Still Ground Cable Review

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jimiles

Still Ground Cable Review
« on: 15 Jun 2022, 03:45 pm »
When things work exactly as advertised, it's easy to forget about them. I've been happily using a set of Still Ground cables with my Nordost QKore 6 for about six months now.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to extensively compare them to the Nordost cables, as Nordost only sends one cable with the grounding system. Based on that single comparison, I'd say the Still Ground cable had a little more resolution in the upper registers. Which is super, because the Zenwave cables are:

1) Less expensive that the Nordost Q Kore cables.
2) Way more flexible that the Nordost cables.
3) Available in custom lengths and gauges, which the Nordost cables are not.
4) Not retina-searing neon lime green in color. 

Grounding is a bit of a trial and error endeavor that definitely rewards experimentation. The particular connector you ground to on a given component is by far the biggest variable.  Because the Still Ground cables are so affordable and can be customized to each component, you can afford to try everything.

This is how it worked out for my system, but these things are totally system dependent:

PS Audio P10: Grounded to an unused outlet. Nice.  :thumb:  :thumb:
Antipodes DX Server: Tried grounding to all unused USB ports, which is about all there is open.  :(
LaScala Opologic DAC: Grounded to the BNC input. Wow.  :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
Allnic L3000 Preamp: Grounded to a single ended input.  :thumb:
First Watt F4: Tried grounding pretty much everywhere (It's DIY so I could do anything I wanted.) :(
REL Britannia B1 Subwoofer: Grounded to a low level input.  :thumb: :thumb:

Experimentation is the key. Grounding the Antipodes server should be the most important, while grounding the subwoofer should be pretty much irrelevant, right?  Nope.  it was just the opposite in my case. 

Bottom line: Get Dave to make a *complete* set of Still Ground cables for your grounding system and try all of the permutations!

DaveC113

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Re: Still Ground Cable Review
« Reply #1 on: 16 Jun 2022, 04:09 pm »
Thanks very much for posting, I really appreciate it!

Still Ground cables are made using my 14g UPOCC copper litz wire, which has low impedance at high frequencies compared with regular wire.

I agree grounding is trial and error with audio systems, there aren't any set-in-stone standards for grounding. Sometimes signal ground and chassis ground are directly connected, other times isolated in different ways. There are quite a few schemes for ground isolation as well, so when you attach a ground cable to a signal connector it may be the same as attaching it to chassis, but there is likely some sort of isolation there... I've tried it both ways with some of my DIY tube amplification components. In some situations you can get hum without isolation though, and without isolation often the ground leg of your power cable will make the same connection as the ground leg of your IC cable. Finally, grounding signal to a ground box is not the same as star-grounding your component chassis, which can also help to reduce noise.