AudioQuest Carbon Digital Coax Cable

The AudioQuest Carbon Digital Coax is a coaxial S/PDIF digital cable with a solid conductor carrying 5 percent silver and a five-layer, carbon-based noise dissipation system.

Why the Carbon?

From this tier on, it's no longer just about the conductor, but about what happens around it. The solid conductor carries 5 percent silver, sits in nitrogen-injected Hard-Cell Foam, and is fully shielded. Decisive is the five-layer Noise-Dissipation System made of metal- and carbon-loaded plastics: it converts interference energy across a broad frequency band into heat instead of passing it on to the device's ground. The connectors are cold-welded, with silver directly on pure copper.

What you get

Composure. The Carbon removes the last trace of tension from playback: spaces open up toward the back, voices gain body instead of just contour, and loud passages stay sorted. Anyone who so far thought a digital cable could at best do no harm may want to reconsider.

Who is the Carbon suited for – and who isn't it?

Plain talk: on an entry-level converter, this effort evaporates – there, the Cinnamon is clearly the more sensible choice. The Carbon's territory is high-quality converters, good transports, and above all streamers, which bring plenty of high-frequency noise along with them.

Our verdict

Coax upper class with comprehensible engineering instead of magic formulas. Before you buy, we clarify with you whether your converter even brings this tier out: HD Zürisee in Wädenswil, 044 680 22 00, WhatsApp 076 534 22 00 (text only, no calls) or shop@hdzuerisee.ch.

Technical data

• Type: coaxial digital cable, S/PDIF
• Conductor: solid, 5% silver content
• Dielectric: Hard-Cell Foam, nitrogen-injected
• Shielding: 100%, foil and silver-plated braid
• Noise dissipation: carbon-based Noise-Dissipation System, five layers
• Connector: RCA, cold-welded, silver directly on pure copper
• Lengths: 0.75 / 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 3 / 5 m
• Included: 1 coaxial digital cable

Frequently asked questions

What makes the Carbon's noise dissipation different from a metal layer?

It works across a broader band. For the Carbon, AudioQuest combines five layers of metal- and carbon-loaded plastics instead of a single metal layer. Different materials pick up different frequency ranges, so high-frequency interference energy is converted into heat across a wider spectrum before it reaches the device's ground.

Why does the silver content rise from tier to tier?

Because of the skin effect. Very high-frequency signal portions travel almost exclusively along the conductor's surface, and silver conducts best there. The Forest reaches 0.5 percent, the Cinnamon 1.25, the Carbon 5 percent. The core stays copper, since it's entirely sufficient for the low-frequency portions.

Does the Carbon pay off on a streamer as well as on a CD transport?

Yes, provided the streamer has a coaxial digital output and you use an external converter. Network devices often bring more high-frequency noise along than a CD transport, which is exactly why the elaborate noise dissipation is especially worthwhile there. Without an external converter, though, the cable does nothing.

Why is it best to buy the Carbon Coax from HD Zürisee?

Because at this tier, we check whether the money is better spent on the cable or on the converter. That answer doesn't always favor the cable, and that's exactly what you should know beforehand. Talk to us: 044 680 22 00, WhatsApp 076 534 22 00 (text only, no calls) or shop@hdzuerisee.ch.

Goes well with

Sensible companions: the other coaxial cables, high-quality DACs & D/A converters, matching streamers, and the full range of the AudioQuest world.