Audioquest vs. Others

I'm going to throw another recommendation out there. Try Audio Envy cables. They are unique in the market. They are incredible with electrostats! He has a 45 day trial period, so no risk except the few dollhairs of shipping. Ignore the less than stellar website. These are quality, hand-made cables with fantastic tech specs.

https://audioenvy.com/store/
+1  I recently gave these a shot and am seriously impressed.I agree that the website will not inspire confidence in your decision,lol!After verifying myself that several customers did indeed put their much pricier cables up for sale and kept the AEs I had to try them.The ics by themselves are all about the midrange.The addition of two pcs(dac +pre) brought in the highs,bass,and dynamics.They are very slightly lean in my all tubed system,but so transparent,detailed,layered,and 'musical'.

🤔 hmmm..
I’m surprised no one yet praising the virtues of the proprietary AQ battery pack cables??

Sorry but this is really a very typically intellectually lazy thread. The op wants everyone’s opinion without them doing any real listening. Then you get the egos, I used SR 99’s and Glorious brand they all sounded better than AQ blah blah blah. Here’s the whole nut OP. Cables will all sound different because your room, gear, and hearing are unique. Everything else is opinions.

AQ makes great interconnects, only complaint I have is how high the cost is going for their higher cables (unless getting used).

The higher up you go the more transparent the cable gets.  As ricred1 mentioned this is all system dependent.  Transparency does not necessarily mean a good thing.  Other than their Niagara/Wind cables, AQ silver is fairly balanced, not bright.  I would actually categorize the Fire interconnects as being on the warmer side.

All AQ cables have a similar sound characteristic, going from copper to silver adds to the resolution in the mid-to-upper end.  I recently did a test between AQ Earth, older Niagra, Fire, and WEL.  They all have similar sound signature, but emphasize different aspects of frequency range.  With the WEL the balance of resolution, depth, and bass is amazing.  This means it does not hide anything, so if your system is balanced then it may sound amazing (though it is still room and preference dependent).  Not a good choice if you tend to balance the sound in your system via cables vs. changing components.

I would definitely try to demo some AQ interconnects.  Depending on budget I would try out Earth or Fire.

All AQ cables have a similar sound characteristic

on a system that is either low resolution or impervious to cables.

On systems that resolve well, especially in the time domain, AQ cables are all over the sonic map.