Z,
My experiences with building cables suggest that unshielded is sonically superior as long as you do not ntroduction a noise induction issue as a consequence.
Shielded cables I have found to sound slower on transient attack, and have reduced decay characteristics.
Unshielded sound less dynamically constrained I have found.
C
Mr Rawl,
My question is though:
a) are you hearing the effects of a shield that is in the return current path of unbal IC (IMO a nono)
b) are you hearing the effects of the shield to active capacitance
c) maybe you even like some of the additional rubbish that is picked up from unshielded
d) all or part combinations of above
I always try to isolate these different effects so you know what is causing what. It takes time, can be
frustrating but ultimately helps with moving forward.
My gut feeling is a one ended terminated/grounded shield made from that large dia conductive Nylon sheath
would be superior to none, provided the capacitance is low enough and the correct dielectric is used, probably
cotton.
I'm going to make a decent mic cable using this method. The good thing with mic cables is they are fully balanced
+/- so theoretically no current return path in shield. Prolly have to use a drain wire in shield though for phantom power current.
ZZZZ