Coffee Coax: digital coaxial cable with 10% silver plating and 72 V DBS biasing
AudioQuest Coffee Coax is a coaxial cable for digital audio intended for systems where the link between source and converter deserves the same care as the components. It is the first coaxial model in the range to combine three elements: a solid conductor with a thick layer of silver, a carbon-based five-layer shield and the DBS system, which biases the insulation with a 72 V voltage.
Solid conductors with 10% silver
At the heart of the cable is a solid wire of Long-Grain Copper (LGC) coated with 10% silver. The single wire avoids the electrical and magnetic effects caused by contact between strands. The silver layer, heavier than on the lower models, works where the digital signal really flows: at the frequencies involved the current concentrates at the conductor's surface, and that is where the finer metal has the greatest effect on the result.
NDS shielding and the DBS system
The Noise-Dissipation System (NDS) stacks five layers, alternating metal with carbon-loaded synthetics. Radio-frequency noise is largely absorbed and reflected before it touches the layer connected to ground, so the ground reference of the components is not modulated by interference. The Dielectric-Bias System (DBS) acts on the insulation instead, which in electrical terms is a dielectric and can behave as a shunt filter: the 72 V bias lowers its noise and makes its behaviour linear, improving the dissipation of induced RF noise across a wide band.
Insulation, terminations and lengths
Hard-Cell Foam insulation is a rigid foam injected with nitrogen: the gas pockets do not store energy, and the stiffness keeps the geometry, and therefore the impedance, stable along the entire cable. The terminations are cold-welded, in pure Red Copper with Hanging-Silver plating applied straight onto the copper. Coffee Coax is sold as a single cable in 0.75 m, 1 m, 1.5 m, 2 m, 3 m and 5 m lengths.
Key features
- Solid LGC copper conductors with 10% silver plating
- Carbon-based, five-layer Noise-Dissipation System
- 72 V Dielectric-Bias System (DBS)
- Nitrogen-injected Hard-Cell Foam insulation
- Cold-welded terminations, Hanging-Silver on pure Red Copper
- Lengths: 0.75 m, 1 m, 1.5 m, 2 m, 3 m, 5 m
