The Science of Cables

When you judge the new AudioQuest cables on a technique they made a huge step. I have done tests with many different kinds of cables in over 20 years of time. I never auditioned any brand what made these big steps compared to their former series.

Garth should be blessed by Audioquest to give them this level in performance and quality. It started with the power cables. They are not even comparable with the former models they created. They are from another planet. And now with the new loudspeaker cables. Again it blows you away of how good they really are.

So the question is: Where their former cables not that good?

I have compared many different brands since 2010 with the former Audioquest cables. And in any shootout, I did win from each other brand. I always got a deal from the client. But now I think their competitors have a huge problem. Even when you want to come close to this level you need to make huge steps compared to your former cables.

The magic part is that they have less compression than others.

Quick interrupt! It shouldn’t be too much of a mystery why Audioquest cables and power cords sound so good. After all, Audioquest is very forthright when describing the physical and electrical characteristics of their cables and cords. You know, characteristics like solid long grain copper conductors, control of directionality, cold weld terminations, dielectric biasing, highly polished conductor surfaces, etc. and those are the ones they tell you about. Does Audioquest cryogenically treat their cables and cords? I wouldn’t be surprised, I mean, who doesn’t?

The materials AudioQuest uses are still the same as the former series. The way of welding etc. But.....the used technique is a lot different. There are brands who sell their cables burned in, but AudioQuest does not have this service. For the more expensive cables, I think they should have this option.

The differences in dynamic range are huge. It not only goes deeper, but it is also much faster. When I did swop from the Redwood to the Firebird (in single bi-wire Zero+Bass configuration) even after a few seconds it was already superior to the Redwood. My stage is already huge and plays extremely deep behind the loudspeakers. But from the start, the stage depth grew with more than 1 meter of extra depth. The width grew as well.

Today I received my Gryphon Antileon Signature and it will create an even bigger and deeper stage that the Pass Labs does. The individual focus of voices and instruments went to a level in realism and palpable focus I never auditioned before thanks to the Firebird. My modified Lumin X1 is one of the best digital sources at this moment available regardless of money. With the modified Lumin L1 and 2 additional modified power supplies, it creates new standards in digital audio. It is even superior in all aspects compared to the Aurender W20 together with the DCS DAC and upsampler.

In my system, I use for over 100.000 euro in AudioQuest cables. This is even excluded from the 19000 euros in Purist Audio LE power cables. The problem in audio is the lack of knowledge and insight regarding all kinds of different cables. Most can’t read the cables at all. The most common fault at this moment is the use of single wire cables with bridges for bi-wire loudspeakers. I compared single wire loudspeaker cables vs single bi-wire loudspeaker cables a lot. So I understand the benefit of it. But most people in audio have no F. idea of why it is that important.

In the Tru-Fi world where we have full access of all the aspects of sound, single bi-wire loudspeaker cables make an even bigger difference in the end result compared to single wire loudspeaker cables. In the trial&error world, you have no access to all the aspects the AudioQuest loudspeaker can reveal. This is why trial&error people have a totally different truth of AudioQuest cables compared to Tru-Fi owners.

When you have full access to all the different aspects AudioQuest cables can give you, they work so much more efficient and have a much bigger influence on the end result of any system.

Well, their previous power cords were not controlled for directionality. So, there’s that. Plus they might be not forthcoming regarding proprietary information. So, there’s that, too.