Single- and two-wire shielded cables
Audio cables serve as the connecting cable between the audio components. A distinction is made between single-wire and two-wire shielded audio cables.
Single-wire shielded cable
An audio cable is a single-wire cable with shielding, in which the shielding is on the ground potential. The characteristic values of an audio cable have a direct impact on sound quality. In addition to ohmic conductor resistance, capacity and inductance determine the transmitted frequency range. If an audio cable has a high capacity, then this forms a low pass together with the input resistance, which dampens the high frequencies more strongly. The execution of the shielding is essential for the sound quality, because shielding with coarse-meshed braiding does not protect against disruptive interference as much as with close-meshed braided shielding. With analog audio signals, the interference of external voltage results in disturbances with short cable lengths. The shielding is the second return line necessary for the circuit at the same time. At the transmission of analog audio signals, the limit of fault-free transmission is a few meters.
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Two-wire shielded cables
Symmetrical audio cables are used in the professional field. Two-wire, shielded cable, whose wires are twisted around each other. Both of the wires conduct voltages of the same size, but with opposite plus/minus sign. Interfering external voltage does not cause any disturbances in the input and output transformers of the connected circuits. In addition, the two wires are provided with independent shielding. Cables for digital audio signals have an impedance of 110 ohms.