Originally Posted by eziggy
Since starting this thread I made some changes and was able to try out a bunch of different AQ interconnects.
I replaced my MC452 with a Luxman 509X, and replaced the AQ Oak with Thunderbird Zero.
In terms of interconnects, based on recommendations I picked up Fire interconnects which I really liked. I was also able to get a pair of WEL interconnects at a great price and picked those up as well.
Figured it would be good to give my perspective on these cables since I had at one point Earth, Niagara, Fire, and WEL. A few caveats, the Niagaras and Fires were XLR the Earth and WEL RCA. Because of this I had to use my Marantz 8805 (native FLAC Tidal) as the source since it has both XLR and RCA. I noticed a few DB difference between RCA and XLR. As always, all this is system specific.
I would have to agree with everyone comments in this thread about the differences between these cables. Form my perspective the easiest way to describe the cables:
- Earth: Great soundstage, warm, not so crisp highs/vocals and less instrument separation, but had depth to the sound. Overall a great cable, has an analog sound to it. Vocals are less forward, more blended into instruments.
- Niagara: Smaller soundstage, very crisp highs yet smooth, less depth. Vocals more up front, almost in front of music. Great bass, but lacked fullness in the mids.
- Fire: Wider soundstage, very crisp highs (also smooth), a bit more depth, fuller mids. Good instrument separation. Vocals up front, more prominent.
- WEL: Amazing soundstage, all around crisp instruments/vocals, AMAZING instrument separation, very full sound and depth. Layering was more audible, vocals are more natural and realistically layered in with the instruments. Closest to analog out of any cable I have used.
Best way to put it, WEL is a combination of best things from Earth + Fire. First time I put them in and comparing to Fires I thought they were warm and I had lost clarity especially with vocals. As I listened to them more, it was obvious what I was hearing was more natural, realistic, but never losing any crispness or clarity across the entire spectrum. Instead of the vocals being front and center they were more distributed across the proper soundstage. Also heard instruments I hadn't paid attention to as much with the other cables.
I really like the Fires as well, I plan on using them for other parts of the system.
I recently ordered a Lumin D2 to try out, and will try to do a comparison between the Fires and WELs with the D2 as the source. I may reterminate the WELs to XLR at some point, if I can get over the ridiculous amount AQ is asking for the retermination.
I also want to try WireWorld Platinum 8's at some point to compare since I have heard good things.
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