Why do phono sockets sound different (to me)?

[tom1356]

...you are one of the more extreme audio researchers, and I mean it in a good way. The other good example (of true fanatism this time) might be a guy who makes his own carbon and silver wire resistors.

Yeah that guy's whacked.

Of course you could just make your own from .9999 pure silver wire. No worries about the solder joint at the jack end because there isn't one.
They don't sound like anything you have heard before.

 

[Peter Daniel]

Yeah that guy's whacked.

No, he's not whacked. He's an inspiration to everybody.

And I have to admit a bit of fanatism of my own, otherwise why would I be building a DAC in this way?

 

[Harlan]

I am not totally awake as I read through this post, but well as the brain awakes to coffee here, I wanted to share my thoughts as well.
i had also found in the past this phenomenon but didnt have the means to explore this.
All of the factors mentioned so far, contact resistance materials, alloy differences...... which all might be minimal really, and as Tube_Dude said parasitic capacitance.
To a really good ear, I imagine that these properties all in combination add up to that difference.
As far as a blind test, yeah great, and the science in me says there also should be a way to determine by testing the causes, ever so slight. Plastic insulating shells will definetly have a different capacitance than ceramic, and then at different frequencies there would be impedance changes, so maybe eliminating DC resistance as the concern area, do some tests on the capacitance and the impedance in the operating circuit?
In the long run it is all about the best sound, and I suppose that from one design to another would make a big difference in the how the socket properties woulld react as well, meaning that in some cases maybe the cheap plastic ones would actually sound better than the high quality connectors.
Nice subject to wake up to.... Thanks
Harlan

 

[sobazz]

Interesting view, Harlan. Actually Linn uses some pretty el cheapo sockets in their rather expensive Unidisk 1.1. They say that those sockets are better than other very expensive types in that specific product

 

[Peter Daniel]

This is actually an opinion that is not new to me. Some former forum member, Dice45, claimed that cheap, plastic, sheet metal jacks sound much better that those machined, expensive types.

 

[fmak]

To a really good ear, I imagine that these properties all in combination add up to that difference.
As far as a blind test, yeah great, and the science in me says there also should be a way to determine by testing the causes, ever so slight. Plastic insulating shells will definetly have a different capacitance than ceramic, and then at different frequencies there would be impedance changes, so maybe eliminating DC resistance as the concern area, do some tests on the capacitance and the impedance in the operating circuit?
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Actually, it is not only 'trained' ears but also a highly resolving system that count. I think that many deny that omponents affect sonics because their systems are insufficiently transparent.

There is actually a scientifically based reason why some 'plastic' components sound different. The very expensive ANVX cables actually have falling ac resistance at high frequencies (1 MHz or so) and sounds 'warmer'. Plastic dielectrics also have high tan deltas which are easily measureable and act like mylar caps.

I had a high end teflon insulated balanced plug which uses a rubber O ring touching the contacts to provide the spring load and this had a very high tan delta. Cutting this off retsores the correct status quo!