How do you review something that is so good it made your old setup sound broken? Well, here we are, and that's exactly the conundrum I face. OK, first some background info.
System
Room DescriptionFully finished garden level basement
Acoustic TreatmentDIY acoustic panels; Custom absorbent Roman Shade window coverings
Digital SourceRoon ROCK Server -> Hapa Audio Silver Aero USB -> iFi iDSD Pro
Other SourcesSony 4k Blu Ray Player; Roku Ultra streaming device
PreampiCon 4 zen (autoformer preamp)
Power AmpFirst Watt BA3; First Watt Aleph J; Dennis Had Inspire MB14 SEP Monoblocks; Almarro A318B SET; TAL Korneff Type 45 SET; Elekit TU 8233 2a3/300b SET; Sun Valley 211/845 SET (alternate depending on my mood)
SpeakersGR Research NX-Oticas
Subwoofers6 x 12" Rythmik Audio OB Servo subwoofers
Speaker CableNemak hand polished silver
InterconnectsHapa Audio Quiescence Silver
Power CablesDIY GR Research
Power Conditioners2 x PS Audio P5 power regenerators (one for digital gear, one for analog gear); 3 x Bybee Power Conditioners
Aero Copper Coax/BNC ReviewI already own a previous version of the Aero Copper Coax/BNC cable. It's a great sounding cable, it easily beat out my prior reference BNC/Coax cable which was from Bolder Cables. And the Bolder Cables was no slouch, having itself beaten out other designs like those from DH Labs and a bunch of others (Kimber, AudioQuest, Cardas, etc..). With the original Aero copper I felt my system was already at reference level. The only little niggle I had about the sound was that I felt it was (very slightly) too soft and a little dark. To address that, I'd been planning to move in my First Watt Aleph J to replace the First Watt Burning Amp 3 I have in there currently.
I put in the brand new Aero Copper Coax (a fairly major redesign, from what Jason said). Honestly I didn't expect much to change because things were already so good. Oh man, I was so, so wrong. With the new Aero Copper, everything just lit up. All softness and bits of darkness just vanished and in it's place was a massive soundstage and much more percussive sound, and even better tonality. What's crazy is normally when I try out something new in my system, its EITHER resolution OR tonality that improves. But never both at the same time. This was incredible. An insane jump in performance.
Aero Silver Coax/BNC ReviewOK, so the copper was a game changer, what about the silver? I mean, isn't silver always bright and thin compared to what copper does? Not this time. In fact, if anything the silver has EVEN BETTER tonality than the copper. And certainly more resolution, better microdynamics and all the things that really let a musical performance breathe and come to life. Soundstage is just gargantuan, even bigger than the copper Aero. But not just that, the definition of the instruments within that soundstage was notably better. And the separation of the instruments was god tier.
A Musical ExampleI used a bunch of different tracks to test these cables out, but the one I want to focus on here is Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever. I like this track because it's got all kinds of dynamic swings and shadings, real electric guitars, a real drum set and of course her incredible voice.
Original Copper Aero - Good center image, but the soundstage tends to clump in the middle, 30 degrees from center and 60 degrees from center. Tonality is good but a bit muted and everything sounds pleasant but misses out on some of the emotional aggression this song possesses.
New Copper Aero - Still a good center image but the rest of the soundstage has massively expanded, going way oustide and way behind the speakers now. No more clumping at 30 or 60 degrees. The drum set sounds much more like an actual person sitting there playing. And the guitars are just HUGE and MEAN sounding now. That's so cool!!!
New Silver Aero - Take everything about the Copper version and turn it up to 11 for the Silver version. Soundstage is even more massive, including now being very TALL. Just fills my entire room top to bottom and side to side now. Tonality not just 'better', but rather you can tell micro-tonal differences that were just smeared together before. I'm specifically thinking of the primal screams she was putting in over on the far left at the end of the song. It could be heard with the other cables, but the overwhelming guitars tended to swallow it up. With the Silver Aero, not only can you hear it clearly but you can hear that its a wail of PAIN. Just.... fucking awesome.
ConclusionI think you might be able to tell that I like these cables a lot.
