AudioQuest Diamond USB

SOLID 100% PERFECT-SURFACE SILVER (PSS) CONDUCTORS: Perfect-Surface Technology applied to extreme-purity silver provides unprecedented clarity and dynamic contrast. Solid conductors eliminate strand-interaction distortion, a major source of cable distortion. Extremely pure Perfect-Surface Silver minimizes distortion caused by the grain boundaries that exist within any metal conductor, nearly eliminating harshness and greatly increasing clarity compared to OFHC, OCC, 8N and other coppers.

SOLID HIGH-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE INSULATION: Any solid material adjacent to a conductor is actually part of an imperfect circuit. Wire insulation and printed circuit board materials absorb energy (loss). Some of this energy is stored and then later released as distortion. Solid High-Density Polyethylene Insulation ensures critical cable geometry while minimizing insulation-induced phase distortion.

DIELECTRIC-BIAS SYSTEM (DBS, US Pat #s 7,126,055 & 7,872,195 B1): All insulation slows down the signal on the conductor inside. When insulation is unbiased, it slows down parts of the signal differently, a big problem for very time-sensitive multi-octave audio. AudioQuest's DBS creates a strong, stable electrostatic field which saturates and polarizes (organizes) the molecules of the insulation. This minimizes both energy storage in the insulation and the multiple nonlinear time-delays that occur. Sound appears from a surprisingly black background with unexpected detail and dynamic contrast. The DBS battery packs will last for years. A test button and LED allow for the occasional battery check.

CONNECTIONS: The gold plated plugs are carefully assembled with the very best solder. The AQ solder is optimized by making the right choice of flux and metallurgy to make a connection with the least possible distortion. The differences you hear between different types of solder are the result of the quality of the connection made. AQ solder does not have a high silver content because as the silver content in the solder increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to make a good connection.

UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS DEVICE CLASS DEFINITION FOR AUDIO DEVICES: USB (Universal Serial BUS) was developed by a stalwart group of companies such as Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft (to name a few) in order to give the personal computing world a truly universal standard and means to connect devices such as hard drives, printers, cameras, and, more importantly to us, audio components. Included in the original specification are protocols for the pristine transfer of audio over USB. Great care and sensitivity went into this. As a result, a computer connected to a USB-enabled digital-to-analog converter can outperform even the best compact disc players available today. AudioQuest is committed to contributing products that honor USB’s ability to deliver state-of-the-art performance on this new and wonderful frontier.