In my system, Parasound P/LP 2000 preamp, Musical Fidelity X-A50 monoamps, Marantz CD67SE CD player, I found that the Audioquest Topaz II interconnects delivers a more transparent midrange and treble, AND controlled bass than the Monster Interlink 400 that it replaced. I have also found that the Audioquest Turqoise (originals) worked well between my preamp and amps but is giving the Topaz II a chance there to see what will come up after some burn in time.Between the Marantz CD67SE and the preamp the Topaz II's made the most difference. Between the preamp and amps, I noticed better imaging and some loss in bass extension, but I believe after some time the bass will be back.

The AQ Topaz 2 is an amazing value for its money. I usually buy at 24in lengths from my dealer, which he charges me 50$ Cdn. Compared to ordinary, cheap interconnects, the Topaz has a much wider soundstage. The bass comes through much cleaner and more definitive. Music, especially songs/pieces that have alot going on at once, sound much more "organized" and "articulate". With the cheap cable, everything is jumbled up into a mess. A word of advice to those new to cables or skeptics: Don't evaluate cables at first with an intimate solo. Start with some mainstream pop/rock. The improved soundstage and the more "articulate" sound is easier to discern. Believe.

I replaced the el-cheapo radio shack interconnect between my preamp and amp with a 0.5 meter topaz interconnect (cost $65US).
I'm not able to do a direct A/B comparison, but my perception is that the bass is cleaner and more defined. The high end sounds a bit harsher than before, but I believe this is due to my el-cheapo radio shack speaker wire. Overall I would say there is a great improvement in sound quality.

I'm using a NAD 1300 preamp with a Carver TFM-35X power amp into a pair of (old) Bose 301's.

My biggest complaint is that the cables are far too expensive. Maybe I got ripped off by the dealer, but I find $65 far too much. Half that could be reasonable.

Joseph

After much unbiased research and listening, I have to conclude that this cables and most other cable companies are absolutely ripping gullable consumers off. This product for its price is absolute rubbish. The only way to really test a product is to bring a comparison along then ask the sales man if he can tell the difference between one to the other. And which one is superior. I did exactly that with a much cheaper Quad interconnects, my $50.00 interconnects trashed the whole range of this brand. Don't waste your money guys !!!

This fecal-brown, thick, inflexable cable has nearly illedgible markings: audioquest Topaz x 2 hyperlitz, and if the light is strong, you may be able to see a directional arrow. The direction is significant since the drain shield is connected at the business end only--as it should be. I bought a factory meter pair for about $65 on the recomendation of Stereopile. If it came with instructions I must have missed the part about the "locking" connections. They were very hard to put on equiptment, due to the thickness of the connectors and stiffness of the cable, and working against the wall upside-down at the back of the rack is probably what you're doing too. Upon removing they have pulled out the female RCA's on a processor, cd player and two pre-amps, so far. When the outer covering shrunk back from the connectors I got fed up and stopped using them. The connectors look good, are color-keyed and the collar tip can be screwed to loosen or tighten the connection. I did not know this. It was so tight I was twisting the thing to get it on and off and the collar started to unscrew, and then things were much easier. When I took it apart this is what I found:
There are three set screws to hold the RCA plug onto the cable sheath. This is a poor way to connect metal to plastic, especially a metal connector that has knurled for better grip which implies force being used or required, as I found necessary. I had failure on all four connections, the sheath pulling away from the metal connector as if it had shrunk, exposing the filler and drain wire. The twisting to make and break contact, apparently, broke the soldered connection to the hot wire and made for intermittant contact. On a second RCA the ground wire was broken. The insulation on all terminations was stripped back way too far, allowing shorting between the bare hot and ground and even the drain wire. The solder job looked poor to me. ( Don't look behind the curtain). I re-terminated all of the RCA's to a quality and appearance that I would expect at this price point. I have not used them since. Other cables in the system at various times are Radio Shack, Canare, PBJ, Emerald, Ruby, LAT, MIT, Monster 400. I have not had a failure on any other cable in the system, and I change cables frequently.

