High Fidelity Cables- the new kid in town?

[Priaptor]

I have indeed auditioned the CT-1 IC and they are excellent. In my system, at the time, they easily bested my MIT Matrix 50.

However, they are ONLY SE at this time. My understanding is that he is working on a balanced cable, although I didn't quite understand the technical issues, I did understand that using his "technology" will require two SE cables and hence double the price.

I can't speak to the legitimacy of the science, just the sound of his cable. Is is worth the price? It is up to each of us to determine that.

 

[Speedskater]

Not a lawyer. But information I find from lawyers is in the US you are not allowed to make or use even for personal use patented items without permission. You aren't likely to be prosecuted. But aren't actually being legal if you do such a thing. In any case without spending at least a thousand bucks plus no one would be convinced the result equaled the magic secret sauce of the patent holder it appears.

Under US patent law even your commercial competitors are permitted to make a copy of your unit for study. What is not permitted is selling that copy.

 

[Atmasphere]

Not a lawyer. But information I find from lawyers is in the US you are not allowed to make or use even for personal use patented items without permission. You aren't likely to be prosecuted. But aren't actually being legal if you do such a thing. In any case without spending at least a thousand bucks plus no one would be convinced the result equaled the magic secret sauce of the patent holder it appears.

I have a couple of patents- the above is correct.

My understanding is that he is working on a balanced cable, although I didn't quite understand the technical issues, I did understand that using his "technology" will require two SE cables and hence double the price.

Just a FWIW: the balanced line cable system was devised to eliminate cable artifacts and it is actually very good at that if the standards are maintained.

The standards are:

1) pin outs- pin 1 is ground, male connectors are outputs, pin 2 is non-inverting in the US, pin 3 is inverting.
2) ground (pin 1) is ignored by the equipment; it is only used for shielding (no signal current)
3) the source driving the cable will be able to drive a low impedance - 1000 to 2000 ohms as a load should be no problem.

If you follow these practices the cable can be quite long without ill effects. You will also find that unusual configurations like the one suggested above will result in no improvement whatsoever.

However if the equipment does not support the standard in some way (most high end manufacturers get in trouble with #2 and #3) then all bets are off.

 

[es347]

He has several videos on Youtube calling himself The Oddiophile ...watch and draw your own conclusions..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cbzcFGcckI...uh, ok

 

[Speedskater]

[........................................]

Just a FWIW: the balanced line cable system was devised to eliminate cable artifacts and it is actually very good at that if the standards are maintained.

The standards are:

1) pin outs- pin 1 is ground, male connectors are outputs, pin 2 is non-inverting in the US, pin 3 is inverting.
2) ground (pin 1) is ignored by the equipment; it is only used for shielding (no signal current)
3) the source driving the cable will be able to drive a low impedance - 1000 to 2000 ohms as a load should be no problem.

If you follow these practices the cable can be quite long without ill effects. You will also find that unusual configurations like the one suggested above will result in no improvement whatsoever.

However if the equipment does not support the standard in some way (most high end manufacturers get in trouble with #2 and #3) then all bets are off.

For balanced interconnects using XLR connectors, Audio Engineering Society Standard #48 is the reference.
But pin #1 is not the audio circuit ground it is the shield and in equipment, it should only be connected to the chassis.
A balanced interconnect has no audio circuit ground.

 

[rbbert]

Which is what Ralph posted ( and you quoted)?

 

[Atmasphere]

For balanced interconnects using XLR connectors, Audio Engineering Society Standard #48 is the reference.
But pin #1 is not the audio circuit ground it is the shield and in equipment, it should only be connected to the chassis.
A balanced interconnect has no audio circuit ground.

Correct. See 2) of the original post.