AudioQuest Wind High-end Cable Review

[levimax]

If you are using things like these 90 degree connectors or "Y" connectors beware of high capacitance. For normal line level use it is not a big deal but for phono connections it can be. I bought a cheap "Y" connector to "sum to mono" and it sounded noticeably different and bad. I checked the capacitance and the 3" long "Y" connector had over 400 pf of capacitance .... twice as much as the cables in the tone arm and 4 ft interconnects combined! This much capacitance can really throw off the FR of an MM cart.

 

[Martini]

View attachment 137304

Don't let the outside cladding fool you. There are two 45 degree fittings inside to ease the transition.

They also included a clean-out, so if electrons get clogged you can snake out the line.

I'm sure AQ will market something musical to free the electrons, like this but with a battery -

 

[carewser]

After reading this review i'm sure many people here did the same thing as me and went out and bought one of these cables

Seriously though, if you scroll down to page 5 of this .pdf page of Audioquest's website it actually says, "Doing no harm since 1980"
https://www.audioquest.com/resource/1278/AQ-US-Retail-Price-Book.pdf

Congratulations Audioquest for not raping or murdering anyone in the last 41 years. I haven't done much of that myself in the last 41 years so I guess we have something in common. You know what else I haven't done much of in the past 41 years? Ripped people off by selling them bullshit products that make no sonic difference

They also have a "theory and education" section at their website where i'm sure they try and educate people about their theories of how well their products work in the absence of evidence

 

[Mystical Boar]

I'm ashamed to admin I owned some low tier audiophile cables, one of them being by audioquest. I sold all of these cables - some just a few hours after listing. It feels good not to have them (and retrieve some of the money).

 

[Foulchet]

Man...this is not even beautiful. I can sometimes put a (little) bit more for a sharp-looking cable or something which matches the aesthetics of my gear but here I see no point aside from being a fool.

 

[Mystical Boar]

These days I use mostly Klotz cables, which are well made, thick, soft and flexible. German products are just on a different level of quality, which is not an easy thing to admit for a Pole.

 

[Power Sven]

I have a lot of Audioquest cabel. It is very god. Power cable. Speaker cable and for digital. Very clear open sound.

 

[Omar Cumming]

I have a lot of Audioquest cabel. It is very god. Power cable. Speaker cable and for digital. Very clear open sound.

I guess God likes vastly overpriced stuff!

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

I have a lot of Audioquest cabel. It is very god. Power cable. Speaker cable and for digital. Very clear open sound.

I don't doubt that you are getting 'very clear open sound'. What would be questionable is if that has anything to do with these cables or not. Blind testing sorts these types of things out, but admittedly many (including myself) don't have time for such rigorous types of testing. But still, I'd bet you'd get the same sound with much cheaper and more generic interconnects.

 

[Emlin]

I don't doubt that you are getting 'very clear open sound'. What would be questionable is if that has anything to do with these cables or not.

It's not questionable at all. The cables have eff all to do with it.

 

[Power Sven]

I don't doubt that you are getting 'very clear open sound'. What would be questionable is if that has anything to do with these cables or not. Blind testing sorts these types of things out, but admittedly many (including myself) don't have time for such rigorous types of testing. But still, I'd bet you'd get the same sound with much cheaper and more generic interconnects.

I have open sound because of acoustic, speakers, amplifer, correct placeing of speakers and chair.
I have lots of cable for power, but Audioquest was so good for dynamic, it is quit and have a open sound. The same for speakers cable.
Interconnect i have DH Labs Revelation.

 

[SIY]

I have open sound because of acoustic, speakers, amplifer, correct placeing of speakers and chair.
I have lots of cable for power, but Audioquest was so good for dynamic, it is quit and have a open sound. The same for speakers cable.
Interconnect i have DH Labs Revelation.

If a wire has a sound, it’s broken.

 

[JSmith]

I have a lot of Audioquest cabel. It is very god. Power cable. Speaker cable and for digital. Very clear open sound.

Hey thanks for your 2nd post since 2019...

JSmith

 

[Rubbersoul2]

On floating ground shields, you are supposed to tie the ground shield to the end with lower impedance, I believe.

in all seriousness, why would you spend this much money on an rca cable anyway? What business do rca connectors have on high end gear?

Besides the vastly better noise rejection, xlr benefits from a hotter signal, increasing the SNR for free.

HIFI. HIFI HIFI ! sales

 

[digicidal]

Hey thanks for your 2nd post since 2019...

View attachment 139962

JSmith

This site needs "Laughing Likes" so bad for posts like this.

 

[mhardy6647]

It would be nice to have a smattering of "like" options. come to think of it, I think there's a forum-related suggestions, umm, subforum.
I will take the liberty of escalating the matter

PS The facepalm emoji on this forum is one of my two favorite-est emoji options extant.
Here, FWIW, are the other (rare) two that I really like -- as found on hifihaven

 

[Killingbeans]

I have open sound because of acoustic, speakers, amplifer, correct placeing of speakers and chair.

That's abolutely correct. Supported by solid evidence from loads of genuine audio research and just plain physics.

but Audioquest was so good for dynamic, it is quit and have a open sound. The same for speakers cable.

And now we're entering the realm of extraordinary claims. Nothing but anecdotes. Extremely high risk of expectation bias.

 

[ahofer]

it is quit and have a open sound.

 

[mhardy6647]

I'm sure AQ will market something musical to free the electrons, like this but with a battery -
View attachment 137345

Those PS Audio Noise Harvesters need something like that -- or maybe they're not end-user emptyable by design, so that they have to be returned to PS Audio to have the noise emptied out of them when they're full?

Speaking of noise (and anti-noise); Arthur C. Clarke's great (and somewhat prescient) short story Silence Please might instill a little nervousness in any user of noise-cancelling headphones or other technology.

Silence Please - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Arthur%20C%20Clarke%20-%20Silence%20Please.pdf

(I don't know the copyright status of this work, in full disclosure)

 

[2ndHarm]

After reading this review i'm sure many people here did the same thing as me and went out and bought one of these cables

Seriously though, if you scroll down to page 5 of this .pdf page of Audioquest's website it actually says, "Doing no harm since 1980"
https://www.audioquest.com/resource/1278/AQ-US-Retail-Price-Book.pdf

Congratulations Audioquest for not raping or murdering anyone in the last 41 years. I haven't done much of that myself in the last 41 years so I guess we have something in common. You know what else I haven't done much of in the past 41 years? Ripped people off by selling them bullshit products that make no sonic difference

They also have a "theory and education" section at their website where i'm sure they try and educate people about their theories of how well their products work in the absence of evidence

Kinda reminds me of that Sunshine Jim cleaning product the manufacturer claimed was "magnetically altered water" that was tested by a local university and found to be indistinguishable from tap water.