Review Audioquest Hurricane (part 1)

@guidocorona  I assumed (and still believe) that @clearthink's posts were pure parody. 

Nooooo Einstein said: insanity is doing things over and over again but expecting better results. This is what I do for almost 20 years!

Sound&vision what you hear and see will always proof the truth. That is the thing I love most about it. That is it’s honesty :)

I said it many many times and I will repeat it over and over again. People who also work in audio confirmed that they do both sound&vision by gambling. And that they all have no idea why the stage and sound is what the hear.

2 weeks ago I discussed this with the head od Audioquest Europe at my home. He also owned an audio shop in the past. He also agreed that this is how they and others work. Period, end of discussion:)

We will start making professional videos in 2018 as well. Especially for geoffkait and other non believers I will film the reactions of these people. How about that :)?

Wow! Hey! Do we have a match?! Einstein said the world is not trial and error. He disagreed with the premise that the universe is probabilistic. He never got on board the whole quantum mechanics train. Do we have a match? Whoa! Wait a second! Back up!! Beep, beep! On second thought, Einstein turned out to be wrong. The universe actually IS probabilistic. Audio is trial and error in the sense you must try different things until you are going in the right direction. There is no other way to proceed. In addition everyone is one his own to a certain extent. That’s what I refer to as Stove Piping. We all labor on our own systems more or less in vacuum. So we reach conclusions based on our research and our labors. But our conclusions oft times disagree. That’s because of the Stove Piping. Even with information sharing Stove Piping is a major problem. We are all working from different Databases. That’s why it’s is a little dangerous to generalize or to be too dogmatic.

You’re a Stove Piper,
Stove Piper, Stove Piper, Stove Piper
Stove Piper, Stove Piper, Stove!
Yes you are, yes you are!

www.audiofacts.nl

We will fill in many reviews soon. The website is in dutch. And in 2018 it will be in english as well.

There are already put different reviews on it. But it is in dutch. You need some patient. We have many new articles and photos ready to be placed on the website. What is still under construction.

Also take a look at: https://www.facebook.com/bobby.kingma

Her you can see how we work. For a part because most things we will never photograph. People have no idea how much furhter we can go into details.

It is not comparable with the trail and error world you all live in. 

The great thing about audio in our world is that brands and products own different properties. People overhere think and focus on brands and products.

We are only interested in the properties they own. The Purist Audio LE powercables have a different influence on both sound&vision compared to AQ powercables. But...it can create and do things different than the Dragon and Hurricane does.

Purist Audio Design make great products and I still use 3 LE in my system and no they will not be changed by Dragon or Hurricane.

These cables I choose for a particular part in my system based on their properties. You have no idea where you are tlking about.

You still think in trial and error, that will always be audio gambling. All my clients thought as you all overhere in trial and error before I met them.

Now they all own a Tru-Fi system and they all understand that their system is superior to each individual system they ever owned. And the biggest difference is that the emotion and intensity of music comes inside their head.

No one of my clients will ever make a changement in their system by trail and error. When you are aware that Tru-Fi outperfroms any system by trial and error you wil never be that stuppid to go back to your own created (limited) system.

When you will hear a Tru-Fi system you will directly understand and feel how much more it does to your emotion. Music is emotion and that is why we work by the human emotion.

Trial and error proves that it lacks many aspects of sound. This will always create a lower level in emotion and intensity.

The reason why some people react irritated overhere is based on the fact that I say things you don’t want to hear.

This proves that you would like to hear the things you want to hear. You need to look further and choose for the truth.

I always ask to people; what do you want to hear? The truth or the thing you would like to hear.

The last group I cannot and I will not help. I only can help those people who want the best possible. When I take a look at the products a new client owns I will say what he can keep and what needs to go.

Each inferior incomplete product I cannot use, because it will limit each system. When he wantes to keep it, it is fine with me. But I cannot help him. I will never connect my name to any 2D audio system or incomplete set.

This is a choice as well and I cannot do it differently. But I can create a quality in both sound&vision what is mindblowing.

In 2018 you will see and hear it.......goodluck to you all!

