AudioQuest Wind High-end Cable Review

[Helicopter]

@AndreaT
???

 

[AndreaT]

Well, I am not surprised. The same goes with food and wine, olive oils and vinegars. It is an inevitable psychologic mechanism: it is very expensive, it must be very good. Few learn to position their organs of sense appropriately to evaluate and draw reliable conclusions from a listening session. While mechanical qualities of a product carry an associated cost, it seems AudioQuest has not done a good job here either with the poor connection of the ground portion of the RCA. Definitely a pass. It would be nice to test uber-expensive ICs, power cables, speaker's and XLR too from other companies (like these: https://www.thecableco.com/emperor-double-crown-speaker-cable-pair.html) to evaluate all the snake oil for sale.

 

[AndrewDavis]

I dunno, my G90f has a low enough dot pitch to display 1728x1296 crispily. That plus Ray Tracing is pushing it for some games if paired with a 20 series card. :^P

I have 1000+ hours on my RTX 2080ti and I've played less than an hour total with ray tracing on. Let's keep this our little secret, though...my neighbor works for Nvidia.

 

[Helicopter]

Well, I am not surprised. The same goes with food and wine, olive oils and vinegars. It is an inevitable psychologic mechanism: it is very expensive, it must be very good. Few learn to position their organs of sense appropriately to evaluate and draw reliable conclusions from a listening session. While mechanical qualities of a product carry an associated cost, it seems AudioQuest has not done a good job here either with the poor connection of the ground portion of the RCA. Definitely a pass. It would be nice to test uber-expensive ICs, power cables, speaker's and XLR too from other companies (like these: https://www.thecableco.com/emperor-double-crown-speaker-cable-pair.html) to evaluate all the snake oil for sale.

I agree except for the part about further testing.

Amir has done an outstanding job of demonstrating that a cable included with a good hifi product and worth $45 on the secondary market is superior to a snake oil cable priced more than 40x higher. We can easily extrapolate that a $50k or $900k cable, if someone makes it, will not be any better than a properly executed generic cable that was bundled with a premium product 20 years ago. The cables over $100 have been crushed along these lines.

The remaining question for me, is , what about the $20 cable, the $5 cable and the measly $1 cable?

I know not to go above a 1999 Hitachi, but is that necessary, or beneficial, and if beneficial, by how much, compared to the cheapest cable from Monoprice, the slightly better cable from Monoprice / Amazon Basics etc.?

 

[xykreinov]

I have 1000+ hours on my RTX 2080ti and I've played less than an hour total with ray tracing on. Let's keep this our little secret, though...my neighbor works for Nvidia.

Hah I see. Most of the games I usually play are competitive or low-latency demanding in some other way, so sub 120 fps minimums can be an issue, let alone averages.

 

[restorer-john]

Most of the games I usually play are competitive or low-latency demanding in some other way, so sub 120 fps minimums can be an issue, let alone averages.

I stopped playing PC games after Doom. The very first one. It was an upgrade from Wolfenstein 3D. I suggest fast cars and fast women as an upgrade- you'll never look back.

 

[AndrewDavis]

suggest fast cars and fast women as an upgrade- you'll never look back

If by that you mean my sensible SUV and my lovely wife then I'm covered. Otherwise I have to stick to "fast" paced gaming.

 

[amirm]

I know not to go above a 1999 Hitachi, but is that necessary, or beneficial, and if beneficial, by how much, compared to the cheapest cable from Monoprice, the slightly better cable from Monoprice / Amazon Basics etc.?

I don't know if we should add such measurements to this one or have a new project/review focused on those cheap cables.

 

[RayDunzl]

I don't know if we should add such measurements to this one or have a new project/review focused on those cheap cables.

New - like the 12AWG speaker wire thread, maybe

 

[RayDunzl]

Pick from the different type;

2 wire
2 wire shielded
Coax

Whatever else you have in the junk box.

For grins.

 

[StefaanE]

It's almost like the human race is devolving in many ways.

