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AudioQuest's Red River sits second in the Rivers series, above Chicago. It is a two-cable design, one lead per channel. Solid Perfect-Surface Copper+, a dedicated ground wire and cold-welded gold plugs set it apart from the entry cables.
Other length & termination options are available. Call us to discuss your needs.
The wires are solid Perfect-Surface Copper+, which AudioQuest calls PSC+. AudioQuest draws the wire with a very smooth surface and says this cuts the distortion caused by grain boundaries. Solid wire also removes strand interaction.
The wire is also direction-controlled. AudioQuest says drawn wire has a grain with a direction. It listens to every batch, picks the direction, and marks the jacket with arrows. Point the arrows at the amplifier and noise drains where AudioQuest intends.
The insulation is Hard-Cell Foam, injected with nitrogen to form air pockets. AudioQuest says the stiff foam holds the signal pair in a fixed geometry along the whole cable. Air stores almost no signal energy, so little is released late as smear.
The layout is what AudioQuest calls Triple-Balanced. A third wire carries the ground on its own. The shield never has to double as a signal path. AudioQuest says both signal legs then travel equally clean routes.
Red River ends in AudioQuest's cold-welded, gold-plated XLR plug. A press bonds the plug to the wire under high pressure. AudioQuest calls solder "a common source of distortion." The ground shells are stamped rather than machined, so AudioQuest can pick the metal for low distortion. The plug latches into the jack.
Around the cable is AudioQuest's Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation. AudioQuest says an ordinary shield drains radio noise straight into the equipment's ground and pollutes the reference the signal is measured against. The metal layer absorbs the noise before it gets that far.
Yagiz, reviewing the XLR version for Headfonia on May 26, 2022, found that "compared to the generics, Red River improves the midrange and tightens the bass response." It "sounds almost as good as the Mackenzie with some differences," he wrote.
What Hi-Fi? reviewed the RCA version on May 13, 2014 and gave it four stars. What Red River "lacks in smoothness and subtlety, it makes up for in scale and dynamic scope," the magazine wrote.
Run Red River from a balanced XLR output on your DAC, streamer, CD player or phono stage to a balanced XLR input on your preamp or amplifier. Point the arrows on the jacket toward the amplifier. Line up the pins and push until the latch clicks.
Then listen.
Measure the route the cable will really take between your components, around shelves and behind the rack. Then add a little slack. As audio legend George Cardas puts it, "A cable that's just long enough usually turns out to be just not long enough." Keep the left and right cables the same length. We recommend a matched pair.
Balanced XLR works when both components have XLR jacks, and we recommend using XLRs whenever they do. If one component has only RCA jacks, use an RCA cable instead of an adapter. You only get the possible benefits of a balanced output with a pure XLR-to-XLR connection.
If your amplifier and speakers sit far from your source, we recommend a long interconnect over a long speaker cable. A really long interconnect affects system performance less than a really long speaker cable.
An interconnect often stays in a system for years, so it is easy to overlook. Look again when something else changes: a new DAC, streamer or phono stage, a better amplifier, or a move to components with balanced XLR jacks.
An interconnect is one link in the chain. It usually joins these categories.
AudioQuest's own gold-plated XLR plug, cold welded to the wire by pressure rather than solder. AudioQuest names solder as a common source of distortion.
The cable has three wires: positive, negative and a separate ground. AudioQuest says this keeps the shield out of the signal path, so both signal legs travel equally clean routes.
Toward the component that receives the signal, normally the amplifier or preamp. AudioQuest sets the direction of the wire and says the arrows let noise drain the right way.
Both. Each channel is its own cable, so we list a stereo pair and a single for mono runs and center channels.
A limited lifetime warranty to the original owner, for cables bought from an authorized US dealer. AudioQuest will repair or replace a defective cable that has not been abused. Keep your proof of purchase.
AudioQuest Mackenzie XLR is the next rung. It moves to Perfect-Surface Copper+, a carbon three-layer shield and Hanging-Silver plugs over pure Purple Copper.
The most popular configurations are shown on this page. If your system requires a different length or termination, call our audio experts. We’ll help you choose the right configuration and arrange a custom cable for your system.
Want to learn more about interconnects, solid-core cables, or RCA versus XLR? Visit our Learning Center for guides, tips, and expert advice.
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