Wow - you people amaze me. After all the testimonials from the hundreds of clients Bo has helped reach audio nirvana, you still do not believe? Wait a minute - has ANYONE ever admitted to buying anything from this guy?  I would like to see some posts from some of the many satisfied clients.  

Wow ......wasn't this the same guy who high-jacked everybody's power cables threads here on Audiogon to shout from the top of the mountain that Purist Audio makes the best power cables on the planet. I will agree that Jim Aud makes some very good right at the top cables , and who also is selling them at prices where you just have to shake your head and say ; C'mon Jim really ? One of the most down to earth guys in this hobby but is now pricing his cables out of most everybody's reach these days. How much could have possibly changed ? ........but wait Bo now seems to know the answer. I have made my owns logical decisions with this hobby and after nearly 40 years of collecting ......it's your ears, your system, your room and the music you listen to. ( and your own money ) but I do take offense when someone either from the front door or from the back door is telling us they are stupid for what we know and or don't know and come with me I will show you the way type of approach. Hmmmmm........I will not drink your Kool Aid Bo and I am not stupid or easily persuaded as I can make my OWN decisions when it comes to audio. Just wow ......enjoy the music and this journey.  

It is obvious that people react strange on something they don’t know. That is why it needs to be shown. Tru-Fi will bring both sound&vision to a for many new level in quality.

You all do audio by trial and error based on the fact that it is told you to do so. The people in audio do it as will, so this proves that they all think and even believe that this is the best way to do audio.

I can tell you and I will prove that it is not. You have no access to all the different properties of each individual part in your system. For that it is too ineffective.

There are different people who react irritated all the time overhere. Please stop with that, we will help everyone. Just give us some time. It will be shared.

People think that I want to provoke, but that is not the case. I want to take you out of your comfortzone so people will start to look further..........

This is needed to grow to a much higher endresult than your system can create now. We are all different but we are all humans. So react like that.

That even counts for me, so I want to apologize to the people who felt offended. Perfectionists can only think in one way; and that is the best result possible. There is no room for error. Second best will never be an option.

I was born like this and even as a child I was the same. And yess I am a lot different, I will never say better. Because in my world all people are equal and even important. The difference is that I can see and hear so much further into details.

Today I phoned with the head of Audioquest Europe about the Dragon. I told him that I can reveal details/micro information I never heard on any system regarding price since I use the Dragon on my subwoofer.

We improve both sound&vision over and over again. This proces never stops. This is inside my system and the drive to create an even higher level is there all the time. Yesterday evening we did a new calibration with my Oled and brought it to an even higher level. This also goes far beyond your imagination.

Our S.A.P.-measurement can reveal details of sound what cannot be reached by normal audio without this measurement. It is missing. It is not even there. And that is why we can get a superior level out of a Dragon.

We compared different highend stereo preamps (of even over 15000 dollars) and they were inferior on all parts. This proves how much you loose with ’standard’ audio.

’Highend’ products will not solve this. Even when the parts inside are better, it is still very limited. Trial and error gives you a very limited insight of details and data. That is why you still cannot guide and control your sound and stage precisely.

Beside this, you need to understand what smog, magnetism and high frequent noise does to your system. We eliminate all these different parts to a minimum. This is what research does, it gives you access to understand why these parts limit your sound and also vision.

Tru-Fi can easily make you understand what goes wrong and how you can solve this. In fact it is the opposite of trial and error. I started to create this on the 3rd of july 1998. I made the choice that day to understand why each product in audio is so different than another one.

This is the mindset I talked about many times overhere. It is a different way of thinking. But it opens doors which will be closed with trial and error until the end.

Life is not about what you take and own, but what you can give to others......

I am not Clearthink. I have many clients and I asked a few if they were him. But they all said it is not me.

To be honest I don’t know who he is. Next week a person who also comes here a lot at Audiogon will visit me. I will ask him also to write here what he thinks about Tru-Fi systems.

Because I will take him also to a client of mine. We create a sound. It is always the same way. Each system needs to own all the different parts of sound. Because each single part what is missing will always create a lower level in emotion and intensity. Audio is that simple:)

I have a lof of experience with acoustic live music. One of my best friend had a concert room with a Steinway piano. And he gave small classical concerts.

