KunterK Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Hi all. I have two Audioquest cables, one Diamond, one Vodka. Both connectors on both cables dissolved (the plastic bit at the end carrying the conductors simply broke off). Attached is a photo showing how it looks like. Same thing happened with a friend that is using totally different setup with different electronics. And as you might guess, having paid so much money, I took very good care of them physically. Audioquest says they never faced something like this, so it should be our equipment causing the problem. (dCS Network Bridge in my case and Upsampler for my friend) we are using SOTM CAT7 as replacement and other places in the system with the same connectors so far without a problem. I wonder if anyone else had a similar issue with Audioquest or is it really something specific to our cables/system? Cheers Kunter Kii Three + BXT, dCS Network Bridge, Astell&Kern SP2000, Stromtank 2500, Roon Nucleus, Echole Power Cables, Mogami + Bocchino AES, SOTM Switch + CAT7 + CAT8 Link to comment
audiodan Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 I have one vodka and one diamond, I think about one or two years, whit any issue. It seems to me a real strange beahviour, no usual. Has you used something to clean the contact? I cannot suppose other cause of this phenomenon apart to use aggressive cleaner Link to comment
davide256 Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 picture looks more like the plastic latch broke off, your connections still appear to be there. Data centers use tie downs to protect against this, can happen when you are moving cables around Regards, Dave Audio system Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Do you have any more / better images? Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Are you guys running Power over Ethernet (PoE)? miguelito 1 Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
jaaptina Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Plastics can become brittle under influence of time, sunshine, heat and solvents. It depents a lot on the choosen plastic and it's ingrediënts. The supplier should choose a suitable plastic that is up to the task. Link to comment
KunterK Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 I used couple of cleaners over time, Caig Deoxit and Stabilant 22. Can they have such an effect? Kii Three + BXT, dCS Network Bridge, Astell&Kern SP2000, Stromtank 2500, Roon Nucleus, Echole Power Cables, Mogami + Bocchino AES, SOTM Switch + CAT7 + CAT8 Link to comment
jaaptina Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 In case the broken plastic parts can be easily broken into smaller parts or if the surface is a little white(ish) I think the deoxidising lubricant could de well be the cause. But I would not have thought this likely before hand. Link to comment
miguelito Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 6 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said: Are you guys running Power over Ethernet (PoE)? My thought exactly. However, I very much doubt dCS would be sensitive to that creating a current draw... The Computer Audiophile 1 NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul system pics Link to comment
miguelito Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 5 hours ago, jaaptina said: Plastics can become brittle under influence of time, sunshine, heat and solvents. It depents a lot on the choosen plastic and it's ingrediënts. The supplier should choose a suitable plastic that is up to the task. I have NEVER seen something like this on any connector I have ever used. This is not the answer. NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul system pics Link to comment
rando Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Not only better photos of male cable termination. Female of equipment as well. Hard to imagine no damage to the latter. Without professional examination of both the chance of inconclusive answers are more likely. At least it appears neither of you lost the hardware they were plugged into outright from the incidents. The Computer Audiophile 1 Link to comment
miguelito Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 29 minutes ago, rando said: Not only better photos of male cable termination. Female of equipment as well. Yeah. From pics of the cables on the internet, it looks like the contact portion fused to the female ethernet port in the device and broke off! Very bizarre. Unlikely you will be able to plug another cable in that port. NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul system pics Link to comment
miguelito Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 12 minutes ago, miguelito said: Yeah. From pics of the cables on the internet, it looks like the contact portion fused to the female ethernet port in the device and broke off! Very bizarre. Unlikely you will be able to plug another cable in that port. The more I look at this the more "mechanical" it seems to me. I wonder if the choice of ethernet jack in the dCS is making this particular cable get snagged and break off? NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul system pics Link to comment
rando Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Yet it appears another cable was substituted and has passable functionality (at least during the initial minutes testing is likely to occur in)! You might be better placed to comment whether software could be used to test this connection at home. Or if the manufacturer is holding a proprietary key forbidding consumer access. Link to comment
miguelito Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Just now, miguelito said: The more I look at this the more "mechanical" it seems to me. I wonder if the choice of ethernet jack in the dCS is making this particular cable get snagged and break off? I have no such issue in my Rossini, but I don't use this cable. NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul system pics Link to comment
KunterK Posted June 26, 2019 Author Share Posted June 26, 2019 I think it is not an issue with the cable but wrong usage of contact cleaner on my part. Years of usage and repeated application should have caused this issue. Stabilant has a very good performance so I may have overdone it. Thank you all for chipping in... rwwjr44 1 Kii Three + BXT, dCS Network Bridge, Astell&Kern SP2000, Stromtank 2500, Roon Nucleus, Echole Power Cables, Mogami + Bocchino AES, SOTM Switch + CAT7 + CAT8 Link to comment
miguelito Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 41 minutes ago, KunterK said: I think it is not an issue with the cable but wrong usage of contact cleaner on my part. Years of usage and repeated application should have caused this issue. Stabilant has a very good performance so I may have overdone it. Thank you all for chipping in... I can definitely imagine a chemical making a particular type of plastic soft and sticky and having this as a result. Make sure you didn't destroy the ethernet jack on the dCS device. NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul system pics Link to comment
miguelito Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 5 hours ago, rando said: Yet it appears another cable was substituted and has passable functionality (at least during the initial minutes testing is likely to occur in)! You might be better placed to comment whether software could be used to test this connection at home. Or if the manufacturer is holding a proprietary key forbidding consumer access. Huh??? NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul system pics Link to comment
4est Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 6 hours ago, KunterK said: I think it is not an issue with the cable but wrong usage of contact cleaner on my part. Years of usage and repeated application should have caused this issue. Stabilant has a very good performance so I may have overdone it. Thank you all for chipping in... Stabilant is pretty non reactive unless the alcohol is doing this. I'd suspect the cleaner more than Stabilant at first blush. Forrest: Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP> Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz Link to comment
rando Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 6 hours ago, miguelito said: Huh??? On 6/24/2019 at 10:40 PM, KunterK said: we are using SOTM CAT7 as replacement and other places in the system with the same connectors so far without a problem. This sounds like melted connection accepted a new cable. miguelito 1 Link to comment
vortecjr Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 Some cables are made with plasticizers, which are a petroleum industry byproduct, utilized to make the wire insulation flexible. Anyway, the plasticizers can leak at the ends and corrode certain plastics. The only simple way to tell if this is happening is to look for an oily residue at the connectors? SONORE computer audio | opticalRendu | ultraRendu | microRendu | Signature Rendu SE | endPoint | opticalModule DX | Power Supplies | Link to comment
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