watchnerd
Grand Contributor
I recently bought another step-up transformer that required an additional grounding cable beyond the one built into the tonearm cable I already use.
I went to Amazon and, for about a $20-$25 premium over generic grounding cables, I spotted the Audioquest GroundGoody Jupiter PSS, 2m version for $33.95.
Since I got a nice bonus this year, I decided to splurge #YOLO.
According to the Audioquest website, the Jupiter PSS features:
[paste]
SOLID PERFECT-SURFACE SILVER (PSS) CONDUCTORS
Perfect-Surface Technology applied to extreme-purity silver provides unprecedented clarity and dynamic contrast. Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS) is AudioQuest's highest-quality metal. Solid conductors prevent strand interaction, a major source of cable distortion. Extremely high-purity Perfect-Surface Silver minimizes distortion caused by the grain boundaries that exist within any metal conductor, nearly eliminating harshness and greatly increasing clarity compared to OFHC, OCC, 8N and other coppers.
FEP AIR-TUBE INSULATION (FEP IS A FLUORO-POLYMER)
Any solid material adjacent to a conductor is actually part of an imperfect circuit. Wire insulation and circuit board materials all absorb energy (loss). Some of this energy is stored and then later released as distortion. Air, however, absorbs next to no energy, and FEP is the best extrudable solid insulation, absorbing less energy than other materials. The use of FEP Air-Tube insulation, with almost nothing but air around the solid PSC+ conductors, improves the sound of an audio system's focus and dynamics.
ALL CONDUCTORS CONTROLLED FOR RF NOISE DIRECTIONALITY
DIRECT-SILVER PLATED 3/16" (4.8MM) SPADES
Direct-Silver Plating is optimized for sound. It looks dull because there is no underlying layer of shiny, distortion-causing nickel.
[/end paste]
Wow, what an amazing set of features for a cable that doesn't even pass an audio signal.
However, when I first installed it, I didn't notice that the cables were directional!!!
After having listened for a few hours without having paid attention to what direction the ground cables arrows were facing, I hastily went to check....
Were my grounding electrons not going to make it to earth if I hooked it up wrong?
Was my nearby Wifi access point going to start injecting GHz digital data into my <20Khz analog audio stream?
Luckily....
...I set the directional arrow correctly by utter accident, so nothing bad happened.
Thank goodness I didn't get the arrows backwards, as who knows what kind of out of control RFI oscillation feedback I might have sent through my system, in the worst case blowing up everything, or in the best, maybe making my blackest blacks of silence less black.
As for the sonic impact, I can objectively report that the Audioquest GroundGoody does a great job as a grounding cable and I have no audible hum.
I went to Amazon and, for about a $20-$25 premium over generic grounding cables, I spotted the Audioquest GroundGoody Jupiter PSS, 2m version for $33.95.
Since I got a nice bonus this year, I decided to splurge #YOLO.
According to the Audioquest website, the Jupiter PSS features:
[paste]
SOLID PERFECT-SURFACE SILVER (PSS) CONDUCTORS
Perfect-Surface Technology applied to extreme-purity silver provides unprecedented clarity and dynamic contrast. Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS) is AudioQuest's highest-quality metal. Solid conductors prevent strand interaction, a major source of cable distortion. Extremely high-purity Perfect-Surface Silver minimizes distortion caused by the grain boundaries that exist within any metal conductor, nearly eliminating harshness and greatly increasing clarity compared to OFHC, OCC, 8N and other coppers.
FEP AIR-TUBE INSULATION (FEP IS A FLUORO-POLYMER)
Any solid material adjacent to a conductor is actually part of an imperfect circuit. Wire insulation and circuit board materials all absorb energy (loss). Some of this energy is stored and then later released as distortion. Air, however, absorbs next to no energy, and FEP is the best extrudable solid insulation, absorbing less energy than other materials. The use of FEP Air-Tube insulation, with almost nothing but air around the solid PSC+ conductors, improves the sound of an audio system's focus and dynamics.
ALL CONDUCTORS CONTROLLED FOR RF NOISE DIRECTIONALITY
DIRECT-SILVER PLATED 3/16" (4.8MM) SPADES
Direct-Silver Plating is optimized for sound. It looks dull because there is no underlying layer of shiny, distortion-causing nickel.
[/end paste]
Wow, what an amazing set of features for a cable that doesn't even pass an audio signal.
However, when I first installed it, I didn't notice that the cables were directional!!!
After having listened for a few hours without having paid attention to what direction the ground cables arrows were facing, I hastily went to check....
Were my grounding electrons not going to make it to earth if I hooked it up wrong?
Was my nearby Wifi access point going to start injecting GHz digital data into my <20Khz analog audio stream?
Luckily....
...I set the directional arrow correctly by utter accident, so nothing bad happened.
Thank goodness I didn't get the arrows backwards, as who knows what kind of out of control RFI oscillation feedback I might have sent through my system, in the worst case blowing up everything, or in the best, maybe making my blackest blacks of silence less black.
As for the sonic impact, I can objectively report that the Audioquest GroundGoody does a great job as a grounding cable and I have no audible hum.
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