as stated in my article on Aerogel, Aerogel alone does not a next tier cable make. In fact, the whole reason I spent so much time working on the research and development of Aerogel dielectrics was because I needed a next level dielectric to house the absolute insanity that is the heart and soul of Aero, Hapa Audio's proprietary hand polished UPOCC copper core.
Under the microscope:When Aero Cu USB was originally release this time last year, a method of polishing developed in-house was used to go above and beyond what any other company was doing with their cabling solutions, most manufacturers take the UPOCC off the spool and without addressing the surface problems, install it inside their dielectric layer. I will show the reason why this is detrimental to the sound quality in this article.
Through a long and involved research and development process, I have taken the polishing process to the next level. In order to step up the surface polish of the original Aero’s data core, it was necessary to get a much closer view of the wire itself. Therefore Hapa Audio has invested heavily in advanced optical equipment such as high power magnifying optics and even higher powered microscopes in order to get a close look on a nano scale allowing an even higher degree of attention to detail. Every Aerogel products UPOCC core is visually verified under microscope to attain the highest level hand polish possible. While these optics are generally utilized during the polishing process to refine the work done, I have used it here to illustrate the ‘why’ of my methods.
The visual results speak for themselves. Here is a side by side of the UPOCC data wire right off of the spool and a photo after the new polishing process. The first image is what ALL UPOCC I have ever sourced looks like under microscope regardless of manufacturer claims of polishing or technical manufacturing steps.
This is what most of the competition is using- Right off the spool:
If you were to look at this wire with the naked eye, you might just barely see small glints of light reflecting oddly off of the surface of the wire, but under the microscope it's another story. While high in purity, UPOCC manufacturers are just not able to deliver better results than this on surface finish. Soft materials and entropy make sure of that. The unavoidable result, marring and oxidation. Note the brownish orange oxide layer coupled with marring and lengthwise striations extend down the entire length from the drawing process. When UPOCC wire is stored, shipped, and handled this is the result.
After Hapa Audio’s in-house proprietary polishing process:
Striations drastically reduced and marring minimized and in most spots eliminated. Note the rainbowing coloration visible on portions of the wire, indicating a very high level of surface quality. Proprietary in-house polishing is the only way to achieve the highest level of surface quality on bare wire UPOCC. all of this is achieved while also removing the least amount of material possible.
Protecting the pristine finish:Upon completion of the proprietary polishing process and final cleaning, the wire is immediately installed in the preservative Aerogel layer using clean room techniques to avoid any contaminants from getting on the surface of the wire. The aerogel formulation Hapa Audio uses is the same molecular material, silica dioxide, as silica packets used in food storage albeit in a completely different form. Hydrophobic and inert, Aerogel creates an ideal humidity free environment for the highly polished wire to be permanently housed in. This drastically reduces the potential for oxidation for the life of the cable. Teflon, cotton, Teflon thread suspended air dielectric and various PVCs can, and do, allow for oxidization under jacket over time. In fact no other dielectric material comes close to the preservative nature of Aerogel.
Be on the lookout for the announcement of the first of MANY new products using these technologies and beyond in the coming days.
