Audioquest or Transparent?

I have the Trans Ref...Love it.

I'm happy with AQ Amazon interconnects and Dragon speaker wire. The sound is clear, fast, and detailed. I haven't spent any real time with the Transparent cables, although I am told they are also quite good. These are all sufficiently pricey that you may be able to request auditions in your system to help you decide.

Personally, I don't trust networked cables. I've owned some and didn't care what they did for the sound. I own AQ Caldera and think is a great open, smooth sounding cable so I imagine that the next step up, as long as it is not silver, should be even more of the same.

There are no compromises above the ultra line with Transparent.
Keith

A friend had identical gear, with the exception of 1HCDT to yr2 -- and identical reproduction tastes.

Meddling w/ cables (which, as we all know, are system and user dependent) we also discovered that the room (his: small) limited the choice. To state the obvious, ICs also played their role.

I like both your choices for different reasons, and would lean toward AQ for the Utopias -- but that's me. So, I generally agree with all the posters BUT I will subscribe to Jameswei's view to audition. Do this with female vocals (classical, lieder). With your revealing system, you should get the "she is here" impression -- or better. If not, that's not the cable for you. Cheers!

Gregm: Can you tell me what was the speaker cable and the ic he used? ( my room is also small)
Thanks

The Transperent VS. AudiotQuest theorem:
For any type of Transperent cable there can always be a better AudioQuest cable for the same price or even cheaper.

I agree with Marakanetz. The AQ Pythons blow away the Transparent Ultras. The AQs are clean, clean, without the haze and texture of the Transparents. Yeah, if you want a bloated midrange, a dirty texture, and miss hearing half the detail, get the Transparents. Highly overated and overpriced junk.

Strictly system dependant.I prefer Transparent cables in my system(Thiel,Classe,Wadia),but I would be surprised if you did not prefer Audioquest in yours.Obviously,the best advice would be to audition both.

Good luck.

I strongly disklike the Transparent Cables and most highly recommend the Acoustic Zen Satori

Dismalonyx, we ended up w/Bearlabs IC & speaker, with SPM reference (that came w/ a part exchange) as an alternative to the B speaker cable. This was combination gave good sound & value. Pls note, however, that the room is on the dry side & the tuning was done on classical music only -- so "liquid" voices & violins were top on the wanted list!
Cheers

Hello there, I will try the Volcano for speaker cable and Amazon for IC, I run AQ Pythons balance and Caldera biwire
with Rowland Consumatte, Rowland Model 6 monos, Aerial 8B
and this cables are really good, If I could I will buy the
cables mention above, but if money is no issue go for the Everest and Amazon, you can find them used here in Audiogon. If you purchase one of the combinations that I suggested please let me know how it sounds, just by my experince with Caldera and Python I know you will not be disapointed!!!!!

I've tried both Audioquest and Transparent *top of the lines* When I was starting out I thought Audioquest cables were the best! Then I found Transparent (& their outrageous pricing on the Reference/Reference XL's). I didn't know this 'til later, but I was hooked for life!

Then again, it really depends on your system - auditioning is the best option for all. For high end (reference) systems I would definitely go with what the music/film industry predominately records with - Transparent Reference & Reference XL's - balanced. Cheers..

I second the notion of  which speaker cable is  better being dependent on the sonics of your system.  I felt the Transparent MM2 Super speaker cables wonderful until I moved into a house with a brighter living room and with my already slightly bright system,  I then  found the  warmer Audioquest Gibraltar better on balance.   However, I feel it worth while to note differences between the two speaker cables.

The Audioquest Gibraltar speaker cables added some needed warmth and were slightly more dynamic than the Transparent cables in my new brighter listening room, yet the Transparent MM2 Super speaker cables, although warm and with a nice black background, were not as warm as the Audioquest Gibraltar speaker cables - although the Transparent MM2 Super  surpassed the Gibraltars in  capturing the beauty and tone of  female voices and had more extension in the treble registers.   Both cables presented good bass.  I needed more warmth, so the Gibraltar on balance won out.

You always get something and loose something.  The better cable is the one that blends into your system best for your preferences.  I hope the above gives a meaningful reference though  for some differences between the two cables.   

15 year old thread.

Lots of cables watch up to Transparent below the Reference line at better prices. Once you get into the Reference line and up It changes in Transparent favor. But the price can be a major draw back.

Audioquest or transparent, that's a tough one.  Both are very cheap to some, and very expensive to others.  
Transparent cables:  the name alone does not fit the products.  Their cables are unarguably NOT transparent.  That alone tells you by how much they do not tell the truth entirely.
Audioquest Cables on the other hand may not be the most believable, but at least they are very gentle, because their philosophy is all about "causing less harm".  That counts for something.
just a thought.

I used to own the Transparent Super MM2 IC & SP in a B&W, Rotel, Sony ES set-up.  On a serious tip- I have had the pure listening pleasure of auditioning the Transparent Reference XL and OPUS in an ARC/Bryston/
Wilson Sasha/Sophia system of recent. 

On the flipside, as a Thiel Loudspeaker fan and owner, I have only heard Audioquest cabling/cords and thoroughly enjoyed the music.  System dependent? Yes, I think so.  Happy Listening!

2nd note;

the ARC/Bryston/ Transparent/Wilson Audio set-up was nothing less than outstanding!  Happy Listening!

Jafant I totally agree it's system dependent, I learn that good cables if they match you will get what you paid for, cheap cables sometimes if they match, will give you nice music as well.We really get what we paid for.

Absolutely! jayctoy

In the immortal words of dlcockrum...THIS IS A 15 YEAR OLD THREAD!!!

Both Audioquest and Transparent are still around and doing well. The posts are relevant. Happy Listening!

Love audioquest....

Man this is a necro-thread.... and I'm helping bump it.... noooo

I am approaching 68, what's 15 years? I use mostly Audioquest cables, well designed and built, and easy to purchase used as they are popular and have been around a long time.

I've listened to both extensively, and own AQ.  Transparent is a lot of hype and meddling with signals IMO.

No post is irrelevant . A Library .

I think Transparent cables once you get into Reference level of MM2 or higher or newer Gen 5 is a very nice cable. Below the Reference line is not bad, but you can get equal or close to it for less money.