Audioquest G-Snake (1 Meter)

Fast Facts
The AudioQuest G-Snake might look like a traditional coaxial cable, but there are many very important differences that greatly increase its performance:

• Solid conductors prevent strand interaction
• Long Grain Copper (LGC) conductors create smoother, clearer sound
  
• 100% coverage shield ensures noise-free performance
• Precision gold-plated plugs lower distortion and offer a high-performance connection

Design basics
AudioQuest's G-Snake is an inexpensive coaxial cable that can nevertheless dramatically improve your system's sound. It has identical conductors for the positive and ground connections, and underneath the 100% coverage foil shield is a bare conductor, exactly the same as the insulated center conductor. The conductor under the shield does double duty as a low-distortion audio connection, and as the drain wire connecting the shield to ground.

Conductors
Both of G-Snake's conductors are solid. This is important because electrical and magnetic interaction between strands in a conventional cable is the greatest source of distortion, often causing a somewhat dirty harsh sound. Solid conductors are the most important ingredient enabling G-Snake's very clear sound.

Metal
G-Snake's LGC (Long Grain Copper) allows a smoother and clearer sound than cables using regular OFHC (Oxygen-Free High-Conductivity) copper. OFHC is a general metal industry specification regarding "loss," without any concern for distortion. LGC has fewer oxides within the conducting material, less impurities, less grain boundaries, and definitively better performance.

Insulation
Any solid material adjacent to a conductor is actually part of an imperfect circuit. Wire insulation, circuit board materials all absorb energy (loss). Some of this energy is stored and then released as distortion. The general cable industry ranks insulating materials by loss, with little regard for distortion. AudioQuest ranks materials by damage to an audio signal. The PVC used in G-Snake has too much loss to be used in a quality video cable, but it has a very benign distortion profile through the audio range, keeping G-Snake's sound pleasant and natural.

Terminations
Precision gold-plated plugs are carefully attached with the very best solder. Through choice of flux and metallurgy, AQ solder has been optimized to make a low distortion connection. All solder, including "silver solder," is a poor conductor. The difference you hear between solders is a result of connection quality. AQ Solder does not have a high silver content because the more silver there is in solder, the more difficult it is to make a good connection.

The combination of these major ingredients and many more subtle details explains how even an affordable cable like G-Snake can sound so good.