
Over recent years, our online guides have created an extensive encyclopedia of audio terminology. We decided to bring these disparate dictionaries of audio terms together for the first time. This exhaustive guide is the result.
While the days of trying to baffle people with terms only the cognoscenti know are (hopefully) behind us – many readers might recall the patronizing salesman in the ‘Grammo-phone’ sketch from Not The Nine O’clock News in the early 1980s – this is still a terminology-led industry, and knowing the terms is a good idea if we are to be able to recognize how components might conceivably be different, and why.
While it’s important not to get too hung up on the terminology – we are in an industry where observed performance should always remain more important than specifications – knowing the difference between a ported loudspeaker and a sealed-box loudspeaker is important and knowing that a sealed-box loudspeaker and an infinite baffle design are basically one and the same is important, too.
AUDIO CABLE TERMS
High-end audio cables, much like other categories of audio components, have gradually developed a specialized vocabulary all their own. And, as sometimes happens with other types of audio products, ‘cable speak’ can at first seem confusing if not dauntingly obscure to the uninitiated. But not to worry; help is on the way. The Absolute Sound team has assembled this Glossary of Audio Cable Terms to explain cable terminology in a manner that interested laymen will be able to understand (or at least that’s the plan). Enjoy.
Analogue Interconnects (or Interconnects)
Analogue interconnects are audio cables specifically designed to carry low-level analogue audio signals from source components to amplification components, or from preamplifiers to power amplifiers.
Typically, analogue interconnects come in two forms: single-ended cables (in most cases fitted with RCA jacks at both ends) or balanced cables (usually fitted with a male three-pin XLR plug at one end and female three-pin XLR socket at the other end).
Balanced Interconnects
The majority of interconnects are single-ended cables that have two conductors—one carrying +/– signals and the other serving as a ground.
Balanced cables, however, are different in that they have three conductors—one for the + signal, one for the – signal, and one serving as a ground.
When properly executed, balanced audio circuits offer either higher output than or lower noise levels than equivalent single ended circuits, which allows longer runs of cables and that is why pro-audio equipment is almost universally balanced in operation. However, balanced circuits are inherently more complex to design and manufacture than equivalent single-ended circuits, and likewise balanced cables are more complex (and usually more costly) than their single ended counterparts.
Some common balanced connector types include XLR connectors (much like the connectors you might see on professional microphones), TRS or ‘tip-ring-sleeve’ connectors (which look like ¼-inch phone plugs and are more commonly seen in pro-sound rather than high-end home audio applications), and AES/EBU connectors (which are used for balanced digital audio applications).
Bi-Wiring
Some loudspeakers are configured to allow bi-wiring, which means that instead of having just one +/- pair of connection terminals, the speakers—usually, but not always, two-way designs—instead have two sets of terminal, where one set is for the low-frequency driver and the other for the high-frequency driver.
When choosing to bi-wire, users would run two complete sets of speaker cables to each loudspeaker—one routed to the low frequency driver terminals and the other to the high-frequency driver terminals. In theory, this practice can yield a purer, clearer, and more tightly focused sound overall.
Several technical explanations are offered to explain the ostensible benefits of bi-wiring, but opinions on the efficacy of bi-wiring can and do vary among high-end cable designers.
When choosing not to bi-wire, users would instead run a single primary set of speaker cables to their loudspeakers—typically to the terminals for the low-frequency driver, and then would run a set of short ‘jumper’ cables (ideally identical in configuration to the main cables) from the low-frequency driver terminals to their adjacent high-frequency driver terminals.
Capacitance, Resistance, & Inductance
These three electrical characteristics are the basic building blocks of all high-end cable designs; they are the essential variables that cable designers seek to manipulate in their quest for higher performance and better sound.
Capacitance is the ability of a cable (or a capacitor) to store an electrical charge.
Generally speaking, most designers consider that lower capacitance is better. The train of thought is that one does not want an audio cable to absorb and store an electrical charge from the music signals being passed through the cable, because such charges will inevitably be released (or dissipated) later on in time, thus ‘smearing’ the sound of the music.
