Which sounds better - straight or L shaped 3.5mm jack?

[Bradley747]

reccomendations welcome before I make my next HIFI purchase - thanks

 

[nick8858]

Is this a joke or an early April fool?

If not answer is neither unless Russ Andrews is around to tell us different?

 

[Al ears]

Oops, double post sorry.

 

[Al ears]

OK, you got me there, something to do with sound propagation and tight corners?

The L shaped one gets broken less often.

 

[matthewpiano]

Whichever you choose it will have absolutely no impact on the sound.

 

[ID.]

Straight. Just like a car cornering, the signal needs to slow down to go around a corner which logically leads to signal degradation *crazy*

 

[Vladimir]

L shape. Straight ones break faster, especially at the strain relief end.

 

[Covenanter]

I guess you could put a straight one at one end of the cable and an l-shaped one at the other and get the best of both worlds.

Chris

PS Have a dropped thorugh into an alternate reality?

Twas brillig and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimbal in the wabes

All mimsy were the borogoves

And the mome raths outgrabe

 

[Bradley747]

ill go with Chris' suggestion of L and straight for the best of both worlds

Thanks all and merry xmas ;-)

 

[MajorFubar]

ill go with Chris' suggestion of L and straight for the best of both worlds

Thanks all and merry xmas ;-)

Make sure you put the straight plug on the output side. When the sound leaves the jack socket it's like a car accelerating from rest, its urge is to go in a straight line, you don't see them starting a formula 1 race on a bend. If you use the L-shaped connector, some of the sound escapes before it turns the bend. This has less of an impact at the receiving end for the same reason that a car can easily park on a bend.

Hope that helps.

 

[steve_1979]

If electricy travels at near light speed how can it get around a tight 90° bend without needing to slow down for the corner? Think about it.

 

[Al ears]

I guess you could put a straight one at one end of the cable and an l-shaped one at the other and get the best of both worlds.

Chris

PS Have a dropped thorugh into an alternate reality?

Twas brillig and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimbal in the wabes

All mimsy were the borogoves

And the mome raths outgrabe

There should be a separate sub section for nonsense poetry. ;-)

Signed: Mr. J. Abberwocky

 

[ifor]

... so popped out to Maplin and bought one of each. I've put them on my desk about three feet apart and have yet to hear a peep from either of them. I conclude therefore that neither can be fit for purpose; that is if they're supposed to make some sort of noise.

 

[ChrisIRL]

Have a look back through many other "serious" threads. Could you really blame the OP for asking, I mean really.

 

[andyjm]

My Mother's old iron had a flaky thermostat. She used to tie a knot in the mains lead, on the grounds that it would slow the electricity down, and the iron wouldn't get so hot. While there is actually a modicum of truth in it, the effect is negligable - as was evidenced by the state of her ironing.

It seems likely therefore that an L shaped jack is actually a highly sophisticated HiFi attentuator.

 

[steve_1979]

I find that putting a clothes peg on the cord of an iron has the same effect as tying a knot in it. I tried it on an amplifier once and that had the effect of reducing the volume. I can see now why audiophiles like big fat cables because it allows the speakers to go louder.

True story.

 

[bigfish786]

Most ridiculous post goes to.....

 

[emperor's new clothes]

Hi Bradly747,

Having flown 747s for more than 20 years, the choice between bent and straight was always fairly easy. Not a Village People fan myself.

 

[Ajani]

Have a look back through many other "serious" threads. Could you really blame the OP for asking, I mean really.

Yep. I have no idea if some of the posts in this thread are actually meant to be serious. Many audiophiles worry about the most minor details, so I really wouldn't be too surprised if someone really worried that an L shape would sound worse than a straight connection.

 

[iQ Speakers]

Are but did you know you can detect exactly where a bend in a cable is? So if you take a coaxial cable and bend it right angles then straighten it out you can measure with a Time-domain reflectometer the exact location. This is not a wind up. The question is!

 

[Bradley747]

Some of posts on this forum are frankly ridiculous - no matter how genuine the OP is

I have rarely witnessed such obsession about issues or questions which are so unimportant in the grand scheme.

Its a shame that the search function for older posts doesnt help either as the amount of repetition is staggering!

Still, once in a while a good thread comes up

Merry Xmas

 

[MajorFubar]

ts a shame that the search function for older posts doesnt help either as the amount of repetition is staggering!

Back in the day when it did, we still got repetitive questions trotted out, often within days of each other or less.. I did once suggest that a really useful subsection on this forum might be a FAQ. You can imagine how far that progressed. Of course even if there was a FAQ section you can't make newbies use it, but perhaps one of the early respondees could courteously point them in that direction.

That said, I don't get *too* stressed out about newbies asking repetitive questions, depending on the question. Though the next time someone posts "will my speakers sound better if I move them further out/further back/will they sound better with this new speaker wire I've bought" or some other stupid question which only they can answer, I want a feature that sends 1,000V through their mouse when they hit Save / Submit.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

"will my speakers sound better if I move them further out/further back/will they sound better with this new speaker wire I've bought"

No.

But the combined effect of my new products "Speaker Oil" and "Speaker Cable Oil" will be electrifying