In 1982, Sony gave us "perfect sound every time" along with the attitude that "all CD players sound the same because digital is digital." This was disproved and quality differences between CD players were accepted as fact. Next came separate transport and DAC combos under the premise that "all S/PDIF digital audio cables sound the same"... until this too was disproved. Now the line has shifted again. Is digital audio really just ones and zeros? We don't believe it, and once you've had a chance to hear the Forest USB, you won't believe it either.

Solid conductors eliminate distortion caused by interaction between the strands and reduce jitter. Solid silver-plated conductors are ideal for high-frequency applications such as USB audio. These high-frequency signals remain almost entirely on the surface of the conductor during transmission. Since this is made of high-purity silver, the reproduction is very close to that of a solid silver cable, while the price is closer to that of a copper cable. This is a surprisingly cost-effective way to produce very high-quality USB cables.

Any solid material adjacent to a conductor becomes part of an incomplete electrical network. Wire insulation and circuit board material absorb energy (losses). Some of this energy is stored and then dissipated as distortion. Solid, high-density polyethylene insulation ensures the critical geometry of the signal pairs and minimizes the phase distortions otherwise caused by the insulation.

Precision gold-plated connectors have been attached using the best solder available. Through the selection of flux and the know-how in metallurgy, AQ solder has been optimized for making low-distortion connections. The audible difference between different solders is the result of the connection quality. AQ solder does not have a high silver content, because the more silver there is in the solder, the more difficult it is to make a good connection.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) was created by a group of companies including Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft (to name a few) to provide the personal computing world with a truly universal standard connecting devices such as hard drives, printers, cameras and, more importantly for us, audio components. Protocols for the pristine transmission of audio over USB are built into the original specifications. Great care and attention to detail has been invested in this, with the result that a computer connected to a USB-enabled digital-to-analog converter can outperform the best compact disc players currently available. AudioQuest is dedicated to providing products that celebrate USB's ability to enable state-of-the-art playback.