Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!

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Pez

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #60 on: 29 Mar 2021, 04:13 pm »
Rock on jackmonster! I'm glad you enjoyed your time with the cables. When the tour started I hadn't decided to include the Absolute Harmony connectors as an option. You have Mr Wig to thank for that.  :thumb:

When the tour is done stay tuned, I've got quite a few exciting things coming.

jriggy

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #61 on: 29 Mar 2021, 10:14 pm »
First off, I’d like to thank Pez for doing a demo-tour for his new Breathe C interconnects. It was perfectly timely for me, as I had just started to do a little research into ICs again, after a handful of years of owning some ‘basic’ cables.

Over the past 10 years, I’ve owned ICs at the $750 price point, $1500 pp and even the $2000 pp. I always ended up thinking these various brands either accentuated an aspect of the frequency spectrum or had a noticeable coloration of some sort. After moving house and redoing the system and room a few years ago and through to now, I decided to go simple and have been using Duelund wire ICs w/ either Duelund or KLE Absolute Harmony connectors, as well as another brand’s entry level offering with a simple but good construction and in-house connectors. These would be in the affordable category and have served as a simple yet natural sounding approach.

Reading around the web recently on some new ideas about ICs, I ran into DIY techniques talking about different braided geometries as well as how good the KLE brand connectors are —and why. So I was excited to see that Hapa Audio was just launched and using some interesting geometries along with the minimal contact approach KLE connectors. And even more excited when I then saw a tour offer still with a spot open for me!



Poised for a source upgrade but currently using a PS Audio PWT Transport and a tweaked AppleTV and iFI SPDIF iPurifier for casual app streaming into either a Bricasti M3 DAC or Lampizator Atlantic DAC > Herron VTSP-360 preamp > Wells Audio Innamorata Signature amp > Harbeth 40.2 40th Anniversary edition speakers. Room is well treated and ‘tuned’ by ear with lots of trials of different treatments.

I used the three sets of ICs between both DACs to preamp and from preamp to amp. Since I consistently experience a distinct settling period of somewhere under 48 hours every time I swap an IC or power cable, that consistently gives a ‘false positive’ behavior for that time, I do not evaluate for two full days. Since, generally, with cables we are fine-tuning our systems to our liking, I find it impossible to judge something that is actively making finer changes in presentation during that time. Hell, I can move or jostle (not unplug) an IC or PC and get a presentation shift for a handful of hours. So for me -my ears and this system- and piece of mind, I need things to be settle and not moved for the two days before I get down to it... Unfortunately, after that, my demo time with the cables was also interrupted by a heavy rain storm and two separate multi-hour power outages. But I was still able to get in just enough listening to know; good thing my timing with them was ending on a weekend, so I was able to squeak out another day and a half :)

Don’t you love it when reviews are all build up and lite on descriptions of sound? Luckily I’m just adding to the bunch here and reinforcing what others have already said.

The first thing I noticed about the Hapa Breathe C cables was their clarity and lack of distortions. Like two months ago, when I added the Puritan 156 power conditioner to the system and saw the noisefloor drop and a new level of clarity and detail come through, the same happened again here with the Hapa cables; showing me just how much distortion my current cables have. The old saying “you don’t know it’s there until it’s gone’ fits here almost just as much as it did with the Puritan, in my case.
Next was noticing the openness and transparency, yet these cables still have great tonal color showing through and an ease and musicality that was a joy to hear. With my amp and speakers, I always wondered why I wasn’t getting the delicacy and ease that I thought I should have; it’s there now with the Hapa copper cables! But the most surprising change for my current system atmosphere and issues, was the bass. There are two distinct placement methods that work for the big Harbeths and I had been trying to get dialed in on the more conventional / more widely used placement of these speakers —over what I’ve used for them the past two years that I liked very much— but had yet to find the same top-to-bottom bass smoothness as before and rid the sound of this certain bass bloat/distortion, that I thought was obviously placement related. To my surprise, with the Hapa cables, that problem is no more. The bass is definitely still all there and articulate, yet lacking in distortions, that can evidently just seem like a bigger amount of a fat/rounded bass.
And like others have said, this level of clarity and cleanliness allows me to listen louder than before, if I chose to, without ‘setting off’ my sensitive ears.

These interconnects are so clean, clear, transparent and seemingly distortion-free, as well as still having great natural tone, timbre and texture, that I have placed an order to wire my system up with them, including the upgrade to the Absolute Harmony connectors that I am already familiar with and know they will bring everything up to just the right balance I’m after.

