Thanks! Don't need it, this would have been a few years ago when I was making my first headphone cable setup. Then recently I did as well as I created RCA's & Coax for a Schiit stack. I did what my Camp A, B, and C example did (and even did some Camp E with a Quest for Audio). Audibly, I hear no difference, and it doesn't seem my area is all that noisy because no matter which cable I use, there are no hisses, hums, or anything other than music in all of its tubed glory. Camp A can keep their braid, my fingers still hurt!
It isn't so much that there are different camps as it is that the answer depends on various factors you didn't state in the question, not that you knew that. The answer can be simple or complicated depending on what your are trying to do and how much of a shielding problem you actually have.
Actually, there are articles and books written on grounding and shielding. A complete answer might involve Maxwell's Equations and advanced calculus including Bessel functions.
Since people who take the time to respond don't know what you haven't stated, the tendency may be for them to assume you are asking about a situation that occurs to them as most probable and they respond accordingly.
There is good chance you will get better answers if you state the exact wiring or interconnection problem you are trying to solve, including anything you may have already tried that didn't work. When you pose a specific question instead of a very general one, you are more likely to get less variation in answers. Also, sometimes there is more than one way to skin a cat. You may get alternative suggestions that you can choose from.
If your interest is in general learning, then it may help to ask for references to read to get acquainted with the subject at whatever technical level you want to pursue.
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I don't think cable shielding comes under 'basic questions'. 'Basic questions' come from people who don't know the difference between AC and DC, or believe that putting a wire into a box of dirt will magically sink away all their system noise. Also people who think that electrolytics wear out in about 5 years, or that cotton is a good insulator, or that silver is a much better conductor than copper.
In days of old people read books, and there was some hope that technical books were reasonably reliable. These days people don't read books, and the few remaining technical magazines don't seem to do any serious technical checking on their own articles.
In days of old people read books, and there was some hope that technical books were reasonably reliable. These days people don't read books, and the few remaining technical magazines don't seem to do any serious technical checking on their own articles.
I wasn't asking a question, I was more or less just portraying what I have experienced in the past. Asking "what is the proper way to wire up a custom cable for my AKG headphones to my headphone amplifier" (years ago now) I got responses from those 3 camps. Recently while researching proper ways to create a custom RCA cable in regards to shielding between my DAC and headphone amp, I saw the various camps with their answers. Now, I could have googled the wrong question to begin with, but those 2 topics just seemed so basic to me.
You & I just might be the same person. I have another thing I work on that is deemed "high end" because it is hand made, and the amount of people that ask if I would make this device with silver instead of copper because of voltage drop. I have shown off the devices in both a silver & copper version & both had the same voltage drop because the size/length of run was like 3 inches max. OK, I gotta get back to work!
Or Google was useless and lazy and fobbed you off
Thanks for dropping by, don't work too hard
Or Google was useless and lazy and fobbed you off
HAHA! I really do think my relationship with Google has changed as well. I don't want it to end in divorce. I wonder if they have relationship counselors for this sort of thing? Someone Google that for me
All the major search engines now use essentially the same data and super similar algorithms (i.e., Google's, rewritten). Biased by whatever commercial sponsors they want floated to the top.
I'm a Google. I got a Bing infestation (bundled with FileZilla). Bing does get FedEx tracking in one click instead of two. On normal searches the top several ad-links were different. Otherwise I saw no significant difference between Google and Bing, only the semi-random changes of result order which come from doing the same search at different times. And yes, Google (and I'm sure Bing) use my past searches to "improve" its guess of what I really want to see (or that they should sell me). There are engines which explicitly do not track users (Duck..), if that annoys/frightens you. Google says that browser Private Mode is not tracked (I'm not sure that "private" is any sort of total sealed-room, more like a curtain for an illusion of privacy.)
Baidu is superficially different. It is more-filtered than general-world engines. I suspect that the algorithms are still Google-like. The database is specialized for Baidu's users. I can read the pictures but the words do me no good unless they link to an English/EUR site. There are also Christian, Islamic and Jewish search engines. Such specialized searches also typically block all pornography however soft; though Google is good at dropping the more risqué links unless you specifically ask for the good stuff.
In the days before hyperbole became internet fact, I purchased a Thorens TD124/II deck for $50 and was very disappointed when I discovered it was idler driven. I had previously played around with a Lenco and Connoisseur deck and thought they were noisy and crude.
I'm imaging now just how p*ssed I'd be if had read all the internet codswallop on how wonderful the Thorens were, and I had paid the stupid money these things go for now.
The 124 was stuck on a shelf and there it remains, never used.
I'm imaging now just how p*ssed I'd be if had read all the internet codswallop on how wonderful the Thorens were, and I had paid the stupid money these things go for now.
The 124 was stuck on a shelf and there it remains, never used.
That's a nice example. Of course, the struggle is that there are many ways to crack a nut. Thinking in a "whole system" way is challenging and rare in my experience.
I suppose most folks asking questions aren't after total perfection but seek a practical, competent compromise.
This causes problems when the perfectionists (including me) start arguing over bleeding-edge details and leave the questioner none the wiser.
Oh yeah, I totally understand this. I have been a long time Linux developer and my days with computers and programming goes back to the 80s. So I am one of those who prefer the command line & hate the mouse, so I too would do this when trying to tell a new person to Linux or open source software how to go about fixing or doing something when all along, like Windows, you can just right click somewhere
Too true. I think hifi and hyperbole have been synonymous even before the internet came along. There is really little to trust. Hearing is believing.
THIS! I am willing to be a lot of the "basic questions" are coming from people who have yet to hear something good. Like me, I bet a lot have only heard what Best Buy has to offer. I have heard crazy expensive high end systems over my time, but I really never paid attention to them, so my ears really aren't trained. I just purchased my 3 day pass to AXPONA since I only live a couple of miles from where it will be, so hopefully I can train my ears a little better there and get an idea of what "good" really is. In the mean time, I have a Schiit stack (Modi 2 Uber & Vali 2) with some good AKG and Sennheiser cans. I now only use my Logitech's for YouTube
Perhaps we could dream up 10 questions to throw at a search engine and then see how they deliver.
As a beginner might ask...... and in line with 'basic questions' as is the title of the thread. These are all the kind of things that get answered every day around here.
I haven't 'Googled' any of them, I'll leave that to you. Copy and paste them and see what you get and how many return diyAudio as a result.
1/ What size smoothing capacitor to use
2/ How to adjust bias
3/ How to set up laser power
4/ How to lower amplifier hiss
5/ Test an output transistor
6/ How long do capacitors last
7/ How thick should speaker wire be
8/ Testing opamps
9/ How to stop amplifier humming
10/ How to wire a volume control
As a beginner might ask...... and in line with 'basic questions' as is the title of the thread. These are all the kind of things that get answered every day around here.
I haven't 'Googled' any of them, I'll leave that to you. Copy and paste them and see what you get and how many return diyAudio as a result.
1/ What size smoothing capacitor to use
2/ How to adjust bias
3/ How to set up laser power
4/ How to lower amplifier hiss
5/ Test an output transistor
6/ How long do capacitors last
7/ How thick should speaker wire be
8/ Testing opamps
9/ How to stop amplifier humming
10/ How to wire a volume control
On another electronics forum, some newbie asked what "NFB" was. He was told to Google. Curious, I found that none of the first-page links came anywhere near how we used it. Another dude suggested "Acronym NFB", which is some better, but would never occur to me.
So I will begin designing National Film Board or National Federation of the Blind into all my amplifiers.
Wikipedia does have "our meaning" as one of 9 choices.
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