Quiescence S (Silver)

Description

Sound Profile:

Neutral yet engaging midrange, Incredible treble texture, visceral bass with coherence. Lower noise floor that allows nuance to thrive.

Utilizing our proprietary DCSG technology, Quiescence S follows the sonic delivery of its kin – Breathe S. Delivery of texture and detail is even more incredible than that of Breathe S. With vibrant and ethereal midrange Quiescence S brings you even closer to the performance than ever. Bass response is deft in its delivery and decays without bloat. Soundstaging and imaging are unparalleled in focus and dimensionality.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

 

As with Breathe S, Quiescence obeys this essential rule. Counterintuitively, it is more informative to discuss what materials Quiescence S lacks in comparison to other cables than to discuss what materials it has. Gone are layer upon layer of rubberized jacketing materials. Thick/constraining and overdamping dielectrics are nixed. There are no thickly stranded or solid-core conductors. Absent are heavy shielding foils, heavy tinned copper braid external shields, or other such materials, which when layered directly on top of a dielectric, cause inductive field thievery killing vibrance within music. And finally, gone are overbuilt connectors made of brass and other inferior copper alloys. All of these “engineered solutions“ are in reality design compromises that collectively compromise sonic fidelity.

Throughout this process of elimination we have distilled Quiescence S down to essentials; Ultrafine Angel Hair silver litz (.08 mm per strand as compared to a human hair at .03 mm to .12 mm in diameter.) Internally the litz silver bundle is properly dampened by ultra-thin silk nylon strands. The cable matrix is held in place over a high quality woven nylon paracord backbone separator. These components are then arranged utilizing our Dual Chirality Star geometry.

All the shielding, none of the compromise.

The use of a braided shield is nothing new. Usually, using a shield is done knowing that a certain level of nuance and liveliness will be lost from the music. After all, at first glance, inductive loss via the use of a shield appears to be a virtual inevitability. With a shield proximal to the conductor along the entire length of the cable is it any surprise that shielded cables often sound lethargic?

How did we manage to add a shielding layer without robbing the cable of its vibrance?

The answer to this is again utilizing a keen understanding of material science. By spacing the silver-plated copper shield several millimeters away from the conductor we managed to drastically mitigate the effects of inductive thievery. We then connect the entire shield assembly at a single point under the barrel of the RCA connector’s ground pin.

In an industry first, we utilized Carbon Fiber as the spacer for the shield. Due to its lightweight, it conforms nicely to our Low Mass Language. Not only is carbon fiber the spacer between the electrically delicate signal cables and the braided shield, but it also serves as an added layer of EMI/RFI shielding itself. Yes, Carbon fiber has extraordinary shielding capability and is as electrically conductive as aluminum. And because carbon fiber is not ferromagnetic nor paramagnetic and is very weakly diamagnetic it does not significantly react to the inductive field of the DCSG cable, thus leaving the music signal alone, while still offering another layer of shielding from EMI and RFI.

DCSG, carbon fiber, and a braided silver-plated copper shield; Quiescence S gets its name by providing the best shielding possible without the detrimental effects of eddy current (one of the unintended side effects of a foil shield). This allows the interior of the cable to be as electromagnetically quiet as possible without robbing the conductors from their ability to pass a pristine signal.

Fully armored from EMI/RFI you’d expect to be met with beastly heft and a stiff cable in hand, nothing could be further from the truth. Quiescence was designed to retain the same fluidity in motion that Breathe S has. It’s light, incredibly flexible, and will not cause strain on your components.

Simple, elegant, painstakingly meticulous assembly, and as many of our clients are finding: Essential.

KLE Innovations Silver Harmony connectors: Standard

The creator of the venerable Eichmann Bullet Plugs, which revolutionized and redefined the state of the art in connector design, is at it again. Hapa Audio utilizes KLEI Silver Harmony RCA connectors, standard attire for Quiescence S. Silver Harmony is a low mass, high purity connector. Attention to detail, a dash of proprietary metallurgic design, and a keen understanding of proper engineering. Nothing less will do for Quiescence S. The KLE Silver Harmony and the Hapa Audio DCSG cable assembly deserve to be joined by the best high-grade solder. For this, we have selected Mundorf Silver/Gold Solder which is exclusively used for all connection points.

Upgrade Option KLEI Absolute connector:

For the Absolute best performance possible we also offer the option of utilizing KLEI flagship – Absolute Harmony – as an upgrade option. Absolute Harmony offers a higher overall conductivity rating at an extrapolated value of>101% IACS, even >105% IACS as compared to Silver Harmony with an extrapolated value of>101% IACS, even >103% IACS. We also utilize Mundorf Supreme Silver/Gold, with higher gold and silver content than Mundorf’s standard Silver/Gold solder, as an additional upgrade when Absolute Harmony is selected.

Subjectively it is our experience that Silver Harmony presents its sonics as elegant, dynamically robust, and highly detailed in its presentation. By comparison, Absolute Harmony takes all of those superlatives and doubles down. More vibrant, closer to reality, and aptly named, Absolute Harmony is well worth the price of admission.