Inductance is the property of cable (or an inductor) to resist changes in current flowing through the cable through the process of inducing an electromotive force (EMF), which actively resists current changes. Generally speaking, most designers consider that lower inductance is better, since ideally one would want cables to allow current changes to occur in a natural or free-flowing manner as required by changes in the music signal.
Resistance is a measure of the difficulty to pass an electrical current through a conductor—in this case a cable. Generally speaking, most designers consider that lower resistance is better, since the lower the resistance the less energy is dissipated within the cable when driving current through the cable. This factor can be especially important in designing cables that are meant to conduct very low-level audio signals with minimum signal loss and distortion.
Coaxial Cable
A type of cable construction often used in digital or single-ended interconnects with a central +/- signal conductor surrounded by an insulating (dielectric layer), in turn surrounded by an outer conductive shield or sheath used as a ground or ‘return’, with a protective insulation jacket on the outside. The central conductor and the conductive sheath both share the same axis; hence the term ‘coaxial’.
Conductors
Technically, conductors are materials that permit electrons to flow freely and that allow electrical current to flow in one or more directions. Wires, in turn, are conductors that can carry electricity over their entire length. Conductive materials used in audio cables include copper, silver, gold, rhodium, and in some recent exotic designs, palladium and graphene. At least one manufacturer uses liquid metal conductors made from gallium, indium, and tin.
Depending on which designer one asks, the exact composition of wires, both in terms of the conductive materials used, the metallurgy of the wire, and even the cross-sectional characteristics of the conductors, are thought to have significant impact on sound quality.
Stranded-Core designs: In many cases the wires used in audio cables are composed of multiple, bundled, small-diameter strands of conductive materials—collectively known as stranded-core designs.
Solid-Core designs: In other typically higher-end audio cables, wires use solid-core conductors that are considerably larger in cross-sectional area than the tiny conductive strands used in stranded-core designs. The size and shape of the solid-core conductors used are thought to have an impact on sound.
Thus, at least one famous cable manufacturer touts the use of ‘rectangular solid core’ conductors, while another uses solid core conductors whose also rectangular cross section uses so-called ‘Golden Section’ proportions.
In a ‘big picture’ sense, the better the conductors an audio cable employs, the better it will sound.
Crystal or Monocrystal Conductors
The overwhelming majority of audio cables use metal conductors, but what few listeners realize is that the wires within those cables have a crystalline structure (many equate ‘crystals’ with gemstones, but metals are crystalline, too).
Under normal circumstances, drawn metal wires contain numerous metal crystals butted up against one another and many audio purists believe that the junctures between these crystals have a subtle, adverse effect upon sound quality.
However, one important development is the advent of manufacturing techniques that allow wire makers to produce monocrystal wires, where one metal crystal spans the entire length of the wires (meaning there are no crystal-to-crystal junctions to affect the sound in any way).
Cables featuring monocrystal conductors are highly prized for high-purity/high-accuracy applications, even though they are typically more expensive to make than conventional multi-crystal conductors.
Dielectrics
In simple terms, dielectrics are insulators—the materials or other related systems used to provide insulation for the conductors found in audio cables.
Dielectrics are important because they have much to do with the cable’s capacitance and thus resulting sound quality (see ‘Capacitance/ Inductance/Resistance’). The ideal would be to have dielectrics that absorb no electrical charges at all.
Some common dielectrics include fluorinated ethylene polypropylene (FEP), polyethylene, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, aka Teflon), and others—many of which are available either as solid or as “foamed” materials. Several manufacturers have experimented with insulation systems that use air or a vacuum as dielectrics (because, in theory, a perfect vacuum would be an ideal insulator, though for obvious reason vacuums are very difficult to manage in a cable context).
