You guys are going to hate me by the end of this review - but more about that later.
I received a complete Hapa cable package as part of the ongoing tour:
Torsion 15 gauge UPOCC Nano-polished Silver with WBT pure silver angled banana plugs speaker cable(left)
Torsion 14 gauge UPOCC hand polished Copper with Furutech FT-211 low mass spades speaker cable (right)
Also included in the tour were the Haiku Aerogel RCA and AerØ Ag Aerogel USB cables I reviewed in Sept. 2022, which allowing me to hear a full loom of Jason's top-of-the-line cables.
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=183297.msg1924471#msg1924471
My review process was a little different this time, all PCM was banished. The Hapa cables deserve the best source possible and PCM can get nasty, raspy, piercing and gritty. Only DSD was used, either pure DSD256 downloads, DSD64 (SACD rips) upsampled to DSD256 and PCM recordings upsampled to DSD256 using HQPlayer. Digital noise is then filtered out using the simple analog filters in the HoloAudio May KTE DAC.
HQPlayer uses state-of-the-art algorithms with no short cuts in regards to calculations or horsepower needed. HQPlayer's developer Jussi Laako wrote that if a CD or DAC manufacturer wanted to incorporate his upsampling software the unit "would need Xilinx's biggest Virtex FPGA's."
My playlist included the new Caroline Shaw "The Wheel" album (DSD256 download) recorded in October 2021 at Auditorium du Conservatoire Darius Milhaud, d’Aix-en-Provence. The sound is alive and spacious.
The Wheel was Stereophile's February Recording of the Month, Jason Victor Serinus writes: "It's also one of the finest recordings I've encountered; engineer/producer Olivier Rosset's recording is on par with Jim Anderson and Ulrike Schwarz's recent efforts for Patricia Barber and Jane Ira Bloom and Morten Lindberg's continuing triumphs on his 2L label [also included in my playlist]. The Wheel's astoundingly wide dynamic range rivals that of Translations, John Atkinson and Doug Tourtelot's superb recording of the Portland State Chamber Choir. For air, tonal variety, depth, texture, and visceral/emotional impact, The Wheel is one of the finest chamber recordings I've encountered."
I agree completely. The Nano-polished Silver speaker cables put the listener in the first row. Any volume is perfect, the recording never gets too loud, the sound is clear and grain free. "Boris Kerner," for cello + flower pots was my go-to cut for tone and dynamics and really emphasized the difference between the Torsion Silver and Copper cables.
Torsion UPOCC Nano-polished Silver has zero downside, the polishing removes all the negative attributes usually associated with silver wire, a revelation would be an understatement. The synergy with the Haiku RCA and AerØ Ag USB is perfect. In my 2022 review I said the Haiku and AerØ did not work well with the Kimber 8VS speaker cable, all this changed when the Torsion Silver was plugged in. This cable will reproduce absolutely every musical nuance without a hint of brightness. But beware, the Silver will also flawlessly reproduce a less than stellar DACs limitations, phono cartridge misalignment or system noise.
The Torsion hand polished Copper is smooth as Frank Sinatra. This is a cable you can sink into and be enveloped by sensuous sounds. The flower pots were not quite as percussive or with the same extended ting, the jump factor was not as high but the sound was just a satisfying, similar to moving from the 1st row to the 15th. The Copper is warmer too, not that the Silver is cool, the Copper has a natural warmth, you know it when you hear it like when you find that perfect tube. The soundstage and bass of both cables is excellent, wide and deep spaces with a balanced tonality.
The Torsion Copper with spades is a big cable and not as flexible as Kimber Kable. Amps will need 6" below the binding posts to allow the cables to bend.
The Salk HT2-TL speaker's sensitivity is 88dB with strong bass down to 34Hz. The Seas Excel W18 magnesium cone drives need current to maximize their performance. I discovered a single run of Kimber 4VS attenuated the bass. The 4VS has an aggregate wire size of 13 AWG, a double run has an aggregate wire size of 10 AWG, which is the sweet spot for the HT2-TLs. My test recording was "Temple Caves" from Mickey Hart's Planet Drum. A single run of Kimber has pretty good bass, a double run made the single pane glazed windows in my old rental rattle. If your speakers don't have strong output below 40 Hz or you use a sub with a high level connection (amp) then the wire gauge may not make any difference and 14 AWG or 15 AWG may work just fine.
