I noticed on the Audioquest website that there is a new level of HDMI cable out that includes their reference level “Mythical Creatures Line” brand names Thunderbird, Firebird, and Dragon! I don’t know specifics on the price but I’ll post a link to the Dragon HDMI. Looks like they use the noise dissipation technology, 48gps, 8k-10k certified, and all the other superlatives. I saw a 1.5m Thunderbird on the Abt website for $849 I’m sure the Dragon HDMI will be flirting with $2k! Yikes! I own a Diamond HDMI and a pair of Thunderbird speaker cables and both perform exceptionally well in my system! I’ll be curious to see what sonic improvement the new cables will bring with I2S connections! https://www.audioquest.com/cables/digital-cables/hdmi-8k-10k/dragon-earc
Over here in the Netherlands the 1.5m AQ Dragon eARC hdmi is €1199,- which is still cheaper in comparison to the 1.5m AQ Diamond which goes for €1399,-
Thanks. That is very interesting.
More info from Nick Lucini at The Music Room.
Much better noise dissipation compared to Diamond, the whole mythical creates HDMI line features graphene and carbon loaded PVC on the outside of the cable, dissipating noise prior to even meeting the other noise dissipation tech. Firebird is actually the replacement for Diamond. Dragon is even better since every single data pair is solid core silver, that’s 15 solid core conductors in Dragon. This includes the drains which was not a feature with Dragon or the latest Firebird
Thank you Nick for the info. Still waiting to hear pricing in United States.
In this application (connecting a PS Audio transport to a DirectStream DAC via I2S) would the Dragon eARC give the same sound quality as the Dragon 48?
I’m not an expert but looking at the specs I’d say no. The av conductor on the Dragon earc Is 0.5% silver the dragon HDMI has 100% silver AV conductors.
You’re absolutely right: I have ordered the Firebird 48.
Looking forward to your review! I ordered a diamond right before the new cables were released.