Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC copper

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Pez

Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC copper
« on: 5 Aug 2022, 10:34 pm »
as stated in my article on Aerogel, Aerogel alone does not a next tier cable make. In fact, the whole reason I spent so much time working on the research and development of Aerogel dielectrics was because I needed a next level dielectric to house the absolute insanity that is the heart and soul of Aero, Hapa Audio's proprietary hand polished UPOCC copper core.


Under the microscope:

When Aero Cu USB was originally release this time last year, a method of polishing developed in-house was used to go above and beyond what any other company was doing with their cabling solutions, most manufacturers take the UPOCC off the spool and without addressing the surface problems, install it inside their dielectric layer. I will show the reason why this is detrimental to the sound quality in this article.

Through a long and involved research and development process, I have taken the polishing process to the next level. In order to step up the surface polish of the original Aero’s data core, it was necessary to get a much closer view of the wire itself. Therefore Hapa Audio has invested heavily in advanced optical equipment such as high power magnifying optics and even higher powered microscopes in order to get a close look on a nano scale allowing an even higher degree of attention to detail. Every Aerogel products UPOCC core is visually verified under microscope to attain the highest level hand polish possible. While these optics are generally utilized during the polishing process to refine the work done, I have used it here to illustrate the ‘why’ of my methods.

The visual results speak for themselves. Here is a side by side of the UPOCC data wire right off of the spool and a photo after the new polishing process. The first image is what ALL UPOCC I have ever sourced looks like under microscope regardless of manufacturer claims of polishing or technical manufacturing steps.

This is what most of the competition is using- Right off the spool:
If you were to look at this wire with the naked eye, you might just barely see small glints of light reflecting oddly off of the surface of the wire, but under the microscope it's another story. While high in purity, UPOCC manufacturers are just not able to deliver better results than this on surface finish. Soft materials and entropy make sure of that. The unavoidable result, marring and oxidation. Note the brownish orange oxide layer coupled with marring and lengthwise striations extend down the entire length from the drawing process. When UPOCC wire is stored, shipped, and handled this is the result.

After Hapa Audio’s in-house proprietary polishing process:
Striations drastically reduced and marring minimized and in most spots eliminated. Note the rainbowing coloration visible on portions of the wire, indicating a very high level of surface quality. Proprietary in-house polishing is the only way to achieve the highest level of surface quality on bare wire UPOCC. all of this is achieved while also removing the least amount of material possible.

Protecting the pristine finish:
Upon completion of the proprietary polishing process and final cleaning, the wire is immediately installed in the preservative Aerogel layer using clean room techniques to avoid any contaminants from getting on the surface of the wire. The aerogel formulation Hapa Audio uses is the same molecular material, silica dioxide, as silica packets used in food storage albeit in a completely different form. Hydrophobic and inert, Aerogel creates an ideal humidity free environment for the highly polished wire to be permanently housed in. This drastically reduces the potential for oxidation for the life of the cable. Teflon, cotton, Teflon thread suspended air dielectric and various PVCs can, and do, allow for oxidization under jacket over time. In fact no other dielectric material comes close to the preservative nature of Aerogel.

Be on the lookout for the announcement of the first of MANY new products using these technologies and beyond in the coming days.
« Last Edit: 4 Sep 2022, 09:55 pm by Pez »

artur9

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Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #1 on: 5 Aug 2022, 10:51 pm »
is there any sort of "air gap" between the aerogel and the wire?
If not, without divulging trade secrets, how do you achieve that?

Pez

Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #2 on: 5 Aug 2022, 11:15 pm »
is there any sort of "air gap" between the aerogel and the wire?

That's a great question. I can speak to that but not much. Let's ignore the fact that aerogel is 99.8% air and I'll address the spirit of the question. For one, I want to be clear, I am using 100% pure aerogel, not some aerogel impregnated product like fiberglass with aerogel etc. it is indeed 100% aerogel.

The aerogel itself is in constant contact with the wire for the entire length. There might be the occasional small portion of wire that isn't in contact, but I am confident in stating that it is a statistically insignificant amount. That said, since the length of the wire is inside the aerogel dielectric the entire environment is humidity free and inert at all times.

Quote
If not, without divulging trade secrets, how do you achieve that?
This, I cannot divulge.

Letitroll98

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Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #3 on: 6 Aug 2022, 10:50 am »

This, I cannot divulge.

Encapsulation.

