AudioQuest Wind High-end Cable Review

[ahofer]

The more expensive they are the less chance someone will actually cut it up to investigate it. Objective technical tests like this likely to dismissed by AQ as having no correlation to ‘how it sounds’ so it’s in the realm of subjectivity, meaning the benefits of these high price cables are all imagined, snake oil.

Notice that it’s mostly cheaper stuff that gets reviewed and tested here? It would be trivially easy to set up a blind cable comparison, but nobody interested in doing so wants to go anywhere near paying for it, and the folks who have them are generally petrified to loan them. Price it to low and people like us might spring to test them and embarass everyone.

 

[paddycrow]

I've suspected that the DBS was just BS since I first heard about it.

 

[oldsysop]

 

[mansr]

What a punchable face.

 

[SIY]

What a punchable face.

Backpfeiffengesicht?

 

[scott wurcer]

What a punchable face.

I had that reaction to a PS Audio publicity photo from the late 70's.

 

[audiofooled]

I wonder how much longer would it take for someone to say something like:

"Look, people, common wisdom nowadays would be that the only job a cable has to do is transfer signal from point A to point B and not lose nor add anything along the way. And it can be done for much less than a 1000 per foot."

- Or maybe "You can't put any more money over here and expect to get anything in return. If you still have it, you'd better donate it."

 

[John Galt]

The AQ product introduction doesn't sound like snake oil at all Great review as always @amirm , thank you!

"In the simplest sense, wind is air in motion produced by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the sun. Because our planet is made of various land and water formations, from the severe heights of K2 to the placid Chicago River, it absorbs the sun’s radiation unevenly, creating differences in air pressure and the ensuing movement of air from high-pressure areas to lower ones.

Wind is also one of our most valuable natural resources: As an alternative to fossil fuels, wind is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions, and uses little land. While wind power may be more important today than ever before, it is by no means a new concept. Representations of ships under sail date as far back as 5500 B.C., while windmills may have been first used in Persia in 200 B.C. Among the classical elements, wind’s close relative, air, is pure, powerful, and fundamentally important to life. In Japanese philosophy, wind is a symbol of all things that grow, expand, and enjoy freedom of movement, in some ways best represented by the human mind.

People born under the astrological signs of Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius are thought to have dominant air personalities, marked by kindness and social grace. Of course, wind itself may be the most graceful of all elements. It fans the flames of our deepest passions, dances atop the surfaces of our longest rivers, sings in the rustling of the largest leaves, and carves its initials into our mightiest rocks. The physical effect is often astounding: From the forever-swirling formations of Coyote Buttes in Utah, to the sculpted cypress trees seemingly frozen in time along California’s coast, wind holds a place as one of nature’s most masterful artists."

Just in case it sounds like I made this BS up: Wind · Elements Series · Analog Interconnects · Cables · AudioQuest

 

[SIY]

The AQ product description doesn't sound like snake oil at all Great review as always @amirm , thank you!

"In the simplest sense, wind is air in motion produced by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the sun. Because our planet is made of various land and water formations, from the severe heights of K2 to the placid Chicago River, it absorbs the sun’s radiation unevenly, creating differences in air pressure and the ensuing movement of air from high-pressure areas to lower ones.

Wind is also one of our most valuable natural resources: As an alternative to fossil fuels, wind is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions, and uses little land. While wind power may be more important today than ever before, it is by no means a new concept. Representations of ships under sail date as far back as 5500 B.C., while windmills may have been first used in Persia in 200 B.C. Among the classical elements, wind’s close relative, air, is pure, powerful, and fundamentally important to life. In Japanese philosophy, wind is a symbol of all things that grow, expand, and enjoy freedom of movement, in some ways best represented by the human mind.

