Features

AQ Black Beauty XLR Cable: AQ's Black Beauty balanced XLR cable features several AudioQuest design elements that work together to reduce distortion and efficiently dissipate radio-frequency noise. These include: Direction-Controlled Solid Perfect-Surface Copper+ (PSC+) conductors, Carbon/Graphene Mesh-Network, 0.5% Silver-Plated RF Drain-Wires, Copper-Plated Plug Casings, and Hanging-Silver over Red-Copper plugs.

Solid Perfect-Surface Copper+ (PSC+) Conductors: Solid conductors prevent electrical and magnetic strand-interaction, while PSC+ Solid-Copper minimizes distortion caused by grain boundaries and maximizes linear RF Noise-Dissipation.

Level 6 Noise-Dissipation: AQ's Level 6 Linear Noise-Dissipation includes a carbon & graphene resistive mesh-network, direction-controlled conductors, and Silver-Plated drain wires, significantly minimizing RF Noise masking effects.

• Graphene Based Noise Dissipation: Alternating layers of graphene, carbon-loaded synthetics, and metal "shield-the-shield", minimizing RF noise before it reaches the layer attached to ground.
• Direction Controlled: Direction-Controlled Silver-Plated RF Drain-Wires further ensure the proper and efficient dissipation of induced radio-frequency noise for clearer, more natural sound.
• Copper-Plated RF-Draining Barrels: Grounded Copper-Plated Barrels maximize Noise-Dissipation by preventing a metal barrel from capacitively coupling RF to the conductors.
• Hanging-Silver Over Red Copper Plug: The balanced XLR connector features superior Hanging-Silver (not tumbled) directly over extreme-purity Red Copper to ensure uncompromised signal transfer.

ZERO-Tech: The only way to avoid characteristic-impedance mismatch-effects between a cable and its attached source and load circuits is to prevent the cable from having a characteristic-impedance. ZERO-Tech succeeds by eliminating the electrostatic field between the cable’s high and low signal conductors, enabling linear (consistent octave to octave) Radio-Frequency (RF) Noise-Dissipation, and uncompressed transients.

Foamed Polyethylene Insulation: Any solid material adjacent to a conductor is actually part of an imperfect circuit. Wire insulation and circuit board materials all absorb energy. Some of this energy is stored and then released as distortion. Because air absorbs next to no energy and Polyethylene is low-loss and has a benign distortion profile, Foamed-PE, with its high air content, causes much less of the out-of-focus effect common to other materials.