I have already introduced you to the ThunderBird from the Mythical Creatures series and revealed that the two other associated Mythical Creatures are also frolicking in the listening room. I already covered these cables' remarkable technologies. Therefore, the report about the FireBird should be an easy-going affair. Well, not really.

When dealing with the USB, Firewire, and Ethernet cables, it had turned out that it is entirely harmless to deal with cables of different quality classes within the Audioquest range: Analogous to the price, you get not only increasingly valuable materials, but also better sonic results. So it's no wonder that I spontaneously agreed when Robert Hay, Audioquest's marketing director for Europe, suggested I take a look at the Mythical Creatures trio. Since Garth Powell's power conditioners and cables with their ZERO and ground noise dissipation technology still excite me today – and especially the power-correction circuitry, which is hugely beneficial to dynamics – I was naturally curious to see what the transfer of some of his developments to the realm of loudspeaker cables would do.

I readily admit that it tempted me to have to deal with the cables' technology in detail once and still be able to listen to Audioquest's three best cable models. Of the FireBirds, I did not order a bi-wiring combination with only one pair of connecting cables on the amplifier side, but rather one BASS and one ZERO cable each. The idea was that this would be an easy way to find out if it might make more sense to choose a bi-wiring solution of the Thunderbird or a ZERO of the FireBird series located above it. Since Robert Hay also offered to send along a ZERO of the top cable, the Dragon, in addition to the bi-wiring combination, a comparison of FireBird bi-wiring to Dragon ZERO also seemed like a good idea to me. That's what you get for not studying price lists in advance. I had suspected that a higher quality Zero would be in about the same price region as the bi-wiring model of the cable directly below it. But far from it: If the pair of three-meter bi-wiring cable at the ThunderBird is just under 10,000 euros, a FireBird Zero is already in the price list with almost double. And if I reveal the price of a Dragon – 34,000 euros for the Zero, 25,900 euros for the BASS – I might again spark a discussion about whether a cable of this caliber can be useful in the environment of my chain: It isn't really. The fact that I would need at most the two-meter variant, which is 18,700 euros less in the price list, does not change anything. But if you ask whether it appeals to me to hear such valuables in my chain, I must honestly confess: yes!

But let's go back to the FireBird: The full-range ZERO cable differs from the cheaper ThunderBird not only in the material: Half of the conductors here are made of silver, which Audioquest calls "Solid Perfect-Surface Silver," the other half is made of "Perfect-Surface Copper+," i.e., copper with a finely polished surface. Also, the FireBird has "Sonic Signature Conductors," a mix of conductors of different materials and cross-sections, which should ensure the desired tonal structure. The ThunderBird's four copper conductors, on the other hand, consist of four copper conductors of the same cross-section. A combination of different cross-sections and materials – Perfect-Surface Copper and Long Grain Copper – on the other hand, already existed in the ThunderBird BASS cable. In the FireBird-Bass, the plus cable has three copper conductors and one silver conductor. The minus cable has precisely twice as many conductors, but one half is only connected to the amplifier's connections. It has no part in the transmission of the music signal but serves only for noise dissipation. More detailed explanations and some diagrams can be found in Garth Powell's white paper.

If you take a look at the components of the test systems in my listening and living room from time to time, you might have noticed that an Einstein The Poweramp provides power in both. Both sound the same but are equipped with different speaker terminals. The power amp in the listening room has WBT terminals that are insulated all around, while the one in the living room has copper threaded rods with red and black plastic knobs. Here also two spades find a place at the same time. Therefore I exchange the Einsteins so that FireBird ZERO and BASS can be connected in the listening room. As already mentioned in the article about the ThunderBird, the high-quality cables are assembled by hand in the premises of Audioquest Europe in Roosendaal and, according to Garth Powell, burned in for precisely 37 hours. The FireBirds then have at least twice that amount of time again to get used to my Goebel Epoque Aeon Fine. During the burn-in time I played Out of the Afternoon by the Roy Haynes Quartet, among others: In addition to the drummer, it features Tommy Flanagan on piano, Henry Grimes on bass, and Roland Kirk on various saxophones. The stereo recording from 1962 has been re-released as a "20bit K2 HQ CD". It shines with a very realistic spatial reproduction – especially around the drums – and a piano that is very low in coloration, considering the age of the recording. In terms of music, you'll find good mainstream with some songs from the Great American Songbook and some Roy Haynes originals. With his partly simultaneously played saxophones, Roland Kirk makes sure that it never gets dull: musically and sonically, this is a great (re)discovery!

Wholly different yet equally fascinating is the album Fis by Austrian bassist Peter N. Gruber, on which accordionist Otto Lechner accompanies him. On some of the songs with decidedly witty titles the duo is joined by a guest or two. The music is refreshingly unconventional and full of surprises, but joyous at all times. The sound is in no way less impressive: The instruments – recorded on analog tape, by the way – stand vividly in a credible space, and the dynamics leave nothing to be desired. Exciting! By the way, the bassist's highly recommended and more strongly to electronics turned album bzw is available on Qobuz.

As much as the albums selected during the burn-in time of the FireBird – and especially the two mentioned – impressed me with their energy in the bass, the never cold timbres, and the realistic impression of space: Without comparison or at least listening to familiar and some far too often heard songs, I am not able to say how big a part the FireBirds play in this enjoyment. After another round with my test classics, I am quite sure that I have not heard them with this little touch of warmth, not with such a wealth of delicate information and mostly not with an equally impressive spatial representation ever before. The FireBirds help the system to a little more pressure in the low-frequency range, but the bass does not seem slower or less defined than before due to the added saturation. On the contrary: It is incredibly precise and fast – simply fantastic! 

I do not need to revise my previous assessment after comparing the FireBird with the Göbel Lacorde Statement, which is more than 40% cheaper: The Audioquest bi-wiring cable has a slightly warm balance. The low-frequency foundation seems even a bit more substantial, and the high-frequency range radiates more golden than silvery. Also, the FireBird's sound stage seems a touch deeper, and the instrument groups are minimally more tangible. Whether these subtleties justify the price difference, everyone will have to decide for themselves when they listen with the cables in their own set up. However, I now have a new favorite.

This is true even when it's not about Shostakovich and a symphony orchestra: Charles Brakeen's saxophone in "Folk Song for Rosie" on Le Voyage by the Paul Motian Trio sounds minimally less bright with the FireBird, but without losing dynamics and bite. The voluminous double bass of J.F. Jenny-Clark maintains its articulation and precision via the Audioquest. Paul Motian, as usual, elicits a wealth of timbres from the brass of his drum set. If the Ground-Noise Dissipation system in the BASS cable is supposed to relieve power amplifiers, as explained in the white paper, this should also work with the Göbel Lacorde in the mid-high range. No sooner said than done: If the Audioquest FireBird BASS supports the Lacorde Statement and makes the jumpers superfluous, this benefits the low-frequency reproduction and the spatial representation. However, the high-frequency range becomes a bit rougher as a result. Probably, in the end, what was designed together plays best together.