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9.6.11.  I'm going to use this space to talk a bit about the Audiophilleo1 which is a really neat little USB to BNC transport/processor.  I've replaced my Sonicweld Diverter (the old 24/96 model) with it and most likely my QLS QA350 wav player, because the AP1 sounds better than the Diverter and I wanted to get in on the asynchronous USB action.  The QA350 is closer to the AP1 in neutrality but still nowhere near as refined, and it's practically unusable as it has a 4 character display and only plays wavs.  

The AP1 was tested with my AudioGD RE-7 balanced DAC, Beta22 amplifier, Amarra software with my Macbook Pro; cables were my RS OCC Silver Complement LCD-2 cables and RS OCC Silver Spore interconnects.  We also tested it with several of our OCC copper headphone cables to make sure that it worked out well with all of our offerings.

But first...some photos.

Its little metal briefcase perfectly fits my portable rig:

Glamor shots:

A bit about Audiophilleo - it's run by a fellow American named Philip.  He seems to know a lot about computers, from digital audio to writing software.  There's a lot of love and a crapton of features within the AP1 and it seems to be the work of one guy that is doing a whole lot of coding.  It really feels like a custom piece and not some boring piece of off the rack gear; the chips and processing are not done by the usual suspects as all that is custom.  

Look & feel - The AP1 is a very small box that fits in the palm of your hand.  It's made of aluminum with a very heavy glossy finish in a bunch of different colors, the finish picks up fingerprints but feels tough.  It has ports for 12V power and triggers so if you're a real nerd you can use the AP1 to turn on your gear.  There is an IR receiver port with an included IR cable - you can program the AP1 to learn the codes of any remote and then use that remote to control the AP1, pretty neat.  Plugging in the AP1 with the nice Wireworld USB cable that's included brings the very colorful OLED display to life - it will show some important statistics and the volume levels unless you use the joystick to go through menus and play with its features.  There's a USB port on one end of the unit and a BNC female on the other end.  With a small coupler you can couple the AP1 onto the back of your DAC, and thus it does not need a BNC cable - it just sort of hangs out back there.  

Interesting features - The AP1 has a bunch of neat features that other products of this kind don't have.  They are mostly for fun but can do some neat stuff.  

Jitter simulator - that's right, it has an extra set of "bad" clocks so you can try "hearing" jitter.  I've yet to play with this but it looks entertaining.  

Cable simulator - you can mess with the timings to simulate longer BNC cables.  Some say longer is better for digital cables, anyway you can find out for yourself with this simulator.  

Burn-in - that's right, you can plug it into any USB source and there's a mode to burn in the AP1.  Very handy as I don't want to have the AP1 connected to my laptop for 2 weeks straight.  

Bitperfect testing - there is a set of downloadable files you can use to play through the AP1 which will tell you whether or not your computer is outputting bit perfect audio.

Firmware updates - you can easily update the firmware through your computer.  Philip is open to suggestions for future features, pretty sweet.

Remote control - recall how I said there's an IR receiver and you can use any remote to teach commands to the AP1?  Well, the AP1 is actually functioning as a USB keyboard to your computer.  So it's able to command the computer to skip tracks, volume up/down, etc.  Works very well with macs, that I can vouch for.  

Update facebook, Twitter, and watch Netflix.  Plays most Playstation3 games.  - Just kidding.  Maybe in the future.

Sound quality - 

The AP1 is very obviously better than other transports I've used.  The layering of the sound is very impressive and the thing that I look for most - that the sound is convincing, not just having more x y or z but seeming real - that is very much there.  Extremely 3D.  I also noticed that in the past, really crazy songs with a lot going on seem to get muddled and confused, just not quite resolved...out of focus, if you will, with other gear.  I really avoided a lot of my music collection because I chalked it up to them being "poor recordings" and to some extent, the forgiving nature of the LCD-2s over the HD800s helped with this side of things. but the AP1 seems to bring out the best in recordings I thought were dull or choppy sounding before.  Most likely the explanation for this is that the AP1 is built from the ground up for a single purpose and has insanely low jitter, plus the asynchronous USB is helping as well to keep jitter down.  Jitter isn't going to mess much with treble or bass (although I heard some truly bone-crushing bass today with the Audez'e and the AP1 through the Beta22 amp) but it does ruin the realistic imaging and the sense of things being in sync.  Without a transport like the AP1 it is almost like the tracks of the recording are misaligned.  

