[Pez]

I make a lot of exclusive gear for members. I don't always get around to posting my creations, but I'm going to make a concerted effort to post at least a few photos of every custom piece I do. I think you all might enjoy seeing some of the craziness.

This piece is unique. Client wanted something totally different and we went with an ultra feminine color scheme. Gotta be honest, I love it! This is going on a pair of Meze Liric headphones with an iFi Gryphon portable DAC. I used 3.5 TRRS for the headphone end to reduce the amount of material in the signal path vs using a standard TRS which would have to barrel and shield connector in the signal path. amp end is a 4.4 TRRRS pentaconn.  Sounds insanely detailed on my test gear. 

[artur9]

Please don't post these.  You'll make me spend money I don't have.

All kidding aside, these are drop dead gorgeous.  Picture makes it look a bit like a rattlesnake.  Was that intentional?

[Pez]

The way KnØt is designed sorta does have a snake like texture. I wouldn’t say it was intentional to look like that. More of a side effect of the specific geometry I designed for balanced headphone cables. The cable has 8 separate wires. 4 for right and 4 for left. Each channel has signal plus and signal minus running parallel to each other to improve signal arrival time.

The cable has an otherworldly feel. It’s very lightweight and It can be stretched and it holds its shape very well. Hard to explain, but in the end makes it much more user friendly

[Pez]

These bad boys went out this afternoon to their new homes.  Two Aero Ag USB and one Aero Cu Coax.

This was about 6 days worth of work.  It would have taken longer generally, but the two Aero Ag USB I was able to build the data core like one giant cable then cut it. 

For Aero Coax I’m throwing in KLE Absolute connectors at no extra charge for the introduction. BNC gets an AECO BNC connector. Let me know if I can build one for you! 

[Pez]

This one turned out very nice! 1.5 meter Aero Cu USB.



I have another one I want to show you, but it’s a custom piece and I won’t share it until the client has had a chance to see and listen. 

[artur9]

Such beautiful work!

[Pez]

Going out today! This isn’t even officially a product yet, that’s how awesome you guys are.

Aero Ag Coax/BNC Hybrid with AECO BNC on one end and ETI SilverLink on the other. Listened to this in my setup for all formats and it sounded every bit as great as Aero Ag USB. 

[whydontumarryit]

It seems a shame to hide this behind my equipment. How about a hapa mirror stuck to the wall that reflects (I figure a 15 degree downward slope, ambient light depending, of course) all of that copper or silver goodness in my direction while listening or otherwise enjoying myself in whatever way consenting adults agree to with whatever source of excitement is necessary to 'do the job'. The snakeskin speaker cables have peeked my curiosity.

[Pez]

It seems a shame to hide this behind my equipment. How about a hapa mirror stuck to the wall that reflects (I figure a 15 degree downward slope, ambient light depending, of course) all of that copper or silver goodness in my direction while listening or otherwise enjoying myself in whatever way consenting adults agree to with whatever source of excitement is necessary to 'do the job'. The snakeskin speaker cables have peeked my curiosity.

  You could always set your equipment up backwards.  OR! You can get yourself some Headfi gear like this:

Dreddz Copper configured for full sized ZMF headphones.


This is for a pair of ZMF headphones. One of the things that makes headphone cables difficult is sometimes companies use their own pin out configuration. In the case of ZMF instead of using all four pins on the mini four pin xlr they only use two. If you don’t wire it properly, you’re basically taking half of the wiring out of the equation. These are little things I have to research in order to make sure my cables achieve the highest possible fidelity.



For this one, I tried a new thing. Usually to indicate left/right I use either a bead on the left channel or some sort of visual hint. On this set I had an insight. I used UV resin to lock the headphone connectors in place and I used pigmented mica powder  mixed in the UV resin to color code the interior of the barrel. Blue is left and red is right. 



This is a long one! A bit over 14 feet. 

[Delta77]

My New Headphone Cable is here.!!!





Jason (Hapa) seems to be on a roll lately. I have changed a few of my cables to the Hapa brand recently. Once the Ember USB was inserted in my system, I wasn’t willing to live without it.. Then came the Breathe (S) and (C) RCAs on the AC tour, 2 of the Breathe (S) RCAs stayed right here with me. Then I won the drawing for a Ember RCA.
So sticking with Hapa seemed to be a “no brainer”, for my HP cable.

