The Act of Disappearance

Homegrown Audio DNA interconnects

Audioenthusiasts always start thinking about big brands when it comes to cables for their system. Not only is it natural as those ´big ones´ invest quite a lot of money into advertising but it is usually the safest option too. In the past the audio cables had been often overlooked (and maybe the other components were not that sonically sophisticated to feel a difference either) and until recently only those most courageous have built an audio-wire business. And then in 90's (and even more in the new millennium) together with e-commerce boom there were and are cable companies popping out like mushrooms trying to sell their esoteric braids and magic wires. As usual, one has to be very vigilant not to buy an overpromising cable impulsively as there are many of them. Overpromising and expensive. But not those from Homegrown Audio.

Unlike many, Homegrown Audio (HGA) approach is not based on the belief that using unconventional designs and out-of-this-world material combinations brings a listener closer to a musical performance. They have chosen pragmatic way - rather than try to reinvent a wheel, from the very beginning in 1998 their investments were made in some best braiding machines available and into gathering numerous talents to give a solid scientific background to their work. One of the most important criteria that was applied will be pretty understandable for all of us: affordability. This is where Homegrown Audio took a risk.

The best way to get around is to get through...
There is no doubt that high end audio is a very specialized and niche market with merciless competition. Therefore, for any manufacturer, it is extremely important to carefully consider the target group, an audience to whom they will sell. One of the most obvious choices would be to go for as wide audience as possible and streamline products to hifi hobbyists and enthusiasts as well as to audiophiles with golden ears. The former means that the products should be widely available in mass market retail, the latter means that the products must NOT be available in there. We, audiophiles, are strange animals - we like exclusivity but do not trust to unknown brands. We also do not want to spent a fortune and endorse that magical value vs performance ratio, but we are very (I mean very) suspicious towards those less than the most expensive designs. As a resulting paradox, a high end audio equipment manufacturer is forced by us to charge extra money for his products in order to be visible and credible (covering promotional expenses), and in order not to be suspicious for selling budget priced components.

HGA is treading a different path that enables their products to get through this audioparadox. Not investing huge budgets into advertising campaigns they rather cherish us, music lovers, and rely upon our natural tendency to spread a word of mouth about the components we have heard and liked. Not a bad strategy indeed as it keeps us happy and HGA going. From the first design marketed 12 years ago Homegrown Audio have this way grown to a fine cable & accessories assortment and to the subject of this review, the new DNA interconnect. Let me explicitly say right in the beginning that the DNA is a delight.

In silver we trust...
HGA belongs to silver religion. All the wires they use are made of pure silver of a high grade. Pioneered already by companies like Kimber Cable it was a natural choice - it is the most conductive material available. But not only measurement characteristics matter, that's why some of early silver cables in market cast a shadow on the silver design reputation with their bright and strident sound . That's why HGA plays so much with their research sources to get the cables' geometry right. The research and auditioning. The auditioning and research. Until they get it right. The fact that the geometry is one of winning recipes has been proven in the past decade by successes of designs from Shunyata Research, Silver Audio and Kimber, or, from a completely different perspective, by Nordost. Through years of experience it was taught, that undesirable HF anomalies of silver cables lie rather in design flaws than in the conductor material. It is not easy to achieve that magical balance that is called neutrality and musicality. In HGA they achieved it and they can be proud of it.

The DNA interconnect is built upon a technology that made another HGA's cable, Silver Lace, to be a phenomenal success. The secret of the Silver Lace lies in a not-that-common braided geometry of eight strands of a silver wire woven into an optimized round Litz-concept braid combined with a Teflon dielectric. The cable won audiophiles over by its naturalness, effortless and musicality. The DNA reaches yet far beyond that.

Spiralling up to music...
The resemblance of spiral architecture of the interconnect to a helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, one of the key elements of human being, is apparent. The design of the DNA is all about very carefully tuned geometry to minimize microphonic resonance. However, a configuration of its wires in the right-handed helix partly neutralizes RMF-reducing properties of the Litz braided geometry; that's why the HGA recommends a certain caution in case you need to use very long runs of the wire (for example between a preamplifier and an amplifier). However, a listener should experience no issue in using lengths of up to 3-4m.

As mentioned, the DNA is building upon the Silver Lace cable, but its design varies from the aforementioned in many ways. One of the most unusual features is a reduction of the number of conductors. In our audiophile world, the more refined a design is, the higher number of conductors it usually employs. Whereas the Silver Lace is built on 8 silver strands, there are only 4 wires carrying the signal in the DNA. Another important change is the elimination of the Teflon dielectric in favor of a cotton one. In the DNA's design you will find a central damping core and cotton covered wires that are coated with nylon for extra protection.

