AudioCircle

Industry Circles => Hapa Audio => Topic started by: Pez on 22 Sep 2023, 09:05 pm

Title: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 22 Sep 2023, 09:05 pm: It's been three years since Hapa Audio started here on AC. I was looking back at the first post (https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=172109.0) and reminiscing. At the time I felt so uncertain and honestly, terrified to start my own enterprise. Fast forward to today and I can only smile. I have this community to thank for that. It's been an incredible journey and I couldn't have made it without the wonderful folks behind the scenes at AC.

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=251483)

To show my appreciation I am doing a tour and giveaway! The tour will consist of the ENTIRE Ember family. USB, RCA, and XLR! We will be showcasing Ember USB in 1 meter, RCA in both 1 meter and 1.5 meter, and the XLR version in 1 meter. I will also be including Aero Cu USB along for the ride for folks who are interested in hearing what Aerogel can do for your digital section. The cables have yet to be constructed, but I wanted to get the tour form at least up so folks can enter early.

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=246625)

Giveaway
The giveaway will be for a very unique set of Ember RCA cables to be announced soon. :shh: To enter all you need to do is sign up for the tour and submit your review November 20th (subject to change if tour takes longer)

Signup
To sign up, click here, (https://forms.clickup.com/8415154/f/80txj-800/UMH072YDE3LAPWQZGN) or if you prefer, you can click here (https://forms.clickup.com/8415154/f/80txj-800/UMH072YDE3LAPWQZGN), or here: click here (https://forms.clickup.com/8415154/f/80txj-800/UMH072YDE3LAPWQZGN) but definitely don't click here: click here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knGhzlGsGtk)

I'll update this thread with a pic of the giveaway cable next week. 8)
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 4 Oct 2023, 06:11 pm: For this tour I put together something that will be a one off build. I wanted to slightly change the balance of this cable to give a unique sonic signature. For this build I utilized ETI Link RCA connectors. I also gave it a unique color-way! I went with Aquamarine and clear.

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=257231)

How do they sound? I’ll leave that up to the tour members to tell you! That’s right, they’ll be going along for the ride.

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=257232)

If you’re curious about Ember I encourage you to sign up! This tour will fill up quick and once this beauty is with its new owner it will not be replicated! This will be the set that will be given away to one of the tour members in a randomized drawing.

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=257233)

Click here for the signup sheet: https://forms.clickup.com/8415154/f/80txj-800/UMH072YDE3LAPWQZGN
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 6 Oct 2023, 04:16 pm: Folks,
I was listening to the set of Ember cables I made for the giveaway. Without giving away the ghost on what makes them unique, I was surprised at just how different the presentation was and in a good way! We have some sharp eared people here on AC that I'd love to get their opinion on these and I have some slots left on the tour. :thumb:
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: ArthurDent on 7 Oct 2023, 04:50 am: Congrats on the Anniversary Pez ! No minor milestone in any business. Here's wishing many more to come. :thumb:
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 11 Oct 2023, 06:04 pm: Arthur- thank you my friend! AC has been my home for audio chat since literally the day of its inception! In fact, I was the third person to join. Opening a forum was both logical and coming full circle for me.

Quick update on the tour. I just finished building the XLR cables and the Ember USB. I used them in my setup just now. :o I don’t think I’ve used this combo of gear with this particular set because wow… I can’t believe how insanely great it sounds!

We have enough folks to start the tour but I’ll accept a few more if you’re interested! :thumb:

Tour members- I’ll send out an email tomorrow and get things kicked off!
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 12 Oct 2023, 08:52 pm: Tour members, We filled up enough to get things started! :dance:

Check your email for info.

