Hi All,
I am the Happy Recipient of these 3 Cables. A little background first.
I auditioned the first Aero USB cable in February of 2022. I put it up against as Sablon 2020 USB; which I owned and later on added a Sablon EVO USB Cable, which a friend owned and we listened together to all 3 cables. Prio to adding the EVO I had been listening to the Aero cable vs the Sablon 2020 for about a week or so. It was clearly that the Hapa was a special cable. Much more refined and musical than the Sablon 2020. When my friend came over with the EVO we kept things simple. At the time my system consisted of a Bryston BP26 Preamp, Bryston 4B cubed amp, Bryston BDA-3 DAC and my front end was and still is a Sonore Signature Rendu SE Optical being fed from a Sonore Optical Module Deluxe and a Custom Built Music Server. My Speakers are Totem Acoustic Mani 2 Signatures.
Like I said we kept things simple; my go to demo CD is Larry Carlton’s “Alone / But Never Alone”, we used Tracks 1 & 5, Track 1 is “Smiles and Smiles to Go”, which contains a wonderful continuous flowing Bass Line along with an Acoustic Guitar. The second track is called High Steppin’, lots of percussive things happening, probably my favorite track on this album. The third track we chose id the Opening track to Chuck Mangione’s “Children of Sanchez”, very dynamic featuring Horn’s and a male vocal. Comparing the Aero to the 2020 we both agreed the Aero was the better of the two. Add the Sablon EVO to the mix; that changed everything. When we listened to the Chuck Mangione track the best way to describe the Aero would be shoutee. Jason had sent me a 2.0M cable; we thought maybe I needed a shorter cable. In the end I ended up purchasing the EVO and returned the Aero to Jason.
Fast forward a year later; after many changes to my system; I reach out to Jason again and ask him if I could demo the new Aero Ag USB and a couple of Aero Ag BNC Cables. I have been a fan of Silver cables for many years, my Power cables are Audio Magic and my XLR Cables were Audio Magic and Silversmith Audio. Both based on silver conductors. He obliged; and so my latest Hapa journey began.
My system is very different from the previous one as well; Bricasti M12 Controller and M25 Amp, a new server build, 2 Custom built Linear Power Supplies. The server is built off the Taiko DIY Chassis, ended up being quite a challenge due to QC issues and mistakes on my end as well. This is the end result…..
The reason for the BNC Cables was the pending use of a AfterDark 10M Master Clock, it has 3 outputs, the plan was one to a Uptone Audio EtherRegen, one to a Sotm Motherboard / Sotm SCLK-EX combo and a third to a AfterDark Network Card which I initially did not have. My Network card when I was doing all of this was a JCAT NET CARD-XE.
Jason sent me a Aero Ag USB and 2 Aero AG BNC Cables. While waiting on the AfterDark Clock I wasted no time, in with the Aero Ag USB and out went the Sablon EVO. All I could say was Holy Moly; this was a complete 360 degree about face. I used the same 3 tracks and it was an entirely different experience. The amount of detail retrieval and the musicality of this cable was outstanding right from the get go.
I did a quick swap just to be sure, and then back to the Aero. I listened for at least a week, letting the system play 24/7 to assist with the break in, I had no desire to go back to the EVO. I obviously had to and I did, and allowed that to settle in again and listened to that for a period of time again. The EVO is no slouch and very popular but it was boring compared to the Aero Ag. At a significant upcharge was the Hapa Aero Ag worth it? To my ears absolutely. I was hearing things I had not noticed in tracks that I had been listening to for years.
On to the BNC Cables…..I originally had a single output AfterDark Clock tied to my EtherRegen Network Switch along with a AfterDark BNC Cable, somewhat entry level at the time I upgraded that to their EVA version, the affect of a clock can take things to a new level in terms of Live Sound. Not here to debate that, this is about Jason and Hapa….
With the additional changes to my system my needs changed and I asked AfterDark to build me a custom clock with 3 outputs.
No plans for the 3rd output yet; the clock arrived and the listening began.
The first test was to reset the EtherRegen to its internal clock and put the first Aero Ag BNC on the Sotm SCLK-EX. Again using the same 3 tracks, the first thing I noticed was a much lower noise floor, obviously this is a result of having the clock but no doubt the cable as
well. I also noticed a much larger soundstage and much more precision overall. Next I added the second cable to the EtherRegen, more improvement, much closer to a Live presentation. After deciding I wanted to put the 3rd output of the clock to good use I decided to order the AfterDark NIC. In terms of maybe trying to save some money as I have been out of control, I asked Jason if I could try the Aero Copper BNC, lucky for me he had one available to send to me. Once it arrived I quickly swapped out the cable on the SOTM Clock Board. Well so much for saving any money, there was no comparison between the two. The copper cable is now residing on the AfterDark NIC while I wait for a third silver cable. I am keeping the AfterDark NIC by the way. Again things are that much closer to a Live performance. My system has never sounded more musical and life like.
You can see the 3 BNC Cables here.
I highly recommend trying out the Hapa Cables. In fact this thread gives you the perfect opportunity……..
Enjoy the Music! I know I am…..Thanks to Jason and Hapa Audio!
Cheers,
Mike