There is a lot of attention to detail. It is surprising and most welcome that in this price category a customer has a free choice of terminations. Balanced versions use reference-grade Neutrik XLR connectors, single ended designs provide options for either Eichmann RCA plugs (a special design for further reduction of distortion through elimination of eddy currents by a single return contact - similar to star earthing in amplifiers) or silver plated LOK Silver Point connectors.

The LOK Silver Point RCA terminations can be get also separately from HGA and are worthwhile mentioning. The connector is basically a locking-barrel construction (set as an industry standard by German WBT) with its body plated in silver and an outer layer treated by rhodium for protection and longevity. The center pin is a hollow core made of the same silver that is used in wires, but it is said to be tempered differently. Interestingly, the center pin is not rhodium-plated but kept pure silver instead. Those knowledgeable (or generous to their girlfriends and/or wives) know, that untreated silver easily oxidize, developing a silver oxide film on its surface. Unlike copper verdigris, the silver oxide is as conductive as the silver, so properties of the contact do not degrade over the time. A nice solution. Using my review pair terminated with LOK Silver Point connectors I have not encountered any issue at all, in fact, I preferred them to my WBT's Nextgens. Repeated connecting and disconnecting Nextgens during a review process is far from being safe & easy as their barrels are rather fragile and there is a risk of damage to them. On the other hand, operating LOKs is easier, safer and the contact is reliable. I liked them indeed.

The use of all natural cotton dielectric in the DNA induces a sense of comfort and well-being. That's only part of truth - the DNA's are also as musical, transparent and natural as the best cables I've come across so far.

Cracking the DNA code...
I run a 1m single-ended pair mainly between a combo of preamplifier and power amplifier from Bryston (B26/2BSST), between a CD player and a solid state integrated amplifier (modified Pioneer PD-S904G and Accuphase E-210A), a SACD player and a hybrid integrated amplifier (Accuphase DP-78 and Pathos Logos) and - as an absolute reference - the DNAs linked the pure A-class Acuphase A-60 power amplifier fed directly (no preamp) to the DP-78. To hear well into a mix, a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C1 monitors was used throughout the course of 6 weeks.

The DNA's are marked as directional which is indicated by a small arrow on their heatshrink. It is fair to say that I cannot comment on how the cables would perform right out from a box as I received the pair that was already broken in and I cooked it even more (ca 100 hours) on my other system, while breaking-in other components for other reviews. That's why the Homegrown Audio's DNA conveyed only the purest and the most beautiful music from the very first moment.

I started my audition of the DNA's with a symphonic majesty at its best, Allegro non Troppo of Shostakovich's Eighth (Symphony No.8, LSO Live SACD, LSO0527), swapping Cross interconnect by Cardas Audio, and immediately heard an increased sense of ambience. I'm not going to say that the soundstage was deeper or more layered, but I'm going to say that a dense image of a golden-lit concert hall was replaced by an airy, ambient and very natural sounding soundstage. Clearly identifiable on the massive sways of cellos, precision of brass and thuds of timpani, it was clear right away that the DNA is a special cable. I spent with Shostakovich and Rostropovich's Eighth many evenings and the frequency with which this particular SACD spun in my player in the course of last two months was rather high due to extensive tests of interconnects and speaker cables. This was also the reason for having a nice selection of wires on hand to compare the DNA with.

All the drama and inner resolution of the symphony was captured perfectly with the HGA without sacrificing neither the tiniest details, nor natural weight and solidity of the instruments. The acoustic tonal palette delivered by the Cross is reputable, however, the DNA somehow managed to keep the subtle shadings and removed the veils of coloration of the Cardas cable. Well, this is natural, we know what the Cross is all about, you say. Let me finish it - the same was still apparent when comparing the DNA's with the reference, the Cardas's Golden Presence. Though the difference was not so significant this time, still the Golden Presence seemed to be a tad more veiled and the HGA more open and lively without losing in timbres, textures and ambience clues. The Golden Presence is especially good with resonances of individual notes and a decay of instruments in its case is very impressive. With the DNA in the system, I had no sense of being robbed of anything - still the notes trailed off with the beauty, but this time with more control and precision, revealing the slightly romantic nature of the Golden Presence.

