Hapa Audio KnØt Upgrade Cable

I first got to know of Hapa Audio through a thread on Head-Fi, which led to a few emails back and forth as I got to know more about Jason, who is the sole guy behind Hapa Audio. It's not often that a cable maker can showcase both aesthetics with customization galore and R&D based on the scientific principle. I mentioned before how his cables are a labor of love, but based on the conversations I have had thus far, they are also clearly products with much thought and tests put into them. The box you see above is what both Hapa cables shipped in, and the IEM cable was covered separately. I recommend reading through that page for more about the Hapa Audio design mindset since I won't repeat myself, although knowing that the IEM cable comes with a case and the full-size cable a branded tote bag is cool.


We are taking a look at Hapa Audio's KnØt flagship full-size analog cable, and there are three versions based on the conductor. The process begins with a talk with Jason to go over exactly what you want for every single aspect of the cable. He tried to make my life easier by including an XLR to 6.35 mm (1/4") adapter cable for a source without an XLR connector, which of course meant the cable itself has an XLR connector. Even the adapter cable is of incredibly high quality for something made urgently with parts lying around, with a genuine Furutech receptacle and possibly the best-looking and feeling 1/4" plug I have seen to date. The cable is a beast in its own right, quite imposing out of the bad and feeling more like a rope adorned with decorations throughout, which would have certainly looked the part around a Hawaiian Chief's neck, befitting the Hapa name. I also appreciated the soft silicone cable minder instead of the usual cheap wire tie-straps.

Unlike the IEM cable that was made specifically for the review, this full-size cable was already ready and being used by Jason prior to being shipped out for review. I was expecting something with signs of use thus, but it took a high-end digital microscope to even notice any. I took nearly 50 photos between my camera and the microscope, which would have been far too many to share, so I had a tough time picking ten to display here, but began with the excellent aeco XLR connector using a 4-pin silver-plated copper/beryllium conductor associated with a Teflon dielectric. Jason spoke to me extensively about the importance of dielectrics for cables, and he has been working on a patent for the world's first aerogel-based dielectric, too. No matter where you stand on this, it would be safe to say the guy is enthusiastic and loves to nerd out.

We then get to the multi-colored sleeving Hapa Audio refers to as nylon silk, which signifies the implementation of fine-stranded nylon, so it is extremely soft and smooth to where it's still quite supple and has a bending radius that may surprise despite its large diameter, and this is before you realize how lightweight it is for the size. So if you thought this is too big to manage on your person easily, that's not the issue as much as individual strands sticking to a tacky surface, such as a wool jacket. Even so, the extensive braiding results in no microphonics in use. Interspersed throughout are strands of the conductor core, which Hapa Audio describes as the Balanced Sinusoidal Isolated Network (βeta-Sine) geometry. The geometrical braiding seemingly stems from experience and knowledge gained with previous headphone cables and aims to reject RFI and EMI in the cable while maintaining the "proper interaction between the signal positive and negative poles of a balanced output." Indeed, Hapa Audio says it, and I quote, "works on the same principle as a twisted pair CAT5/6/7 style wire wherein the signal positive and signal negative portions of the signal are "coupled" via geometry in order to improve signal arrival times. This was done by precisely choosing the size of the nylon spacer as well as exhaustive design to the geometry. A lot of research and development was utilized to arrive at this exact geometry." The conductor consists of extremely thin (80 µm) pure silver strands that require soldering under a microscope, and Mundorf Supreme high silver/gold content solder is used. The individual nylon strands are even thinner, and the wire bundles are internally dampened by more ultra-thin nylon (only ~1 µm) for a fiber ensemble that bends, flexes, and stretches to prevent it from suddenly catching on to something and jerking the connectors out of the headphones.

Then we get to the second artisan element in the making of the KnØt cable—the MokuTi ("Ti" for titanium) handmade anodized titanium barrels. The splitter is not the most functional in this configuration and works more like a stethoscope with a fixed angle for both cables downstream. There are also no L/R markings, and it's instead the differently colored sleeving that distinguishes them as per your preferences. These can all be changed of course, but I do wish Hapa Audio had not placed that logo sticker here. It seems out of place on what is clearly their product speaking for itself. The cable is on the shorter side—again customizable—and terminated with rhodium-plated copper/beryllium 3.5 mm TRS plugs. The connector housings alone are something else to behold in person and really make this cable come off more like a jewelry piece than anything else.


I'll keep this section short and let the photos above mostly speak for themselves. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the Hapa Audio KnØt cable is substantially better and has far more customization options, but it is also more in your face in terms of colors and footprint than the predominantly gray HIFIMAN cables that come with the HE1000se. In fact, I was surprised to see the lower-profile XLR connector, but everything is an easy upgrade over the stock cables to where—given the cost of the headphones and relatively bad cables for simple use—I can certainly see owners shelling out the cash for something more personalized and significantly better looking.


We now get to the tricky part, as there will be those who disagree no matter what I say. To many, an analog audio cable is merely a power and audio signal conduit, and another camp takes cable composition extremely seriously to where it is considered as important a component of the audio chain as any other. I am somewhere in between, as I put my budget towards headphones/IEMs followed by the source and then the tracks/streaming service; only then do the cable and other aspects follow. Material processing and cable design have matured to where there are certain minimum standards, so it's not often that I have had the sound signature affected by cables. But of course there are cases where the stock cables may do the job for audio while being terrible for user convenience, which was the situation here.

Even so, when someone says that an all-copper cable is warm, silver adds detail and sparkle in the treble, and a mix of the two is a balance unlike no other, I have to remain agnostic and let my own experiences dictate how I think. Unless everything else is the same and as good as it gets, it's hard to judge such a statement. I would need to have the same Hapa KnØt cable in the three versions of copper, silver, and copper/silver to even hold this experiment. Instead, I used the FiiO K9 Pro—review coming soon—that has all the connectors I could want, and the same settings to test the HE1000se on the stock XLR cable followed by the Hapa Audio cable. Seen above is the frequency response contribution of the Hapa KnØt cable compared to the HIFIMAN cable, which was within error margins of the effect on the frequency response. There might well be some effect to the sound signature which is not captured by these measurements, and I mentioned that the Hapa Audio KnØt better avoids microphonics, which helps better appreciate the headphones. What I did notice was that the KnØt had appreciably lower electrical resistance and capacitance, which helps with the final sound output. It's not like the HE1000se's faults were all solved with this cable, and it being all silver perhaps doesn't make for a good pairing, but the Hapa Audio KnØt remains a very good cable that might interest users, and I may re-visit the cable down the line with the Susvara.