This made me aware what intimate sound is and does with both voices and instruments. Intimate sound is also an important part of Tru-Fi.

The Hurriane and Dragon both are able to create a stunning realistic  proportion. But it goes even further than this alone. It also can give a voice or instrument a more realistic shape.

When you want to create a sound and stage wich creates a stunning 3D holographic stage with intimate and realistic individual focus of voices and instruments. You need the right properties for it. And creating a shape is even more difficult.

When I auditioned a lot of classical music I started to understand what a shape of an instrument is and how it is being formed. 

Everything I hear during live music I want to create. It is in my head and I work it out until I can create it.

Many of my tests proof that many products and brands don't own all the properties of sound. Beside that many also are not able to fill it in the right way.

This is why you need to know all the individual properties of each part. In all other situations you are doing audio by pure gambling.

Many people I spoke this year who also work in audio started to laugh when they admit that the way they do audio is more like gambling.

It proofs that most have no idea how they work untill you confront them. 

You need to understand the differences between silver and copper. or even the combination of these two. 

Silver in loudspeakercables and interconnects works different than silver in powercables.

I also use 2 sets of Wel xlr in my system. And Wild interconnects for my surround part. All my hdmi, RJ/E and other cables are diamond and are also silver.

But powercables for amps, sources and pre amps silver will not always be the best option. This is why Audioquest stopped with full silver. Now they had to admit that this is not the best way to go.

There are enough situations that a Hurricane will work better than a Dragon. You need to understand how different materials work on an amp, pre amp or even source.

The Wel tests proved that silver often will limit the diversity in the middle frequencies. Jim Aud the owner of Purist Audio also has one pure silver powercable. He made it because clients asked for it. But he also prefers the copper version, like I do.

When you are able to extract all the different properties of each individual part in your system you can understand what it does to your stage and sound. This is needed to find out if a cable is the best option in your system.

Hahahahahahahaha...it is getting more funny every day. 

We tested the Wel and Wild as well. But the Purist Audio LE Luminist outperformed them like they were standard cables.

In part 2 we describe very detailled what it does. It will be desribed on all the individual parts of sound. The head of Audioquest Europe was here about 2 weeks ago. And he read my review part 2 the night before he visit me.

He was amazed that they things I wrote I could explain him part by part. This is how precise we work. And no amature who uses this as a hobby can even think at that level.

'Folk' his words are very limited in details, and it doesn't say that much. Sound goes a lot further than some words; like more air, bass less pronounced. Impressive Folk!!

You have no idea what sound is and what you can achieve with it when you are able to reveal all the layers. Even with your fancy system you don't use the best students in it's class and not the best properties. Because I tested many of the stuff you own. And their are different parts in your system what is incomplete even on facts. 

The great thing about audio is that the sound and stage you hear will always speak the truth. The best audio systems can reveal music at a level what reveals all the information and layers at a level what influences your emotion you never experienced.

How you want to control and guide a trial and error system? I asked it to several people who own audio shops and work in audio for many years. And they could not answer this question.

When you cannot tell of each individual part of your system which properties it owns you will never know why your sound and stage is what you hear. Most people even have no idea about all the different parts which influences the sound and stage negatively.

That is why money will not even solve the limitation of trial and error.

We are talking about facts which are even confirmed by audio shop owners. 

When people think we are pro Audioquest I can garantee you that we test each individual AQ product first before we decide to sell it yess or no.

The new Niagara conditioners we tested and in our world they are not good enough. We have superior competitors. We will always choose for the best. This is how we protect all our clients. There are even more AQ products we tested and will not sell.

AQ did stop with 100% silver. All my tests with the Wel were not convincing. The Purist Audio LE luminist outperformed them on all parts. Audio is in our word all about shootouts and finding the best products.

All inferior products never will be chosen or even sold. We want all our clients to get the maximum quality possible for the money they spend. Second best will always be for the losers in this world.

When you want to show your clients respect you give them the best quality possible and never any second or 3th best. In our world each individual person should deserve a stunning audio system for the money he or she spends.

We work day and night for all our customers.  They can call us each day, even on saturday and sunday. And we will be there to support them.

