#Swing sound reference install
#Swing sound reference series

From the lowest bass to the top treble, the sound simply had denser timbre, greater body, and better tonal weight. Dragon has a vividness that is startling, but in an entirely musical rather than a hi-fi-hype way.Īnother aspect of Dragon that is unique is that it conveys more richly saturated tone color. Incidentally, I heard this album on Magnepan MG30.7s the same week I installed Dragon in my system. Switching to Dragon (from an already reference-level interconnect, AudioQuest’s WEL Signature) heightened the sensation of her singing directly to me. Listen, for example, to Melody Gardot’s beautiful singing on her new album Sunset in the Blue (Qobuz 96/24). I’m not saying that Dragon will make any box speaker sounds like a Magnepan MG30.7 or a MartinLogan CLX, only that Dragon moves the system in a sonic and musical direction that is reminiscent of the best full-range dipoles. Dragon made the midrange sound eerily like that of a full-range planar speaker, with the unmistakable palpability and realism that comes so easily to full-range electrostatics and ribbons. This had the effect of increasing the sense of presence and fostering the startling impression of the vocalist being in the room. Vocals were completely untethered to the speakers and projected against an absolutely silent background. For example, the midrange was simply luscious, liquid, and stunningly present and vivid. But this interconnect did things I’ve never heard from a cable-or more precisely, Dragon allowed my system to reveal previously hidden qualities. Judged simply by the traditional criteria for evaluating cables, Dragon excelled in all the audiophile parameters. This run made the most significant difference in my system, and the improvements it rendered combined with the advances heard with Dragon in the phono path and from the Wadax Reference DAC to the CH Precision L10 linestage.Īlthough Dragon does everything you’d expect from a top-level interconnect at this price, it goes above and beyond the cliches of greater transparency, smoother textures, and a bigger soundstage. Some months later, I was able to replace the entire line-level signal path with Dragon, including the 37′ run from the linestage behind the listening couch to the front of the room where the CH Precision M10 amplifiers are located. Rather, it elevated the musical experience to an entirely new level of involvement and expression. You pick the cable that happens to have the tradeoffs that best suit your system and tastes. Comparing cables is often a matter of trading one set of virtues and drawbacks for a different set of virtues and drawbacks. Dragon wasn’t just different it was better in every possible way. I had simply never heard this kind of wholesale effect from any cable. After replacing my existing cable with Dragon and listening to the first record, I was beyond surprised, not only at the magnitude of the improvement but also at the ways in which the sound was better. ListeningĪudioQuest initially sent me a single one-meter run of balanced Dragon that I installed between the CH Precision P1 phonostage (with X1 power supply) and the CH Precision L10 four-chassis linestage.

#Swing sound reference install

As a tremendous bonus, the interconnects are extremely flexible and easy to install and swap. All three share the same design approach but differ in the level of execution. It is priced at $9500 for a meter pair terminated with RCA plugs, or $11,900 for balanced connection with XLR connectors.

I’ve broken out the unique technologies of these interconnects in the sidebar.ĭragon is the top model in the three-product Mythical Creatures series.

The result is a fascinating amalgam of fresh thinking and AudioQuest’s established designs. It would call on proven technologies but not be bound by them.

#Swing sound reference series

Rather than create a more advanced implementation of existing technologies, AudioQuest approached its new reference series by starting from first principles. To spill the beans in the first paragraph, the Dragon is the most significant advance in interconnect performance I’ve encountered in 33 years of full-time reviewing.Īlthough AudioQuest has been developing proprietary cable materials and techniques for 42 years, the company embarked on its new “Mythical Creatures” series of interconnects with a fresh mind. But after hearing AudioQuest’s new top-of-the-line Dragon interconnect, I immediately knew that I wanted to share my impressions with you. This isn’t to say that cables are unimportant, only that I find other product categories more interesting. I rarely write about cables because I rarely encounter one that inspires me to review it.