For everyone else- What are you waiting for???? Give away of a one of a kind set of cables! A chance to hear the best damn bang for the buck cables available AND... more to come. :shh:

So sign up today! (https://forms.clickup.com/8415154/f/80txj-800/UMH072YDE3LAPWQZGN)
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 13 Oct 2023, 07:08 pm: Quick update, We have ONE position left for the tour. This is the final call my friends. If you’re interested in joining follow the form linked above. :thumb:
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: SteveFord on 13 Oct 2023, 08:27 pm: That was a quick 3 years, where did they go?
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 16 Oct 2023, 07:20 pm: The tour is off! First stop NY! We managed to fill it up completely! :thumb: Took some photos of my work prior to sending it off. Just a jumble of amazingness. FYI the case is my special tour case. Not part of the sale of any of these cables. That said, if anyone wanted one I’d be more than happy to make one for any client order.

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=257674)

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=257675)

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=257676)

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=257677)
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Charles Xavier on 10 Nov 2023, 02:41 pm: Here is a review of the Ember tour cables and Aero Cu USB. I didn't try the "special" Ember interconnect due to that it was too short for my setup.

My components are as follows
Schiit Freya+ preamp
Orchard Audio Starkrimson Ultra amp
Denafrips PontusII 12th-1
Blusound Node (stream Tidal only)
Spatial Audio M3 Saphires.

Build quality of the cables is exceptional. Used in my system was the XLR from pre to amp and RCA interconnect from DAC to pre and Aero USB from BS Node to DAC. I added 1 cable at a time. I started with the XLR first, and it wasn't doing anything for me. I then added the cable between the dac and pre and everything just opened up. Diana Krall's voice was incredible on the song "A Case of You" I thought she entered my room. With the second cable all just came alive. With other music drums had more snap and cymbals more shimmer. The decay on piano and acoustic guitar was so clear and just lingered. Bass was much deeper. I then added the Aero USB cable, and it took everything just to another level from where I was. We had a problem with the Ember USB and Jason fixed it and sent it back to me. I will be honest the Ember USB cable took the sound down a notch probably to due being copper YMMV depending on your system. For me the combination of the 2 interconnect cables and the Aero USB cable are a huge plus and would be a worthy upgrade.

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=258471)

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=258472)

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=258473)

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=258474)
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Tyson on 10 Nov 2023, 04:37 pm: That's a great review especially with those M3 Sapphires. Those speakers are no joke, super transparent.
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 15 Nov 2023, 02:04 am: :thumb:Charles X,
Thank you for your review! I think you nailed it when it comes to sound quality. I do want to make one. Correction, Ember is Copper and so is Aero Cu. There is no silver cable on this tour. Just the copper Aero and Ember. :thumb:

Really quick update to everyone on the tour, I have not heard from the next person on deck. I will be moving to the next person after that. I apologize for the delay I have been busy with builds for some of you folks!
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Charles Xavier on 15 Nov 2023, 09:16 am: Quote from: Pez on 15 Nov 2023, 02:04 am
:thumb:Charles X,
Thank you for your review! I think you nailed it when it comes to sound quality. I do want to make one. Correction, Ember is Copper and so is Aero Cu. There is no silver cable on this tour. Just the copper Aero and Ember. :thumb:

Really quick update to everyone on the tour, I have not heard from the next person on deck. I will be moving to the next person after that. I apologize for the delay I have been busy with builds for some of you folks!

I know the Ember is copper but all this time I thought the Aero was silver.
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 15 Nov 2023, 04:17 pm: There is a silver version and a copper version of Aero. The copper version is the one that is tagging along in the Ember tour. :thumb:
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Charles Xavier on 13 Dec 2023, 06:47 pm: Any more reviews coming?
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 13 Dec 2023, 07:26 pm: Quote from: Charles Xavier on 13 Dec 2023, 06:47 pm
Any more reviews coming?

