audioquest logo

Firebird High (Variable) Current

audioquest logo

Firebird High (Variable) Current

Low-Z / Noise-Dissipation 3-Pole AC Power Cable

  • Solid Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS)/Perfect-Surface Copper+ (PSC+) Conductors
  • Uncompressed High-Current Transfer
  • RF/ND-Tech (US Patent # 8,988,168)
  • ZERO: No Characteristic Impedance
  • Dielectric-Bias System with Level-X Radio-Frequency Noise Trap
  • Directionally Controlled Conductors

Alternating Current (AC), is a far-from-perfect power source. AC power technology is well over a century old and was never designed to meet the exacting standards of today’s high resolution audio-video components. AC noise is present at the utility source, and is then exacerbated by radio frequency noise that is induced (picked up by the AC power cord) and coupled to the component power supplies and to circuit ground. This creates distortion and low-level signal losses via the “masking effect.” Further, power amplifiers can require immense reserves of transient current for their power supplies to react to and then stabilize during dynamic audio passages. Most AC power cords and power conditioner-regenerators, though helpful to a point, are simply not up to the task.

Firebird High Variable Current
Firebird High Variable Current
Firebird High Variable Current
Firebird High Variable Current

Low-Z / Noise-Dissipation 3-Pole AC Power Cable

  • Solid Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS)/Perfect-Surface Copper+ (PSC+) Conductors
  • Uncompressed High-Current Transfer
  • RF/ND-Tech (US Patent # 8,988,168)
  • ZERO: No Characteristic Impedance
  • Dielectric-Bias System with Level-X Radio-Frequency Noise Trap
  • Directionally Controlled Conductors

Alternating Current (AC), is a far-from-perfect power source. AC power technology is well over a century old and was never designed to meet the exacting standards of today’s high resolution audio-video components. AC noise is present at the utility source, and is then exacerbated by radio frequency noise that is induced (picked up by the AC power cord) and coupled to the component power supplies and to circuit ground. This creates distortion and low-level signal losses via the “masking effect.” Further, power amplifiers can require immense reserves of transient current for their power supplies to react to and then stabilize during dynamic audio passages. Most AC power cords and power conditioner-regenerators, though helpful to a point, are simply not up to the task.

Firebird High Variable Current
Firebird High Variable Current
SOLID PERFECT-SURFACE SILVER (PSS) AND SOLID PERFECT-SURFACE COPPER+ (PSC+) CONDUCTORS
Solid conductors prevent electrical strand-to-strand interaction, major sources of distortion. Surface quality is critical because a conductor can be considered as a rail-guide for both the fields within a conductor, and for the magnetic fields that extend outside the conductor. The astonishingly smooth and pure surface of all AudioQuest’s Perfect-Surface metals nearly eliminates harshness and greatly increases clarity compared to lesser materials. The careful choice of the sizes of the PSS and PSC+ conductors ensures that FireBird’s performance is close to using all PSS Silver, but at a much lower cost.
RF/ND-TECH (PATENTED RADIO-FREQUENCY GROUND-NOISE DISSIPATION) MINIMIZES CIRCUIT MISBEHAVIOR BY CANCELLING INDUCED RF NOISE
AC Ground wires may provide protection from an electrical short circuit, but they also act as an antenna. Thus, they are subject to induced radio-frequency (RF) noise. This RF noise bypasses component power supplies and is typically coupled directly into a system’s most sensitive audio/video circuits. AudioQuest’s RF/ND-Tech greatly reduces this distortion, yielding unprecedented levels of noise dissipation across the widest bandwidth (range) of radio frequencies possible. Our unique circuit topology uses a common-mode phase-cancelling array, in concert with proprietary dielectric materials which provide additional differential linear filtering. US Patent # 8,988,168.
UNCOMPRESSED CURRENT TRANSFER
While many AC power cables feature low DC resistance in order to accommodate the demand for high current, a cable’s characteristic impedance is also crucial for optimal performance. Unlike most AC cables that constrict or compress an audio-provoked transient, AudioQuest AC cables combine low DC resistance and ZERO (no) characteristic impedance in order to deliver uncompressed high-current transients on demand.
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.
DIRECTIONALITY
All drawn metal strands or conductors have a non-symmetrical, and therefore directional, grain structure. AudioQuest controls the resulting RF impedance variation so that noise is drained away from where it will cause distortion. The correct direction is determined by listening to every batch of metal conductors used in every AudioQuest audio cable. When applicable, arrows are clearly marked on the connectors to ensure superior sound quality. For most models of AQ cable, the arrows not only indicate the direction that optimizes metal-directionality as part of Noise-Dissipation, but also indicates non-symmetrical attachment of shield and GND in order to optimize full-system performance.