March 6, 2016

  • AudioQuest Forest RJ/E, Part 2

    On September 20, 1992, I returned to UC Santa Cruz for my senior year. Because I was living in the Crown-Merrill apartments (as opposed to the dorms), I actually did have belongings and possessions. After unloading all of my stuff, my parents drove off. During my first three years, seeing my parents drive off was traumatic. But this was my last year, and I was finally getting acclimated to Santa Cruz. So when I saw my parents drive off this time around, my heart did not sink.

    One of the first things I did, before unpacking, was set up the Sony/Adcom/Pinnacle stereo system. You gotta have music. With the AudioQuest Topaz between the Adcom GTP-400 tuner/preamp and GFA-535 power amp, we braved Santa Cruz's spotty FM reception, and scanned the airwaves. When we tuned to some adult contemporary radio station, on came Patty Smyth's duet with Don Henley, "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough." It stopped the four of us dead in our tracks. Since my housemates were unloading from their cars, the front door was open. It was a warm early afternoon, and if you looked out the front door (we were on the 3rd and top floor), you could see sunlight peeking through the forest. With the song still playing, I helped my roommate clean and decide where to place things. There was something magical, about the way the black Adcom GTP-400 looked, with its red lights and pale blue display. Without saying a word, I knew that, in contrast to my prior 3 years, this was going to be a good year.

    When I moved in, I started by using Monster Cable IL-400, between the Sony CDP-520ESII and Adcom GTP-400. But the AQ Topaz was so much cleaner-sounding than the IL-400. Since I knew that this school year was going to be awesome, I understood that, unlike the previous three years, I would stick around on weekends, not go home to San Francisco. So the next weekend, while going home to fetch belongings, I exchanged the old IL-400 for my 0.5-meter, but expensive, AQ Lapis. Yes, having such a pricey audio product on campus made me nervous (I was always fearful that these products would get marred, broken, or stolen). But since I was going to be around, and wanted to maximize enjoyment, I threw caution to the wind, and brought that expensive Lapis interconnect to Santa Cruz.
    IMG_2895
    I no longer have those early-90s AQ interconnects and speaker cables [I sold them, or gave them to relatives], but I do have this AQ Forest RJ/E Ethernet cable. Like any phone or computer cable, the Forest RJ/E is flexible.
    IMG_2906
    A-ha! So "RJ/E" stands for RJ45/Ethernet. Yes, like the Topaz, Lapis, and F-14 in my college system, the Forest RJ/E is directional. Geez, the writing and font look the same as they did on my early-90s AQ cables.

    The UCSC forest was dominated by coastal redwoods. But if you looked carefully, you would have seen that they grew in circular clusters. That meant that the original tree died or was felled, and from the root system sprung new shoots. Nevertheless, the campus redwoods were tall, so they weren't young.
    IMG_2913
    The AQ Forest RJ/E is a black-colored cable, with evergreen stripes. This color pattern does not remind me of UCSC foliage. The trunks and branches were various shades of brown and gray, not black. Maybe AQ were thinking about the Black Forest. But nowadays, "Black Forest" is associated with gummy bear candies.