Dielectric Bias System (DBS)
DBS is AudioQuest’s trade name for a system (co-developed with loudspeaker designer Richard Vandersteen) for applying a bias voltage (via a small battery) across the dielectrics of audio cables, effectively making them highly resistant to accepting music-induced electrical charges. One claimed advantage of DBS is that it obviates the need for lengthy cable ‘break-in’ periods.
Digital Interconnects
Audio cables specifically designed for carrying low-level digital signals (or files) from digital source components (e.g., a CD transport, music server, or streamer) to a digital audio component capable of decoding those signals.
At first glance, it is tempting to think of digital interconnects as being ‘just like’ analogue interconnects, but in fact the two cable types have significantly different ‘mission profiles’. Analogue cables must accurately convey analogue signals ranging in frequency from a few Hz on up into the kHz range.
Digital cables, instead, are expected to transfer square wave signals (representing digital ‘ones’ and ‘zeroes’) in the MHz range, loading into digital components whose input impedances are potentially quite different to analogue components.
Some common digital interface types include:
- AES/EBU (Audio Engineering Society/European Broadcasting Union)—a quiet, balanced digital audio interface that uses XLR-type connectors.
- Ethernet—a reliable, well-documented, wide-bandwidth multipurpose digital connection borrowed from the computer world, which typically uses RJ-45-type connectors and sockets.
- S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format)—a popular and robust digital audio interface that typically uses coaxial wires with RCA-type plugs.
- TOSLINK (Toshiba Link)—a popular and robust digital audio interface that, instead of wires, uses fiber-optic connections that typically use EIAJ/JEITA RC-5720 optical connectors. Note: TOSLINK is essentially a fiber-optic implementation of the S/PDIF standard.
- USB (Universal Serial Bus)—an enormously popular, multi-purpose digital interface that has in recent years come to be the digital interface of choice for many high-end (and not-so-high-end) digital audio components. The USB specification allows for many types of connectors, but the ones most commonly seen in audio applications are: USB Type A (as found on many PCs and other digital sources), USB Type B (as found on many high-end audio DACs), USB Mini A – USB Mini B and now USB C (used on many smartphones and portable digital audio components).
- Lightning (Apple)—Since Apple removed the 3.5mm mini-jack from its popular iPhone range, the company’s own connector has become increasingly important in digital audio replay on the move.
Directionality in cables
Although the subject is considered somewhat controversial, the fact is that most if not all audio cables (or more accurately, the conductors within those cables) exhibit directionality—meaning that signal flow works and sounds better running in one direction than the other. The technical explanations behind this are somewhat complex, but according to AudioQuest founder Bill Low:
“All drawn metal has a directional impedance variation at higher RF/EMI noise frequencies. By ‘law’, energy must follow the path of least resistance, so we employ this impedance variation as a mechanism for consciously directing noise either to Earth or to whichever attached circuit is less vulnerable to noise. The key is to direct noise to where it will do the least damage.”
What is more, some cable designs use asymmetrical shielding schemes (where noise blocking outer sheaths might be, for instance, connected to ground only at one end of a given cable), adding a further directional element.
Given this, expect to see markings (arrows, marker rings, and the like) on many high-end audio cables to indicate the preferred direction of signal flow. Some speaker cables, for instance, even provide terminations marked ‘speaker end’ or ‘amplifier end’.
Gauge (or Wire Gauge)
The gauge of a cable, typically expressed as AWG (American Wire Gauge), is an indicator of the cross-sectional area of the wires used in the cable. AWG ratings are arranged so that the lower the AWG number, the more cross-sectional surface area the cable possesses. A giant power cord, for instance would have a very low AWG number, while the tiny run-out wires in a tonearm headshell would have a very high AWG number. Note: AWG numbers are considered useful indicators of a cable’s current carrying capacity (the lower the AWG or gauge number, the higher the current load the cable can bear).
Hospital Grade Power Plugs/Sockets
In discussions of American AC power distribution, we often encounter references to ‘hospital grade’ mains sockets and plugs. The reference is to specifications for mains sockets and mains cable plugs designed for use in ‘mission critical’ hospital applications (you wouldn’t want an AC plug to fail on a respirator, now, would you?).
