AudioQuest has introduced its latest ZERO-Tech speaker cable: Brave Heart. A cable that, according to the company, outperforms any other AQ speaker cable in the same price range.
“Bigger, quieter, and simply better than any speaker cable AQ has ever offered at this price,” is how the manufacturer describes its new AudioQuest Brave Heart ZERO-Tech speaker cable. According to AQ, several technical aspects—both internal and external—contribute to Brave Heart’s “exceptional combination of performance and value.”
Bigger
Physically, Brave Heart is nearly the same size as AudioQuest’s Mythical series speaker cables—just 0.6 mm smaller in outer diameter. Internally, it contains nearly a third more of the same premium Perfect-Surface Copper+ conductor metal used in earlier top-tier models. That makes Brave Heart, according to AQ, essentially a slightly smaller Mythical Creature. Despite this, it’s more manageable thanks to its positive and negative conductors being housed in separate round constructions.
AQ states: “The larger diameter gives Brave Heart more ‘torque’—a firm, muscular grip on the music, especially in the bass. Damping factor is better preserved over longer runs, which is especially beneficial for speakers with ported (4th-order) enclosures that rely heavily on strong amplifier control. More conductor surface also means that variations in speaker impedance across the frequency range have less effect on frequency response.”
Quieter
The AudioQuest Brave Heart ZERO-Tech speaker cable uses upgraded polypropylene insulation, which—according to AQ—“delivers a broader and more linear bandwidth of noise dissipation. Thanks to greater spacing between conductors—made possible by optimized insulation—the blurry, harsh distortions caused by distributed capacitance are meaningfully reduced. In addition, thicker layers of carbon-loaded PVC, newly added graphene, and 4% silver-shielded drain wires further enhance suppression of high-frequency (RF) noise”.
Classic AudioQuest Design Features
The above innovations come in addition to a series of proven AudioQuest techniques:
- Solid-core conductors prevent strand interaction.
- Direction-controlled conductors efficiently drain RF noise away from sensitive amplifier circuits.
- To further reduce the impact of RF noise and timing errors from dielectric noise, Brave Heart features AudioQuest’s 72V Dielectric-Bias System (DBS).
- No RF-conductive metal is used in cable jackets, splitters, or plug barrels.
- All terminations are cold-welded and gas-tight, fitted with red copper spades or banana plugs.
ZERO-Tech
As seen in the Folk Hero and Mythical Creature series, AudioQuest’s patented ZERO-Tech eliminates characteristic impedance mismatches between the cable, the source, and the speaker. “As a result, power flows more freely, presenting music and detail as if from nowhere.”
Better
“While the word ‘better’ is often overused, there truly is synergy here between materials, design values, and techniques. Brave Heart is bigger, better, and quieter than any speaker cable AudioQuest has ever offered in this price category,” the company states in its announcement.
Brave Heart ZERO-Tech Speaker Cable – Pricing
You’ll pay the following for the AudioQuest Brave Heart ZERO-Tech speaker cable:
- USA: $4,990 / 8ft pair; $5,790 / 10ft pair
- Canada: CA$6,790 / 8ft pair; CA$7,890 / 10ft pair
- Europe: €4,999 / 2.5m pair; €5,649 / 3m pair
- UK: £4,249 / 2.5m pair; £4,799 / 3m pair
Custom lengths are available to order, with your choice of banana plugs or spades on either end. Shipping starts in August. Note: due to ongoing price volatility, listed prices may change.