If not for the Hapa tour I would have more money in my bank account. I had the opportunity to try thr Aero Cu coax, bnc, and USB and Ember Usb. I could use only the coax cable in my system.
Equipment is PS Audio memory player transport, DSpeaker X4 DAC/pre, PS Audio M1200 amps, HHR Exotics TLS-1 speakers. I have been using a Morrow Audio Dig-4 cable, which replaced a PS Audio cable. For funsies I threw in a generic cheap cable. Short version is that sound quality improved from generic to PSA to Morrow to Hapa. I started with REM’s Pilgrimage from their Murmur album. I focused on a particular sound. With the generic cable I heard a repeated hf sound that seemed like a wierd artifact at first. As the cables improved the ting resolved into a xylophone. After that test I went on vacation for a week. Upon returning home I put on Bruce Cockburn’s Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaw. It has lots of steel string acoustic guitar and sounds great. Instead of trying to describe the sound I will say that it was simply easier to listen to the music through the Hapa Aero cable. I decided to listen to other music through the Hapa rather than continue comparisons for the evening. Pink Floyd’s Meddle sounded great.
The next day I tried Squeeze’s East Side Story. With this album the cableremoved a high frequency hash of which I hadn’t been aware. The sound again became more relaxing and involving. I decided not to use any of the other cables again. Staying analog until the new cable arrives.
After packing the cables and sending them on to the next victim I ordered a cable. Most I’ve ever spent on a cable.
So far, in my experience, the biggest differences that I have heard between cables have been digital interconnects. I have returned expensive speaker cables that did nothing. I use modestly priced interconnects because I haven’t heard big enough differences to justify the extra cost, until I tried the Hapa Aero Cu coax. The imrovement was substantial enough to justify the expense. Maybe other cables at or above its price would offer similar improvement but I don’t plan on trying to find out.
Quick visual review: