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Review Audioquest Hurricane (part 2)

AudioFacts frequently tests new products. Because for us this remains one of the most beautiful parts of our beloved profession. Our drive for perfection keeps us sharp because we're always looking for new products for our customers. During all our testing over the past nearly 20 years we rarely discover a product which surpasses all our expectations.

Thanks to Tru-Fi we can understand all the properties and talents of Audioquest cables optimally so we can use them all. It makes the impact of a power cable so much greater. The way we use a powercable, it becomes just as important as a component.

The Hurricane immediately shows that it lives up to its name. From the first moment on you realize that you are listening to something really special. This cable overwhelms you with its utmost precision and speed. The music you know well directly sounds 2 levels higher from the beginning.

Constantly there is that surprise during listening and the big smile on your face.

In timing and speed the Hurricane made a huge step compared to the Audioquest NRG-1000 and also other more expensive power cables. Each attack is so much faster (and shorter). All your music is being played with significantly more grip and AUTHORITY. We never encountered this degree in ease and additional control (due to a powercable) in this price range before.

You can even observe more diversity (layering) in sound. Diversity in sound is the most determining factor that influences the human emotion. Voices turn out to have more layers than we thought. Instruments gain a more natural and realistic sound. And voices become silky and more fluid than ever before.

The degree of 3-dimensionality of the sound image becomes larger. Since 2009 AudioFacts creates and sells only a 3-dimensional sound stage. Because humans also experience and perceive sound in a 3D spectrum. Thanks to the increase in resolution the stage becomes deeper and wider. Making voices and instruments more apparent and free from each other. So you can even walk through the recording during listening.

Voices and instruments are even more compact and therefore more intimate. The physical tangibility of both voices as instruments are even more authentic. In reality both voices as instruments are played very directly and displayed in small proportion.

Thanks to a lower noise floor the Hurricane creates an even better black level. This is the space between the voices and instruments of a recording. When the sound becomes more tangible and more voices and instruments get a stature (shape), we speak of a higher black level.

What also impressed us with the Hurricane is the huge increase in resolution (details) which can now be perceived. The space in which the recording is made is now very easily observable. Also the articulation of voices becomes more clearly audible. Even the decay around voices and instruments becomes clearly observable.

Regarding to the frequency range you immediately hear that the response of both the Monitor Audio Pl-500 as the Platinum subwoofer goes even deeper than before. You feel the increase in power and energy of the low frequencies. When the low frequency range of an audio system increases, often the degree of emotion becomes larger. In addition you can even hear an increase of information and layers in the middle and high frequencies.

Thanks to our research and developedment of Statement Audio Pro-measurement, differences in height of voices and instruments become more clear to observe. This allows you to better perceive the harmony of voices and instruments together. It makes the music more emotional and intense. The Hurricane creates an even higher degree in diversity of the height of voices and instruments.

It is more than clear that Audioquest have made a big step with the Hurricane power cable. At the price of 1599 euro (for 1 meter) we have never auditioned a power cable of this unique and high quality.

The impact and influence of the Hurricane in an audio system is rather big and decisive. And it makes clear more than ever that power cables should be an essential component in any audio system. The price of 1599 euro (for 1 meter) is more than justified by the large step in quality gained.
128x128bo1972
folkfreak's avatar
folkfreak
1,349 posts
 
I've commented in the Part I discussion of this regarding my own positive experience with the AQ Dragon Hi Current which mirror Bo's with the Hurricane

There is one point of Bo's that I think merits expansion however, especially as it departs from the normal "hi-fi" discussion of the impact of a system change

You can even observe more diversity (layering) in sound. Diversity in sound is the most determining factor that influences the human emotion. Voices turn out to have more layers than we thought. Instruments gain a more natural and realistic sound. And voices become silky and more fluid than ever before

The comment above is what I had in mind. Firstly to clarify what I believe is Bo's intent the use of the word "layering" is not in its traditional hi-fi sense of soundstage but instead refers to the many layers of interpretation in a given artists's performance. To give a couple of examples -- bass guitar or double bass is often perceived as a single tone and we remark on it's immediacy or profound depth -- but most skilled bass players put all manner of subtle detail into their playing, modulating the dynamics to tiny degrees, adding a hint of vibrato and so on. Likewise with vocalists what you hear is all sorts of subtle inflections, slight shifts in tone and emphasis -- all of which adds immeasurably to the experience and frankly makes you care much less about traditional measures of hi-fi performance.

I believe the AQ cables contribute to this by not only providing a wider channel to get power to the system but more by lowering the noise floor -- the same sorts of impact are to be found by changes such as grounding systems that lower system noise floor -- or by removing interfering acoustic reflections that are muddying the direct recorded sound.

So I strongly recommend you explore these cables in concert with other system tuning efforts aimed at reducing system noise and uncovering all the hidden layers that your recordings contain
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
How could voices have more layers than we thought? I mean, we hear people’s voices everyday, no? 
czarivey
5,946 posts
 
Bo has to write instead of Mike Fremmer that's for sure. He'll make more money.

bo1972's avatar
bo1972 OP
2,789 posts
 
I still use 3 Purist Audio Limited Edition powercables. And no they will not be replaced by Audioquest powercables. Based on the fact that they own properties Audioquest cannot create.

As you all know I work by properties. This is the only way to understand why the sound and stage of your system is what you hear. The LE makes the stage even bigger and wider than any AQ powercable can create.

But.....there is even more. Jim is also exceptional good in creating powercables. The middle frequencies are also done differently compared to Audioquest. This part I would never want to loose in my system.

Thinking and working by properties is the real art of sound. And mannn this is for me so F. addictive. I listen to real music and after this I look for properties to come as close as possible.

Almost 20 years now I am testing and doing research in both sound&vision. I love them both. We also made huge progress in vision in the last 2 year. And we work the same way. Always by properties, based on the fact that there is no other way to guide and create both sound&vision.

Trial and error needs to get out of the world in sound&vision. It limits millions of people all over the world in quality and guiding both sound&vision. 

I spoke with different people about the CES. They told me that it is dead. And audio was  95% smaller than in the past. How clear you want it to understand that trial and error will not bring anything.


bo1972's avatar
bo1972 OP
2,789 posts
 
I give an example; we created stealth low freqency. It outperforms any other way of letting a subwoofer integrate with the loudspeakers.

I use my Platinum subwoofer till 140hz. I orderd a Dragon high current to test. But.....within 1 minute I knew I would keep it.

I could hear many new parts of recordings I know well. When you switch with the remote between on and off of the subwoofer you have no idea how big the differences are. These are things you need to hear. That is why we need to give presentations all over the world so everyone can hear it.




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