S Clark

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Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #4 on: 6 Aug 2022, 12:29 pm »
Sounds like it should be an excellent dielectric.  Hope I get to hear it one of these days. 

goryu

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Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #5 on: 6 Aug 2022, 05:36 pm »
no doubt smoother and more aery sound...

dflee

Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #6 on: 6 Aug 2022, 07:43 pm »
A well respected audiophile has the AerØ USB and he informed me he loves it.
And this guy is REALLY picky. He has gone through a number of cables and designs.

Don

goryu

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Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #7 on: 6 Aug 2022, 11:07 pm »
A well respected audiophile has the AerØ USB and he informed me he loves it.
And this guy is REALLY picky. He has gone through a number of cables and designs.

Don

A gourmet friend loves tripe and he is really picky. I can't stand it and neither can many people I know. I really can't see the relevance of your comment.

krustykat

Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #8 on: 7 Aug 2022, 12:10 am »
Goyru, have you heard of the ASR website?  I think you might find more like minded people there. 

dflee

Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #9 on: 7 Aug 2022, 12:40 am »
Guess you just don't know the right people then.
If not for your gourmet friend though you would have never tried Tripe and never known for yourself.
You missed the word "respect". Something you might think about.
Since your reading the posts here maybe you will be intrigued to try Hapa's works.
And unless you have than your comments are shall I say Tripe.

Don

Pez

Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #10 on: 7 Aug 2022, 02:54 am »
It’s all good gents. I really want to focus on the technicals with these articles. Ultimately I unleash all of my creations to anyone who’s interested in trying them out via my tours. I generally take all comers and welcome all opinions and thoughts upon review. I don’t expect everyone to fall head over heels in love with everything I do and welcome criticism. It is my experience that those who are most critical are often the ones who see the most potential for growth. 

Soon enough things will come to light! I can’t wait to get started.  :D

uncola

Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #11 on: 7 Aug 2022, 12:37 pm »
I'm too scared to join the tour because if I like it, my bank account will be empty lol

Scroof Neachy

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Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #12 on: 7 Aug 2022, 01:54 pm »
Is there a verified scientific reason that wires need to be polished for these applications?

Pez

Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #13 on: 7 Aug 2022, 05:02 pm »
Before addressing questions, I want to inform folks that I needed to ban someone from this circle. I don’t want to get into the details, suffice it to say, I will not tolerate slander, or libelous claims toward myself or any other forum member for any reason. Unreasonable demands and expectations for me to jump through hoops to satisfy whatever random expectations someone might have will also be grounds for being banned going forward.

Folks are allowed to be skeptical, and outright disagree with myself or any other member here, in fact I encourage it, but when the line is crossed, you will be permanently banned on the first offense no exceptions.

Is there a verified scientific reason that wires need to be polished for these applications?

Great question, I am not making scientific claims, but I am basing my design on research into conductivity and surface quality I have done. My own subjectively based research into this topic has yielded vast sonic improvements from signal conductors that have been polished to the highest degree possible. I am operating under the logic via my research that when conductors are oxidized, this oxide layer being less conductive than the pure material, causes aberrations in signal quality. The marring and imperfections along the surface layer in which the majority of signal traverses appears to be causing sonic aberrations as well. I have spent a lot of time analyzing various levels of polishing on countless prototype cables that I have made over the last 3 years of research. I have found that the failure to address these issues (oxidation, marrring, striations and overall surface quality) has always lead to sonic degradation and thus, this process has become integral into my top of the line products utilizing Aerogel. For Aero USB alone it take several hours of hand polishing and re-polishing for a 1 meter cable to be polished to this degree. It is exacting work that is done in the pursuit of the highest level of sound quality possible. The article above covers the rest of my logic fully. If you would like to hear this for yourself I will be launching a tour very soon.

Early B.

Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #14 on: 7 Aug 2022, 05:31 pm »
Aaahhh...so I must have the polished cable you speak of in my aero BNC cable! 8)

I think what's important to understand is that we're talking about high-end cables where a paradox exists -- subtle sonic differences are major sonic differences!

 

Transparency statement -- all of my interconnects are Hapa Audio cables.     

Pez

Re: Hapa Audio hand polished UPOCC
« Reply #15 on: 7 Aug 2022, 06:50 pm »
Aaahhh...so I must have the polished cable you speak of in my aero BNC cable! 8)

I think what's important to understand is that we're talking about high-end cables where a paradox exists -- subtle sonic differences are major sonic differences!

 

Transparency statement -- all of my interconnects are Hapa Audio cables.   

All Aero products are highly polished. It is the latest iteration that utilizes this newer version of polishing. That includes your ehm… totally not giving away anything I haven’t announced yet, product.  :lol: