Price Paid:  $195.00

Summary:
This cable produces very clean highs but not bright at all. It also produces wide and detail soundstage, comparing it with the cheaper model Ruby, you wonder why you would consider buying the Ruby at all..., though the Ruby is an awesome mid level cable, esp for pop and rock music. The bass on Ruby might seems strong than the Opal, but rather artifical. Both Opal and Ruby have now been replaced by Viper and Coral respectively, interestingly, both replacements remain the same color of their predecessors, black and red.

Overall, the Opal has an excellent price/performance ratio, and it has excellent built quality, even the plug is made by FPC copper. Can't go wrong with this one!

Strengths:
Smooth and very clean highs, good sound stage.

Weaknesses:
Very stiff cable

Similar Products Used:
Tara Labs, Stealth, Other Audioquest models

Summary:
This cable is great value for $150 .5M cable. No real weak
points, good all around performance. Kimber SS has more detail, but is bright in many systems and fatigueing, Opal
is good detail and much more nuetral pleasing balance. Opal
also very good 3D presentation, I like this cable. Some have
said this is 95% of top cable, not quite but maybe @85%....
depends on your equipment

For same price you can go silver and try SilverAudio Silver
Bullet 4. Very nuetral and great detail and extension. If
you stretch your budget try Cardas Cross smooth as silk balance, very sweet but still has good detail and excellent extended tight bass. I have also used Monster 950 and Kimber
Hero and Opal easily outperforms these cables.

My system:
Musical Fidelity X-Ray CDP
Cardas Cross .5M interconnect
Musical Fidelity A3 integrated amp
AQ Midnight 6ft speaker cables
Spendor SP1 Speakers, 3-way British design

Strengths:
very balanced, good all around performance for price

Weaknesses:
None at this price

Similar Products Used:
Kimber Silver Streak, SilverAudio S.B.4, Cardas Cross

Summary:
These cables are able to bring out the details of the acoustics of the room the music was recorded in better than many other cables. Classical and acoustic music has great intonation and separation. Notes are more articulate and detailed with these great cables. While good cables do make a significant improvement in the sound quality I agree with the philosophy that $200 cables sound 95% as good as the very expensive cables and rate these $200 cables as a best buy. I'll admit I have not listened to a lot of different cables and I am sure there are many other good brands out there but I have always been pleased with Audioquest products.

Strengths:
Nice soundstage. Very accurate and neutral.

Weaknesses:
Have not found any yet.

Similar Products Used:
Other Audioquest products and compared to others in the audio shop but I can't remember which brands.

Summary:
Great sounding cable and its a great value for money, playing only second fiddle to its more expensive counterpart, the Lapis. The sound is very much very similar to the Lapis and the slight difference is in the Treble in which it is not as clean compared due to the fact that Lapis is using Silver instead of copper. No matter what, its a great cable for all kinds of music esp for Classical. u won't regret buying this cable.

Strengths:
Clean, clear, good bass reproduction and good for classical music

Weaknesses:
Lacks a cleaner and clearer sound compared to Lapis

Similar Products Used:
Audioquest Quartz3, Audioquest Lapis, Audioquest Jade.

Summary:
Excellent, well made product. In my opinion, Opal is roughly the equal of the more expensive Lapis and Diamond models. You probably won't notice a difference outside of a very expensive system. Also keep in mind that upper mid-line cables, such as Opal, as a rule generally have 95% of the performance of the more expensive models in the product line. The interconnects were quite synergistic with my system:

Adcom GCD750--AT Opal--Adcom GFP750--AT Opal--Classe CA100--Kimber 8TC--Vandersteen 1C's.

I would recommend a listen in the context of your system.

Strengths:
Smooth sound, warm, and detailed.

Weaknesses:
None.

Similar Products Used:
Tara Labs RSC, Vampyre Wire, Straight Wire Rhapsody, Kimber Kable Silver Streak