Atlas Zeno Grun Harmonic 1:2 Headphone Cable

Atlas Zeno Grun Harmonic 1:2 Headphone Cable

Reference-class OCC copper balanced headphone cable

We can configure Zeno Grun Harmonic for almost any ‘audiophile brand’ headphone. Please include the details of your specific headphone model.

‘High-end’ headphones continue to grow in popularity, but it’s still the case that the great majority of original cables supplied with even very expensive models fall short of delivering the full performance potential of the headphone itself.

The Zeno Harmonic cable addresses this by combining high purity OCC copper conductors in a true dual-balanced design with our Grun Coherent Earthing System which provides a reference earth point when attached to either your amplifier or mains ground.

The result is a drop in EMI-induced background noise levels to an unprecedented level in a headphone system, revealing the true dynamic range of your headphones.

Zeno Harmonic features our low-mass, wide bandwidth 4 (OCC) pin XLR connector with our proven cold-weld (precision-crimped) solder-free construction methods, the objective being to produce a continuous high-integrity signal path avoiding the breaks in material continuity which degrade ultimate fidelity.

Zeno is supplied as standard with a 1m Grun cable and spade tag adapter for connection to the ground post on your amplifier. A high quality XLR–6.3mm jack-plug adaptor is also included with each Zeno Harmonic cable.

Our ‘standard’ earpiece connector options suit popular makes/models, but we know there are numerous headphones out there with non-standard or unique connector configurations. No problem — because Atlas assemble all Zeno cables by hand, we can build you a superb cable whatever your amp/headphone requirements, make sure to provide full details of your specific setup when entering your custom order.

Features

Ultra-Pure OCC Copper Conductors

Wideband Dielectric (Physical FPE)

Unique 4-Pin OCC XLR Plug

Precision Cold Welded Assembly

Dual symmetrical with earth construction

Grun Coherent Earthing System

Luxe Finishes

Dual symmetrical with earth construction

The pseudo-balanced cable topology, although offering great performance ,has one small but in hi-fi terms large flaw — the screen when connected to system 0v can be modulated by any circulating currents that exist within the product. In an ideal electrical environment, all ground references should be at the same ’potential‘ as not to generate any circulating currents. So, the natural extension to the pseudo-balanced cable is the ’symmetrical with independent ground‘ topology.

This involves connecting the cable screen to system ground externally via an independent grounding cable (Grun) and directly to your home ground point (earth). The results are simply outstanding, with no circulating current in the screens and no modulation of the 0v at the screen connection point (in a pseudo-balanced cable), the true capability of the interconnect can be heard, and crucially, demonstrated.

This cable topology is popular for many reasons:

The screen is connected directly to ground and not system 0v.

The true benefit of the conductor material and dielectric can be delivered.

The true constancy of crimping as opposed to soldering can be delivered.

These cables are non-directional by manufacture and can initially be connected any way around straight from the box.

Grun Coherent Earthing System

Zeno is supplied as standard with a 1m Grun cable and spade tag adapter for connection to the ground post on your amplifier.

The benefit of an independent system ground.

One of the biggest obstacles to achieving the performance levels our equipment is capable of is noise. Low levels of RFI (radio frequency) and EMI (electro-magnetic interference) and noise on the signal ground each subtly modulate and degrade the overall noise levels of the system.

Although our cables are all designed to minimize the invasion of external interference, it’s not possible to completely eliminate it.

But the audible benefits of substantially reducing it via our Grun products are considerable.

And the impact of Grun is cumulative. Adding additional Grun-enabled products reduces the impact of unwanted ‘noise’ still further.

Grounding critical components via the Grun system doesn’t alter the tonal balance or character of the system but audibly removes the effect of noise you probably didn’t realize was there.

The result typically reveals a greater level of fine detail, enhanced stereo soundstage and an improved ‘ease’ and naturalness.

Ohno Continuous Casting Copper (OCC Copper)

In 1985, Professor Ohno, from the Chiba Institute of Technology, developed his patented method for the extrusion of a grain-free copper wire. (Technical papers are available from the Japan Inst. Metals and from Chapman & Hall, publishers.)

When a pure metal solidifies, its crystals grow in a specific geometrical pattern (typical to that metal) emanating from a nucleus, rather like the dendritic growth pattern of a tree. The size of the metal crystals grown can be varied by repeatedly annealing metal such as is done in the LC-OFC process. The structure of a strand of copper may be likened to that of a bag of sugar. Every grain of sugar has a crystal boundary. In a conductor, these crystal boundaries (potential barriers) act as a non-linear resistance to the flow of electric current. It follows that, the fewer the boundaries, the less the effect there is on an electric signal as it propagates from one end of the conductor to the other. Atlas cables such as the Arran and Mavros use OCC copper, whereas the top of the range Asimi uses pure OCC silver.

The Ohno continuous casting method re-heats the extrusion as the molten copper is forced out of the mold and very slowly and gradually draws the grain or crystal down the conductor‘s length, creating a ‘single crystal structure.’ Actually, because no copper is 100% pure, there will always be a few boundaries produced by impurities. The frequency of boundaries created are quite insignificant. A typical crystal in a copper conductor drawn to 0.3 mm diameter using the OCC process is 125.00 meters long!

The benefits are obvious, with almost no crystal boundaries, the audio signal is no longer impeded down the copper wire and more information and detail is delivered faithfully to the receiving equipment.

Oxygen Free Copper (OFC)

Oxygen free copper was developed in Japan around 1975 as it became increasingly apparent that sound quality was related to the quality of copper and the processing used during cable manufacture.

OFC is produced through an extrusion process which takes place in an oxygen-free-inert-gas atmosphere. This leads to a reduced oxygen content (10 ppm) when compared to TPC and an improvement in conductivity which typically measures in at between 0.5% and 2% greater than TPC. The OFC process therefore produces a much higher quality audio cable than the TPC process. High purity conductors sound clearer than their unprocessed (TPC) counterparts because there are fewer crystal boundaries present to cause signal degradation.

Specifications

Geometry: Dual Symmetrical

Conductor: OCC Copper

Dielectric: PEF

Screen: Red Braid + Mylar™

Resistance: 0.0859 Ohms/m

Capacitance: 95.08 pF/m

Inductance: 0.43 µH/m

Outside Diameter: Outside Diameter: 7.6mm

THE ATLAS DIFFERENCE

Conductor Purity

Manufacturing Consistency

Signal Screening

Harmony of Materials

Acclaimed in 30+ Countries

Custom Made & Shipped: 14-21 days

These cables are custom made to your specifications. The process takes 14-21 days. The cable is packaged and shipped via UPS Ground from New York. Custom-made cables cannot be returned.