Being unshielded and braided does not make them "SO wrong", just different.
...or alternatively, Kimber have been around a long time, with a lot of marketing / market penetration built up over the decades, and the innocents keep right on buying because it's there and they know the name. Nothing unusual about that, there is something to be said for an established market position, especially in the commercial hi-fi world, which is notoriously difficult for new companies to successfully break into these days. Plenty come -and very few last.
Henry Ott has an 850 page book on EMI/RFI. It has a chapter on cables and it has a chapter on shields. From my reading of the book, Kimber's PBJ cable is wrong.
High quality Star Quad microphone cable with a braided shield (like Canare) is probably better than all of this other stuff, and there is science behind its design. This cable, when mated with very high quality connectors in either a balanced or single-ended interconnect, is probably difficult to beat. Moreover, the cost is probably significantly lower for the cable itself, since so much of it is manufactured for the pro audio industry. I would be interested to know if any audiophile interconnect companies make ICs based on Star Quad.
Cheers,
Bob
Cheers,
Bob
Define 'audiophile companies'. 
I can point to at least one commercial example (I actually own a pair, which I got when I needed something fancy-looking for a commercial show) Fisual Havana XL Custom Made Stereo Phono / RCA Cable (Pair) - Stereo Phono / RCA Cables - AV Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists but being an own-brand product from a mid-sized UK retailer, sold for not-a-lot of money, it doesn't really count for some, even though its spec. ticks all the boxes they tend to want, and I can certainly say mine are very nicely made.
By and large, to the best of my knowledge coax tends to be the technical optimum for phono / RCA leads, with twisted pair or star-quad + separate shield coming in a close second.
I can point to at least one commercial example (I actually own a pair, which I got when I needed something fancy-looking for a commercial show) Fisual Havana XL Custom Made Stereo Phono / RCA Cable (Pair) - Stereo Phono / RCA Cables - AV Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists but being an own-brand product from a mid-sized UK retailer, sold for not-a-lot of money, it doesn't really count for some, even though its spec. ticks all the boxes they tend to want, and I can certainly say mine are very nicely made.By and large, to the best of my knowledge coax tends to be the technical optimum for phono / RCA leads, with twisted pair or star-quad + separate shield coming in a close second.
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There are a lot of unshielded IC's out there, not just the Kimber PBJ.
I'm not arguing the value of shields for RFI protection, if that is what is desired. I just think it's silly to say that a cable that works is "wrong".
I tend to think that if all those unshielded IC's in use were just RFI attenna's picking up unwanted noise, there would be no shortage of posts about this on audio and cable forums everywhere.
Then there's the whole issue of shielding and connecting the shield. For a shield to properly function it must be connected properly. Blue Jeans cable has a good article about this, and BJ has a decent amount of credibility here on diyaudio.
According to BJ, the shield must be crimped to the connector. How many shielded connectors are crimped to the connector? Pigtailing the shield and soldering to the connector is way less effective.
Then there is the issue of connecting the shield to just the "source" end and making the shield a stub, or connecting the shield to both ends. BJ makes a good case for connecting at both ends. And that's how I do it when I make a shielded IC.
There are certainly a lot of opinions about the perceived value of the shield as a stub. But there's not much empirical supporting evidence, just opinion.
Then again, how much of an issue is RFI in a short IC cable? Unless one happens to have a amateur radio hobbyist next door who is transmitting when you are listening, or if you live under, or near to, a mobile phone tower...how much of an issue is this?
Oh, I know, it's supposedly everywhere all the time.
Even,
1) I actually have done it and that's the only I will or would do it again.
2) Why's the truth a classic smear job? Because it disagrees with your beliefs?
3) The #1 BIGGEST lie ever told about Audio was "The Ten Biggest Lies in Audio."
Thetubeguy1954
kn0ppers, I have indeed done DBTs as I suggested with the exception of there being no CCTV installed. Instead, a person sat about 10 ft behind me to make sure I didn't peak at what wires were installed.
