AudioQuest Forest Digital Coax Cable

The AudioQuest Forest Digital Coax is a coaxial S/PDIF digital cable with a solid, silver-plated conductor and Hard-Cell Foam insulation – the entry tier of the coax line.

Why the Forest?

A digital cable doesn't carry a watermark, but a very fast square-wave sequence – and that reacts sensitively to anything that disturbs the characteristic impedance. The Forest therefore uses a solid conductor of AWG 24 cross-section, to which AudioQuest adds 0.5% silver, with nitrogen-injected Hard-Cell Foam as the dielectric and shielding of foil and tinned braid. The connectors are cold-welded and gold-plated, so there's no solder joint in the signal path.

What you get

A connection that stops being part of the problem. Between CD transport or streamer and converter, playback feels more stable, transients arrive better defined, and the slight nervousness that cheap digital cables like to contribute disappears.

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

Plain talk: if you run a truly high-quality converter, you'll later be eyeing the Cinnamon or Carbon – and rightly so. For the first serious step away from the bundled cable, and for any chain within reasonable bounds, the Forest is dimensioned exactly right.

Our verdict

Solidly built, honestly positioned, without any esoteric overhead. On the question of length, and whether coaxial or optical suits your devices better, we're happy to help: 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, AWG 24, 0.5% silver content
• Dielectric: Hard-Cell Foam, nitrogen-injected
• Shielding: foil and tinned braid
• Noise dissipation: metal-layer Noise-Dissipation System
• Connector: RCA, cold-welded and gold-plated
• Lengths: 0.75 / 1.5 / 3 / 5 m
• Included: 1 coaxial digital cable

Frequently asked questions

Can't I just use a normal RCA cable for S/PDIF?

Technically it plugs in, but sonically it's a gamble. A digital cable is built for a defined characteristic impedance of 75 ohms, an analog line-level cable isn't. If the characteristic impedance is wrong, part of the signal is reflected at the input and overlaps the incoming one, which raises jitter.

What does Hard-Cell Foam insulation actually do?

It keeps energy away from the signal. AudioQuest foams the dielectric with nitrogen, so a large portion of the insulation volume is simply air. Air stores almost no energy and correspondingly returns very little of it with a time delay. The firm foam also keeps the distance between conductor and shield constant.

Does the Forest Coax fit any converter?

Any with a coaxial S/PDIF input, meaning the usual RCA jack labelled Coax or Digital In. Devices with a BNC input need an adapter, devices with AES/EBU need an entirely different cable. When in doubt, send us the model names and we'll check it for you quickly.

Why buy the Forest Coax from HD Zürisee?

Because we think the cable question through from the end backward: your devices first, then the tier. At the entry level, we often deliberately recommend the smaller cable and the better converter. That kind of conversation is available at 044 680 22 00, via WhatsApp 076 534 22 00 (text only, no calls), or at shop@hdzuerisee.ch.

Goes well with

Obvious neighbours: the higher tiers among the coaxial cables, the galvanically isolated alternative among the optical cables, the counterpart among the DACs & D/A converters, and everything else in the AudioQuest world.