Jason
« Last Edit: 7 Apr 2021, 02:19 pm by jriggy »

Pez

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #62 on: 31 Mar 2021, 04:11 pm »
Jriggy,
Thanks for taking the time on this review. I've had two separate conversations with people offline about how nice looking your rig looks! If I'm ever in your neck of the woods I would love to give it a listen! I'm really excited that my cables have found a permanent spot in your setup.  :thumb:

jriggy

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #63 on: 31 Mar 2021, 06:57 pm »
Thanks J, I appreciate it, and you’d be welcome to.. Early viewers got the nice wide shot. The next shot will go soon too (just how I roll on the interwebz).

Excited to get the Breathe C’s here soon...

Tomy2Tone

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #64 on: 31 Mar 2021, 07:07 pm »
I thought the photo changed... :shh:

Great looking room Jason! I can still remember listening to Vinnie's room at RMAF with those speakers, great sound. I think those are the model he used.

nlitworld

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Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #65 on: 4 Apr 2021, 04:12 am »
First off I wanted to say two things. Thank you to everyone who made this tour possible. I know coordinating this turned out to be a fun week for everyone who had the chance to demo these cables. Secondly I wanted to give a spoiler in that I freaking loved these cables. Now let me tell you why.

I have a very basic system built in a small spare bedroom with music as first fun priority, but also movie nights and video games as well. I make OK money and I have a bunch of other hobbies like motocross, mountain bikes, wakeboarding, etc. So needless to say my audio system gets some love and updates where I can, but it is modest by all accounts. I do quite enjoy tinkering with it in pursuit of better sound. The current system is as follows:

Thorens TD-190 with an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge
Project Tube Box S2 with upgraded Gold Lion tubes and upgraded linear power supply.
Gaming PC w/ EVGA sound card & upgraded op-amp
Pioneer Elite receiver
Klipsch reference premier surround sound
SVS SB2000 sub
DIY braided bi-wire speaker cables with KLE banana plugs
Blue Jeans LC-1 RCA cables throughout
Some DIY room treatments
Typical room furnishings
Room is 12wx10lx8h.



Now that we have system introductions over, I will say that these cables made the biggest sound improvement since adding a phono preamp. I simply could not believe the difference. The fact that they made such an improvement in sound has placed a few other upgrades on the back burner and these will be high on the list here this year. In my system, they made such a marked improvement compared to spending $500 more on speakers, or preamp, cartridge or even a DAC that outside of the turntable I already have on backorder, these are next in line.





They were sent in a very nicely designed box but also the nice little cloth bag for extra protection which is cool to see small manufacturers still putting out for packaging. Nice touches. Also like most other reviewers, I could not believe how light and nimble they were. But enough about packaging and anesthetics, how do they sound?! As soon as I plugged them in, I was too impatient to wait the recommended 8hrs settling time. I had to see what these things were all about. Immediately I was let in to a completely different listening space that couldn't be my own. I had never heard music like this before from my setup. The clarity was unreal. The texture was palpable. It was as if I moved my couch into the band's practice space and getting a private concert all for myself. My face literally hurt that first night from smiling so much. I decided I needed to let the initial shock wear off and come back to properly listen, so I left it at that after an hour of listening and finally went to bed that night.

Day two I picked out a starting point and would just let the music playlist take its course. So I popped on Alice In Chains - Unplugged on vinyl. I love this album. Really, who couldn't love this album? It is one of the single best recorded live shows of all time. Right away I noticed the vocals were placed front and center and a bit more forward than before. I had to double check that my center channel wasn't actually playing. This was actually a good thing because it placed everything in line with the soundstage and gave it all so much more depth. Secondly I noticed the clarity of the drumming just came to life on "Frogs". Light cymbal taps were easily distinguishable between each tap when I previously thought he had been laying low in a lot of sections. That was new! I was wanting to stick with drumming so next I switched to Buddy Rich & Max Roach - Rich Versus Roach (16/44 Flac). Some quintessential jazz drumming was in order. Oh man was that a good choice. The drumming on this album has always been front of the stage, but this was on another level. On "The Casbah" the soundstaging was on another level. A seemingly perfect amount of crossover where Buddy Rich's set playing on the left side had just the perfect amount picked up by the mic on the right side of the stage. Wow, how had I never noticed that before? Next track was "Sleep" and the brush work was absolutely unbelievable. The texture snapping and swooshing about was easily on another level than I had ever heard. The snares snapped to life on command with Rich's typical authority behind the set, but hearing the smooth rustling of anticipation from Roach laying back on the right side was the stand out jawdropper. Next up I wanted to kick it up a notch so I put on Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic (16/44 Flac).

