I’m a quantum physicist, and I think I understand the relationship between capacitance, inductance and impedance, which is critical to audio cable performance.

Impedance is a relatively benign issue in the transmission of low-level audio signals present in audio interconnects.

Inductance is more important–it must be as low as possible. Inductance is the property of the signal wire–the material from which it is fabricated and the geometry of the windings.

The materials used in Bybee-produced interconnects are solid 14-kt. gold wire and pure fine silver. These Bybee interconnects have a very low capacitance of 3.4 picofarads per foot with equally low matching inductance. Those results are to my knowledge the lowest in the industry.

My involvement began as a hobby and through my work as a scientist looking for better and cleaner transmission of low-level signals. The project I was involved with was how best to reduce the quantum mechanical noise caused by the flow of electrons through signal cables. This research led to many discoveries. Capacitance, for instance, is a major culprit in generating unwanted noise. Many companies have gone to great lengths to reduce capacitance in their cables. Some cable manufacturers cooking, for example, endeavor to electrically bias the cable shield with AC or DC. This helps to a small degree, but for the most part is quite ineffective.

The Bybee solution is to utilize DuPont’s EPTFE (Expanded Teflon™) as the primary dielectric. EPTFE is widely used, but typically as an insulator of cables covering the entire surface of the wire. The Bybee process uses the EPTFE as a tube, thereby allowing the special wire to float in the air with the absolute minimum edge contact. Air is the most effective dialectic of all.

My company was established as a result of my friends requesting that I custom fabricate cables and other products for them. I produce only the highest-quality cables and accessories, almost more as a hobby than as a full-time business. My primary business is producing quantum noise purifiers for other cable producers and equipment manufacturers. (Those purifiers are also available for use by do-it-yourself audio enthusiasts.) I’m also involved in the design and production of active power conditioning equipment for audio, video and the broader electrical industry.

That’s a very general question. Like any broadly based industry, this one has a wide range of approaches to product design and marketing. Since my own products are markedly different from any others I know of in this business, I pay relatively little attention to other companies‘ practices.

I don’t pretend to have any knowledge regarding other companies’ pricing policies. But I do know that nothing is free. One has to wonder, seeing the massive spending on marketing and advertising by some cable makers, how much the retail customer is paying to support those expenditures.

There are snake oil salesmen in any business, and high-end audio has its share of them. One problem, I believe, is that too many listeners allow themselves to be influenced by marketing hype and "Expert" opinions, rather than trusting their own listening experiences. There is also another danger, however: groundbreaking technologies can be too easily dismissed by self-appointed commentators who simply don’t understand the scientific bases of those new technologies. Again, music lovers need to listen carefully and make their own decisions about what products are truly musically satisfying.

I’m sorry to say that the future looks fairly bleak, and I believe limited, for high-quality music reproduction. The younger generation, for the most part, no longer listens to or attends live, unamplified musical events. They listen to compressed music from their computers, iPods, etc., and seem to find those sources perfectly acceptable. The high-end audio industry has failed miserably in motivating new listeners to care about fine music reproduction.