Hapa Aero USB cable thoughts

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mresseguie

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Re: Hapa Aero USB cable thoughts
« Reply #40 on: 14 Feb 2022, 03:32 am »
Hey guys,
I can’t tell you how much it warms my heart to hear all the positive feedback from everyone on what I’ve produced so far, especially on a gloomy day like today. I have been enjoying what I’m doing and the interaction with all of you is why I do it. I have a few interconnect options ready for prime time and yes, the big push for 2022 will be speaker cable options. Power cords might be later!

I have several digital and analog interconnect options coming up. One this week! Stay tuned!

[Just noticed this post]

 Speaker cables!?! Now that sounds very interesting. I look forward to reading about these.  :thumb:

Chris Adams

Re: Hapa Aero USB cable thoughts
« Reply #41 on: 15 Feb 2022, 07:25 pm »
Hapa Aero Review

Sorry for the delay getting this review posted. Thanks to Jason and Sebastien for my prolonged listening session!

Before I start let me say I think all components including cables are system, room, and listener dependent.

I’ve had this cable for some time now and enjoyed listening through it in my system. Right up front I’ll say this cable gets out of the way and provides excellent frequency response and an ease that makes forgetting it is there easy to do. The Aero is well built and beautiful to look at.

My system:

Router to Cat6 to
English Electric Ethernet switch to
Network Acoustics ENO Ethernet filter to
Innuos Zenith MK3 to
Network Acoustics USB cable to
Mojo Audio Mystique EVO B4B with upgrades to
McCormack LD-2 with SMc Audio Gold Special upgrade to
SMc Audio GT-21 with outboard SMc Audio Power Block.
Interconnects are DIY Helix using Neotech PC-OCC bare solid core copper in larger diameter Teflon tubes for positive and larger gauge Neotech PC-OCC in Teflon for negative With KLE RCAs.
Speaker cables are Neotech PC-OCC bare solid core copper in larger diameter Teflon tubes for positive and mil-spec wire for negative with Furutech Rhodium spades.
Power cords are built the same as speaker cable with various Oyaide connectors.
P.I. Audio Uberbuss for conditioning.
Speakers are Tekton Audio Ulfberht with DIY upgraded outboard crossovers.

Music I used for comparison:

Dirty Loops, “Hit Me”
Billie Eilish, “everything i wanted”
Donald Fagen, “Miss Marlene”
Dua Lipa, “Don’t Start Now”
Loreena McKennitt, “Caravanserai”
Donald Fagen, “Security Joan”
Sarah Jarosz, “Orange and Blue”
Steely Dan, “Gaslighting Abbie”



I had a chance to compare the Aero with some other cables. First was a Supra USB 2.0. No contest here. The Supra sells for about $50 and it shows against the Aero. I want to say that the Supra doesn’t suck and was my first USB purchase. While not up to the Aero standards, I was able to listen to it with no problems while trying other cables.

Second cable was an Audiocadabra Xtrimus Solid-Silver SuperQuiet. Still no contest but the Audiocadabra is a major bang for the buck. At $139 it did not embarrass itself. If I had a modest system and wanted a very good USB cable, the Audiocadabra would be my pick. Once you have major bucks tied up in a system, the Aero will show you what it can do.

Third cable was a Network Acoustics ENO USB. Now the competition gets tougher. This cable when I bought it was slightly north of $800. I had been listening to the ENO in my system for about six months and was very used to it. Wide frequency response, dynamic, spatial, smooth, and with an ease that made listening very comfortable. When I replaced it with the Aero I heard all the same qualities with subtle differences. I took me a while to sort out the differences between them. A quick A/B didn’t do the trick. The differences were small but in a revealing system over a period of time, they showed themselves and became important differences. The ENO cable was ever so slightly better at imaging, mainly in the midrange where vocals and instruments had a bit more distance front to back and side to side. When I say slightly, I had to listen for hours to catch on. On the other hand, the Aero was a little more coherent from top to bottom with tighter bass and silkier highs. I’m very sensitive to sibilance and the Aero was better. Bass had a bit more punch with the Aero and seemed to go a bit deeper. In terms of ease, the Aero pulled ahead I think because of its smoother coherence from top to bottom.

There you have it! The Aero is a tip top USB cable that should be on your short list.

Pez

Re: Hapa Aero USB cable thoughts
« Reply #42 on: 16 Feb 2022, 11:48 pm »
Chris,
You are very welcome!

I'm glad you enjoyed what you heard. I'm working on a little write up you might find interesting. It discusses some of the other tech behind Aero aside Aerogel dielectric. I hope to have it posted up soon.   :thumb:


dflee

Re: Hapa Aero USB cable thoughts
« Reply #43 on: 18 Aug 2022, 10:19 pm »
I'm a little late to the party but got here via the Ember tour.
That tour was quite the challenge due to all the different configuration options.
The Ember USB was quite the big surprise in that it helped my modest headphone system more than I would have thought.
Jason (pretty decent individual) and I talked. He suggested I try the Aero USB and thus began my journey into a total revision of the system.
I have an Acer laptop that I either use the cd player or go through Quobuz connected USB to a Mytek Liberty dac/headphone amp. I have the ZMF Auteur headphones with their 2K cable coupled to the noggin. This arrangement was alright but missing finesse and detail that I attributed to the source equipment. The Ember showed me that a different cable was most definitely in my future. It really smoothed the sound out and gave it quite a bit more desirable sound.
Enter Aero. Where Ember gave me a more relaxed and fuller sound, Aero said "hey Ember, hold my beer" and took that relaxed fuller sound and threw in the best detail I've ever heard in this setup. So without changing any piece other than adding Aero, my system was totally revised. Can't imagine how Aero would sound on a top grade system. I don't have the ability to use USB in my main system so Jason (pdi) told me he would put together an Aero coax I could use between my cd transport and dac. He sent me a coax, rca ended and one BNC along with the USB cable. This turned into the present Aero Digital tour going presently (more on that later).
Music used for the evaluation:
Buddy Guy- Blues Singer
Trevor Pinnock- Complete Mozart Symphonies
Mitsuko Uchida- Mozart Piano Concertos
Herbert von Karajan- Complete Beethoven Symphonies
Keb Mo- Keb Mo
David Grisman and Tony Rice- Tone Poems
Yes- Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales of Topographic Oceans
Stevie Ray Vaughan- The Sky is Crying (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab)
I haven't had that many USB cables to compare but I do know what I like.
After hearing what Aero USB did for my setup it became pretty much a no brainer.
Highly recommend anyone looking to try something different in a USB cable to have this one on your must try list.

Don