Summary: this one's a keeper.  Pix coming soon!

9.4.11.  As promised, the DHC's biggest contest of the year is starting today - the third annual Halloween Contest. No purchase necessary, all you have to do is guess the number! We have lots of jaw-dropping prizes up for grabs this year with new prizes being built every day - take a look!

8.13.11. Keep a close watch on this page as the 3rd annual DHC Halloween Contest will be the hugest one yet. Our run of JH/UE/Westone overmolded OCC copper IEM cables will be here hopefully not too long from now. Our group buy for RS OCC silver cables is closing soon, see above for details and don't miss out on this one. Don't forget that our "Nucleotide" OCC copper wire can be had now in clear-black insulation, which looks pretty awesome on its own and can be mixed and matched with the clear conventional Nucleotide for some neat effects.

7.6.11. The newest batch of DHC Nucleotide stranded OCC copper will be here Friday. It will be the best wire we've offered yet, as we have had it cryo-treated by the manufacturer. It is also available on a limited basis with a clear-black tint to its otherwise clear polyethylene insulation - photos to come shortly. The new black cryo Nucleotide should look very neat in IEM and other cables. The DHC Symbiote IEM cable has been well-liked by its early adopters and overmolded cables are being prepared with the black or the clear cryo Nucleotide OCC copper for delivery in late July/early August.

6.23.11. DHC has been granted access to a new design of OCC silver wire. It features a different shape and insulation than wires we've used in the past, which maximizes surface area for the signal to travel upon, making it our highest performing wire yet. This wire has been well-received and we are taking orders for a second group buy . Click here for details and pricing - this is an event you do not want to miss.

6.13.11. Lots of news to report. First, do not miss our naming contest for a new dual-layer Ultra sleeving style we have created - win a cable and in-store credit! Also, we are transitioning to using Vintage Audiolab for most of our connectors. This is a small firm that has just released a new line of the best custom RCA, XLR, mini, and even speaker banana plugs made with very impressive materials, the best I've ever seen. They use tellurium copper (a hard 99% copper alloy) plated with rhodium for the contact surfaces with beautiful carbon fiber trim. Expect to see these connectors on all of my products.

5.17.11. The final revision of the Complement flagship headphone cable is complete - the 3.0 upgrade.  The optional 3.0 package adds a beautiful silver fiber sleeve that is sleeker than the black nylon that we use, with a lighter metal-kevlar shielding that reduces weight. The Complement is now at a lower price point as we have found a new flagship XLR connector that is both better-priced and with better materials than before - with a 6' Audez'e LCD2 Complement starting at $600.

• Made of our uber-comfortable 24awg "Nucleotide" stranded 7N OCC copper wire for super-clear, super-neutral sound.   Pure copper + continuous casting of the wire --> ultimate realism.
• Round or flat 4-wire braid - we will post pictures of each, vote for your favorite for the production cable!
• 4 feet in length, at least for these first few prototypes.  6 foot lengths available later.
• Includes choice of anytermination - DHC black aluminum 1/4"or 1/8" plugs, Neutrik XLR, balanced portable connectors for RSA and iBasso
• Minimum bulk on the cable's y-split.  There's no need to put a lot there, it just adds weight and bulk.
• Overmolded by the best in the business - permanent and tough clear earcup plugs

4.18.11. It's not every day that we come up with a game-changing product. If you like headphones, chances are you have a pile of them, but you might not want to get a separate cable for every single one of them. What if we told you that you could use one Molecule, Clone, or Complement cable with all your headphones...too good to be true? It is indeed possible with the DHC Triple Threat Adapters!



