AudioQuest system upgrades
AudioQuest is Damn Good
High-Definition Digital Audio Cable
Often, the choice between terminating your speaker cables with spade lugs or banana plugs will come down to personal preference. However, the EU-compliant isolated binding posts used on some power amplifiers often makes it difficult if not impossible to tighten spade lugs with high torque or pressure. In these applications, the AudioQuest banana connector is the superior choice, and may be the only choice.
AudioQuest has conducted a fairly extensive survey of contemporary amplifier manufacturers to determine whether spades or bananas will be most appropriate for a given brand and model of amplifier. Please contact us, provide the brand and model of the amplifier, and we’ll respond with the optimal connector type.
Here we typically recommend the U-Spade or banana connector. However, even though there is less weight and pressure on this side of the cable (particularly for BiWire sets), it is nevertheless important to note the binding post’s design. If a banana connector cannot seat all the way into the binding post, we recommend one of our spade connectors.
Semi-Solid Concentric 1.25% Silver Conductors
Semi-Solid Concentric Conductors greatly reduce strand-interaction distortion and reduce jitter. Solid silver-plated conductors are excellent for very high-frequency applications, like USB audio and video. These signals, being such a high frequency, travel almost exclusively on the surface of the conductor. As the surface is made of high-purity silver, the performance is very close to that of a 100% silver cable, but priced much closer to solid copper cable. This is an incredibly cost effective way of manufacturing very high-quality USB cables.
Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation
It's easy to accomplish 100% shield coverage. Preventing captured radio-frequency interference (RFI) from modulating the equipment's ground reference requires AQ's Noise-Dissipation. Traditional shield systems typically absorb and then drain noise/RF energy to component ground, modulating and distorting the critical "reference" ground plane, which in turn causes a distortion of the signal. Noise-Dissipation "shields the shield," absorbing and reflecting most of this noise/RF energy before it reaches the layer attached to ground.
Hard-Cell Foam Insulation
Hard-Cell Foam (HCF) Insulation ensures critical signal-pair geometry. Any solid material adjacent to a conductor is actually part of an imperfect circuit. Wire insulation and circuit board materials all absorb energy. Some of this energy is stored and then released as distortion. Hard-Cell Foam Insulation is similar to the Foamed-PE used in our more affordable Bridges & Falls cables, and is nitrogen-injected to create air pockets. Because nitrogen (like air) does not absorb energy and therefore does not release any energy from or into the conductor, distortion is reduced. In addition, the stiffness of the material allows the cable's conductors to maintain a stable relationship along the cable's full length, producing a stable impedance character and further minimizing distortion.
Direction-Controlled Conductors
All drawn metal strands or conductors have a non-symmetrical, and therefore directional, grain structure. AudioQuest controls the resulting RF impedance variation so that noise is drained away from where it will cause distortion. The correct direction is determined by listening to every batch of metal conductors used in every AudioQuest audio cable. When applicable, arrows are clearly marked on the connectors to ensure superior sound quality. For most models of AQ cable, the arrows not only indicate the direction that optimizes metal-directionality as part of Noise-Dissipation, but also indicates non-symmetrical attachment of shield and GND in order to optimize full-system performance. A fundamental aspect of AudioQuest's multifaceted Noise-Dissipation technology, Direction-Controlled Conductors ensure induced noise is dissipated and drained properly.
Technical Specifications | |
---|---|
Metal |
1.25% Silver Semi-Solid Concentric
|
Noise Dissipation |
Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation
|
Insulation |
|
Bitrate |
|
USB Version |
|
Power |
|
Power Delivery |
|
Signal Type |
|
Cable Length |
0.75 m = 2 ft 6 in
|
Jacket |
Black PVC with Red Stripes
|
Weights & Dimensions | |
Sold As |
|
Cinnamon USB-C > BFrom $99.95 View details | Forest USB-C > BFrom $69.95 View details | Carbon USB-C > BFrom $179.95 View details | Diamond USB-C > BFrom $699.95 View details | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Metal |
1.25% Silver Semi-Solid Concentric
|
0.5% Silver Semi-Solid Concentric
|
5% Silver Semi-Solid Concentric
|
Solid Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS)
|
Noise Dissipation |
Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation
|
Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation
|
Carbon-Based Noise-Dissipation for USB A - B and USB 3.0 A - 3.0 Micro
|
Carbon-Based Noise-Dissipation for USB A - B and USB 3.0 A - 3.0 Micro
|
Insulation |
|
|
|
|
Bitrate |
|
|
|
|
USB Version |
|
|
|
|
Power |
|
|
|
|
Power Delivery |
|
|
|
|
Signal Type |
|
|
|
|
Sold As |
|
|
|
|