@joey_v thanks for asking about my comment “light on bass” as I meant to expand. Too many audio systems add an emphasis, a boom or low/mid bass stress that seems superficially attractive and is often quite exciting. But real bass isn’t like that, it grows naturally and kind of sits under the Music with its own texture and intensity. With the WELs in my setup I had that hyped up bass, with the Dragons it’s more organic and real world. You can read more on this in AudioGon member bdp24's observations on listening to my system

So yes, it might seem like less bass but the bass is of better quality, with more detail and about a half octave deeper once you listen into it.

It’s also more in scale. With the old power cords intense loud music (think the "Gladiator" soundtrack) often swelled up and expanded outside the speakers. It’s as if the orchestra got amped up and expanded like a balloon. Now the music remains in scale, the depth and detail is there but it is never blown out of scale

@folkfreak 

I am glad to read your review.  Light on bass?  Sounds concerning to me.

I have AS Wel PC x2 and I'm happy with them that I'm nk t selling it switching anytime soon

@folkfreak  Thank you for a cogent and well written review!

In the hope of adding something useful and not entirely tangential to this thread here follows my impressions of the AQ Dragon.

I have been using AQ WEL power cords for about five years now. Initially I had them powering my ARC Ref 2 Phono SE and Ref 40 and one on the PSU for my EAR table. I also have a pair on my VTL MB450III MonoBlocks. I selected WEL mainly as it was the cable one of my major dealers used, and available at good prices. Compared with stock cables the WEL brings great authority, precision and clarity -- maybe a little on the crisp/tight/"yin" side

Over the past several years I have swapped out many of the WELs for a variety of reasons -- for the Ref 40 I needed an 8’ cable and changed to SR Galileo LE which was much richer and more natural sounding. On the table PSU I swapped in a Marigo Iridium which seemed much more authoritative.

One place I had not sought an alternative was on my power amps. I’d been awaiting the new AQ cords with some interest and as soon as I heard they were available I asked my local dealer for a pair of the Dragon High Current 20A cords to try. As Bo notes the new AQ cords have a very different helical twisted geometry -- the Dragon implementing this across a mix of copper and silver wires. Be aware these cords are quite difficult to work with -- they resist twisting and so it’s imperative you check that the size you buy will work with the orientation of the IECs on your components. The good news is that the connections once made are secure and likely will hold in place (I have had other cables that are so heavy they pull themselves out of their mains sockets).

So how do they sound? Straight up I was flabbergasted by a completely different presentation of the Dragon vs the WEL. Bass seems less pronounced but there is much more air and space all around. As you listen more you realize that low level dynamics and inflections are now apparent that you had previously not been aware of -- and overall the ability of the amps with these new cables to communicate emotion has gone up in strides. One odd effect is to seemingly amplify dynamic range -- what I mean by this is that while perhaps previously I’d been using a range of say 36-46 on my pre amp to accommodate the optimal loudness for all my CDs, now I found myself using 28-52 -- with the Dragon’s it seems the power cord is no longer compressing the peaks which in some cases (i.e. a more compressed recording) might mean a lower volume setting is optimal while more purist recordings can take a higher.

Needless to say I kept the demos and sold the WELs. I have no opinion on how the Dragon’s compare to other similarly priced cords but would suggest that anyone in the market for a power amp cord check them out. As the Dragon low current (for sources) are much cheaper I would suspect they are quite a bargain but currently have no need of such a cord (my last remaining WEL on my phono is soon to be redundant as I switch to a battery based phono)

Hopefully these musings are helpful for anyone in the market for the latest from AQ -- they certainly have my endorsement

@guidocorona 

+2

@guidocorona 

+1 

Lest we all forget the ironically monikered clearthink has added an extra dimension to Tru-Fi (whatever the heck that is) something called the  ICSS factor. Whatever this factor may be (assuming ICSS actually stands for something)  I am sure it adds an untold dimension to Tru-Fi (whatever the heck that is)!

@jond he'll never tell you, because the wonders of 3D Tru-Fi are strictly limited to a few, a very few, initiates, who know how to take the right micro-steps to implement the electronic dimensionality correctly.

I'm going for a walk.

