Review Audioquest Hurricane (part 1)

In the hope of adding something useful and not entirely tangential to this thread here follows my impressions of the AQ Dragon.

I have been using AQ WEL power cords for about five years now. Initially I had them powering my ARC Ref 2 Phono SE and Ref 40 and one on the PSU for my EAR table. I also have a pair on my VTL MB450III MonoBlocks. I selected WEL mainly as it was the cable one of my major dealers used, and available at good prices. Compared with stock cables the WEL brings great authority, precision and clarity -- maybe a little on the crisp/tight/"yin" side

Over the past several years I have swapped out many of the WELs for a variety of reasons -- for the Ref 40 I needed an 8’ cable and changed to SR Galileo LE which was much richer and more natural sounding. On the table PSU I swapped in a Marigo Iridium which seemed much more authoritative.

One place I had not sought an alternative was on my power amps. I’d been awaiting the new AQ cords with some interest and as soon as I heard they were available I asked my local dealer for a pair of the Dragon High Current 20A cords to try. As Bo notes the new AQ cords have a very different helical twisted geometry -- the Dragon implementing this across a mix of copper and silver wires. Be aware these cords are quite difficult to work with -- they resist twisting and so it’s imperative you check that the size you buy will work with the orientation of the IECs on your components. The good news is that the connections once made are secure and likely will hold in place (I have had other cables that are so heavy they pull themselves out of their mains sockets).

So how do they sound? Straight up I was flabbergasted by a completely different presentation of the Dragon vs the WEL. Bass seems less pronounced but there is much more air and space all around. As you listen more you realize that low level dynamics and inflections are now apparent that you had previously not been aware of -- and overall the ability of the amps with these new cables to communicate emotion has gone up in strides. One odd effect is to seemingly amplify dynamic range -- what I mean by this is that while perhaps previously I’d been using a range of say 36-46 on my pre amp to accommodate the optimal loudness for all my CDs, now I found myself using 28-52 -- with the Dragon’s it seems the power cord is no longer compressing the peaks which in some cases (i.e. a more compressed recording) might mean a lower volume setting is optimal while more purist recordings can take a higher.

Needless to say I kept the demos and sold the WELs. I have no opinion on how the Dragon’s compare to other similarly priced cords but would suggest that anyone in the market for a power amp cord check them out. As the Dragon low current (for sources) are much cheaper I would suspect they are quite a bargain but currently have no need of such a cord (my last remaining WEL on my phono is soon to be redundant as I switch to a battery based phono)

Hopefully these musings are helpful for anyone in the market for the latest from AQ -- they certainly have my endorsement

@folkfreak  Thank you for a cogent and well written review!

@folkfreak 

I am glad to read your review.  Light on bass?  Sounds concerning to me.

I have AS Wel PC x2 and I'm happy with them that I'm nk t selling it switching anytime soon

@joey_v thanks for asking about my comment “light on bass” as I meant to expand. Too many audio systems add an emphasis, a boom or low/mid bass stress that seems superficially attractive and is often quite exciting. But real bass isn’t like that, it grows naturally and kind of sits under the Music with its own texture and intensity. With the WELs in my setup I had that hyped up bass, with the Dragons it’s more organic and real world. You can read more on this in AudioGon member bdp24's observations on listening to my system

So yes, it might seem like less bass but the bass is of better quality, with more detail and about a half octave deeper once you listen into it.

It’s also more in scale. With the old power cords intense loud music (think the "Gladiator" soundtrack) often swelled up and expanded outside the speakers. It’s as if the orchestra got amped up and expanded like a balloon. Now the music remains in scale, the depth and detail is there but it is never blown out of scale

Hahahahahahahaha...it is getting more funny every day. 

We tested the Wel and Wild as well. But the Purist Audio LE Luminist outperformed them like they were standard cables.

In part 2 we describe very detailled what it does. It will be desribed on all the individual parts of sound. The head of Audioquest Europe was here about 2 weeks ago. And he read my review part 2 the night before he visit me.

He was amazed that they things I wrote I could explain him part by part. This is how precise we work. And no amature who uses this as a hobby can even think at that level.

'Folk' his words are very limited in details, and it doesn't say that much. Sound goes a lot further than some words; like more air, bass less pronounced. Impressive Folk!!

You have no idea what sound is and what you can achieve with it when you are able to reveal all the layers. Even with your fancy system you don't use the best students in it's class and not the best properties. Because I tested many of the stuff you own. And their are different parts in your system what is incomplete even on facts. 

The great thing about audio is that the sound and stage you hear will always speak the truth. The best audio systems can reveal music at a level what reveals all the information and layers at a level what influences your emotion you never experienced.

How you want to control and guide a trial and error system? I asked it to several people who own audio shops and work in audio for many years. And they could not answer this question.

When you cannot tell of each individual part of your system which properties it owns you will never know why your sound and stage is what you hear. Most people even have no idea about all the different parts which influences the sound and stage negatively.

That is why money will not even solve the limitation of trial and error.

We are talking about facts which are even confirmed by audio shop owners. 

When people think we are pro Audioquest I can garantee you that we test each individual AQ product first before we decide to sell it yess or no.

The new Niagara conditioners we tested and in our world they are not good enough. We have superior competitors. We will always choose for the best. This is how we protect all our clients. There are even more AQ products we tested and will not sell.

AQ did stop with 100% silver. All my tests with the Wel were not convincing. The Purist Audio LE luminist outperformed them on all parts. Audio is in our word all about shootouts and finding the best products.

All inferior products never will be chosen or even sold. We want all our clients to get the maximum quality possible for the money they spend. Second best will always be for the losers in this world.

When you want to show your clients respect you give them the best quality possible and never any second or 3th best. In our world each individual person should deserve a stunning audio system for the money he or she spends.

We work day and night for all our customers.  They can call us each day, even on saturday and sunday. And we will be there to support them.