People born under the astrological signs of Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius are thought to have dominant air personalities, marked by kindness and social grace. Of course, wind itself may be the most graceful of all elements. It fans the flames of our deepest passions, dances atop the surfaces of our longest rivers, sings in the rustling of the largest leaves, and carves its initials into our mightiest rocks. The physical effect is often astounding: From the forever-swirling formations of Coyote Buttes in Utah, to the sculpted cypress trees seemingly frozen in time along California’s coast, wind holds a place as one of nature’s most masterful artists."

Just in case it sounds like I made this BS up: Wind · Elements Series · Analog Interconnects · Cables · AudioQuest

I lost ten IQ points reading that!

 

[Katji]

I think I'll always remember this.

But then my wife who was in the kitchen informed me that the dogs had left the patio door open and whether I was OK if she closed it. Once she did, the air factor disappeared.

 

[Katji]

forever-swirling formations of Coyote Buttes

Maybe the most suitable part of that story.

 

[Wes]

The AQ product introduction doesn't sound like snake oil at all Great review as always @amirm , thank you!

"In the simplest sense, wind is air in motion produced by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the sun. Because our planet is made of various land and water formations, from the severe heights of K2 to the placid Chicago River, it absorbs the sun’s radiation unevenly, creating differences in air pressure and the ensuing movement of air from high-pressure areas to lower ones.

Wind is also one of our most valuable natural resources: As an alternative to fossil fuels, wind is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions, and uses little land. While wind power may be more important today than ever before, it is by no means a new concept. Representations of ships under sail date as far back as 5500 B.C., while windmills may have been first used in Persia in 200 B.C. Among the classical elements, wind’s close relative, air, is pure, powerful, and fundamentally important to life. In Japanese philosophy, wind is a symbol of all things that grow, expand, and enjoy freedom of movement, in some ways best represented by the human mind.

People born under the astrological signs of Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius are thought to have dominant air personalities, marked by kindness and social grace. Of course, wind itself may be the most graceful of all elements. It fans the flames of our deepest passions, dances atop the surfaces of our longest rivers, sings in the rustling of the largest leaves, and carves its initials into our mightiest rocks. The physical effect is often astounding: From the forever-swirling formations of Coyote Buttes in Utah, to the sculpted cypress trees seemingly frozen in time along California’s coast, wind holds a place as one of nature’s most masterful artists."

Just in case it sounds like I made this BS up: Wind · Elements Series · Analog Interconnects · Cables · AudioQuest

That introductory paragraph doesn't address their highest SQ model, the Breaking Wind cable.

 

[Katji]

I dunno , maybe this part: "...creating differences in air pressure and the ensuing movement of air from high-pressure areas to lower ones."
Ok, not exactly air, but the principle is basically the same.

 

[welsh]

Is there a single Audioquest product that is both a) not overpriced and b) not snake oil or mediocre at best?

Yes there is. Their solid 90-degree RCA splitters are very useful. And not expensive.

 

[MediumRare]

Yes there is. Their solid 90-degree RCA splitters are very useful. And not expensive.

If by "not expensive" you mean "6.5x more expensive than alternatives" yes, I would agree.

 

[Chrispy]

Good ol' Fraudioquest.

 

[gvl]

If by "not expensive" you mean "6.5x more expensive than alternatives" yes, I would agree.
View attachment 137226

At least it's built better. I have a version of those cheap plugs on a regular rca cable and the spring loaded ground contacts are very weak.

 

[ahofer]

If by "not expensive" you mean "6.5x more expensive than alternatives" yes, I would agree.
View attachment 137226

Does it ruin the sound to put that inexpensive end on a $1000 unobtanium cable?

 

[Chrispy]

At least it's built better. I have a version of those cheap plugs on a regular rca cable and the spring loaded ground contacts are very weak.

Prove it.

 

[Martini]

Yes there is. Their solid 90-degree RCA splitters are very useful. And not expensive.

A 90° bend in an audio signal is almost the worst thing you can do, the electrons bunch up in a concertina effect or like a kink in a water hose (I'm not sure which analogy sounds more authoritative and understandable to the feeble minded), creating massive distortion.