The amount of intelligence in the Universe is a constant. The number of humans is increasing.

 

[StefaanE]

If by that you mean my sensible SUV and my lovely wife then I'm covered. Otherwise I have to stick to "fast" paced gaming.

Look, someone is mowing his front lawn. Say hello to the Missus!

 

[digicidal]

I stopped playing PC games after Doom. The very first one. It was an upgrade from Wolfenstein 3D. I suggest fast cars and fast women as an upgrade- you'll never look back.

I have to disagree John. There's time for all three in a full life... and if you do it right - even in the same day combined in various ways.

 

[restorer-john]

I don't know if we should add such measurements to this one or have a new project/review focused on those cheap cables.

Do another review for the cheap cable. No need to twist the knife anymore in this thread.

 

[ctrl]

When it comes to insanely priced audiofool cables - the thousands of dollars range one has a sneaking bit of sympathy. This is all about liberating money from people who clearly have vastly more wealth than most of us can imagine and don’t have the intelligence to justify it.

This reflects exactly my train of thought quite accurately.

Also thought about a "Robin Hood" principle - take from the rich, give to the poor. No problem - or? Okay, the last part is not fulfilled by the audio suppliers for audiofools.

But the problem is that these companies don't care about robbing only the rich. Beside the 20.000$ cable there is also the 1.000$ cable for the enthusiast who believes the pseudo-scientific or fictitious arguments of these companies and pays the price although it hurts financially, because hifi is a passion for him and he believes the paid a-holes on Youtube (or the Hifi dealer of his choice) the "incredible transparency", "unprecedented depth", ... promise - they can't all lie - can they?

At this point the ugly grimace of capitalism (make as much money as possible, no matter from whom and how) shows itself and simply exposes these companies as fraudsters ("Robin Hood" died long ago ).

 

[solderdude]

Even $100.- interlink cables can be considered 'snake oil' when claims about sound quality are made.
When these are very well constructed with nice looking materials something can be said about build quality.

The thing is that people that get ripped off by believing in cables and buy stuff they can't really afford and buy with the 'assurance' they are buying 'improved sound quality' haven't informed themselves properly. It is on them if they do so.
There is plenty of info found on the web and these buyers either ignore it or think it is 'fake news'.

That's what ASR is good for. They measure it and the info is available. Those that ignore it or think they know better because they clearly hear it themselves will always keep buying snakeoil.

The whole audio industry revolves around making money. Manufacturers can choose between low pricing and selling tons or selling just a few and make a living this way.

 

[Killingbeans]

I stopped playing PC games after Doom. The very first one. It was an upgrade from Wolfenstein 3D.

The first Doom is a great game! Had a playthrough again not too long ago, and it is still a blast. Also gave Doom II a go, but wasn't nearly as impressed. IMO, it was overhyped back in the day. Never made it through Wolfenstein 3D, but it's on my to-do-list. Just need to find a good source port and set it up.

I suggest fast cars and fast women as an upgrade- you'll never look back.

I have a slow car that sometimes feels fast because it's about to fall apart. Does that count? Have no idea what a fast woman is, but my fiancé is perfectly enjoyable, despite her not being in a hurry

 

[A800]

I stopped playing PC games after Doom. The very first one. It was an upgrade from Wolfenstein 3D. I suggest fast cars and fast women as an upgrade- you'll never look back.

I prefer Duke Nukem 3D.
Another favourite: Tron 2.0.

 

[Helicopter]

I don't know if we should add such measurements to this one or have a new project/review focused on those cheap cables.

I was thinking a new review would make more sense too. The comparison here is completely fair and does not require additional measurement.

 

[mhardy6647]

Pick from the different type;

2 wire
2 wire shielded
Coax

Whatever else you have in the junk box.

For grins.

Don't forget my own personal favorite -- (more or less) twisted pair of 30-ga magnet wire. Audiophile juju is off the charts.


DSC_4534 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

I should add that these were artisanally hand crafted from Radio Shack's finest magnet wire and RCA plugs.