DIelectric constant is a measure of the perfect storage of static elecrical field energy wrt vacuum in Coulombs/Volt, with 100.00000% of the energy returned to the system at zero voltage. These range for 1.6 to 3, a dimensionless number.

Linear dielectric absorbtion is energy dissipated by the energy storage and lost to the environment as heat, the mathematical equivalent of linear resistance. This is nulled in an analog impedance bridge by an electrically orthogonal potentiometer, and is usually the larger part of “DIssipation Factor” as reported by digital impedance meters.

NON-LINEAR DIELECTRIC ABSORBTION is the remainder which can’t be nulled becasue it is a non-linear loss of energy that is a function of frequency, voltage and time. This causes insulation materials to DISTORT the audio signal like all non-linearities.

I ran a simple series of listening tests with all the RCA interconnects I accumulated, including the cheap ones that come with inexpensive audio gear and stocked by Radio Shaft. (sic). These ranged from awful to pristine, and when I tested them on my impedance bridge the pristine ones had unmeasurable Dissipation Factor (perfect nulls) and the awful ones had a DF around .09 from PVC insulation.

I then checked a variety of coupling and crossover capacitors and found the same correlation between sonic quality and dielectric absorbtion, with Teflon being the best. The highest objective performance capacitors for instrumentation use in military and aerospace equipment is skived, oil-filled Teflon. Unfortunately, oil filled insulation is a problem in wire insulation because it leaks when it contacts other surfaces, and skived Teflon is less abrasion resistant than cast Teflon insulation.

Here is a shocker: the epoxy used for FR circuit boards has an audible level of DF. All those tweaky audiophiles who procalim the virtues of point-to-point witring are right!

In an attempt to discover whether I can ditch my long term reliance on audiophile hype and peer learning I have actually been trying out some sensibly priced, properly designed shall we say ‘pro-audio’ affordable wires – and boy are you right on the nail here with your assessment of the whole cable situation.

After this last two weeks I can safely say science has some say after all and those electrical characteristics you mention do have logical, hearable and repeatable effects.

The first cable I tried has great reviews in the pro forums, no nonsense microphone cabling and low capacitance, the second I already had and didn’t like and the third the suppler kindly sent me to correct my issues with the first.

The first cable hurt my ears! Way too bright, hard, harsh – ‘burn in’ my audiophile brain suggested, so I did. 30 hours later (somewhat short of the recommend 175!! ?) and it was clearly not going to change any further, better, but not a keeper. I didn’t listen during the burn-in, I’m not daft, I kept the auditions to a minimum to avoid brain/ear adaptation – but still, way too bright after all that time so out it went.

The suppler suggests another cable so I ordered that and whilst waiting stuck the cable I had for while but never used (as it was also bright) back into the system as it was all I had (my trusty old Audioquest had finally died!). Well it sounded quite fine, still bright, but compared to the new cable quite fine indeed! I enjoyed it, wondering how it could have changed it’s character so much overnight without any burn-in or listening (you know of course!).

Then the third cable in the mix arrived. So before I started listening I thought I would review the first one, because after hearing the second cable in a better light after a while listening to the first I thought I might do likewise and see if this had magically changed properties. And of course yes it had! Now not so bright, very detailed – still unconvincing on harsh material but… what’s going on here!

Next in went the third cable, now science and the suppler suggested this cable’s higher capacitance and overly engineered screening (to work well in electrically noisy studios) might just pull down those higher frequencies a bit – and they did! Right from the off it sounded both lovely and sweet, detailed and clear – but also did something interesting to the timbre of voices and instruments. I burnt it in for a day or so, but not much changed – lovely. A cable that highlights strands in the music – weird but true.

So I am just about to place the first cable back into the system again as I am convinced it will have magically improved, for exactly the reasons you state – ear/brain adjustment to the other cables over a period of time (the ear wax syndrome!) ?

So we are buggered aren’t we, what’s needed is an audio equivalent to a sorbet course during a fine meal – something to clear our palate of adapted hearing and get it ready for the next cable audition! Or leave the cables alone and just visit the ear wax remover!

Anyway, I’ve bookmarking this article as a sort of ‘audiophile sorbet’ and will read it before and in-between cable auditions in the future – great read and thanks!

Tim