AUDIOQUEST Wild Blue Yonder
Interconnects
The Wild Blue Yonder brings a new grade of illumination, the recording bathes in light and air and has unbelievable amount of subtle detail. I have not heard anything like that before. The sound flows like a pure water in a mountain stream and there are moments I would swear to feel its fragrance. For sure this is an overstatement but I feel it is appropriate to give you the idea of how good the WIld Blue Yonder is.
Function and form
The Wild Blue Yonder comes in deep blue polyesther-nylon braid and is quite tough so prepare for extra work to manipulate it to its final position. Also its proprietary XLR connectors (I had the balanced version for the review) are quite bulky and leave little room for your fingers. And, third, there are so called ‘DBS battery packs‘ attached to the cable that make the Wild Blue Yonder visually immodest.
The Wild Blue Yonder belongs, together with Sky and WEL Signature cables, into the AudioQuest’s ’Cosmic’ series. It improves on the Sky with doubled diameter of Teflon dielectric tubes, different connectors and more elaborate shielding.
Bass management
However, the DBS battery packs are the the most apparent feature of the Wild Blue Yonder. Everyone knows that a cable needs certain break-in period to perform optimally. According to AudioQuest the better the dielectric's insulation, the longer it takes for the cable to settle.
The patented DBS system (or dielectric bias system) that AudioQuest employs, creates a strong, stable electrostatic field which saturates and polarizes the molecules of the cable’s insulation. This minimizes both energy storage in the insulation and the multiple nonlinear time-delays that occur. All that should contribute to higher dynamic contrasts and greater transparency of sound.
The DBS packs are battery operated and as such the cable is permanently ´recharged´. There is a small LED that serves as functionality check if you are unsure whether the system is on.
Clarity & delicacy
The Wild Blue Yonder excels in what I would call temporal resolution or temporal phasing. Read it: no smearing, no ambiguity, only pure and clear view into music. The instruments and players are precisely locked within the soundstage with great three-dimensional dynamism as opposite to a static picture. I heard similar precision with Nordost Valhalla, yet the Wild Blue Yonder adds sonority and physical dimension of the Cardas Clear. The AudioQuest has better sense of detail than the Clear and throws its light into the darkest corners of a recording room to dig out the never heard nuancees and harmonies. For example, the piano in Club Descarga was very precisely defined in the background – it was not just a piano sound coming from the depth of the soundstage, it was a concrete instrument with its own dimensions and weight.
Tonal accuracy
Within affordable limits (considering that affordability is a very flexible and subjective term) I was very impressed by the Cardas Clear for its ability to dissapear and encourage musical flow. I can heartily recommend the Clear for any but the best audio systems – it lets the system to do its job without trying to compensate its flaws and without adding any imprint. The AudioQuest Wild Blue Yonder shares all this with the Cardas Clear. It performas exactly like the company´s selling line suggests: ´Do No Harm´. On top of that the Wild Blue Yonder is a cable that outperforms the Clear and virtually induces the jaw-dropping effect.
Spatial resolution
Please read the complete review of the AudioQuest WBY in the SPECIAL EDITION REVIEWS section of Audiodrom.
Recommended resellers
AQ s.r.o., Červenka, tel. +420 585 342 232
Manufacturer's website: http://www.audioquest.com
Associated components
- Sources: Accuphase DP-78,
- Amplifiers: Ayre K-5xe and Ayre P-5xe, Accuphase C-2110 and Accuphase A-60, Bel Canto Pre3 and Bel Canto REF1000 monobloky
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Fractal, Homegrown Audio DNA, Furutech Lineflux, Audioquest Wild Blue Yonder and Wild, Cardas Clear Beyond
- Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 802 Diamond, Audio Physic Avantera
Gallery
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The Wild Blue Yonder brings a new grade of illumination, the recording bathes in light and air and has unbelievable amount of subtle detail. I have not heard anything like that before. The sound flows like a pure water in a mountain ...
Recommended resellers
AQ s.r.o., Červenka, tel. +420 585 342 232
