a PVC or insulator and find that it's significantly lower.
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