Thanks! for writing Part 1- bo1972.
If you can mention here talk about the (2) cd players, (2) power cables.
If not, send me a PM. I look forward in reading Part 2.
Happy Listening!

I am also very, very confused. I am not smart enough to be an audiophile anymore is my take away. Only a handful of us are. @geoffkait is one of the handful 🤔

I dont mind if this were more of a review rather than a thread of self promotion.  

I am so confused how do you "use Audioquest cables" differently? One end goes into the wall socket the other end into your component. Is there some other way to "use" a power cable?

Can we please skip to part 2.....

Mister 'freak' you have no idea in how we use Audioquest cables. The people of Audioquest have auditioned why we can go so much further.

In our country we use Audioquest so much more precise than all other shops. Beside that we sell a  lot more expensive cables than others. Based on the fact that Tru-Fi makes cables for us more effective.

We can proof this by sound and facts. We are not talking about personal taste. 

As an owner of the new Dragon power cords I think very highly of them and can happily describe what they bring (and have done so in other threads). This so called “review” however is just a farrago of meaningless b/s - AQ should be embarrassed to be associated with this joker

When people are not able to follow things anymore it becomes complicated. And when you put the mirror to their faces it becomes even more difficult.

Mister psag uses cables of a different brand and is starting to cry. You have no idea how limited the cables you use are. I sold them and I tested them many times.

At the end the technique of a cable will not garantee anything about what it does in your system. At the end the results are the only thing that counts.

Please stop crying and whining all the time, just test it yourself and judge.
When audio becomes personal people start to act just like children overhere.

Audio is about emotion and the best quality possible. All the rest doesn’t matter. Most people overhere have a very limited field of view.

I said it overhere many times, learn to look further. When you never will take any risk to look further, you will stay there where you are.

Music is one of the most beautiful things in life. So you want to experience it with full emotion and intensity. For this you need an audio system and also cables which can reveal all the information and layers.

People don’t want to know that they use brands and products which are incomplete because they cannot handle the truth.

When you would act like that, you fail as a human being. When you want the best for yourself as well you need to look further.

You are in control of your own life, learn to focus more.

I’ve got my hip waders on, I can hack it. So how much of the sound of the Hurricanes is directly attributable to its presumably correct directionality? That’s what I’d like to know about. 😳

I am a fan of AQ... I have a full AQ loom. 

But even I cannot stand this thread... I'm out.  

Even if its decent product, this poster has an extensive track record of driving us all crazy with endless incoherent Audioquest rants. Salesmen like this are not needed, and certainly not wanted on these forums. Moderator, please take note.

Many cables brands are not able to create all the different properties of sound. But Trial and error will not show people which products are incomplete.

But incomplete products will always work negative in any system. You cannot solve these limitations. All these products will never make you able to reveal all the information and layers of the recording untill the end.

So you can change parts of your system by trial and error, it will not help you. Because you have no idea which products are the ones who limit your endresult.

I decided not to talk about any brand negative anymore. I know all the incomplete brands, I will never say these names. But I will never sell these brands and products.

Tru-Fi makes the effectiveness of the Hurricane so much bigger than a Hurricane in any trial and error system. That makes this cable for me and my clients a lot more important than in trial and error systems.

Tru-Fi gives acces to all the different properties of the AQ Hurricane. In a trial and error system you only have acces to some of the properties of the Hurricane.

That is why audio needs a mindset to create a much higher endresult. Trial and error will never create any kind of stunning sound&vision.

Tru-Fi creates new insights in both sound&vision all the time. Because it is much more effective than doing sound&vision by trial an error.

It is the only way to guide and control sound&vision. There is no other way possible. Fot us it is a big laugh to see all the people with their diffusers and bass traps. I will not say that is does not do anything. Because for a part it works. But S.A.P.-measurment is superior in effectiness and makes the diffusers and bass traps even silly.

When I look for example at Facebook for Highend For Passionates. I can see many faults at almost each single photo.

Based on the fact that I did so many different tests that the mistakes they make I will never make again. The most of them have no idwa what they are doing. When I see the pictures of loudspeakers of 200.000 dollar and the way they place them, it is the proof that it is done at the level of a child.