These adapters let you use any Audez'e LCD-2 cable with practically any headphone.  Just order one of our cables with LCD-2 chosen for the headphone type.  They consist of male mini-XLRs on one end connected with our "Nucleotide" OCC copper wire to the connectors for the headphones.  So once you have your LCD-2 cable picked out, get some Triple Threat adapters for HD650, HD800, HE-6.  You can also have us hard-wire these little adapters to headphones that don't have detachable cables (Grado, Beyer, Denons), letting you use any LCD-2 cable with these cans.

There's more to these adapters than just the convenience of only needing 1 headphone cable.  These adapters protect your headphones from wearing out and getting damaged.  When you frequently swap cables, the sockets on the headphones themselves will slowly wear out - I was worried myself with my HD800s, since I'm constantly connecting different cables to them.  If you just leave the Triple Threat adapters plugged into your cans, you only need to plug them in once...then connect any LCD-2 cable to the attached adapter - no more wear on the headphones!  We make the adapters light and comfortable with high-quality parts such that they will not impact the comfort and sound of your existing cable.  

4.7.11.  We'd like to introduce a new cable!  The DHC "Macromolecule" is our 8-strand Audez'e LCD-2 cable that we are now offering after some poking and prodding from customers.  We've developed two very beautiful braids - the lower-cost, super-flexible flat 8-wire braid and the ornamental, hand-loomed Kumihimo Japanese-style 8-wire braid (pictured below).  Because of how compliant and compact our "Nucleotide" OCC copper is, this is one "chain mail" style cable that won't weigh you down -- it is hardly bigger than our 4-wire "Molecule" cable.   These cables are perfect for any Audez'e setup - check it out!  This cable may be compatible with other headphones including hard-wiring, but 4 wires just won't fit an HD800 or HE-6 plug in the way that we'd like, so we can't offer 8-wire cables for those headphones just yet.



3.31.11.  Send in the Clones!  One Clone headphone cable for each of the current flagship cans...



3.27.11.  Let me re-introduce the improved DHC "Complement" 2.0 headphone cable.  We have changed the way we assemble this cable while using the same materials and design.  By tightening some of the lower layers we can reduce the diameter (same thickness) of the braid shield and outer nylon sleeve.  This makes for a flagship cable for HD800, HE-6, and LCD-2 that is scarcely bigger than its little brother, the Clone.  We're using this improved design on our newly-arrived Audez'e LCD-2s and are loving it!

3.21.11.  Need more proof that DHC's "Nucleotide" UP-OCC copper wire that we use in our cables is the real deal?  This paper and others show that the OCC continuous casting process, by reducing the number of boundaries between the crystals in the copper wire's structure, reduces resistivity and increases conductivity.  
3.8.11.  Let me re-introduce the Clone headphone cable for HD800...



3.4.11.  This week, some classy DHC Molecule HE-6 cables!  These cables are really tough but insanely light and small - it's hard to tell that you're wearing it, but your ears can tell it's there.



2.24.11.  We are now going to offer hard-wired recabling of our Molecule headphone cable for headphones with non-detachable cables (Grado, Beyerdynamic, Denon, etc).  Just mail us the cans and they'll be back in a week or two with a Molecule OCC copper cable attached.   Before ordering, please email us at doublehelixcables@gmail.com to confirm which model of headphone you wish to recable, and we will provide our address to mail the headphones to.  Some headphones that are extremely rare or near-impossible to open such as wooden Grados, Sony MDR-R10s or AKG K1000s should really only be modded by the owner or the manufacturer.  Please select "mail-in recable" from the headphone type menu on the Molecule cable page when placing your order.  Price includes insured return shipping, USA only. 

2.6.11.  We can now start taking HD800 cable pre-orders for the Molecule, Clone, and Complement headphone cables, for shipment in the next few weeks.  DHC is now offering the HD800 option at a lower price than before.