Many sophisticated design techniques, superior materials, and an exceptional connection system combine to make King Cobra possible. Whether used single ended (RCA plugs) or balanced (XLR plugs), King Cobra’s open and natural sound is obvious. King Cobra’s gold-plated RCA plugs use a patented design that eliminates the distortion caused by the extra contact inside most plugs. Because the ground shells are stamped instead of machined, the metal can be chosen for low distortion instead of for its machinability.
Design Basics
King Cobra is Triple-Balanced. This means there are three identical insulated conductors, in addition to a separate conductor underneath the 100% coverage foil shield. When used with XLR connectors and balanced electronics, the two positive signals (inverting and non-inverting) and the negative, all get the same low-distortion conducting path. The shield is attached to chassis ground through the case of the XLR, providing extremely effective shielding without contaminating the quality of the negative conducting path. When King Cobra is fitted with RCA plugs, two conductors are used together for the much higher potential across the negative connection, providing a substantial performance advantage. The shield is only attached at one end, providing total shield coverage without compromising the negative conducting path.
Conductors
All of King Cobra’s conductors are solid. 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 fundamental toward achieving King Cobra’s very clean sound.
Metal
PSC+ (Perfect-Surface Copper+) has an astonishingly smooth and pure surface. Proprietary metal processing technology protects the wire’s surface at every stage of drawing and fabrication. When high-purity low-oxide copper is kept as soft, pure and smooth as possible, it becomes a wonderfully low distortion PSC conductor. PSC+ is manufactured by applying the same exceptional technology to an ultra pure copper. The resulting sound quality is even more focused and simply less in-the-way. For fifteen years AudioQuest has pioneered the use of superior metals; yet even we were surprised by the huge leap in performance made possible with Perfect-Surface Technology. PSC+ simply outperforms all previously available metals at
any price.
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. All of King Cobra’s conductors use PE Air Tubes insulation because air absorbs next to no energy, and Polyethylene is low-loss and has a benign distortion profile. Thanks to all the PE Air Tubes, it causes much less of the out-of-focus effect common to other materials.
Noise-Dissipation System
100% shield coverage is easy. Preventing captured RF interference from modulating the equipment's ground-reference requires AQ's Noise-Dissipation System. Metal and Carbon-Loaded synthetics prevent most RFI from reaching the equipment's ground-plane.
Cold-Weld System
Novel plug design enables a perfect heat-free connection between cable and plug. XLR plugs are also available.
