[chbot] Measuring capacitance of audio cables

[Martin Towers]

Hi,
Perhaps the variation in capacitance that you are looking for is that
which causes microphony. This is a notorious problem with cheap cables
which pick up noise from handling and vibration.
A way to measure that might be to wire the cable to a microphone input,
one that applies a polarising voltage, and measure the output for a
given mechanical shock.

Martin Towers



On Tue, 2020-09-08 at 09:38 +1200, Paul Willmott-Dalton wrote:
> Hello all
> 
> I am trying to support my 14yo boy with his homework but am a bit out
> of my depth. He is aiming to demonstrate understanding of the
> scientific method. To do this he wants to make a comparison of the
> electrical properties of different brands of audio cables. His
> hypothesis is that there is no difference between 'audiophile' cables
> vs cheapies.
> 
> I under that folks talk about capacitance being a variable. I'm told
> that this will be very small in any cable and potentially difficult
> to read (in the tens of pF range).
> 
> Does anyone out there have the equipment necessary to do this? If so,
> could we bring some cables to you for testing?
> 
> Kind regards
> Paul Willmott Dalton
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