By this time I started to notice these cables certainly changed the sonic signature of my stereo compared to my BJC. These were smooth, detailed and absolutely zero harshness which is something to be said for pairing with Klipsch. I was noticing the bass was a bit smoother and highs were controlled. Not lacking by any means, but not with the hard hit as my other cables. Blue Jeans cables as everyone knows are solid core copper in PE with a copper braid shield and a heavy jacket for protection. Inexpensive and they pack a punch which does make them a popular option amongst the budget conscious crowd, but are not the end-all in resolution or smoothness. The best analogy I could think of would be cars I have driven. My current Blue Jeans cables are like driving a C4 Corvette. Loud, pretty fun to do burnouts and fairly cheap to pick up from the classified ads. The Hapa cables are not a C4 Corvette, but are every bit a V12 Jaguar. They are not in your face loud like a Corvette, overly pretentious like a Ferrari or over engineered and analytical like a Nissan GTR. They have style and poise like the Jaguar with every bit of smooth swell of power that will blast off like a NASA rocket but still be comfortable and effortless to drive with 2 fingers on the wheel at 120mph in smooth silence and comfort.

After making this realization, I didn't care one bit that the bass was a touch smoother by comparison. In fact, I really enjoyed it because it allowed the texture and definition to be much more prominent all the way through rather than just muddy, boomy slam below 50hz. The same was true for the highs as well. Gone was the shrill sharpness of a ringing ride cymbal, but what was there was the texture of each tap of the drum stick, pluck of a guitar string and inhale of the singer. I went about trying to listen as much variety of music as possible that week to as many different albums both digital and lps. From punk rock to jazz to reggae to symphony and everything in between, it was like rediscovering my entire collection again. As with everything in life, all good things must come to an end. At the end of my week, I very reluctantly unplugged those beautiful purple and blue cables, boxed them back up in their sack, and sent them back home. For now.

-Lloyd


Pez

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #66 on: 5 Apr 2021, 02:28 pm »
That closes out the west coast reviews.

Lloyd, thanks for taking the time to write your impressions and post some photos. It was a great read.  :popcorn:

Pez

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #67 on: 11 Apr 2021, 11:45 pm »
Hey everyone, I just wanted you all to know, the cables have made there way back to me and are awaiting the 2 giveaways! Our first winner has been sent his cable already.

What does this all mean to you? It means you still have time to enter the 'I'm in' contest, simply by posting anything, no matter how inane or ridiculous, to this topic to enter! We are giving away 1 pair of tour Breathe C 1 meter pairs to 2 randomly selected posters. Posts must be received by Thursday the 15th 9 pm Mountain standard time or you will be banished to the low-fi section of the classifieds FOREVER. :evil: One entry per person please. Friday I will announce the winners for the East coast and West coast tours (1 2 meter pair of Breathe Cs per coast) and the 'I'm in' contestants.

Good luck, based on the reviews I've seen, you might want to jump in!  :wink:

nlitworld

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Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #68 on: 12 Apr 2021, 02:08 am »
 :popcorn:

MttBsh

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Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #69 on: 12 Apr 2021, 02:58 am »
LOOK AT MY DOG. Her name is Bella and she's a 6 month old Siberian Husky, as sweet a dog as I've ever known. I took this picture yesterday on our daily walk here in Seattle, and she serves as my "I'm in" to the contest for the cables, thanks for your consideration.






Pez

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #70 on: 12 Apr 2021, 03:00 am »
Bella is adorable! There is no happier creature on the planet than a husky puppy!  :lol:

BobRex

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #71 on: 16 Apr 2021, 01:18 am »
I’m a little late with this review - it was a busy week.  Anyway, I wanted to see how the Breathe Cs would fare against my older Grover Ss, specifically on the analog side of my system.  That would be a TTWeights GEM rim drive table with a modified Jelco 12 inch 750.  A VDH Colibri XGP is mounted on the arm.  That is connected through an Audio Sensibilities phone cable to a Choir Audio SUT (Hashimoto H3s), then through a Grover to a Herron VTPH, continuing on through another Grover to a Vinnie Rossi Lio (DHT, Shuguang Treasure 2A3s or 300Bs).  A pair of VMPS RM30s (external crossover, Powered Bass) are lashed to the Lio through a pair of Wywires Silver bi-wires.  The bass amps are connected via another set of Grovers.  Power cords are by Black Sand.  I replaced the Herron to Lio line and the cables going to the bass amps.  I tried to do the SUT to Herron, but the SUT uses WBT Nextgens and I couldn’t mate the KLEs without getting hum.  Rotating the plug didn’t fix it, so I gave up.