The beauty is in simplicity...
Whereas the above paragraph commented on the trailing off, we should also mention transients. At this stage, another reference, Nordost's Heimdall was called to arms. With its lightning fast portraying the Heimdall is easily the best buy from Nordost's collection and, when discussing transient attacks, there is hardly any more qualified pair of interconnects at its price level. In Topsy (Age of Swing, Reference Recordings RR-59CD) light strokes of Dick Hyman on a piano are rendered in a resolute and speedy fashion against a deep dark background in case of the Nordost. The Homegrown Audio DNA's did not have the speed of the Heimdall, neither had its pitch black canvas, but still the delicacy of piano notes in a naturally reverberant soundstage managed to occupy my listening room. The Heimdall was an expert on the attacks, transients were razor sharp and solid with both piano and guitar - the DNA's were just a tiny bit slower and a tiny bit more relaxed. On this particular piece of music I would prefer the Nordost by a small margin, but once jazz music gets really complex and busy, the Heimdall is perhaps too much precise and ample naturalness of the DNA is its clear asset.

From what was said right now is, I hope, clear that there are no negative attributes in the sound of this HGA's interconnect that are normally associated with the silver. Try as hard as you can but you won't be able to catch a glimpse of harshness or stridency, coldness or sterility. Comparing the DNA with legendary Ray Kimber's design of his KCAG cable we had a winner very fast: though the overall detail resolution of the KCAG was slightly better and, for example, cymbals had a beautiful shimmering and ringing quality, the soaring voice of Lisa Gerrard was within its highest registers over the top as was the clarinet in the Shostakovich's Eighth. Of course, in less transparent systems, the overall brighter shades of the KCAG may be a blessing, but with increasing sonic purity of audio components the agility in the treble of Kimber is unmasked.

Listening to a double bass on Rebecca Pidgeon's Spanish Harlem from Audiophile Vocal Recordings (Chesky, SACD323) shows that the DNA's have less profound bass than, for example, a brand new Krautwire Passion cable. The Passion conveys bass notes with a higher liquidity, weight and organic solidity, but it is also several times more expensive. Also I had a feeling that the Passion's weighty low end slightly obscures upper bass and affects also midrange a bit. With the Passion the bass is rounder, with the DNA's it is a tad more articulate and it is in a balance with the rest of the frequency range. Thus it enables delightful 'audiophile' nuances to be heard - like transients of plucked strings played by real fingers or a delicate sound of a felt hammer hitting the piano string.

It's unbelievable that such a result has been achieved in the given price level. The beauty, in this case the beauty of the music, is in simplicity.

Let there be blood...
As usual, I like to conclude critical evaluation of typical high end stuff with recordings not that typical for an audio reviewer. In the course of months when many brands of wires resided in my systems, the latest output of Bay Area thrashers Exodus became such a typical program material. Let There Be Blood (Zaentz Records ZNTZ02) is a new millennium re-recording of the now two decades old debut Bonded By Blood - it is a re-recording, not a remix, so do not expect anything new or significantly different with one exception: the sound. Though slightly compressed it is still a vast improvement over the original and, more importantly, it is still by far better than the most of the genre output that occupy shelves in music stores.

Crushing guitars supported by machine gun drums were on most high end systems softened or overly detailed, their raw energy gave up to a refinement and audiophile quality and the music simply lost its abrasive edge. With the Exodus disc in the Accuphase DP-78, the Homegrown Audio DNA's outperformed both references, the Nordost Heimdall and the Cardas Golden Presence. Compared to the Heimdall they showed comparable amount of openness, liveliness and inner detail, but managed better integrate the detail into the overall sonic picture. Anyway, both were very close and this came out only after endless listening sessions. The Golden Presence seems not to be designed for this type of music, which is portrayed with broader brush as a consequence, and the DNA's benefited from accurate timing and resulting precision of instruments alignment.

I envy those people who listen to only one or a few music genres - it makes fine tuning of their home audio much easier. With my extended collection of the hardest rock, world music, jazz, classic music, new age, electronica and vocal recordings, I am extremely demanding towards the universality of components. The Homegrown Audio DNA interconnects are such a component.

Triple-guaranteed...
The DNA's will easily win a listener over with natural rendering of any music genre. There are for sure interconnects out there, that will perform better in your system, but it is also possible that there are NOT. Anyway, audiophiles should rely on their own ears, not on subjective findings of reviewers (I borrowed the sentence from Homegrown Audio). It is true, so do not read this but give the pair of the DNA's a try instead - there is virtually no risk as they come with 3 guarantees:

First, any stock cable you buy from HGA can be evaluated and returned back within 30 days for full refund of the purchase price. Second, owners of any HGA cable may very easily upgrade to a new model, as the company will buy out their old cables - unique and nice approach. Third, I can guarantee that with a purchase of the DNA's you get the sonic value which is normally offered in the market at five times of their price, and, you'll get pretty close to an ideal goal - no cable at all.