Transparent

Irritating and unmusical

These cables can be admired for their transparency but I find them uninvolving and irritating even for short listening periods. In contrast the Tara Labs RSC Prime sound full and musical but too bloated and with a boomy bass in my room. If I use the Tara Labs from CD to preamp and Lapis from Pre to power amp then the overall balance is a good compromise. The Harmonic Technology Pro-Silways are much better than that combination though, they have the transparency but the sound is still musical and natural.

It's dangerous to discuss transparent cables unless you mention your system. Such cables can let through nasty sounds from your system so you may be listening to your system accurately instead of the cable itself.

Here' s my system:

Meridian 508.24 CD player
Pass Aleph L preamp
Pass Aleph 3 power amp
B&W Nautilus 805 speakers
Kimber 8TC bi-wired speaker cable (1 meter)

Similar Products Used:

Tara Labs RSC Prime, Kimber PBJ, Harmonic Technology Pro-Silway II

Very natural sounding.

Sounds laid back

The Audioquest Lapis*3, are very natural-sounding cables. Well the term "natural" has a thousand meanings to a thousand individuals-naturally. Overall the cables intrude very little in the music chain, but is not 100% transparent, and like most other silver cables, it sounds laid back to a fault. But overall the result is very pleasing.
FYI- the cable is used between the DAC and the Power amp, when other "similar" kimber cable was used, the result was not up to my liking. This is not to say that the Kimber is less capable than the Audioquest, but perhaps it did not "fit" in with the system, as well as the Audioquest.

Similar Products Used:

Nordost Blue Heaven

I'm sorry you feel that way John. In my opinion, the AQ Lapis is an incredible cable (and I have heard and owned many). I know these terms get tossed around a lot here, but I must say that the Lapis is extremely detailed, neutral and very revealing.
I think many people expect that if they add an outstanding cable to their mediocre system that the sound will improve dramatically. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case. When you enter the world of high-end cables, remember one thing: high-end cables will improve the sound of a good system and likely worsen the sound of a poor one. Why? Because a revealing cable will do just that: reveal the flaws in your source as well as the media being played on it. If you have few flaws in your system , then the Lapis will sing like no other cable you've ever heard. If you're running a "cheapie" system, stick to a cheap cable that will mask the flaws.

Anyway, like I said, the Lapis is one incredible cable. With it, you will hear cymbals, bells and voices that you didn't even know were there. And it does so without being too forward or in-your-face. Nothing but pure, unfiltered, untainted signal. Aaaaahhhh.....

Yes, Chazzman, the Lapis is a "good" cable. Its sound is well balanced, nothing sticking out unnaturally. However, for about the same price, you could get better performance from other cables. The TARA Air2, for example, sounds more delicate, fine details maintaining their existence, yet not being drowned out by louder sounds. Kimber's KCAG, especially with the WBT-0108 plugs, really trounces the Lapis in terms of focus, contrast, and precision of start and stop. Cardas Neutral Reference is very similar to Lapis, but has more bite to instruments rich in high frequencies. XLO Signature Type 1 preserves soundstage depth a little better than does the Lapis. Again, the Lapis is a solid performer. It's just that, the Lapis' similarly-priced competitors outshine the Lapis in certain areas, and do a better job at preserving the original signal.
I've tried these cables on a variety of components. Here is but a small sampling:

DACs: Theta DS Pro Basic IIIa, Prime IIa, Cobalt 307
Tuners: Fanfare FM FT-1, Adcom GFT-555, Parasound T/DQ-1600
Phono preamps: Krell KPE Standard, McCormack Micro Phono Drive
Video: Sony Playstation, various stereo VCRs, Sega CD, Turbo 64
Preamps: Mark Levinson No. 380, Classe' 30, B&K Pro 10MC, Adcom GTP-400
Amps: Classe' CA-100, Muse 100, Adcom GFA-535
Headphone stuff: Headroom Supreme, McCormack MID, Sennheiser HD-600 and HD-580, Grado SR-60 and SR-80

