Cable Talk: Are battery-powered cables the future or just another gimmick?

Guys,

Around two months ago, I home auditioned (together with two friends) a 1m RCA pair of the Audioquest Cheetah DBS cables (the cables with the batteries attached). They were in my system for five days. It was these very cables that almost gave Ken Kessler a nervous breakdown as he ran screaming from his listening room, refused to complete the review and vowed never again to review cables. Now, this piqued my interest hence my audition of the cables and I even commented about it in this thread: http://forum.hifichoice.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=11673&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=150

As you can see from the quote above, Audioquest claims performance improvements of the cables with the DBS battery packs attached. I have to say here and now that in my subjective opinion and under 'sighted' listening conditions, I felt that the cables were very good. They were also compared against the Audioquest Anaconda (which the Cheetah's replaced) & Audioquest Amazon silver cables and we all felt that the Cheetah's were the better cables. However, on removing the batteries from the cables, we experienced no performance drop or change to the sound of my system. The batteries remained off the cables for a further three days, but there still was no performance drop as I would have expected. However, they were returned to the dealer with no purchase made although I did take some photographs of them just for my photo album. Btw, the batteries are the type that you find on compact film cameras so nothing fancy or rechargable.

As luck would have it, three weeks ago, I picked up a copy of Stereophile magazine (to read during my holidays) and what did I find? - Art Dudley's review on the same Audioquest Cheetah DBS cables. You can read the review in the below link.

Now my questions relate not to the Cheetah cables per se, which as me and Art Dudley subjectively agree, sounded very good, but the claims surrounding the whole DBS technology. Can any one comment on why the DBS battery system should make a positive contribution (or no difference) at all to the performance of the cables? Is it possible that Ken Kessler discovered just what me and my good friend, Art Dudley discovered, in that removing the batteries made no difference to the sound hence his (Ken's) disappointment, shock, horror and refusal to complete the review and conduct any future cable reviews? What is most interesting about the Stereophile review is not only Art Dudley's healthy scepticism regarding Audioquest's claims about the DBS technology but the Audioquest designer's/owner's response, also included as part of the review. So what are your opinions on this whole DBS battery technology? Is it just another stroke of marketing genius by Audioquest or is it a real technological breakthrough which adds some real benefits sonic benefits to cables? See the review here: http://www.stereophile.com/accessoryreviews/804aq/ and more info about DBS here: www.audioquest.com



Enjoy the music,

Lawrie.

 

You'll be sticking magnets in your mains cables next Lawrie

 

Hi,

It is a rather old hat I'm afraid. The french audiophiles around l'audiophile & Pierre Johannet have been using this for decades. I have been applying this long before AQ and Synergistic Research to my own DIY Cables. I find it works rather well, though I'll be buggered with a red hot 845 Valve if I know why....

Ciao T

PS, correct implementation is non-trivial, especially if you prefer to bias the screen and not a conductor inside the cable, which is the preferred implementation.

 

WM,

Is that what you are working on at the moment? Please send me a sample of a power cable with magnet attached when it's ready and I'll give it a very fair review. I can't say any fairer than that can I?

3DSonics,

With me not being a hard core audiophile nor someone from a scientific background, I did not know that the DBS stuff was 'old hat' that's why I like to try things out. However, as I mentioned on another forum, I'm glad I took the time to experiment with the cables myself rather than just criticize Audioquest (for the sake of criticising) on a public forum. IME, the cables do not require the DBS battery pack to do their job and I was able to test that for myself.



Enjoy the music,

Lawrie.

 

Fraid not Lawrie, I believe some of friends across pond maybe able to shed some light on that little gem, they may even be using them too

 

Hi,

Just two remarks....

1) The difference between biasing a conductor inside the cable and the screen is notable. The wire in the middle of the assembly is nowhere near as effective.

2) When biasing the screen it is imperative to retain the ability to "drain" RF off the screen, which requires carfull application of multiple bypass capacitors.

If you ever find yourself in Londra I'll be happy do give you a comparison.

Ciao T