Carbon AES/EBU: digital cable with 5% silver-plated conductors and a five-layer shield
AudioQuest Carbon AES/EBU is a cable for digital audio connections in the AES/EBU standard, between sources, converters and other components fitted with this interface. It applies to this type of connection the same construction recipe as the Carbon series: solid silver-plated copper conductors, a carbon-based multilayer shield and a rigid foamed insulation that protects the cable's geometry.
Solid conductors with 5% silver
The conductors are solid wires of Long-Grain Copper (LGC) with a 5% silver plating. The absence of strands removes at the root the electrical and magnetic interactions that form between the individual wires of a stranded conductor. Putting silver on the outer part has a physical reason: digital signals have frequencies high enough to run almost solely along the conductor's surface, so the better metal is placed exactly there, with a favourable balance between cost and results.
Five-layer Noise-Dissipation
Shielding a cable completely is simple; what is harder is keeping the radio-frequency noise collected by the shield from being poured into the component's ground, where it alters the reference and consequently the signal. The Noise-Dissipation System (NDS) tackles the problem with five layers in which metal alternates with synthetics loaded with carbon, which absorb and reflect most of this energy ahead of the layer connected to ground.
Insulation and lengths
Every solid material in contact with a conductor absorbs energy and gives part of it back in the form of distortion. Hard-Cell Foam insulation limits the phenomenon thanks to the nitrogen injected into the foam, which creates gas pockets unable to hold energy. Its stiffness also keeps the conductors fixed in relation to one another along the whole path, ensuring a constant impedance. Carbon AES/EBU is sold as a single cable in 0.75 m, 1 m, 1.5 m, 2 m, 3 m and 5 m lengths.
Key features
- Digital cable for AES/EBU connections
- Solid LGC copper conductors with 5% silver plating
- Carbon-based, five-layer Noise-Dissipation System
- Nitrogen-injected Hard-Cell Foam insulation
- Lengths: 0.75 m, 1 m, 1.5 m, 2 m, 3 m, 5 m
