Intro
Contents
We weren’t quite done with cables after the big cable test. We wanted to do one more small, controlled test. Namely: what is the influence of various insulation materials ánd shielding. Now we were not planning to do this on a mega scale again. So we kept it to five flavors. Nevertheless, this is again interesting stuff!
We know that various conductor materials affect playback. Silver, copper, graphene, and mixtures have a certain signature. And no: silver does not sound sharp….
Insulation and shielding
The next step in this research is how various dielectrics and shielding materials affect music reproduction. In fact, we had come across an interesting material: Aerogel. A very good insulating material. Not only for heat, but also electrically….
We ordered two rolls of Aerogel (it is also available in tape form), together with ten meters of 5N silver (0.5mm2), 10 meters of sleeve and some shrink tubing. The plugs we use from the previous interlink test (Neutrik pro, RCA).
Construction
We try to keep as much as possible the same in this test. All cables will be half a meter long. This way we can reuse the teflon tubes from the previous test and have to spend half the money on 5N silver conductors…Also not unimportant.
Each cable is basically constructed with a conductor and a ground through a Teflon tube. We twist the tubes slightly around each other. The finish is then with aerogel, copper shielding, RF cloth shielding, or no shielding at all. We have also made a version without teflon tubes but directly with Aerogel around the conductor. The ground is twisted around the conductor with the Aerogel insulation.
The soldering is done with WBT silver solder. Just as in the previous test. Around the entire cable goes a sleeve and some shrink tubes. We certainly didn’t go for “pretty” but just functional. So be sure not to pay attention to the finish of the cables. We are not professionals in that field.
Well, yes I use them in the cheap USB cables of the computer -> DAC
Würth 150 kHz ferrites is effective in my RCA cables. With interlinks cables I have not tried.
I propose an additional test. Put a Würth 150 kHz ferrite on the end of the interlink cable that connects to the preamp, integrated or measuring device.
Hey Maty,
I am not going to be testing cables for a while now. Sorry…