| There¡¯s no denying QED¡¯s leading role in the British cable market over the past 40 years – a whole nation of audiophiles grew up with QED 79-strand speaker cable in the eighties, likely between a NAD amp and a pair of KEF Codas! To commemorate its anniversary, it has a new range of interconnects. Between you and me dear reader, word is that they were developed after HFC¡¯s epic 12-way interconnect Group Test that ran in issue 362 back in 2012; QED took a good listen to the winners and came back with this.
The Signature 40 is a beautifully packaged product, and immaculately turned out with its translucent sheathing showing the braided electromagnetic shielding around it. QED¡¯s beautiful Rhodium-plated Analoc plugs look like jewellery, and are said to provide a high-purity copper connection without the use of bulky brass plug bodies.
They¡¯re soldered to silver-plated 99.999% oxygen-free copper conductors in a Teflon dielectric, in an asymmetric twisted pair configuration and a Zn/ Mn ferrite jacket is used. Finally the whole cable is cryogenically treated.
| | | Dressed to impress
Here¡¯s a genuinely impressive sounding audio interconnect. Although not completely translucent, the new Signature is open and detailed like few others at the price, with a light, spry sort of sound that captures the energy of the music in its full glory. Tonally, it¡¯s very close to neutral, but comes across as just a little ¡®well lit¡¯ in absolute terms, pepping up otherwise lacklustre recordings or systems by a fraction.
It has strong and taut bass,happily lacking in overhang or smear, and a crisp and incisive midband that lets the elements in the mix hang in their respective positions in space with ease. It doesn¡¯t crowd out things, offering a nice spacious soundstage where there¡¯s room for the music to breathe. Treble is sweet and airy, too. Overall then, this new cable is an excellent performer at the price, right across the board. |