SOLID PERFECT-SURFACE COPPER+/PERFECT-SURFACE COPPER (PSC+/PSC) CONDUCTORS
Rocket 44 uses a carefully finessed combination of extremely high-purity Perfect-Surface Copper+ and Perfect-Surface Copper. The astonishingly smooth and pure PSC further eliminates harshness and greatly increases clarity. Rocket 44’s conductor mix is dominated by PSC+.

CARBON-BASED NOISE-DISSIPATION and CROSS-TALK-DISSIPATION SYSTEMS (INSULATION)
The four negative conductors in Rocket 44 are insulated with partially conductive Carbon-Loaded Polyethylene. This remarkable material damps radio-frequency garbage from being fed back into the amplifier. The sonic benefit is exactly the same reduction in “hash” and better dimensionality that comes whenever RF garbage is reduced in an audio circuit. Rocket 44 uses Nitrogen-Injected Foamed-Polyethylene Insulation on its positive conductors because air absorbs next to no energy, and Polyethylene is low-loss with a benign distortion profile. Thanks to all the air in Foamed-Polyethylene Insulation, it causes much less of the “out-of-focus” effect common to other materials.

DOUBLE STAR-QUAD GEOMETRY
The relationship between conductors defines a cable’s most basic electrical values (capacitance and inductance). However, even when those variables are kept in a reasonable balance, the relationship between conductors can be varied in ways that greatly affect the sound. The Double Star-Quad construction of Rocket 44 allows for significantly better dynamic contrast and information intelligibility than if the same conductors were run in parallel.

SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNOLOGY (SST)
Any single size or shape of conductor has a specific distortion profile. Even though radially symmetrical conductors (solid or tubular) have the fewest discontinuities, any conductor of a particular size does have a sonic signature. SST is a method for significantly reducing the awareness of these character flaws by using a precise combination of different sized conductors. The different SST-determined conductor sizes used in Rocket 44 allow an exceptionally clear, clean and dynamic sound.

BIWIRING
Rocket 44 is an exceptional Single-BiWire cable. When the halves are separated at the speaker end, the Double Star-Quad Geometry turns Rocket 44 into a true Double-BiWire set thanks to the magnetic autonomy of each Quad-conductor section. On its own, one Star-Quad conductor group would be a little lightweight in performance as it is biased towards treble finesse. The other Star-Quad conductor group is biased toward the bass; it’s more forceful and lacking ultimate resolution. Together they form a completely optimized full-range design. When separated, the Double Star-Quad design allows Rocket 44 to be a maximum-performance Double BiWire in a single cable.

TERMINATIONS
AudioQuest offers a wide range of high-quality connectors that allow Rocket 44 to be securely attached to any type of equipment. Quality is in the low-distortion sound, not necessarily in the eye-candy effect. AQ ends are either dull looking gold or silver because these metals are plated directly over the connector. There is no shiny and harsh sounding nickel layer underneath. AQ PK-spade lugs are soft because better metal is soft, and facilitates a higher quality connection. For pieces requiring a banana plug or BFA connector the AQ PK-BFA/Banana provides unprecedented performance over conventional brass versions.