When we say we use the 'finest' Litz available we are referring of course to the quality/purity of the material being well above standard. Aside from the qualitative use of the word 'fine' we are also referring to the diameter of our litz being the thinnest available. Coming in at a mere 80 microns in diameter per strand (.08 millimeter diameter. Compared to human hair at anywhere between .03-.12 millimeters.) Hapa Audio utilizes the finest wire in every sense of the word, highest purity and finely stranded. We intentionally use the absolute thinnest, and subsequently the most difficult to work with, wire that is available.
Why do we go to such lengths? Our Angel hair litz simply has better sound quality. The current fad within cables is to focus on gauge or focusing on the purity wire used (5N, 6N, 7N purity) At Hapa we follow a different philosophy: The highest quality parts are merely prerequisite. Proper design and superlative sound quality are the yardstick we use to measure performance.
Therefore, we focus heavily on proper geometry and correct vibration damping. In order to pare down the problems commonly seen with other current design philosophies. Merely focusing on purity and whom has the thickest wire cannot cut it.
Vibration damping- Where do most issues with sound quality start with a cable? Within the electro/mechanical interaction of the wire with itself. In the pursuit to resolve this issue properly, vibrationally damping the wire internal to cabling matters substantially.
Standard wire is arranged with the dielectric exterior and the conductive wire on the interior. Two major issues arise from this most basic of arrangements: Most dielectrics do not do a good job of proper vibrational damping of the internal conductor. Some cables over-dampen (solid core cables with heavy Teflon dielectrics often suffer this) while others under-dampen (multi-stranded designs with no internal damping measures.) The result is harshness in the audible spectrum in different destructive ways.
Over-dampened cables tend to sound lethargic and lacking in liveliness. This is because a large amount of the conductor's electrical energy being utilized to overcome the dielectric effect of the overbearing dielectric. This energy is literally stolen away by the very thing that is supposed to protect it, it's dielectric layer.
With vivaciousness being one of the most important parameters of listening enjoyment, the results from overdamping is unfortunately the norm. Thus for this as well as a multitude of other reasons solid core wire is not utilized in our headphone cabling nor for our analog cabling currently. As a separate point of conversation, we are working on a solution that resolves the issues with solid core cabling deftly. More to come at a later time (when our Patent is officially filed!)
Under-dampened cables often sound harsh, edgy, and bright. When dealing with electronics, vibrational energy is synonymous to electrical energy. As electrical energy is traveling through the wire an electric field is induced around the wire as a result. This inductive field can lead to vibration within the strands of wire resulting in mechanical energy being converted back into electrical energy and vis verse. Dependent on frequency, this field interference can destructively interfere and/or constructively interfere with the original signal propagating through the cable. If not properly accounted for, vibrational energy induced by this field can and does lead to major issues within the audible spectrum. Depending on the type of material used this vibrational energy can degrade sound quality in a multitude of ways.
Unfortunately for those of us who design cable, the physics of this works out to mean that multi-stranded wire is highly susceptible to field induced vibration and in particular, thinner wire is more susceptible to field induced vibrational energy due to its lower mass.
Our solution: Interior to our Angel Hair Litz bundle is an even finer (finer as in thinner) silk stranded nylon matrix. So thin we can only estimate that each strands diameter is no larger than 10 microns or less in diameter (.01 millimeters.) Why so thin? Again, the goal is to dampen the cable without overdamping. Utilizing a material with similar thickness as the Angel Hair Litz would only add to the vibration problem and anything thicker would cause the vibrational issues to be even worse. Proper damping takes a light touch and a keen understanding of material science.
The result: A cable that is vibrant, vivacious and relatively free of frequency aberrations caused by improper damping (i.e. brightness in silver wire or 'wooly' soft bass with copper wire are a few examples of what you might hear from improper damping.). The thickness of our litz and vibrational damping are just a few examples of what we take into account with our designs. We have taken the time to throughly and intentionally address each aspect of our cables with the end goal of refining your listening experience. We are excited for you to hear the result.
