Any information on the Audioquest Sky XLR !

C.A.P

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Apr 23, 2010
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A buddy of mine has these and gave me them to demo. They are what appears to be a earlier version with the correct three black bar check and correct labeling color.. Him not buying them new he does not have the box .. I know this was a copied cable as it wasn't cheap.. From what I can see in reading the net and pictures these appear to be real.. They have the 72 mv battery box and are 1 meter long.. At first listen on my Krell Server to Krell krc 3 Pre they are detailed and open.. Vocals are a tad more forward and black space is good..

Whats any thoughts on these? .. Im waiting on a set of older Transparent Ultra speaker cables to show up before I make a decision.. I tend to look for used gear as its cheaper and broken in as well as not so hard on you if its not that great ! The Wilson Sophia are very easy to hear changes made ..
 

Elberoth

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Tap them with your finger nail ... they should rattle like a rattle snake. If they do, they are most probably genuine.
 

mulveling

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Unfortunately, you can't be too careful when it comes to AQ Sky counterfeits. I have 2 pairs with a known path back to authorized dealers. I've seen pics of what looked like a real AQ Columbia (copper/air-tubes, and 3 models below the Sky) cable underneath a perfect Sky braid imitation, so the tap/rattle test alone won't do -- though if the cable doesn't rattle, then they're definitely fakes. You can open the connectors and look for silver solid core wire, but careful that it's not just steel (like lots of K2 fakes). Sky and K2 were counterfeited like crazy over many years.

Current upper-line AQ cables have such a high standard of build quality and finish that counterfeits seem to be having trouble keeping up (AQ Fire is truly lovely to hold and see in person, plus it sounds better than Sky too) -- but the counterfeiters got really good at reproducing the look of the old Sky (at least for online pics). Sometimes you'll get lucky and get a give-away visual cue, like those wonky oversized wrap-around black velcro DBS straps with large white "audioquest" text (always for sure a fake), or obviously cheaply made fake packaging.

If you do find a Sky with the old white-bird-in-the-sky box (looks like it was made with 1990s PC technology, but still lovely in a way), that's probably legit. The fakes did start to reproduce the later Sky box.
 

C.A.P

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so You tap the cable it self and it will rattle .. like lose wires inside?
 

bonzo75

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I demoed one in my system long back, it was attempting to voice the mids was nowhere as good as audience or kubala
 

Believe High Fidelity

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I demoed one in my system long back, it was attempting to voice the mids was nowhere as good as audience or kubala

Agreed. I had a few pairs of these and there was a definite compression in the highs and mids that I only discovered putting in a better set of cables.
 

SCAudiophile

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Sep 11, 2010
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+1 on the comments about the plethora of AQ counterfeits being sold over the years. There is no replacement for buying brand new or demo/used from a full dealer for any brand.

I owned 7 pairs of SKY XLRs at one point for a little over 3 years in a 7.1 HT setup and loved them; they were very revealing, fast and had very good bass overall. They were not
lush or overly warm by any meanings. They were very good for me at the time but i did wind up selling them (and the AQ Sky-level custom 3-meter REL cable I had AQ build for
me) and moved on to different cables (Tara, then Kubala & VH Labs and as of the last couple of years, Elrod Statement Golds) with very good results.
 

mulveling

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so You tap the cable it self and it will rattle .. like lose wires inside?
Yes, each solid core conductor is loosely placed inside of an oversized teflon tube; this makes the air gap the primary dielectric (air is better than teflon in this regard). Since the wire isn't rigidly suspended within each air tube, you hear a distinct "rattle" when you tap a segment of the cables. The larger the air tubes, the more distinct the rattle -- e.g. the Wild models rattle much more.

I have a soft spot for the Sky (I have Mk I); it was the first cable I heard that made a meaningful improvement. But yes, there is better available today. Within the current AQ lineup, the Wind is better for less money -- smoother, more detailed, and cleaner bass (but slightly leaner midrange and bass). And the Fire (the Sky Mk 2 replacement) is a notable improvement in all regards.
 
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C.A.P

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Apr 23, 2010
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Well I demoed them and did the TAP test and do not get a distinct rattle.. They look real and have correct color marking on the conectors but the cable is round and stiff..l.. I listened anyways and they seemed compressed and phasy and wasn't even anyway impressed ! I would imagine other results with genuine .. Back to my Analysis Plus Solo crystals ! neutral they are
 

Elberoth

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Well I demoed them and did the TAP test and do not get a distinct rattle.. They look real and have correct color marking on the conectors but the cable is round and stiff..l.. I listened anyways and they seemed compressed and phasy and wasn't even anyway impressed ! I would imagine other results with genuine .. Back to my Analysis Plus Solo crystals ! neutral they are

Then they must be fake. I have seen fakes that were indistinguishable from the real ones down to the smallest details. Most fakes are also less stiff than the real ones, although that is hard to judge if you don't have the real on on hand to compare.

The tap test so far is the easiest way to spot fakes.

Doesn't rattle = fake.
 
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C.A.P

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Apr 23, 2010
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here is a first rate COPY ! note the soldered ends.. A ghost cut fourth wire as well as copper ... thumbnail_IMG_6951.jpg thumbnail_IMG_6956.jpg
 

Speedskater

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Sep 30, 2010
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Yes, each solid core conductor is loosely placed inside of an oversized teflon tube; this makes the air gap the primary dielectric (air is better than teflon in this regard). Since the wire isn't rigidly suspended within each air tube, you hear a distinct "rattle" when you tap a segment of the cables. The larger the air tubes, the more distinct the rattle -- e.g. the Wild models rattle much more.
This is the exact opposite of a good balanced interconnect cable. A good cable has the two conductors bonded together in a closely controlled geometry somewhat like a Cat6 cable. Matter of fact, a Cat6 cable makes a rather nice balanced analog interconnect cable. And that includes unshielded Cat6 cables.
 

mulveling

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Jul 6, 2017
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here is a first rate COPY ! note the soldered ends.. A ghost cut fourth wire as well as copper ...
Yep, that's definitely a fake! I also see the thick, full wrap-around velcro straps on the DBS packs in the back. That's been a dead giveaway for a lot of the Chinese counterfeits. Strange they're so good at replicating braids & connectors but so bad at little things like thin velcro straps. Perhaps it has to do with different parts being sourced in different countries, with final assembly in USA. An unscrupulous seller could put genuine DBS packs on a counterfeit cable to make it even harder to detect.
 

C.A.P

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Apr 23, 2010
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My buddy was skeptical when he got them about 5 years ago in a group deal..
 

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