I was limited in my review time, so I focused on 4 albums:

Oregon – In Performance:  I’ve been an Oregon fan since the mid 70’s, I have the whole catalog, and this is probably my favorite.  The second album opens with George Schutz introducing the band at Carnegie Hall.  The ambiance surrounding his voice is a good test- the Breathes opened up more than the Grovers (which aren’t bad to begin with.)  This is followed by a Colin Wallcott drum solo.  The Breathes staged better than the Grovers and were slightly sharper on the cymbal strikes.  Moore’s bass sounded deeper and I think Mcandless’ woodwinds had greater color, nuttier, to use one of Pearson’s descriptors.  When the band is full out, everything stays together and separate, with no image wander.

Pat Metheny Group – Travels:  Part of this was recorded at the Philly Academy of Music.  He did 2 shows; I was at one of them, so I might be part of the crowd noise.  What struck me with this recording was the separation between the players, and specifically Vasconselos’s berimbau, which seemed to pull out of the mix, making it easer to follow his playing.

Sheffield Leinsdorf Firebird / Faun: I chose the Sheffields for classical pieces for their simple miking and the dry acoustic of MGM.  With Faun the woodwinds were striking, sounding very close to live. The Firebird came alive, with better definition to the drums, especially the bass drum, which sounded like it gained additional power on the low end.

Sheffield Leinsdorf Prokofiev:  Again, bass sounded more extended and strings were ummm “silkier”.  I noticed high percussion (cymbals, bells, …) were better resolved.  I also noticed more space between the players, each one individualized. 

Overall, the Breathes are quieter and more extended than the Grovers.  They resolve space and individual contributions better.  Others have covered the workmanship and flexibility of the cables; I can’t add anymore.  All I can say is great job Jason, I’d love to hear the Quiescence series.

Pez

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #72 on: 16 Apr 2021, 05:56 pm »
Bobrex, really happy to hear that the cables rocked it in your setup! I'm a big fan of Mr Rossi's equipment and overall design philosophy. Really superb setup! Another one I would love to hear some day! Thanks for taking the time to post your impressions. I'm bummed that rotating the barrel didn't fix the issue. I might have to do a special thread for this particular incompatibility issue with the WBT NexGen female connectors. It can be overcome, but it might require a bit of precision barrel rolling on the part of the end user. Any way, I've made note of it and will get something put together.  :thumb:

With that, that is the official end to the tour.

I will be doing the drawing for both east and west coast in about an hour and posting the results here. The winners will receive one pair of the 2 meter Breathe Cs that were making the rounds. I will be using the www.random.org to select the winner based on the order as follows:

East coast list:
1. Robert A
2. Don F
3. Todd C
4. Jason R
5. Bob R

West coast list:
1. Ron W
2. Mick W
3. Ben C
4. Charles M
5. Lloyd S

The 'I'm in' tour will include all non-tour folks who have posted above this post. I'll aggregate the list later on today and the drawing will occur today as well.  :thumb:

Good luck to everyone!

Pez

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #73 on: 16 Apr 2021, 06:08 pm »
The list is easier than I thought! Here are the contestants for the 'I'm in' contest. There will be two winners selected at random, the winners will receive a 1 meter pair of Breathe C.

1. Tyson
2. Saturn94
3. Timind
4. TomS
5. Marvda1
6. Meicheng
7. Craig B
8. WGH
9. Mudslide
10. Borism
11. S Clark
12. tomy2tone
13. EkW
14. ThePriest
15. Bob Stark
16. bentconvert
17. MttBsh

I scrubbed the list 3 times, but if I still missed you please let me know via PM! Please remember, folks who were in the tour are not eligible for this contest. random.org will be used to select the winners.

Saturn94

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Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #74 on: 16 Apr 2021, 06:31 pm »
😀🤞

Tomy2Tone

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #75 on: 16 Apr 2021, 06:36 pm »



Pez

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #76 on: 16 Apr 2021, 06:58 pm »
 :lol:

Drawing at 1pm MDT (2 minutes) I'll do it is professionally as I can.

Thanks Ben and congrats.  :wink:

genjamon

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #77 on: 16 Apr 2021, 07:05 pm »
You mean MDT!!!  Sorry, those of us in AZ must insist on accuracy in time zone references  :lol:

Pez

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #78 on: 16 Apr 2021, 07:08 pm »
East coast result:

Congrats to: Robert A!!!!



West coast result:

Congrats to Ben C!!!!!


I'm in result:
Congrats to ThePriest!!!!!


genjamon

Re: Breathe C Tour, Giveaway, and also LOOK AT MY DOG!!!!
« Reply #79 on: 16 Apr 2021, 07:10 pm »
Yaaaay!!!