You might be surprised to hear a subjectivist such as me admit that it wasn't always the higher-priced wire that sounded best. That said, I'll readily admit many times it was! The reality is the closer the wires were in price the less often the more expensive wire would sound best.
Two power cords I own that would be a perfect example of this are the $1545 Snake River Audio Cottonmouth Signature and the $1250 Sablon Audio Gran Corona. They sound very similar sonically, but the Sablon while being $300 less expensive takes everything the Snake River Audio power cord does just a couple of notches higher and is the power cord I preferred. I still use both power cords in my system today and highly recommend using either.
And no for your information my wife never noticed from another room when I changed wires. She did however do that when I changed audio components a couple of times!
Thetubeguy1954
You might be surprised to hear a subjectivist such as me admit that it wasn't always the higher-priced wire that sounded best. That said, I'll readily admit many times it was! The reality is the closer the wires were in price the less often the more expensive wire would sound best.
Two power cords I own that would be a perfect example of this are the $1545 Snake River Audio Cottonmouth Signature and the $1250 Sablon Audio Gran Corona. They sound very similar sonically, but the Sablon while being $300 less expensive takes everything the Snake River Audio power cord does just a couple of notches higher and is the power cord I preferred. I still use both power cords in my system today and highly recommend using either.
And no for your information my wife never noticed from another room when I changed wires. She did however do that when I changed audio components a couple of times!
Thetubeguy1954
thetubeguy1954, do you have any involvement with electronic audio products or sales of those? I'm asking because you've checked the boxes of those who shill for such products, "anyone who cannot hear the difference between a cheap $100 pr of ICs and a high-quality (not high-priced) pair of ICs has to either be tone-deaf or listening on an audio system that's not very musically resolving", "person is being tested puts a strain on them while they're listening", "but the reality is it's not a valid DBT". Classic shill lines overused for years, even on this forum.
Snake River Audio Cottonmouth Signature
Sablon Audio Gran Corona
Wow, with those names, each one will sound amazing for a time, but after I stop hyper-focusing on positive aspects of the sound in front of me, then swapping them for lamp cord, I would hear no difference between them.
Sablon Audio Gran Corona
Wow, with those names, each one will sound amazing for a time, but after I stop hyper-focusing on positive aspects of the sound in front of me, then swapping them for lamp cord, I would hear no difference between them.
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i worked as a QC/QA engineer in Oil and Gas refinery construction projects, and as a matter of good practice, cable shields are terminated to ground only at one location and as to which end it is specified by construction specs at the very beginning....maybe this is where the audiophile crowd got this practice...
i have nothing against this really....recently i have been using twisted wires more than shielded types....
I think in most analog signal wiring, the Telephone Company was there first. While most telco cable is not shielded, or used the now-rare overall lead sheath for weather resistance, the telco knew ALL kinds of cable.
lead sheeted 6.6kv power 35mm sq 3 phase cables, paper in oil insulated with steel wrap around and lead outers sheet are what we had to lay for temporary kiosk in our construction projects, i think i have seen a lot of cables in my time, as high as 110kv in single cores with 100mm diameter....
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No one would ever say a high-dollar amplifier is flawed, only that it is "incompatible" with some models of cables and speakers. The dealer knows from experience what works with what, so just let the dealer choose for you ...
Besides, making an amplifier that works driving all cables and speakers would cost extra money that would be better spent on marketing.
Don't kid yourself. Naim and NVA in the UK both build / built amplifiers sans output Zobels that more or less mandate the use of low capacitance speaker wire to ensure stability. In the latter's case, they even stress that if you don't use their wire, you will invalidate the equipment's warranty, and users requiring warranty work may even be obliged to provide proof of wire purchase before they will consider whether they are under any obligation to provide such work. As I recall, Naim have softened up their approach in this regard over the last decade or so, although I don't keep close tabs on such things.
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