THE CHALLENGE

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.” Most AC power cords and power conditioner-regenerators, though helpful to a point, are simply not up to the task.

THE SOLUTION

High-Purity Conductors: A carefully finessed combination of solid Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS) and solid Perfect-Surface Copper + (PSC+) conductors prevent strand interaction, a major source of ear fatiguing transient intermodulation distortion. The astonishingly smooth and pure Perfect-Surface Copper+ eliminates harshness and greatly increases clarity compared to OFHC, OCC, 8N and other premium coppers. Extremely high-purity Perfect-Surface Silver further minimizes distortion caused by grain boundaries, which exist within any metal conductor.

Ground Noise-Dissipation Technology: AC Ground wires provide protection from current-wiring faults, but they also act as antennas. 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 patented Ground-Noise Dissipation greatly reduces this distortion, yielding unprecedented levels of noise dissipation across the widest bandwidth (range) of radio frequencies possible. Our unique circuit-topology utilizes a common-mode phase-cancelling array, in concert with proprietary dielectric materials which provide additional differential linear filtering.

Dielectric-Bias System (DBS; US Pat #7,126,055): By creating a constant dielectric field for the cable’s primary capacitance field or dielectric, DBS assures extended bandwidth and more evenly filtered noise dissipation, eliminating the distortions and ringing that plague other cables even after years of use and so called “run-in time.” In addition, DBS assures that the RF Noise-Dissipation System works as linearly as possible.

Controlled for Correct 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.

Note: AudioQuest Dragon/Source AC power cable is not appropriate for use with AC power conditioners, power regenerators, AC isolation transformers, AC battery back-up devices, as well as any power amplifier, powered sub-woofer, powered loudspeaker, powered receiver, or integrated amplifier (whether tube, solid state or digital switching). These products will require greater RMS and transient current capacity. In extreme instances, they could suffer diminished performance and/or present an electrical danger by exceeding the AudioQuest Dragon/Source AC power cable’s maximum current capacity. For those applications, we highly recommend selecting the AudioQuest’s Dragon/High-Current AC power cable.