A signal is a fragile thing. By the time it reaches your speakers it has been through a DAC, a preamp, an amplifier, a set of connectors and several metres of copper. Every one of those handoffs adds a little noise. The job of a cable is to add as little as possible to what is already there.
That is the whole of AudioQuest's philosophy: do no harm to the signal. A cable cannot add anything to the music; the most it can do is take less away. We keep them set up in our demo room so you can hear it for yourself. Below is the AudioQuest range we carry, range by range, with a comparison card for each family and the reasoning that goes with each step up. If you want something that isn't listed here, ask: we can get it.
AudioQuest publish a great deal of theory: skin effect, noise dissipation, conductor directionality, cold-welded terminations. We will tell you what their design intent is in each case. We will not pretend it has been measured in your sitting room, because it has not. The cards set out what each product is; whether you can hear the difference is a question for the demo room with your own music.
The HDMI range
Five cables, two specifications. A 4K source into a 4K display is happy on Blueberry. An HDMI 2.1 chain (current consoles, Apple TV 4K, an Atmos AVR with eARC, a 4K/120 OLED) wants one of the 48 Gbps cables, and the steps above Pearl 48 are about reducing RF noise rather than adding bandwidth.
4K / 18 Gbps
Blueberry
HDMI 2.0 cable
From £29
- ✓ HDMI 2.0
- ✓ 18 Gbps bandwidth
- ✓ Solid Long-Grain Copper
- ✓ 4K/60
- ✓ 0.6 m – 5 m
- ✓ For current 4K kit
Entry 48 Gbps
Pearl 48
HDMI 2.1 cable
From £34
- ▲ HDMI 2.1
- ▲ 48 Gbps bandwidth
- ✓ Solid Long-Grain Copper
- ▲ 4K/120, 8K/60, eARC
- ▲ Level-1 Noise-Dissipation
- ▲ 19 conductors direction-controlled
Silver-Plated
Forest 48
HDMI 2.1 cable
From £39
- ✓ HDMI 2.1, 48 Gbps
- ▲ 0.5% silver-plated LGC
- ✓ 4K/120, 8K/60, eARC
- ✓ Noise-Dissipation
- ✓ Direction-controlled
- ▲ Silver surface for high frequencies
Premium 2.1
Carbon 48
HDMI 2.1 cable
From £149
- ✓ HDMI 2.1, 48 Gbps
- ▲ Braided construction
- ✓ 4K/120 + eARC
- ▲ Mid-range premium build
- ✓ Direction-controlled
- ▲ 0.6 m – 3 m
Reference HDMI
Vodka 48
HDMI 2.1 cable
From £449
- ✓ HDMI 2.1, 48 Gbps
- ▲ 10% silver-plated copper
- ▲ Level-3 Noise-Dissipation
- ▲ Four 12 Gbps balanced pairs
- ✓ 4K/120, 8K/60, eARC
- ▲ Built for the next television
Analogue interconnects
These are the RCA pairs that go between your source, your preamp and your power amp. The line is a metallurgy story: Long-Grain Copper at the foot, Perfect-Surface Copper above it (polished, because high-frequency current travels close to the conductor surface), then the higher-purity PSC+, with air-tube dielectrics and silver-plated terminations at the top. The cards run lowest to highest; the move that tends to matter most is from plain LGC into Perfect-Surface Copper at Golden Gate. Most customers settle between Golden Gate and Big Sur.
