Our philosophy

Let's be honest - audio cables are a divisive subject, and with good cause. Many believe that the construction of an audio cable is a simple process, based on the simplicity of its function. Some assume that because they can take some off-the-reel wire, a set of plugs and solder it all together, that professional audio cables can't possibly offer anything more. Well that much is true if we only seek a functioning cable. Then of course, there are some in our industry who claim that specifications are unnecessary and distracting. How convenient. This doesn't really enforce the idea of competency, especially when our wonderfully 'impartial' audio press seem to promote this as an acceptable stance. Imagine if car manufacturers stopped quoting BHP or MPG figures and asked their customers to 'trust' that their cars are 'really fast' or 'really economical'.... No wonder there's so much scepticism about specialist audio cables. Trust has been eroded over the last few decades by genuine snake oil. We started Dynamique in 2009 with very different aims:

VALUE - we build almost all of our own cables from scratch (rather than relying on ready-made off-the-reel cable), giving us far more control over the design process. Our entry-level Horizon 2 analogue interconnects for instance, incorporate PTFE Teflon insulation with high-purity silver-plated conductors and low metal-mass connectors, rather than cheaper, lower-performing materials used at the price like silicon or PVC dielectrics, low-grade copper conductors and poor-quality connectors. It does mean a more labour-intensive range of cables for us to build, but it's a good trade-off.

BALANCE - known for being neutral-sounding and tonally consistent, Dynamique cables can be inserted into any system without upsetting a carefully tuned system. Customers upgrading from one Dynamique cable to a higher model will hear more of what they like, i.e. detail, power, and clarity, rather than an engineered and ultimately false sound, i.e. a form of tone control.

TRANSPARENCY - clear technical specs are provided with all of our cables. Companies who refuse to divulge technical info cannot be taken seriously. This holds true outside the audio industry, and there should be no exception here.

QUALITY - our cables will withstand a lifetime of use - we don't believe in producing fragile or impractical cables, and believe they should be as discreet as possible. Padding out cables with unnecessary layers may give a more 'impressive' look and the impression of a larger conductor gauge, but all those extra layers just smear the sound, ruining detail and timing. We think garden hoses work best in the garden, not behind your audio system. Dynamique cables are sleek, flexible and easy to manage, whilst featuring substantial conductor gauges where required.

Conductors

SILVER - almost all of our cables feature pure silver or silver-plated copper conductors. The most conductive natural metal, we find it sounds superior to most bare copper formulations (OFC, OCC etc). Silver can sound thin and bright when poorly implemented (insubstantial conductor gauge and/or purity, poor-quality dielectrics, ineffective geometry and so on), but correctly designed, they offer unmatched levels of detail, dynamics, and musicality. All the wiring we use is extremely pure, and in some of our silver-plated copper ranges, each solid core features at least 100 microns of silver plating - far more than any competing products we know of. For both silver-plated copper and pure silver ranges, we employ two grades of conductor purity; standard high purity, and our finest grade that we dub 'super-purity'. Before construction of our air-dielectric cables, we chemically treat the conductors to ensure that the surface is devoid of any impurities.

SOLID-CORE OR STRANDED? - where possible, we generally prefer solid-core to stranded conductors. Technically superior as there is no interaction between strands, unevenness, hotspots or discontinuities, and sonically better as it results in a cleaner, more detailed presentation that is free of the graininess that stranded cables often suffer. Where we do use stranded conductors, we specify an exact conductor size and layout to optimise quality.

Dielectric

We specify Teflon insulation in its various forms, FEP for our extruded insulations, and PTFE for our air-dielectric systems. Our air-dielectric system provides an even lower dielectric constant (a measure of how much signal loss the insulation causes - the lower the better) through the use of oversized Teflon air-tubes, meaning that most of the conductor is actually suspended in air - the ideal electrical insulator. For our more advanced cables, a larger 'super air-spaced' insulation is used, allowing even more air to surround the conductors, and offering even greater levels of detail and refinement. Such an arrangement also reduces mechanical resonances as the conductor is more effectively 'decoupled' from the outer layers.

Whilst many alternatives exist (Polyethylene (PE), Kapton, Polypropylene (PP), Peek, Silicon and so forth), none offer the overall balance of detail, clarity and dynamics that a Teflon air-dielectric provides, and whilst many competitors specify 'exotic' insulations, we've yet to see even one justify why they should work well. Teflon is tried and tested; one of the highest performing, most reliable insulations in existence and well established dielectric in aerospace and military applications for this reason.

On several of our more affordable digital cables, we specify foamed Polyethylene - a lower-cost alternative that gives excellent results in impedance matched SP-DIF applications.

