AUDIOQUEST Dragon Zero | Bass BiWire
Speaker cables
Supernatural silence. I mean the blacker than black canvas for music, as if the Dragon Zero | Bass was devouring the light. The digital zero is the first day of creation, one can hear molecules splitting in the empty space. Still, this is not the silence of nothingness, rather of anticipation, as if something was in the air, like the electrical charge before a storm.
Function and form
The Dragon Zero and Bass loudspeaker cables represent the accumulation of everything that AudioQuest has learnt so far. They are the best cables that the company has ever built and, unfortunately, they are also the most expensive cables that they sell. The Dragon tops the Mythical Creatures series and is available in three configurations: as a full range cable (Zero), as a bass only cable (Bass) and as a pre-made BiWire set (Zero | Bass). This way AudioQuest facilitates many possible combinations – for example one can combine any good cable for highs and add the AudioQuest Dragon Bass for bass. So why to bother and have the BiWire if you can combine separate legs of the Zero and the Bass? The reason is twofold - cost stimulation and convenience. First, the set is priced more favorably than the two separate cables. Second, the Bi-Wire pair actually starts with only two (instead of four) connectors at the amplifier end and only then splits into two separate cable runs to finish with 2x2 connectors at the speaker end. For each channel you have one chunky pair of heavy cables that are joined on the amp end in a long V-shape. In the packaging AudioQuest provides clever polymer clamps that click on the cables and tie both the Dragons together, helping keep the floor tidy.
Bass management
The electric bass of Mark Plati (who also did mastering) of David Bowie’s Thursday’s Child (Hours, Virgin) has everything one could wish for: round attack, punchy power, warm weight, resonant texture, and beautiful tone. His bass actually makes the track, and the album too, and through the Dragon Zero | Bass the performance is awe inducing - once you taste what the cable can do there is no way back. I started to dig in my music collection and found out that some material that was previously hardly listenable became enjoyable, just because what was muffled became tight and controlled suddenly.
Clarity & delicacy
Bass lets me know how the songs are built, sound on sound, layer upon layer, remains beyond my comprehension. No other speaker cable that I’d auditioned came even close. The Siltech Emperor Double Crown BW is 49,000€, the TARA Labs The Omega Evolution SP is 37,000€ including speaker links, plus I can throw the Nordost Odin in the mix which was 39,000€ including Supreme jumpers when I auditioned it few years ago in my resident system. For the price of any of these cables one can buy a good car including Tesla Model 3. All three are insanely good, none of them as complete as the Dragon Zero | Bass Full BiWire combo.
Tonal accuracy
The Dragon Zero | Bass features some of the most authoritative and natural midrange I have heard from any system. Vocals, be it male or female, hang in the room like holograms, otherworldly articulated, sweet, and tangible. Well recorded a cappella ensembles like Fragile and Ringmasters are to die for through the Dragon Zero | Bass. The cable is very correct tonally plus it resolves with such a power that it borders an autopsy of sound without going that far that the music stops being entertaining and absolutely cohesive. I have heard speaker cables that had a tremendous sense for detail but it was distracting me from the music, the Dragon remains musical at all times.
Spatial resolution
This is an extract from a complete review of this exceptional speaker cable. For the unabridged version and comparison with competitors please follow this link: AudioQuest Dragon Zero | Bass BiWire.
Recommended resellers
AQ s.r.o., Červenka, tel. +420 585 342 232
Manufacturer's website: http://www.audioquest.com
Associated components
- Sources: Accuphase DP-720, McIntosh MCT500 SACD/CD transport + integrated DAC in C2600, Audio Research DAC 9, NAD DAC2
- Amplifiers: TAD-M2500 MkII, McIntosh pre/power C2600/MC611
- Interconnects and speaker cables: AudioQuest King Cobra, InAkustik Referenz, McIntosh Balanced, Monitor 75 Cable, The Zerofinity M7, Audioquest Redwood, Audioquest Wild, Ansuz Speakz C2, Tellurium Q Ultra Silver, Tellurium Q Silver Diamond, Vovox Sonorus XL, Nordost Valhalla V2, InAkustik Referenz, Nordost Odin, ZenSati #2, Tara Labs The Zero Gold G2, TARA Labs The Omega Evolution SP, Siltech Emperor Double Crown BW
- Loudspeakers: TAD Evolution One E1, Bowers & Wilkins 802 D3, Sonus Faber Gravis I
- Power conditioning: Shunyata Research Denali, Ansuz Mainz8 D2, Ansuz Mainz C2 a D2, Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 2, Blackwater Continuum R3D
Gallery
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Recommended resellers
AQ s.r.o., Červenka, tel. +420 585 342 232
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