It *cannot* just be about 1's and 0's - surely?

[Kal Rubinson]

7 hours ago, daverich4 said:

Don't know about the Audioquest digital cables but with my AQ analog interconnect and speaker cables the answer to your question about removing the batteries is, nothing. 

Not only that but it makes no difference to the sound, in my experience.

[Kal Rubinson]

6 hours ago, daverich4 said:

 

Art Dudley came to the same conclusion in his review of Audioquest cables in Stereophile some time ago. 

Some time ago?  My report was in 2004 about a decade prior to Art's arrival at Stereophile.  Still, it is nice to have the corroboration.

 

note: Correction posted below. -CC

[Kal Rubinson]

2 hours ago, daverich4 said:

 

???  I’m not sure who is corroborating who. Art’s article that I was referring to was in the August 2004 issue, about three months prior to yours. 

 

https://www.stereophile.com/cables/804aq/index.html

You are correct.  I will amend my post.

[Kal Rubinson]

1 hour ago, gmgraves said:

Why would it? It's an answer to a problem that doesn't exist. If you go into an auto-parts store, you will find a section of the store that sells what my father used to call "mouse milk". These are fluids (and hardware) of dubious worth. Various mystery oils and gasoline additives, devices said to turbo-charge your car by changing the way that air enters your carburetor or FI system, and dubious spark plugs called "Fire Injectors" promising to increase power while giving better fuel economy. A company named J.C. Whitney used to have a catalog full of this automotive nonsense (and some useful parts too). The audiophile world has the same thing for the same reason. While AQ makes some real products, they are selling "mouse milk" along with it and I'm afraid that the hype accompanying their cables is in that category. Buy AQ analog and digital interconnects because they are well made and look good, but any claims made about their sonic performance or any gimmicks they employ that aren't general practice among all cable manufacturers (like "bias batteries" for the cable shield) take with a grain of salt. There is no real science or engineering behind the claims and they do nothing. AQ is counting of expectational bias  to sell this crap. ("Gee, I paid a lot of money for these AQ cables with the battery in them, they had better give me the sonic improvement I'm looking for!") And so they do...  

Of course.  You'll get no opposition from me about this.