Hospital grade sockets and plugs specify materials that can withstand both chemical and physical abuse and, in the case of plugs, also specify relatively tight-fitting connector pins that, by design, are difficult to dislodge.
There is no direct UK equivalent to the ‘hospital grade’ socket (in part because the three-pin socket used in the UK is hard to dislodge), but audiophiles in the UK often opt for unswitched 13A designs in place of standard switched models.
There is much debate over whether hospital grade mains connections are necessary or beneficial for audio applications, but many purists choose to use them (both for mains cables and for power distribution components)—if only as a precautionary measure.
“The most common result of skin effect is a tendency for a cable’s AC resistance to increase at higher frequencies.”
Litz wire
Litz wire is a specific cable configuration that uses bundles of multiple small-diameter, individually insulated strands of conductors, where the strands are typically twisted along the length of the cable. The main intent behind Litz wire is to mitigate the sonic problems associated with skin effect (see ‘Skin Effect’).
The most common result of skin effect is a tendency for a cable’s AC resistance to increase at higher frequencies, potentially causing at least some degree of audible treble roll-off. Happily, Litz wire overcomes this problem for the most part.
A few power amplifiers designed to be used with conventional stranded loudspeaker cable have been known to ‘struggle’ with the low resistance of Litz wire. Fortunately, in every cases we know of, these problems were resolved in the 1980s and are now historic.
Mains or Power Jacks & Plugs
Often, we think of our own AC connections as the norm, forgetting that there are actually numerous international standards for power distribution voltages, frequencies, and the sockets and plugs to deliver electrical power. The US Department of Commerce International Trade Association has identified 15 specific types of power plugs/ sockets in use worldwide (these plug socket combinations are assigned identifying letters from A through O).
The tricky part, however, is that various countries and regions use these 15 types of power plugs, some grounded and others not, in sometimes unusual or unexpected combinations.
One upshot of all this diversity is that high-end audio power cable manufacturers must potentially create very broad ranges of models in order to address the needs of the worldwide market.
Ohno Continuous Casting (OCC)
Under ‘Crystal/Monocrystal Conductors’, we mentioned that ‘monocrystal conductors are highly prized for high-purity/high-accuracy applications’. The man who successfully developed the manufacturing process that makes it possible to fabricate monocrystal wires is Dr Atsumi Ohno, and his famous process is called Ohno Continuous Casting, typically abbreviated ‘OCC’, not to be confused with the familiar psychological acronym, OCD.
Plugs, Lugs & Jacks for analogue audio cables
Audio cables use a wide variety of connectors, with certain connectors optimized for interconnects and others for speaker cables. When thinking about connectors it is helpful at times to remember that for plugs and lugs there is always a corresponding jacket, socket, or terminal to complete the connection.
Banana plugs and jacks: Banana plugs are extremely popular as terminations for loudspeaker cables. (The spring-loaded connector surfaces of the male Banana
plug look somewhat like miniature, metal ‘bananas’—hence, the name.) Banana plugs typically connect to loudspeaker cable-binding posts that, by design, have banana jacks bored into their outer ends. Banana plugs are very easy to use, allowing simple push-to-connect, pull-to-disconnect operations.
Banana plugs typically make a ‘press-fit’ connection with their associated sockets. Note, however, that some banana plugs are ‘locking’ designs, with thumbscrews that, when tightened, clinch the plugs for an extremely tight fit within their jacks.
BFA connectors: Built For Audio/British Federation of Audio terminations are a variation on the theme of the 4mm banana plug (effectively built inside out and coated in ABS), designed to express safety concerns raised because the similarity of this plug to the live and neutral terminals in a EU ‘Schuko’ AC terminal. The 4mm banana plug is (notionally at least) ‘banned’ in the EU, which is why amplifiers include little red and black inserts that prevent their use, but you can remove these inserts with a penknife and continue to use banana plugs as before.
