About Aero Ag Interconnects
The Hapa Aero Ag interconnects utilize the same attention to detail, proprietary hand polishing, meticulous surface verification as every Aerogel cable Hapa Audio makes. This is one of the secrets to their spectacular sound. The nano polished surface essentially creates a smoother, less noisy surface for the signals which travel on the outer surface of the conductor.
Inspired by Japanese Knife/Sword polishing techniques, this stepwise process sta
rts with a rough polish and gets progressively more and more refined with finer and finer compounds until the end result of 120 nanometer polish is achieved.
Below is a photo of the conductor taken straight off of the spool
As with UPOCC copper, Silver UPOCC arrives highly oxidized and far from ideal surface quality. Note the flashy silvery look, that is what oxidized silver looks like. It takes on an almost supernatural flashiness after the annealing process. Also present, severe lengthwise striations from the drawing process and marring over the entire surface.
First step, the oxidized layer is removed with a very aggressive (but gently applied) sanding process, followed by 3 heavy grit processes including 3 cleanings to completely remove compounds.
10 steps - 5 polishing and 5 cleaning brings the surface to a 1.5 micron (1500 nanometer) scale refinement.
Final polish involves a 6 step process, 3 polishing 2 standard cleaning and a final cleaning in an industrial sonic cleaner to achieve Hapa Audio’s proprietary 120 nanometer (.12 micron) Nano-polish.
Upon final cleaning and drying the Aerogel layer is immediately installed using clean room techniques (surgical gloves, and absolutely no contact with any surface prior to or during the installation process) The level of polish at this point is so refined, any physical contact with hard surfaces will damage the surface, it would not survive long if exposed to elements and any sort of contact with even moderately hard objects. Thus, the best way to protect a polish this fine is to install it in Hapa Audio’s proprietary Aerogel dielectric immediately. This protects the surface from damage and oxidation for the life of the cable while also creating the most ideal dielectric layer available only in Hapa Audio Aerogel products.
All of this ensures the highest quality finish on the surface of the signal wire in order to obtain the highest level of fidelity possible.
Aerogel
Hapa Audio utilizes the best dielectric material available. Aerogel is a manmade silica compound that has the unique feature of being the lightest solid material known to mankind. Boasting an air to solid material percentage of 99.8%, aerogel is an incredibly effective thermal insulator used by companies like Boeing Aerospace and NASA when cutting edge engineering solutions are necessary. Because of its lightweight and incredible thermal properties it is generally reserved for exotic purposes such as serving as a collection grid material on space probes for cosmic dust capture and insulation for the Mars Rovers. For more information on Aerogel check out some of the top hits on YouTube when you search ‘aerogel’
What isn’t as well known about Aerogel is that it is also among the very best dielectric materials available. Silica (non-Aerogel variety) has very similar dielectric properties as Teflon, it would seem logical that it would be used as a dielectric material. However, Aerogel is incredibly brittle. It is unthinkable to attempt to use it in such an application due to its low tensile strength, it would just crumble and fail to hold its form. In fact, Aerogel had not been used as a dielectric in any application we could find anywhere. Therefore no obvious solutions around these problems existed. We realized if we were going to use Aerogel as a dielectric, we would have to invent a process to do so from the ground up. After 2 years of research and development (and a patent pending), we are proud to bring you our technological tour-de-force in Aero.
Connectors
TheAero Ag are terminated with ETI Silver Link connectors. These connectors ensure the best match for Aero Ag. Every detail that is achieved with their Hand polished Aerogel clad data core is fleshed out completely with these connectors.
What makes them so special?
Getting right into the sound, I was surprised, and not surprised. After listening (and loving) the Aero Cu, I was a little concerned that the Silver may be too much of a good thing, perhaps they would be typical silver lean, shifting the tonal balance towards brightness.
What actually happened was that the bass became more powerful and textured, heck everything became more textured as even more subtleties in the recordings came through. The finest details, movements, breathing, subtle instrument and vocal techniques that went unnoticed before were suddenly, naturally present. The Aero Ag managed to take the incredible characteristics of the Aero Cu (neutrality, transparency, and musicality) and went deeper into the recording to pull out even more information in a natural, awe inspiring way. I literally sat in awe.
The Aero Ag interconnect cables will create a sense of wonder when listening to your music. Perhaps that same sense of wonder you had when you initially fell in love with music and audio. Perhaps a new sensation. But, you will sit in wonder when you hear these cables.
In-Home Auditions
I have a 1 and a 1.5 meter pair of Aero AG interconnects available for In-Home audition. If you are seriously curious, or ready to try something new from a lesser-known, but highly skilled cable manufacturer, get in touch to arrange an audition.