In-Wall / Budget
Tower
RCA interconnect / pair
From £38
- ✓ Solid Long-Grain Copper
- ✓ Foamed-PE dielectric
- ✓ Asymmetrical double-balanced
- ✓ Cold-welded terminations
- ✓ CL3/FT4 in-wall rated
- ✓ 0.6 m – 20 m
Step Up
Chicago
RCA interconnect / single or pair
From £54.50
- ✓ Solid Long-Grain Copper
- ✓ Foam dielectric
- ✓ Asymmetrical geometry
- ✓ Cold-welded terminations
- ▲ Single or paired RCA
- ▲ A step above Tower
First Proper Pair
Evergreen
RCA interconnect / pair
From £69.95
- ✓ Solid Long-Grain Copper
- ✓ Foamed-PE dielectric
- ✓ Asymmetrical double-balanced
- ▲ Gold-plated cold-welded plugs
- ✓ Entry-grade LGC
- ▲ 0.6 m – 3 m
Perfect-Surface Copper
Golden Gate
RCA interconnect / pair
From £99
- ▲ Solid Perfect-Surface Copper
- ✓ Foamed-PE dielectric
- ✓ Asymmetrical geometry
- ▲ Noise-Dissipation System
- ✓ Cold-welded terminations
- ▲ Smoother conductor surface
The Sweet Spot
Big Sur
RCA interconnect / pair
From £145
- ▲ Solid PSC+ (higher purity)
- ✓ Foamed-PE dielectric
- ▲ Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation
- ▲ Silver-plated purple-copper plugs
- ✓ Cold-welded terminations
- ▲ Stereophile Recommended 2025
Top of the Range
Sydney
RCA interconnect / pair
From £209
- ✓ Solid PSC+ conductor
- ▲ Polyethylene Air-Tube dielectric
- ▲ Carbon-Based Noise-Dissipation
- ✓ Silver-plated terminations
- ✓ Cold-welded terminations
- ▲ Top analogue cable in the range
Subwoofer cables
A subwoofer carries one channel of low frequencies, often over a long single-ended run near mains leads, and the sub amp is sensitive to noise on its ground. Three options, in ascending order.
Standard Sub Run
Black Lab
RCA subwoofer cable / single
From £49.95
- ✓ Solid Long-Grain Copper
- ✓ 100% shielded
- ✓ CL3/FT4 in-wall rated
- ✓ Grounded RCA ends
- ✓ Single low-frequency channel
- ✓ 2 m – 20 m
Silver-Plated
Greyhound
RCA subwoofer cable / single
From £69
- ▲ 0.5% silver-plated LGC
- ▲ Hyperlitz coaxial geometry
- ▲ Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation
- ▲ Cold-welded terminations
- ✓ Single sub channel
- ✓ 2 m – 20 m
Premium Sub
Irish Red
RCA subwoofer cable / single
£85 (3 m)
- ✓ 0.5% silver-plated copper
- ✓ Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation
- ▲ Grounded RCA terminations
- ✓ Solid conductor
- ▲ Premium sub cable stocked
- ✓ 3 m length
Digital coax and optical
In a coax digital run the point is consistent 75-ohm impedance; AudioQuest's argument for a silver surface on a copper core is that it gives most of the benefit of solid silver at a fraction of the cost. For optical, the design intent is low dispersion: scattered light still arrives at the receiver, but late, and that timing error reads as jitter.
Coax Digital
Forest Coaxial Digital
75-ohm coax / single
From £44
- ✓ Solid 0.5% silver-plated LGC
- ✓ Foamed-PE insulation
- ✓ 75-ohm impedance
- ✓ Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation
- ✓ Cold-welded RCA
- ✓ 0.75 m – 5 m
Silver Conductor
Cinnamon Coax
75-ohm coax / single
From £79
- ▲ Solid 1.25% silver conductors
- ▲ Hard-Cell Foam insulation
- ✓ 75-ohm impedance
- ✓ Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation
- ▲ Gold-plated cold-welded RCA
- ✓ 0.75 m – 5 m
For optical there are three: a portable 3.5 mm mini variant, the full-size Toslink and the Forest OptiLink. All use a low-dispersion multi-fibre bundle with precision-polished ends.
Portable Optical
Pearl Toslink to Mini
Optical, Toslink to 3.5 mm
From £29.95
- ✓ Low-dispersion multi-fibre
- ✓ Precision-polished ends
- ✓ Toslink to 3.5 mm mini
- ✓ For portable sources
- ✓ Minimises timing jitter
- ✓ 0.75 m – 16 m
Standard Optical
Pearl Optical Toslink
Optical, full-size Toslink
From £34.95
- ✓ Low-dispersion multi-fibre
- ✓ Precision-polished ends
- ▲ Full-size Toslink
- ✓ Minimises timing jitter
- ▲ TV / CD / streamer optical
- ✓ 0.75 m – 16 m
Forest Optical
Forest OptiLink
Optical, with adaptor
£49 (1.5 m)
- ✓ Low-dispersion fibre bundle
- ✓ Precision-polished ends
- ▲ Forest jacket
- ▲ Toslink adaptor included
- ✓ Reduces jitter at receiver
- ▲ 1.5 m
Ethernet and USB
The case AudioQuest make for caring about a network cable is not about the packets, which are either right or resent. It is about the RF that rides into the streamer's ground reference and then into the analogue stage. The USB cables make the same case.