OK. I read all these reports. Here's mine. Take it with a grain of salt. I design and build speakers, for personal use, as I have for 35 years. Originating from necessity, I could not afford to build the speakers I could appreciate. However in the end, the speaker product was an improvement over the high-end references which had been my comparison. This makes this painstaking hobby quite gratifying. This also requires that my equipment, including interconnects, be employed for both listening enjoyment and also diagnostic purposes. What I have found with these interconnects is very accurate signal transmission between equipment units of exceptional fidelity. Thus I employ them from each signal source to each amplifier. This translates into a wonderful listening experience. Of course, in a triamplified system, this can get expensive. The transparency change is immediately apparent upon cable substitution. However, after the usual silver oxide surface deposition which characterizes aging, conductance and impedence changes, I found some problems. I found the increased detail revealed inaccuracies with one D/A converter system. This took a while to diagnose. Then, the signal accuracy became so acute as to point out some diffraction effects of my version 5 ribbon speakers which the new version 6's were designed to eliminate. There were many other engineering improvements, so I was not aware this aspect was such a significant problem previously. Also, as the sound stage depth varies with recordings, and this can extend to envelop the listener. This is an unusual experience, perhaps I am just lucky. I find them a pleasant experience. So, I am quite satisfied with this product. It is unlikely I will upgrade this component.
However, if anyone would like to compare interconnects, they are welcome to make arrangements and bring reference recordings to compare as well. I really have no opinion, and if something is better, that is fine with me. Lastly, I would
recommend to anyone interested in this product to test a variety of interconnects, but further to understand that the science and engineering behind them should be an appropriate match for the level of their other components. Based on the quality and pleasure of reproduction, as well as their help in a diagnostic capacity with other components, I would rate these interconnects "4.9".

I am audiophile from Yugoslavia, my name is Milos. I am very interesting about Aq cables which is greatest for me. I ve triedall audiotruth inter. in my system except diamond x3, now I use old
emerald with quad structure, not like new air hyperlitz x3 version
between cd and preamp as well as lapis x3 between pre and power amp. I
am very happy with this combination, also I used forest in low biwire
mode with heybrrok HB 100 speakers on HBS1 stands. My system consist of valve preamp
from Yugoslav company and class A power amp which is very like old Krrel.
This combination were imported in England ten years before and have
great success, especial Oakley image s preamp, which were on Hi Fi
choice hit list as recommended (500 pound). My cd is NAD 502. I ve tried also many nonAq inter. cables in my system including: transparent ultra, vdh first, mit terminator5, cardas 300B and many others.
I found that lapis x3 is very revealing, smooth and in comparison with emerald have more body and bettered them in terms of absolutely lack of grain. Lapis is very quiet cable with great control across the spectrum which is characteristic off all audiothruth cables. Audiothruth cables have easy presentation, touch of warmth and make music. This is most important, because with many other brands like ones with network tehnology music becomes processed and finally wrong. Very often people forget that when listening music, they listening music and not component and this is only possible when emotional content of music is present. In other terms this cables is very very musical and its hard to explain things when everything is wright, just music end nothing but the music. At a same time emerald is perfect between cd and preamp because
it have "copper" kind of mid presentation, which is very lush and
palpable, as well as excellent bass definition and extension. I think
that copper and silver cables in this combination works extremely good
because it forms a synergistic combination. Audioquest range of truly great interconect cables start for me with emerald, and my advice is to spent money for serious cables.

AudioQuest now markets the upper tier cables as AudioTruth and lower tier cables as AudioQuest. Lapis is in the upper tier and is their number two cable behind Diamond. Like Diamond, Lapis uses solid silver wire and is terminated in gold-plated FPC (functionally perfect copper) RCA plugs. This interconnect is also available with XLR plugs.
I have been using Lapis between my pre/power amp for the past three years. Previously I used AudioTruth Emerald. When I replaced the Emerald with Lapis, it was as if I had upgraded a component. The overall sound of my system became cleaner across the board. Bass became deeper as if a (yuck) tone control or equalizer was boosted a couple of dB.

I use AudioTruth Emerald between my CD player and preamp. Strangely, when I also tried Lapis between my CD player/pre-amp, I found that I preferred the sound of Emerald between these two components, even though Emerald was very slightly more grainy sounding. With the Lapis between my CD player and preamp, the overall sound was a little too laid back, even polite for my taste. Overall, I find Lapis to be remarkably refined sounding, detailed and free of grain. Highly recommended.

EXCELLENT DETAIL,GREAT FOCUS,VERY VERY SMOOTH.

VERY LAID BACK

AN EXCELLENT CABLE AT ANY PRICE,ONE OF THE SMOOTHEST TOP ENDS. VERY ACCURATE IMAGING, WITH A WIDE SOUND STAGE.MUCH SMOOTHER THAN COMPAREBLE STRAIGHT WIRE VIRTUOSSO OR KIMBER. DOWN SIDE IS IT'S RATHER SYSTEM DEPENDANT, SOUNDS GREAT WITH FORWARD OR AGGRESIVE EQUIPMENT COMBO'S, VERY LAID BACK BUT GREAT DETAIL.

The Lapis is a without a doubt one of the best cables in this price range. It opened up the sound in my CD-67SE and also worked great with the CD-17. Voices and bass both felt neutral and easy to the ear.
I must recommend it.

Eh, a decent cable. Nothing very positive or negative. But, for the same amount of money, you could try four-star cables like Cardas Neutral Reference, Kimber KCAG, TARA Air2, Wireworld Eclipse II, and XLO Ref 2, to name a few.