We had a bit of a delay, not surprising given the time of year. The cables are with another individual who has yet to have their full time with them yet. :thumb:
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: nlitworld on 14 Dec 2023, 01:19 am: Quote from: Pez on 13 Dec 2023, 07:26 pm
We had a bit of a delay, not surprising given the time of year. The cables are with another individual who has yet to have their full time with them yet. :thumb:

Sounds like someone is being EXTRA thorough with their listening tests. Not that I've ever done that before... :roll:
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: artofaudio on 3 Feb 2024, 04:11 am: Review coming. So far the cables sound really good. I’m trying them with tube and solid state amps

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=261162)

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=261163)

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=261164)
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 6 Feb 2024, 06:45 pm: Thanks for the update!!!

I want to let the folks on the tour know, if you are interested in being part of the giveaway, you have to post your reviews. Please let me know if you have any questions. :thumb:
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: artofaudio on 22 Feb 2024, 01:40 am: I received the following contents. I have no equipment that will accommodate the usb cables. Unfortunately my SW1X DAC only accepts AES or RCA connections, and I could not get an SPDIF/RCA converter in time before I had to send the cables back.

The other thing is that neither my Jays Audio CDT-MK3 cd transport, nor Odyssey Cyclops Extreme Plus are broken in yet. I have very few hours on either. I used my NAT Audio Single HPS integrated for most testing. I assume that since I was the last leg on the tour that the cables are well broken in. I sill let them run for a couple of days before evaluating.

Ember RCA with KLE absolute connectors
Ember RCA one off for the tour with ETI Link connectors
Ember USB -
Ember XLR with rhodium AECO xlr connectors
And Aero Cu USB
Ember RCA with ETI Link connectors - They are very well made and very lightweight, which is what I expect from the Hapa brand. I streamed some tracks first and the sound was very precise but smooth at the same time. The piano tracks had some glare, but I do have horns so that's not surprising.

Ember RCA with KLE Absolute connectors - Same excellent construction, but these cables were a better fit all around. I could tell from the moment the music started to play. Piano tracks had the right tone and decay, and horns were more natural.

If I still had my Salk Pure BE-1 monitors, I think the ETI RCA's would have been a much better fit. It's not to say that the ETI's did not sound good, it's just that the KLE's fared very well with the tube integrated.

I conducted the same test with the Odyssey transistor amp (not broken in) and the results were almost the same, except the bass was somewhat tighter with the ETI RCA's. I could live with either cable because they are really great. However, I was on the Hapa tour that included the top of the line offerings from Jason and it is in another league. It should be due to the cost difference and materials.

Just as I shipped the cables off, I received a 432 EVO Aeon transport. I've a buddy that is lending me an SPDIF/USB converter. Too bad I did not get to test the USB cables. Maybe next time when I have everything together. I highly recommend these cables.
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 23 Feb 2024, 09:24 pm: Fantastic review. Thank you ALL for sharing your thoughts on the Ember line. I will select the winner of the drawing at random soon. It will only be those who have posted their review. Stay tuned. :thumb: :popcorn:
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Pez on 1 Mar 2024, 06:35 pm: Random number generator chose the first reviewer of the two who submitted their reviews. :duh: :lol:

Congrats to Charles Xavier!!!!

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=261954)

I appreciate everyone who participated in the tour. I understand that doing a tour during the holidays was definitely suboptimal for getting folks to actually post their thoughts and I will avoid this mistake in the future. :green:

I will have another tour for the top of the heap Haiku RCA AND XLR interconnects soon so stay tuned!
Title: Re: 3 year Anniversary Ember Tour and Giveaway
Post by: Charles Xavier on 1 Mar 2024, 10:02 pm: Quote from: Pez on 1 Mar 2024, 06:35 pm
Random number generator chose the first reviewer of the two who submitted their reviews. :duh: :lol:

Congrats to Charles Xavier!!!!

(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=261954)

I appreciate everyone who participated in the tour. I understand that doing a tour during the holidays was definitely suboptimal for getting folks to actually post their thoughts and I will avoid this mistake in the future. :green:

I will have another tour for the top of the heap Haiku RCA AND XLR interconnects soon so stay tuned!

Thanks Jason