My 2 cents so take it for what it's worth. I'm not a big fan of either but it's all system dependent. As a Magnepan owner with tubes it just wasn't a good match. I found Transparent to be too analytical and AQ to be kind of dull. Now the caveat is that I'm basing this on their high end cables and not their uber high end. I personally found the Tara Labs cables to be more natural and musical for my system and to be honest I have never looked back. Take all of this with a grain of salt, again it's system and room dependent and quite frankly what is appealing to your ears. Good luck, do your research, have fun and don't over complicate things. Only you have to like it. Easy listening.
Cheers