BNC connectors: Male BNC (Bayonet Neill Concelman) connectors are sometimes used on coaxial interconnect cables for use with components fitted with female BNC connectors, although BNC interfaces are relatively uncommon in high-end audio applications and components. Male BNC connectors use a quickconnect, quick-disconnect, twist-to-lock collar or ‘nut’ that latches on to two bayonet locking pins found on the female BNC connector.
BNC connectors are desirable in settings where it is important (or even critical) that cable connections do not work loose and where a ‘fail-safe’ locking mechanism is therefore required.
RCA plugs and jacks: RCA plugs are the de facto standard terminations for analogue interconnects and for coaxial S/PDIF digital interconnects. Corresponding, RCA jacks are the standard socket fitments for single-ended analogue and coaxial S/PDIF interfaces on audio components. RCA plugs provide a central post, carrying +/- audio signals, and an outer sleeve that serves as a ground, or ‘return’.
As with banana plugs, RCA plugs make press-fit connections with their associated sockets. However, many audiophile-grade RCA plugs feature ‘locking’ mechanisms, most of which work on the principle of firmly clamping the plug’s outer sleeve against the mating surface on the RCA jack.
Spade lugs: Spade lugs vie with banana plugs as the most popular terminations for loudspeaker cables. Spade lugs, as their name suggests, look almost like miniature, metal garden implements. Typically, spade lugs provide a sturdy wire receptacle at one end (where the cable’s conductors attach to the lug), and a flat, thick, two-pronged metal connecting surface at the other end, which is designed to fit around the central shaft of a traditional loudspeaker binding post.
Loudspeaker cable-binding posts have threaded metal shafts, traditionally fitted with beefy metal locking nuts or collars. To make firm connections using spade lugs, one would first back off the binding post’s locking nut, then insert the spade lug so that its prongs fit on either side of the binding post shaft, and finally tighten down the locking nut or collar as firmly as feasible to clinch the spade lug in place.
Some contend that spade lugs offer inherently superior connections to banana plugs owing to their robust construction and large surface area, but one point to bear in mind is that it takes two hands to connect spade lugs properly—one hand to hold the spade lug in place against the binding post shaft while the other tightens the locking nut. Also, users should be aware that—depending upon cable positioning—the weight of the speaker cables can apply torque on the spade lugs, causing the binding post locking collars to become loose over time.
XLR connectors: XLR connectors are the de facto standard for use in all types of balanced analogue and digital interconnects. In traditional, loudspeaker-based audio systems, the most common variant would be three-pin XLR connectors where, as noted under ‘Balanced Interconnects’ and ‘Digital Interconnects’ above, one pin carries the + signal, another carries the – signal, and the third serves as the ground, or ‘return’.
By convention, three-pin XLR output jacks provide a socket with three outward-facing pins, while XLR input jacks provide a socket with three pin receptacles. To accommodate this convention, XLR cables are invariably set up with different connectors on each end, with a distinct signal input end (providing receptacles for the pins from the audio component’s XLR output socket) and a signal output end (providing outward-facing pins that plug in to the receptacles of the audio component’s XLR input sockets). Virtually all XLR sockets and plugs features spring loaded mechanical latches that lock the connectors firmly in place (typically the latches feature thumb-actuated release catches).
In headphone-based systems, however, one might encounter both three-pin or four-pin XLR connectors, where the four-pin variant is a stereo (two-channel) connector, providing two sets of +/– connections pins. Some higher-end headphones ship with balanced signal cable sets terminated either with dual three-pin XLR connectors (as used, for example, on the Abyss AB-1266) or with single four-pin XLR cables (as used, for example, on top-tier Audeze or HiFiMAN headphones).
“If you could only improve one cable in your entire system, it should be the mains cable that runs from your wall sockets.”
