What compares favorably with Audioquest Niagras

Of course cables are all dependent on system synergy and personal tastes, so there really cannot be any blanket statement of "this one does it all."

That said, AQ are nice cables, but I've heard better in my system, even for less dough. With your Vandy and CJ gear, I'm not surprised that the Cardas cables sounded dull. The AQ will be livelier, but I think you may be better suited with some cables from Tara Labs or Stealth Audio. As always, YMMV.

You have to fit in cables very precise. But Audioquest can give you a higher endresult compared to most other competitors, when you have the demand to create all parts for the absolute sound.

For me it is very easy to hear the differences. I hear it in a few seconds. For most other people it is less easy. So what I do is telling people as easy as possible what the differences are. Often I sit behind the client.

It becomes very clear in what it does. When you focus on all parts for the absolute sound it is quite easy to win battles against other competitors. Often they are incomplete. I explain clients what is missing and it is even easy to understand why it is incomplete after adding those properties which are missing.

05-23-14: Bo1972
For me it is very easy to hear the differences. I hear it in a few seconds. For most other people it is less easy.

Bo, I didn't say I couldn't hear the difference AQ cables made, I said that the differences were not to my tastes or didn't mate with my gear. Have you never experienced hearing a difference that was not positive?

Look, unlike you, I am not a dealer, so I have no horse in the race. My opinion is just based on my own experiences, but I have nothing to gain by sharing it like a dealer would.

I run the Niagaras and will be getting the new Castle Rocks for my Treo's/Ayre AX7 and MH 25.3DAC (will be upgrading vinyl after this round of changes). I fell in love with AQ and I was an MIT guy as it sounded good in my older system(that I'm selling off, lol). I like the Niagara better than Sky for my DAC into my balanced Ayre. The Castle Rock, for the budget, sounds awesome. Yes, more 3 D than other cables I've heard and much quieter.

I have not horse in the race and my guy at Audio Connection sells CArdas and Kimber too. Everyone I have listened to who has heard the AQ's vs the other brands seem to chose AQ all day long. yes, blind testing. Everyone has a different ear though.

Sometimes you need copper to solve a sound problem. But.....you still loose resolution. Often it has to do with the limitations of an amp, pre amp, source or even speaker.

Transparent only uses copper. Main advantage is that it wil fit quite easy in almost every situation. But there is a big but......( I talked about this with the person who does Transparent in my country, I did let him hear my set a few times)

When you have stuff which is very good, often you do not have the limitations what silver cables can give.

In those situations you can use the full benefit of silver. There will be more decay, better separation, sharper individual focus.

When you demo this I can let people hear a lot more details and a more physical image than they have.

And I know audio is addictive. So they want it as well. Because you don't want to go back to a lower resolution and less physical stage.

As a perfectionist you like to raise the bar all the time. This you also use for your clients.