Audioquest Sky XLR

I agree that the Sky is an extremely transparent, neutral cable.

To characterize it a bit, to the degree you can assess the effect of a cable alone, I'd say: excellent frequency extension in both directions, fairly tight bass, a lot of detail/resolution. I consider it slightly on the analytical/bright/crisp side of neutral. It contributes to a reasonably good soundstage but I don't find this is the cable's strength; very solid, better than most, but not the best I've heard.

For a warm-ish to neutral system, I'd say it is probably perfect. For a system already on the more detailed or already side of things, it might be a little much (I can see it being a little harsh/fatiguing; in my system it's right on the border).

Due to the AQ Sky having the DBS battery pack on them they are already "broken in". I have AQ Sky throughout my system and did not notice any significant "change" as they aged or settled into the system. I found them to be very neutral and enjoyably detailed yet musical in my system. Upon a telephonic conversation with Alasdair of Audioquest (Canada - head office) he advised that upgrading the DBS pack to 72v would be the "final" upgrade on this interconnect as it will provide a quieter background and provide a slight improvement to the Sky's existing splendid character.

Joncourage,
I see from your system profile that you also use some HiDiamond interconnects.They have piqued my interest of late and am wondering if they are anything like AQ SKY? Any contrast you can offer?

Mred, take a look at my posts to the other thread in this forum called HiDiamond Interconnects, I get into some detail there on what the differences have been in my system.

Bottom line, while the Sky are great cable and have been better in my system than everything I tried before it, the HD is in an entirely different league. I have not tried some of what are commonly known as the best as they're out of my price range (MIT ma-x, Indra/sakra), but have tried many others $2k and downwards.

I'm now waiting on a set of the HD xlr 3 to arrive this week.

Joncourage, if I'm interpreting correctly..........most people seem to be finding that the main diff. between AQ Sky and HD seems to be in the area of sound-staging/imaging. You agree or is there a different thumbnail sketch you would draw?