As for the "sound" I am not ready to comment at this time. In my experience speaker type and placement and room tuning have such a profound impact on music enjoyment that talking about cable sound seems trivial. But two recent events have made me reconsider. The first was upgrading to McCormack and Audio Research amplification from Adcom, which made such a difference I had trouble getting my wife out of the listening chair, something that has never happened before. The second was a discussion I had with an E.E. who works in data transmission. He told me about the cable experts his firm hires to fix problems with data loss (lose 1% of your 1's and 0's in a computer and you've got problems!). He says most of what they do is engineering, and the rest is voodoo. Some cables designs solve this problem but aren't so good at that or won't work here. So maybe there's something to it. I haven't heard it yet. But for sure you must have a high-resolution situation to make it worth your money. Better spend more time moving your speakers around. I can't stress enough how important this is over anything else you can do to improve your enjoyment. A few millimeters can really snap the soundstage into focus, tame the treble, tighten the bass. No kidding!

The Topaz is much better than Radioshack Gold Interconnects, as well as the Phoenix Gold interconnects. However, $75 for a one meter pair is excessive. Try the Kimber PBJ. Initially, I did not think this was excessive, until I auditioned the Ruby. In terms of sonic gratification, the improvement of the Ruby over the Topaz is almost as noticable as the improvement of the Topaz to the Radioshack Gold.
The Topaz removes the harshness present in the Radio shack cables, and extends the range. Compared to the Ruby, the Topaz sounds thinner on the botto-end, and the highs sound smeared. The Topaz isn't a bad cable, but it costs more than it is worth. The Ruby, while more costly, is a much better value. You can get much more out of your electronics with the Ruby.

If you are streaching your budget to get the Topaz, then go-ahead and try those for a couple weeks if the dealer will allow you to return then at full-value and trade-up to the Ruby.

One last tidbit of info: One of the original Topaz cables I brought home did not work! The dealer was horrified when I returned the cable, since he has never had any previous failures with audioquest. The problem was the connection between the wire and connector. I lost confidence in Audioquest at that momnet, but listening to the Ruby restored my faith. The Ruby is also built better than the Topaz.

My system: CAL Icon2 CD player, Adcom GFP-750 preamp, Adcom GFA5500 amp, bi-wired NHT 2.5i speakers, Ruby interconnects, generic 12 gauge speaker cable (the weak link). The Icon2/Ruby combination matches very well with the 2.5i, tamming the NHT's top end quite nicely! The Icon2/Topaz combo went a good way towards balancing the NHT's hot top-end, but not enough.

This cable was a bit an enigma at first. When I switched from my IXOS Gamma 1002my first reaction was wow! it is so much cleaner so much detail. However after time I found myself not enjoying the listening experience though every single detail appeared to be present. It eventually became apparent that on complex passages the various instruments, vocalist etc apppaered to be competing against each other, there was no depth to the soundstage. Having purchased these cables on their ranking in Stereophile, I kept doubting myself and thinking the problem was elsewhere until I found Hi Fi Choice, the UK magazine, in their review found it flattened the music.

Can't be beat for the price.

Good clarity

I never thought there was much to the hype about interconnects. I figured if theere was that much difference, there would be a reccomendation by the componenet manufacturer or they would be included in the unit when purchased.
I ran across a store where they gave me a trial period. I have been sold ever since. I have the Topaz on all of my components now. They include:

Harman/Kardon TU9600
H/K 6950R Integrated Amplifier
AH! Tjoeb 99 CD Player
Pioneer DVL 909 LD/DVD Player
Polk LS 50 Speakers

These interconnects have given me clarity and a much more dynamic sound from my system. It was obvious from the first comparison with the stock interconnects how much difference there is.
The highs are cleaner , the voices are clearer, the instruments stand out far more (especially violins), and the base is far more integrated with the rest of the sound.

I even had a frined listn to make sure I wasn't fooling myself. We both said wow! I think they are well worth the money.
While there have been many comments here about who heard a difference and who didn't, perhaps it makes more of a difference with a low/mid-fi system. I can't comment as I only have the one system.
However I have been very impressed. See if you can get a free trial period and try these. For the money and the improvement, you can't go wrong.

solid performing copper wire, relatively low price, high grade copper

it is still just copper

anyone considering buying this cable needs to check out the pure silver sound trio interconnect. for only $80 you get a pure silver interconnect that will trounce just about any copper interconnect on the market, no matter how expensive it is. they are at www.puresilversound.com I got the pure silver sound quartets about 3 weeks ago and they just kill my audiotruth emeralds. happy listening.

Similar Products Used:

audiotruth emeralt, pure silver sound quartet