Geometry

We employ a variety of cable geometries to offer the most effective EM/RF noise reduction for each application - twisted pair, star-quad (a 'magnetically coaxial' design that rejects noise more effectively than twisted pair), up to our proprietry 'helical array' geometry which spaces and aligns the conductors, and provides additional mechanical damping.

Shielding

We're somewhat sceptical of using metallic shielding on analogue cabling as all of our trials resulted in reduced fidelity. This is due in part to the inadequacy of having to connect the shield to the return signal leg, which can introduce more problems than it solves, namely the inefficiency of draining noise without corrupting the delicate signal, and the increased capacitance of the shielding itself. Line-level signals are relatively immune to interference, and we prefer to rely on the consistency of our cable geometries as a natural shield against any EM/RF noise, along with the addition of our resonance filter technology. Whilst noise is a more likely issue over longer studio lengths (e.g. 20-30m or more), over the shorter distances used in domestic set-ups it becomes less necessary, and the increased capacitance from the shield itself can have a negative effect on the sound. On our digital cables where construction differs, we employ (where applicable) both metallic and non-metallic forms of shielding.

Resonance damper/filters

Our Resonance dampers combat microphonic distortions in a cable system through grounding these distortions from the cable itself to the damper. One approach is to add cotton fillers between the conductors to dampen them, but we're against unnecessary dielectric layers in our cables, and sought a less invasive method that would not compromise other areas. Our Resonace filters are more complex designs that are CNC-milled from solid aluminium billet, mechanically polished and anodised, and then seccured to the cable with an elastomeric adhesive that absorbs resonances and vibrations, resulting in a lowered noise floor, improved resolution and a crisper, cleaner sound. Their main raison d'etre though is the use of our proprietary EMI-absorbing filler compounds sealed within the unit itself. We use a blend of non-ferrous materials to effectively absorb EMI as it passes through the cable. Such an approach is entirely passive and does not alter the basic electrical parameters of the cable like most filters do (and hence no dynamic restrictions or trade-offs as with most filtration designs), but effectively absorbs RF noise, resulting in a cleaner, more stable sound with a greater sense of air.

Terminations

We're very proud to use in-house designed connectors for most of our cable ranges - power, speaker, RCA interconnect, USB, headphone and others, and we will continue to develop our own custom solutions rather than rely on lesser, off-the shelf designs as most of our competition do. Occasionally we see excellent quality third-party designs already available and fit those to our ranges to maximise sound quality. These include brands such as WBT, Neutrik & Wattgate.

Directionality

Most of our cables are non-directional when supplied, so we do not provide any markings for direction. You may find however that after a period of break-in and extended usage that the cables have become directional, and that switching direction slightly impacts the sound. To be honest, the difference is usually only small, and we'd simply recommend returning the cable to its original direction. If however the cable is used in such instances with the direction reversed, the sound will, over a short time return to its optimum level, as the process of becoming directional is not permanent. Some of our designs are 'pseudo-balanced' i.e. one of the shield layers is terminated at one end only - these are marked on the RCA connector with heatshrink; this marked end must be connected to the 'source' end to work best.

Burn-in

An ongoing subject of contention, our experience leads us to believe this is real and as our cables are all silver-based designs, we have found it results in a longer burn-in period than for plain copper cables. Brand new cables can often sound slightly unbalanced, emphasising a certain frequency range, constricting the soundstage... generally less clarity and detail. As the cable starts to burn-in, these issues disappear. As a rule of thumb, we advise that interconnects will be initially burned-in after around 50-75 hours, (speaker and power cables in around 100-150 hours), and well burned-in after around 100-150 hours of solid use (speaker and power cables around 200-250 hours). Further use will completely burn-in the cables and let them work optimally.

Distributed Gauge

No one conductor size is ideal for the full frequency spectrum; larger gauge conductors tend to offer stronger bass response, but can be rolled-off in the treble. The opposite is true for smaller conductors. Resonances are also more prevalent when multiple conductors of the same gauge are used. By specifying and carefully optimising varying gauges of wire, the weaknesses inherent to a particular wire gauge are reduced. The result is a superbly consistent tonal balance. We incorporate this technology on our mid to upper level interconnect and speaker cable ranges.

Multicore

Our latest innovation, multicore conductors are a hybrid of solid-core and multistranded conductors types and offer the best of both worlds. Used in conjunction with the solid-core conductor geometries we use and prefer, the tonal balance can be optimised even further. This technology is particularly effective in speaker and power cables, and feature prominently in our higher level models.