There is no discussion even possible. It is so easy for me to explain why they make mistakes and what they do wrong. They have not the insight to understand what they do wrong.

This cannot be learned, technical it is not possible. You need to be able to think in patterns. The patterns in my head create the ideas. And make it understandable why it can be done so much more effective.

In audio there are many things done by you all because other people told you that this is the right way. These are assumptions which are seen as the truth. But tests proves that many of them are not the right and best option.

These 'new' ideas are superior in effectiveness. Tru-Fi is based on properties, the human emotion and maximum effectiveness.

When you can think in patterns both sound&vision becomes understandable why what you see and hear if what you see and hear. This makes a huge difference.

Trial and error is being created by the fact that people have no idea what they do. And they believe (like I believed for a long time as well) that audio is just a personal taste.

The emotion is on the recording. When a system can reveal more information of that recording and it can even let you hear all the layers of the recording for each human being this will be prefered by any system by trail and error what is incomplete.

It took a client of mine 1 hour to explain to me that personal taste does not excist. And now I can explian this very easilit on facts and people understand it.

Each Tru-Fi system will proof it as well, over and over agian!

This weekend I connected the new Audioquest Dragon High current powercable to my subwoofer.

With Statement Audio Pro measurement we can bring a subwoofer to a new reference level in integration. It outperforms any other way of using a subwoofer. This is based on the fact that we work at 0.25 millimeter precision. We also can put it in phase with the loudspeakers.

In the last 2 months we created new layers in the middle frequencies. Since we know (21 months) that diversity in sound is the most important part to create emotion during listening we put a lot of effort to this part.

We adapt each individual property of sound over and over again. When you work and think by Tru-Fi it creates so much more information all the time. It gives you acces to things most people will never reach.

Trial and error will always be very ineffective. When you don’t learn to look further, the endresults will be limited until the end

The Dragon gives us a new level in details we never experienced before. The accuracy of the way we measure a subwoofer goes beyond the imagination of people. This gives us the access to get a much higher level out of this powercable.

We choose this cable pure on the DNA it owns. We use the benefit of the silver. Like we choose the Hurricane for it’s copper to the parts we connect it to.

Tru-Fi is creating audio by it’s properties. This makes audio so much more effective.

In each trial and error system the results of a Hurricane will be a lot less. You have no idea what the properties do to your system. You need an audio system what can reveal all the different properties of sound. Most audio products cannot reveal all the different properties. This means you have no access to all the different properties/talents of the Hurricane.

It is that simple!!

I am a great supporter of Tru-Fi. It has been proven that only through the expert application of Tru-Fi which includes using properties and understanding the DNA of the chosen components can a Music Reproduction System produce a 3D sound all other Music Reproduction Systems are expressly limited to 2D sound reproduction because they are not working in properties. This has been proven many times to all who listen and many remark that before Tru-Fi they were working like children with trial and error in their Music Reproduction Systems and would never achieve the 3D presentation that is only available on a  Music Reproduction System employing properly implemented TruFi. 

However and this is a big however I have discovered a "hole" in Tru-Fi this is a property not previously discovered, isolated, analyzed and implemented by Bo this "missing" property is not really the last link in the chain it is really the first link in the chain and without proper utliization of this property it is not possible to have a truly accurate Music Reproduction System. 

I have labelled this property the ICSS factor! I will be revealing more about how the ICSS factor influences our Music Reproduction Systems in the coming year! It will be the turning point in the evolution of Music Reproduction Systems and will forever change how we analyze the audio output delivered by such systems. I am sorry to say the Bo has been reluctant to share details of Tru-Fi and I will not divulge Tru-Fi details without his express authorization however the ICSS factor is something I have developed on my own working with expert scientists in the field of Music Reproduction Systems and even without a fully designed, specified, and implemented TruFi system the proper use of ICSS factor will allow even a non-Tru-Fi Music Reproduction System to perform better than any other system including almost every Tru-Fi Music Reproduction System that does not account for ICSS factor so stay tuned for more details this will be very exciting! Until then I challenge Bo to finally provide for the public's edification the details of Tru-Fi it is time to share the news with the world!