The Music Room also sells AQ cables and has a return policy.
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In the States Best Buy will also ship. Perhaps your local Best Buy can help getting one sent to you.
I would guess the AQ Firebird 48 will get you close to the Dragon 48 performance for $900 less. I’m just speculating tho I haven’t heard either. I do own the AQ Diamond and I have to give the nod to the RAL tho they are close IMO and in my system.
Don’t know where this places the AQ Thunderbird, compared to the RAL, but I’ve been really happy with the sound, and after reading your comments on the Dragon, I feel even better about going with an AQ cable.
It took around 200 hrs for my Thunderbird cable to break-in. So if you like the sound now, know that it will get even better.
My experience is when they lower the purity of the conductors, it higher the resistance and that tend to dull and make the sound lose resolution. Thunderbird is 10% Silver, not even perfect surface silver, so I would expect it to be not as revealing and transparent as Firebird or Dragon. As to how it would compare to RAL, RAL might still have the advantage.
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I just remembered that someone here mentioned that the Harmonic Technology Magic cable was a close second to the RAL. I owned the HT cable before buying the Thunderbird, and ended up returning the HT.
I had HT Magic cables before. I think their silver conductor are too raw and the dielectrics are not the best. They sound too bright and crude. Not enough refinement for my taste. But they are more affordable.
I believe it would take at lease a Firebird to overtake the RAL. I think the perfect surface silver technology is superior to the air tubes of the RAL. I almost bought a Firebird, but decided what the heck, just go all the way to the top.
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I still have a week or so to return the Thunderbird, might just upgrade to the Firebird.
You should. And if you find the Firebird is not worth it, return it and buy back the Thunderbird. Hey, it’s your money and your system. Have fun with it.
Thanks for sharing your opinions.
Can you elaborate more on the dimensionality? Do you mean soundstage both width and depth? The WWPS7 gives more width than the RAL for me. The depth and imaging of RAL is much better in my system as iso s believability and clarity.
You talk about bells how are the voices.
Your Dragon sounds promising. How is the imaging and 3D palpability compared to RAL. Also which cable seems more forward the RAL or Dragon? What ICS are you using to the Pre amp and amps right now doing the HDMI comparison with and also what USB into your matrix?
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Hi @Vmax,
If you like what the RAL does for your system, the Dragon takes it to another level. The resolution is even higher.
By dimensionality, I mean you see more 3 dimension front to back of an object and more air surrounding the object.
Because of the extra clarity, the images in the soundstage is brought out more in stark relief. You hear more detail and presence in those objects. The soundstage is deeper and wider because you hear more clarity and more air in the back and sides. The objects themselves stayed were they are front and side, only the back seem further back from the added clarity.
As to voices, like the images I described, there is more presence and inner detail. The uniqueness of that persons voice is more evident.
Please note, this cable is very new, there could and probably will be changes, usually for the better as the cable breaks in.
I am using the WyWires Diamonds for interconnects and Nordost Valhalla2 USB right now. These cables also took the sound to another level.
I checked on Ebay , and Audio Advice was selling this Audioquest Dragon HDMI for $1199 for 1.5 meters. Then I discovered that cables was a previous model ! One has to check the fine print !
Make sure it says AudioQuest Dragon 48. And make sure it’s not eARC. That’s a different purpose cable. The 48 is the new line. Believe me, this new line is nothing like the old line they had before.
I will wait to make any next move until you have sufficient hours on the Dragon. So far the jumps I have made after you trialed cables and fuses have aligned.
I do already feel I am getting what you describe. But one never knows until they hear better.
I was in Scottsdale AZ last week at an Audio showroom listening to some mega systems with awesome amplification and TOTL speakers and preamps and amps. McIntosh, MC1.25KW, MC2KW, MC901, C1100 Dag, Burmester pre amps and Amps. Speakers XRT2.1K, Wilson WAMM chronsonic and chronsonic XVX, Martin Logan Neolith, , Sonus Faber. We did streaming same song off servers or played of a CD. I can attest one can dial in your system with digital cables, LPS, ICs, Matrix and hardly beat or equal sound. But man let me tweak those in the showrooms with some decent tweaked digital. I walked away pretty happy with my system though the amps are old they are refreshed. But a modded DSD Dac and tweaked cables can sure take one a long way.
Spending just on electronics and speakers will not get you there was my takeaway.
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I remember when I heard the big Wilsons, it was at the California Audio Show. It was the Alexandria XLF loudspeakers and Thor’s Hammer subwoofer paired with the first Northern California showing of the AMG Viella 12 Wood turntable. Powering them, also in their first Northern California show appearance, are the VTL Siegfried Series II Reference monoblocks, TL7.5 Series III Reference preamplifier and TP6.5 Signature phono preamplifier. It was awesome!! I thought I heard some pretty low notes from an organ recording and then it hit me with some notes I didn’t hear as much I felt punch me in my guts. That was some fun times.
I use to think the 72v DBS do nothing for the sound, but I’m not so sure anymore. Today when I turn on the system, there seem to be a little more bloom to the sound, very subtle but noticeable. I wonder if it is the battery pack, or just the cable breaking in, I’m not sure. When you pull the battery pack in and out of the cable, you will not hear it. It does something to the dielectric of the wire over time that affects the sound. There may be more to this than meets the eye. I have to investigate this further.
Anyway, still breaking in. Definitely sounding better today. Incredible Dragon. So much more detail.
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I had my Firebird48 for maybe 250 hours, it definitely sounded better than a couple weeks ago. I do not know how much more improvement the Dragon will make. But I’m very happy with the Firebird and I don’t know if anyone has compared the two because they are so new.
The Firebird has offered more details and better sound stage than any other digital cables in my system for sure.
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I have well over 500 hrs on my Thunderbird, and it keeps improving. I’ve even had to play with speaker placement because of the improvements. After Sunshine I had to toe my speakers further out, now I’ve been slowly toeing them back in again because the top end has smoothed out compared to the stock HDMI cable.
Spinning some discs I haven’t listened to since installing the Thunderbird HDMI cable, and the difference is quite remarkable. So much more musical. Greater ease, much improved soundstage depth and width, finer details emerging out of a blacker background.
Trying to resist trading it up for the Firebird, which is almost double the cost. Not sure if I’ll be successful.
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Similarly, I was thinking of getting the Dragon48 at double the cost of the Firebird48, but I won’t. My Firebird is due to ship any day now.