I’ve been listening to HPs more lately due to the wife working from home.
I was quickly getting board with the music from my ZMF (Auteur) HPs , and was wondering why, not to mention experiencing some ear fatigue after a few hours of listening.

I felt the link between the HP amp and the phones was perhaps my weakest in the HP part of the system.
Then I remembered how Jason’s cables made improvements to the main system.

Besides, If I upgraded the Headphones or the HP amp, I wouldn’t be able to hear the differences with a weak link in between the two components?

So here I go , ordering a 13’ Dreadz (C) HP cable. (Do I have an obsession, yes I do)

I use ZMF (Auteur) headphones connected to a DECWARE (csp3) preamp/headphone amp which is in turn,  connected to my main system.
( 20 amp dedicated circuit, UberBUSS, InnuOS zen, Holo spring3 kte, Decware zbit, Decware zrock2, Aric Audio passive preamp)





First song is  “Tossin” by Fortunate Youth, simply because it was the last song I listened to on this system.
Within the first few minutes with these Hapa HP cables, I noticed improvements to the Congos, Tom drums, and the reproduction of the human voice..


Listening to “Pink Panther” by Henry Mancini, everything sounds smoother and easier on the ears, compared to the stock ZMF cable, the Saxophone seems to stand out as different in a more natural realistic way.


Next up Dire Straits- “Follow me Home” just the intro.
IMO the drums have the correct placement two taps slightly left from center, then two taps slightly right from center, both taps on the right are next to each other not in the exact same place.
Definitely appears to be an improvement in sound stage .!!


Next, The Elovaters - “Shaking off the Wolves”
Yep, I’m liking what I’m

It’s only been a couple of hours. I wanted to give my first impressions, before I forget the immediately notable changes the new cables made.

[artur9]

Your workmanship continues to amaze me.  And the resin trick, genius!

[Pez]

Delta77- thank you for your initial impressions.  I was curious how they would sound with your setup. It was quite a task making a cable this length but once I got the rhythm it was a fun build. I used the cable in my own setup for a while and I love the way it sounded. All my personal cables are about 8 ft long so having this one gave me a HUGE degree of freedom that I wasn’t used to.

Your workmanship continues to amaze me.  And the resin trick, genius!

Thank you for your compliments! I really focus on trying to bring something unique and beautiful with every build. I’m definitely going to incorporate this new resin idea into the mix in the future in new ways. let me know if you’d like me to build you something. 

[Pez]

An odd one this week.

2 Aero Cu USB cables at 1.5 meters.  This build took me from Monday until today to complete! One is off to California the other to Texas.   





This one, kind of an odd request. A local weirdo with a custom request. This is a DC pigtail build. 18 gauge UPOCC silver nano polished with Aerogel Dielectric! Common/shield is pure silver litz braided like Breathe S. Hardwired to the power supply and an Oyaide 2.1mmID/5.5mm OD connector.    this is a 15V 4A linear supply with an R-core transformer. Really nice sound quality overall and a lot better with this custom pigtail.

[Tyson]

What kind of jerk makes you direct wire a cable into his power supply?

[Pez]

I get all types here on AC. 

Seriously though, it’s pretty friggin awesome making this kind of stuff!

[Early B.]

Dang it!!  I just ordered an external power supply. This is cool.

[mresseguie]

What kind of jerk makes you direct wire a cable into his power supply?

Clearly, this jerk has serious issues. I wonder if I should try this?





I hope he tells us how it sounds! 

[FullRangeMan]

What kind of jerk makes you direct wire a cable into his power supply?

There is no easy way to say it, this is the right way to go, IEC power plugs are unsafe and add 9 transfers connections to the power, It has no thread to be screwed on and loses its grip after some time.

[wgraft5]

Now this is something I really like.

A stand alone DC power cable with a high-end connector on one end. Bare, tinned, or with Spade lugs on the other end.

I would want this in an Ember configuration about two to two feet long, center + outside - and at least two of them to start with.

I think you are onto something here.

Thank you for all your hard work. You will be receiving a order for a Ember USB cable 1.5 long next week.

Wayne in Oregon

[pconley2]

As the recipient of the one going to California, I can't tell you how excited I am to see the Aero CU USB cable that is headed my way.  Jason, I hope it looks as good as the picture shows it to be, and I am really excited about what it should sound like.