Audioquest Interconnect Cables compared to Wireworld

[Ricjor1]

So what differences should I hear when comparing Fire to Niagara?

[joey_v]

Originally Posted by Ricjor1

So what differences should I hear when comparing Fire to Niagara?

Haven’t heard the two but from Travis’ experience he says the fire is tighter and better overall but difference is not worth the delta in price.

[Ricjor1]

Originally Posted by joey_v

Haven’t heard the two but from Travis’ experience he says the fire is tighter and better overall but difference is not worth the delta in price.

I've talked to Travis several times. As a matter of fact, he introduced me to Audioquest. He let me borrow his Niagara. I have the Fire on loan and to my ears, the Fire is smoother and better overall. In our hobby we pay a lot of money for incremental sound improvements. Right now I'm leaning towards getting the Fire.

On a side note: I tried the Audioquest Diamond USB against my Wireworld Platinum USB and prefer the "fuller" sound of the Wireworld.

[joey_v]

Travis and I had been talking about splitting a 4m fire at one point.

I believe Audio quest provides incremental and predictable games as you move up the line. This is one of the reasons why I like the brand.

[iefbo]

How does the Niagara compare to some of the newer models; Earth, Water?

[mulveling]

Originally Posted by iefbo

How does the Niagara compare to some of the newer models; Earth, Water?

The AQ lineup can be extremely confusing. Earth and Water are the top copper models from the current lineup. The Niagara, though from the older lineup, is pure silver. Generally the AQ models improve on each lineup refresh, but the difference in resolution from their copper to their silver is very significant, and I'd expect Niagara to beat the Earth and Water. Note that the Wind is the updated Niagara in the new lineup, and those have been coming down in price on the used markets.

Now if you go back far enough in time to the old Cheetah, that's a silver model that I know (from comparisons) is closely competitive with the copper Water and Colorado (the older lineup's Earth) and probably will be beat by the Earth. But the newer silver models (including Niagara) are much better than the old Cheetah.

If you're interested in AQ interconnects, honestly I'd skip the coppers entirely and go right for the silver, starting at least at the Niagara/Wind. The old Sky v1 (their former flagship) will be competitive with those models too, but they retain high prices on the used market, and they were counterfeited like crazy -- so I'd skip Sky too. The current Fire model (i.e. the new Sky) is where they start sounding like a truly high-end interconnect. And for many systems (e.g. my Stax 009 / BHSE headphone setup), the Fire will be as far as you need to go.

[joey_v]

I agree. Go for the silvers.

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by Ricjor1

It isn't about liking or disliking something. It's simply what works best in a particular system.

Of course it is about liking or disliking something (actually anything). Either a cable (or any component) gets you closer to what you are looking for or it doesn't. In other words you prefer (like) A over B.

[bradleyc]

Using some AQ Cheetah, Niagara and Sky in my systems. Niagara is a little more open sounding than Cheetah, but not enough bang for over twice the extra bucks. I prefer the synergy of WW Platinum and Gold Eclipse with McIntosh and Marantz Reference gear, same goes for power cords.

[SCAudiophile]

Originally Posted by mulveling

I've had good results with their older all-silver models. Their silver is much more resolving than the copper, and you can biwire with silver up top and copper down low for good results. But you need to keep the high/low geometry as similar as possible for best results (AQ will tell you the same). E.g. KE-4 (silver) and GO-4 (copper), or Kilimanjaro (silver) and Mont Blanc (copper).

The current prices on their silver speaker cables are through the roof, but many vintage models deliver the goods for less $$$$ if you do the research. I currently run a double Kilimanjaro 6' biwire, which yields the same AWG, metal, and geometry as one of their WEL Signature cables (over $20 K for a 6 ft pair!!). I've previously run a Kilimanjaro/Mont Blanc biwire (50/50 silver/copper and less resolving but still good) and a KE-4/Mont Blanc biwire (less coherent due to the differing geometries, with the copper Mont Blanc being bigger). In their current lineup they do an internal biwire design (each half geometrically being like a Mont Blanc or Kilimanjaro) with proportionally more silver vs. copper as you go up the line: Oak (100% copper), Redwood (a little silver), Wild (more than 50% silver), and WEL (100% silver).

Again, AQ will chop/shorten/reterminate as necessary to allow you to source bargains on the used market and still end up with the perfect biwire match. Their current 1000 series connectors (bananas or spades) are superb, and reasonably priced. Not to mention they look gorgeous.

For their current line, their Redwood is a very good sounding cable; I tried an 8' pair in my system a few years ago. It will be close to a Klimanjaro/Mont Blanc biwire (this mix has a bit more silver than the Redwood overall), but the latter can be had for a bit less cash. The double Kilimanjaro (being pure silver 9 AWG) beats the Redwood for sure.

another very good older AQ speaker cable that was all copper was VOLCANO. I owned Mont Blanc, Gibraltar, Volcano (3 pairs) and Kilimanjaro. Volcano was superior IMHO to MB.