Can a cable really be directional?

The idea of a cable being directional has always been a myth. Eric Johnson claimed to have a directional cable but most of us laughed saying he finally went to far in his quest for peerless tone. Or did he? As it turns out it is quite possible for a instrument cable to have polarity or directionality. However, the cables you find at the guitar super store cannot claim directionality for the simple reason that the copper wire used is not pure enough. Eric has the last laugh on cable polarity. I wish someone would have just explained this to me along time ago. Fortunately you have Peerless Tone to explain it to you as well as give you the opportunity to buy own your on high grade, premium quality, directional instrument cables.

Evidence Audio cables are directional for two reasons. The first is that the ground is lifted at the guitar end. This is explained in detail on the previous page, Evidence Audio Instrument Cables. The 2nd level of cable directionality or polarity is explained below.

Remember that the part of the cable that sound energy travels down is copper and that the purity of the copper determines how smooth the copper is. Discontinuity in the copper core are regions where unwanted contaminates collect and this degrades your tone. The presence of these contaminates cause high-end spikey transients and interfere with subtle harmonic content. Also, as the sound signal travels down the length of the smooth copper the energy causes chevron shaped inflections to occur along the length of the copper wire. A path or highway, if you will, is created along the length of the cable. Since the inflections are basically shaped like chevrons, they form a directionality if you always run the cable in the same direction. Evidence Audio tells me that their cables require a 40 hour break-in period.
Not that the cable doesn't sound awesome right out of the package. I could hear an immediate difference over my favorite Fulltone cables. This break-in period is the time it takes for the energy of the guitar frequencies to inflect a path along the cable. It is not a degenerative process, more of a trail forming.

Now returning to Eric Johnson's statements regarding the directionality of his cable. His ears do seem to be telling him the truth. Although, I'm sure he is above average, his ability to discriminate does not have to be superhuman. The good quality cable using high grade copper would impart directionality after some use. The cable would sound better when plugged into the direction it is always used at. The reason you can't hear this effect at home is due to the quality (or lack of) the cable. With a standard cable the number of impurities causes the directional chevron trail to get lost in the noise. If the copper is not smooth enough at the start, then the chevron path will not be distinguishable or audible beyond that of the existing inflections or discontinuities in the copper. Also, even if you do have a high grade copper wire in your instrument cable, if you do not adhere to directionality during the break in period (plug in the same way every time) then the chevrons will be randomly organized and a coherent line of directionality will not form or be audible.

Isn't that cool. Kinda sheds a whole new light on the feasibility of applying science to describe subjective experiences such as tone.

Through your passion for connecting with your music, you will learn to trust your ears and end up with the best collection of equipment to express yourself with. If anything I hope this brief foray into the technology and science of instrument cables has shown that your signature tone is ultimately in your fingers. It is the job of your equipment to faithfully reproduce that tone. This is a recurring theme here at Peerless Tone. We discussed it before when reviewing the Lil Dawg amplifiers. It seems more and more apparent that the best gear lets the real tone of your playing shine through.

Peerless Tone
Evidence Audio

REFERENCES:
(1) Evidence Audio's webpage www.evideneaudio.com.