ThunderBird RCA Cable
If not for its Mythical siblings — FireBird and Dragon — ThunderBird might be the best cable the world has ever heard. Among other tried-and-true AudioQuest materials and design techniques, ThunderBird features solid directionally controlled conductors of our finest copper — Perfect Surface Copper+ (PSC+) — Copper-Plated RF-Draining Barrels, and our Level-6 Noise-Dissipation System.
ThunderBird Interconnect
Materials & Design
Signal-Conducting Metal: Solid Perfect-Surface Copper+ (PSC+)
RF-Draining Metal: Solid Silver-Plated Copper
Geometry: ZERO-Tech (No Characteristic Impedance)
Dielectric: FEP Air-Tubes for minimal signal interference
Dielectric-Bias System: ◉ 72v DBS (RCA); ◉◉ Dual-72v DBS (XLR)
Level 6 Noise-Dissipation: ZERO-Tech + 72v DBS + Carbon/Graphene Mesh-Network + Direction-Controlled
Plug Barrels: Copper-Plated RF-Draining
Plug Contacts: Hanging-Silver over Red-Copper
Features
ZERO-Tech (No Characteristic Impedance) for Linear, Wide-Bandwidth Noise-Dissipation
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. In order to preserve ZERO-Tech’s complete isolation between signal conductors, a Dual-72v DBS pack is included for XLR cables.
Solid Perfect-Surface Copper+ (PSC+) Conductors
Solid conductors prevent electrical and magnetic strand-interaction. PSC+ Solid-Copper minimizes distortion caused by grain boundaries and maximizes linear RF Noise-Dissipation.
FEP Air-Tube Dielectric
Positive conductors benefit from almost no contact between metal and its FEP insulation, which is notable for its superior dielectric constant and minimal signal interference. Negative conductors benefit from intentionally “lossy insulation” — no air and no FEP helps maximize the negative connection’s different job.
72v Dielectric-Bias System (DBS)
Insulation is also a dielectric that can act like a shunt-filter. Biasing minimizes dielectric-noise and linearizes the filter, significantly improving wide-bandwidth dissipation of induced RF noise.
Level 6 Noise-Dissipation: ZERO-Tech + 72v DBS + Carbon/Graphene Mesh-Network + Direction-Controlled
Radio-Frequency Noise from cellular, WiFi, and satellites is everywhere. AQ’s Level 6 Linear Noise-Dissipation includes a carbon & graphene resistive mesh-network, direction-controlled conductors, 72v DBS, and Silver-Plated drain wires, significantly minimizing RF Noise masking effects.
Hanging-Silver over Red-Copper Plugs
AudioQuest’s finest plugs feature superior Hanging-Silver (not tumbled) directly over extreme-purity Red Copper.
Copper-Plated RF-Draining Barrels
Grounded Copper-Plated Barrels maximize Noise-Dissipation by preventing a metal barrel from capacitively coupling RF to the conductors.