Network Entry
Pearl RJ/E Ethernet
Network cable / single
£54.95 (1.5 m)
- ✓ Solid Long-Grain Copper
- ✓ RJ/E Ethernet
- ✓ For streamers / NAS
- ✓ Reduces RF on the line
- ✓ Cold-welded connectors
- ✓ 1.5 m length
Silver-Plated Network
Forest Ethernet
Network cable / single
From £65
- ▲ 0.5% silver-plated LGC
- ▲ Level-1 Noise-Dissipation
- ✓ For streamers / NAS
- ▲ 0.75 m – 12 m
- ✓ Reduces RF on the line
- ✓ Cold-welded connectors
USB Entry
Pearl USB A-B
USB A to B / single
From £34.95
- ✓ Solid Long-Grain Copper
- ✓ Hard-Cell Foam insulation
- ✓ USB A to B
- ✓ For computer-to-DAC
- ✓ Cold-welded connectors
- ✓ 0.75 m – 5 m
Micro-B Variant
Pearl USB-A to Micro-B
USB-A to Micro-B 2.0
£34.95 (0.75 m)
- ✓ Semi-solid concentric copper
- ✓ Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation
- ▲ USB-A to Micro-B 2.0
- ✓ For DAC or portable
- ✓ Noise-dissipating geometry
- ▲ 0.75 m
Silver-Plated USB
Forest USB A-B
USB A to B / single
From £69
- ▲ 0.5% silver-plated LGC
- ▲ Direction-controlled
- ✓ USB A to B
- ✓ For computer-to-DAC
- ✓ Noise-dissipation
- ▲ 0.75 m – 5 m
Speaker cable and power
Rocket 11 is the one speaker cable we carry, and we use it in our own demo room. The NRG-X3 is a kettle-lead replacement with a clear argument behind it: the AC cable is part of the system, and direction-controlling the conductor is meant to keep RF away from the power supply's ground reference.
Speaker Cable
Rocket 11
Per metre or 50 m reel
£20/m · £1,000 reel
- ✓ 14 AWG Long-Grain Copper
- ✓ Semi-solid concentric strands
- ✓ Double spiral-pair geometry
- ✓ CL3/FT4 in-wall rated
- ✓ Black or white reels
- ✓ What Hi-Fi? Best Mid-Price 2025
Mains Power
NRG-X3
UK kettle-lead replacement
From £65
- ✓ 16 AWG semi-solid concentric LGC
- ✓ Direction-controlled conductor
- ✓ IEC C13 to UK 13 A
- ✓ Cold-welded terminations
- ✓ Drains RF towards the wall
- ✓ 0.9 m – 3 m
How to choose, in plain terms
Match the cable to the source and the run. A 4K Blu-ray player into a 4K AVR does not need Vodka 48. A 4K/120 console into an HDMI 2.1 AVR does want one of the 48 Gbps cables, and the steps above Pearl 48 are about noise rather than bandwidth.
On analogue interconnects, the step that tends to matter most is the move from plain LGC into Perfect-Surface Copper at Golden Gate. After that, gains get smaller and the price gets steeper.
On power, USB and Ethernet, the argument is about RF, not about ones and zeroes. The honest answer is that the effect depends on the system, the room and the listener. The way to find out is to put the cable in front of you and listen.
Visit the showroom, or pick up the phone
We are at 2 Battalion Court, Catterick Garrison, DL9 4QN. The demo room is built around Monitor Audio in-wall and in-ceiling architectural speakers in a Dolby Atmos 7.2.4 layout, with studio-grade acoustic isolation. Walk-ins are welcome during opening hours. For a proper listening session, ring ahead on 01609 350005 and we will prep the room for the kit you want to hear.