AudioQuest Unleashes The Mythical Creatures Interconnects

The Mythical Creatures line of cables includes the ThunderBird, FireBird, and Dragon and represent AudioQuest’s new flagship series of analog interconnects.

From the press release:

ZERO-Tech: Unprecedented RF Noise-Dissipation
Most of the credit for passing so much more information than AudioQuest’s previous generation of state-of-the-art cables — and even more importantly, so much less misinformation (energy on the wrong place and time) — goes to ZERO-Tech (No Characteristic-Impedance) dramatically improving RF Noise-Dissipation. This enables more of the nuance that makes music so engaging, moving, and human: more fully realized tonal expression with more newly un-masked low-level detail revealed than ever before, more relaxing and stimulating at the same time, more palpable and engaging than previously possible.

Company founder William E. Low adds:

For decades, I have described the evolution of AudioQuest cables as climbing up a mountain — a mountain whose summit might never be reached. From 1980 onwards, AQ cable evolution has been one continuous climb as our cables became ever more sonically invisible, made possible by an ever-expanding palette or tool kit.

The new Mythical Creature interconnects apply the very best of every ingredient and technique we’ve developed over 42 years. Plus, they employ ZERO-Tech, which reduces dielectric-involvement and improves Noise-Dissipation to unprecedented effect. They feature far superior RF drains, Graphene inside the Carbon Mesh-Network, copper and silver-plated RF-draining plug barrels, and other significant topology refinements.

As anyone who owns a hifi knows, cables matter. I happen to have a few pair of Thunderbird RCA and XLR cables on hand in Barn so I’ll see how much they matter in my system.

Design Highlights

  • ZERO-Tech reduces dielectric-involvement and dramatically improves RF Noise-Dissipation.
  • Solid Perfect-Surface PSC+ or PSS silver conductors prevent inter-strand distortion, minimize distortion caused by grain boundaries, and maximize RF Noise-Dissipation.
  • Solid Silver-Plated or PSS (Perfect-Surface Silver) shield-drains.
  • FEP Air-Tubes minimize information-dissipating dielectric-involvement.
  • 72v Dielectric-Bias System polarizes the FEP Air-Tubes, further minimizing dielectric noise, and providing linear, wide-bandwidth noise dissipation. Dual-DBS packs for XLR models.
  • Carbon/Graphene Mesh-Network reduces RF Noise masking effects to unprecedented degree.
  • Hanging-Silver over Red-Copper Plugs ensure uncompromised signal transfer.
  • Copper- (ThunderBird) and Silver-Plated (FireBird, Dragon) RF-Draining Barrels maximize Noise-Dissipation by preventing a metal barrel from capacitively coupling RF to the conductors.
Thunderbirds in Barn

US Retail

ThunderBird: $2,900/1m (RCA); $3,900/1m (XLR)
FireBird: $5,500/1m (RCA); $6,900/1m (XLR)
Dragon: $9,500/1m (RCA); $11,900/1m (XLR)

Company Website: AudioQuest