You guys can see where this is heading...combining the 15 gauge Silver and 14 gauge Copper equals 12 gauge, the Salk's are going to love this. Usually combining two different types of cables is a real bad idea, Kimber 4VS + Monster Cable was a disaster. But the two Hapa speaker cables are close enough in design, one pair has spades, the other has bananas so hooking up to an amp is easy. I kept the Cardas copper speaker jumpers because the Seas drivers can borrow unused current from the tweeter posts. I actually tried bi-wiring without the jumpers and the boost in performance was not as dramatic. Keep the jumpers! As a bonus, keeping the jumpers on makes this type of hookup extremely dangerous and possibly disastrous to your amp if polarity on one pair of wires is reversed. I triple checked everything with a flashlight before turning on the amp.
The Hapa Torsion speaker wires are different colors but kind of look the same in low light, it would be so easy to make a mistake. Jason really should use red and black heat shrink at the ends.
Bi-wiring with the Sliver and Copper (and using the EVS Ground Enhancers) is an example where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts, it's like 1+1+1=10. The Silvers get a little warmth, the Copper has more clarity and instead of the soundstage expanding the entire front wall and speakers disappear. No grain, no added sharpness, the performers magically appear 10' in front of you, an OMG moment for sure. Part of this illusion is provided by the increase in low level information. The sound of the recording space is important to creating a live performance, most of that sound is 20Hz - 40Hz and the Silver/Copper combo lets every single electron of low level info get to your speakers, the REL Gibraltar G2 sub also excels at low level information. The sound won't be as dramatic and deep without a fast sub included in a system.
But wait, there's more. The Silver/Copper combo low level resolution goes below the recording studio's noise floor. I couldn't find any info how the Caroline Shaw "The Wheel" album was recorded but it sure sounds like a Direct-to-DXD or one step away from the master tape, it is superbly quiet with high dynamics. When the last track ends just before the album stops the recording electronics can be heard. It could be the mike feed, the DXD processor background noise or master tape but it is there, faint but easily heard. This is as close as it gets to listening to a performance at a live recording session vs. listening to a recording.
The EVS Ground Enhancers fell off everyone's radar 12 years ago. I stuck them on my speakers in 2011, did a review and never removed them. The Hapa speaker cables gave me a reason to remove them. I wanted to review the Torsion cables au naturel without any enhancements. I then discovered that without the ground enhancers the sound was firmly anchored between the speakers, music sounded just like everybody else's stereo - boring. So I put the enhancers back on. Nice to know I wasn't delusional after all. I wrote a review in 2011:
"I have been listening to the EVS Ground Enhancers for a couple of weeks and am amazed at what they can do.
"... I didn't notice any break in period, the sound and presentation changed immediately and I have not noticed any change since. The enhancers made quite a few changes to the character of the sound.
"The most noticeable change is greater separation. Instruments and voices are more delineated in space. Music that seemed to be clumped between the speakers is now spread out: left, right, and center with individual musicians easier to pick out. With a wider sound stage there is also more depth, the area between the speakers opens up quite nicely. The Miles Gurtu album has a lot going on, the enhancers turn the album into an aural 3 ring circus.
"Some people have mentioned more bass or treble, I did not notice an increase at either end. Listening to music from an adjoining room the stereo sounds exactly the same as before."https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=87653.msg858201#msg858201EVS Website:
http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/EVS_Ground_Enhancers.htmlIt would be interesting to hear if open baffle speakers benefit as much from the EVS Ground Enhancers.
Hapa Audio cables enable everything on the recording to be heard, effortlessly. But you will have to bi-wire to realize the full potential of the Torsion. Trust me, it's worth it.
Well done Jason.
Wayne