Power Cords or Mains Cables
You might think all mains cables are created equal (or nearly so), but in our experience, high-performance mains cables can and do have a profound effect on sound quality. Indeed, several leading-edge cable designers would say that, if you could only improve one cable in your entire system, it should be the mains cable that runs from your wall sockets to whatever power distribution component you choose to use.
The key differentiators between ‘garden-variety’ power cords and the high-performance models we recommend include: higher gauge conductors, conductors fashioned from superior and very high-purity materials, more sophisticated dielectrics, superior internal geometries (often focused on blocking noise), superior shielding schemas (again, focused on blocking noise), and ultra high-quality plugs at both ends of the cables.
Purity of Conductors
High-purity conductors are thought to have a direct and significant impact on sound quality and for this reason a number of purity-related acronyms and terms have come into play. Here are three you might encounter frequently:
HPC (high purity copper): Manufacturers who use copper conductors and have been selective in their choice of materials suppliers will often say that their cables feature HPC conductors. Caveat emptor: The term HPC implies that care was used in choosing sources of copper wire, but it does not tell you precisely how pure the copper actually is (although some manufacturers might clarify this point with additional specifications).
OFC (oxygen free copper): Oxygen is one of the most common ‘contaminates’ of pure copper, so manufacturers who have taken steps to source copper that is very low in oxygen content will often tout their use of OFC conductors. In many cases, references to OFC conductors will feature supplementary specifications to indicate the exact-level of purity.
‘Five-Nines’ or ‘Six-Nines’ conductors: These slang terms indicate levels of purity, expressed as, for example, 99.999% or 99.9999% pure metal, whether referencing copper, silver, or other metals. Obviously, more ‘nines’ describe conductors of higher purity, higher cost, and—it is thought—higher sound quality.
Skin Effect
Skin effect is the tendency for an alternating current (AC), or an alternating music signal, to flow or become concentrated mostly near the outer surface (or skin) of a conductor. The higher the frequency of the signal the thinner the functional depth of the skin being used to pass the signal, which means that the AC resistance of the cable tends to increase at higher frequencies. This is why some cables can exhibit a certain degree of treble roll-off.
Certain cable geometries (for example, woven Litz wire geometries) can, however, mitigate the problem of AC resistance increasing at high frequencies owing to skin effect. The point is that it pays to seek out cables whose designs minimize or eliminate skin effect problems in the audio range.
Snake Oil
A term used by consumers to describe products that involve technological principles that are not well understood by the consumer. Examples of such technologies include EMI, decimation mathematics, image creation in the brain, bandwidth of the ear, phase effects, pre-ringing and reference measurement parameters. Snake Oil is a term of approbation which strongly implies that what is not understood is not valuable, rather than focusing value judgements on results achieved.
Speaker Cables
Some audiophiles draw a distinction between ‘signal-bearing’ cables (namely, interconnects) versus ‘power-bearing’ cables (namely, speaker cables). Stated another way, speaker cables are responsible for delivering the
often high-wattage output of amplifiers to our loudspeakers and doing so with high bandwidth, minimum noise, low distortion and coloration, and maximum delivery of current as demanded by the loudspeaker.
To meet these demands, speaker cables place the same emphasis on geometries, materials, conductors, and noise-blocking shields as interconnects do, but with the added demand of being able to handle potentially very high levels of power (power = voltage x amperage).
Some speaker cable terms you may encounter are these:
(Internal) Bi-wire cable: A speaker cable that internally has double runs of conductors, with a single pair of +/- connections at the amplifier end and a double set of +/- connections at the loudspeaker end. In this configuration, the double runs of conductors are housed within a common sheath or jacket.
‘Shotgun’ cable: A speaker cable that provides double runs of conductors, each housed in its own sheath or jacket, where there is a single +/- set of amplifier connections and a double set of +/- connections at the speaker end. The term ‘shotgun’ comes from the fact that the dual-runs of conductions, each in its own jacket, look somewhat like the barrels of a double-barrel shotgun.
By Chris Martens
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