{"id":1444,"date":"2015-03-05T06:30:54","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T06:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/?p=1444"},"modified":"2015-03-05T23:56:47","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T23:56:47","slug":"klei-silver-harmony-phonorca-plug-review-by-steve-reeve-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/klei-silver-harmony-phonorca-plug-review-by-steve-reeve-news\/","title":{"rendered":"KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony Phono\/RCA plugs by Steve Reeve"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Well, it seems like the guys at Keith Louis Eichmann Innovations (KLEI) liked my KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony RCA Plug review so much, that they sent a pack of their new KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony RCA plug, which is the middle entry in their KLEI Harmony\u00aePlug range. Visually, the only thing to distinguish between the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony and the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony is the colour of the logo on the collar, as can be seen below.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Since I found the performance of the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony RCA Plug to be so good, I asked the question&#8230; &#8220;What would make the consumer opt for the more expensive KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony RCA Plug?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">The KLEI response&#8230; &#8220;Although the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony is capable of transferring extremely detailed Musical information of very high Resolution, further analysis of Electron Transmission Theories (e.g. skin effect being just one of many aspects considered) revealed that the Copper Ground pin was a limitation and even better performance could be attained by replacing the Copper Ground pin with a Silver Ground pin in the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">The actual design details, such as the metals used and thickness of the silver plating (being just two of the many design points considered), are defined by <strong>KL\u2019s Signal\/Ground Formula<\/strong>, but the basic differences to the layman are:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\"><b>The KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony Phono\/RCA Plug<\/b><\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Both GROUND and SIGNAL pins are Silver plating over a PURE COPPER base material.<\/li>\n<li>The Silver plating protects the Copper pins from oxidization and improves conductivity to >101% IACS.<\/li>\n<li>Signal\/Ground pins are pure Copper and >101% IACS (not Tellurium Copper (95% IACS) or Brass (28% IACS).<\/li>\n<li>Ground pin optimization to enhance electron flow, in accordance with KL\u2019s Copper Signal\/Ground formula.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\"><b>The KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony Phono\/RCA Plug<\/b><\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>the GROUND pin is PURE SILVER<\/li>\n<li>the SIGNAL pin has a thick Silver plating over a pure copper base, but due to Skin Effect the thick Silver plating \u201cacts like\u201d it is solid Silver.<\/li>\n<li>The thick Silver plating on the SIGNAL pin improves conductivity to >106% IACS.<\/li>\n<li>Ground pin is pure Silver, having a conductivity >106% IACS.<\/li>\n<li>Ground pin optimization to enhance electron flow, in accordance with KL\u2019s Silver Signal\/Ground formula.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\"><b>What is IACS again?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>It\u2019s a measure of the conductivity of various metals relative to \u201cPure Copper\u201d, a standard developed for copper wire producers, having a rating of 100%<\/li>\n<li>When I asked what performance improvements to expect from the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony, the KLEI response was&#8230; They bring out even more detail, dynamics and improved imaging over that obtained using the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony.<\/li>\n<li>Now the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony had performed well above my expectations, improving on my original Silver Bullet RCA\u2019s by a considerable margin and taking their place as my new reference standard, but were the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony RCA\u2019s capable of repeating that level of performance improvement?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\"><b>The Prep Work&#8230;<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">In preparation for this review I had taken KLEI at their word, that the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony would reveal more dynamics and detail. So, whilst waiting for their arrival I decided that in order to perceive such benefits I might need to do a couple of things<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Upgrade the power cables on the source components and amplifier &#8211; a little extreme you think? Well, I was in the process of completing this when I received the first email from KLEI asking me to review the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony, so that was put on the back burner until the review was complete.<\/li>\n<li>Find some additional tracks that I thought might just reveal the performance improvements mentioned above<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Thankfully, the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony took a little while to arrive, which gave me ample time to install and burn-in the new power cables, get accustomed to the new sound and select a few tracks that sounded that they might provide the required details and dynamics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">During this process it became quite apparent just how good the Copper\u00aeHarmony really are: their delivery of exquisite detailing, spacious imaging and very fast dynamic response was clearly audible in my system.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\"><b>Some Third Party Feedback&#8230;<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">During the time the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony were in transit, I had the opportunity to exchange experiences with another person that had tried them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">The initial findings (i.e. before complete burn-in) were completely different to my own experience with the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony, in that they thought the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony sounded \u201cboring\u201d which I took as \u201clacked in dynamics\u201d, the upper frequencies appeared to \u201croll-off\u201d very quickly and they did not experience the blooming of bass frequencies as I had.<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>I believe this is a good indication that the effects a person encounters during burn-in will vary when used on different cables.<\/li>\n<li>They did confirm that after a longer burn-in period (100+ hours), the Silver\u00aeHarmony had outperformed the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony, citing better image, dynamics and detail.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\"><b>Cut To The Chase\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Well, the proof of the pudding is, as they say, \u201cin the eating\u201d. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">So once they arrived, I installed the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony onto one set of my Stager Silver Solid interconnects and started the burn-in process. As with the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony, I allowed for approximately 150 hours burn-in time, with small mini-auditions performed at approximately 24 hour intervals.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">What I experienced within the first hour was almost identical to what I had experienced with the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony:<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Immediately, I notice a significant improvement in imaging and dynamics<\/li>\n<li>Mid-frequency details were initially very good &#8211; about on par with the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony after burn-in<\/li>\n<li>High frequency details were much improved and extended<\/li>\n<li>Again, there was a significant \u201cblooming\u201d of certain upper-bass frequencies<\/li>\n<li>There was a new depth to the bass frequencies that was also very muddled and bordering on distorted<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Just as with the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony, the character of the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony changed significantly for the better as burn-in progressed<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>On Eric Clapton\u2019s album Clapton Unplugged, the stomping of his foot on stage started out even more nauseating, due to the extended depth to the lower bass frequencies. But just as before, after burn-in the bloating simply melded into the background and became an integral part a very good live album, which also displayed even more details, especially in the vocals. On tracks Running on Faith and Walkin\u2019 Blues, where, thanks to the extended upper frequencies, the use of the bottleneck throughout the track is perhaps the most realistic reproduction I have ever heard.<\/li>\n<li>On the track You Look Good To Me from the album We Get Requests by The Oscar Peterson Trio, not only could I hear Ray Brown humming his intro, but there was a significant improvement in the details, such as the vibrations the strings make against the fingerboard of the bass, which previously was quite muted and now the superb textures in the triangle at the beginning of the track were very audible.<\/li>\n<li>The Cymbal work on Staple It Together, from the Jack Johnson album In Between Dreams had a much faster attack from the initial strike and the decay was longer than that experienced with the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">To challenge the dynamic presentation I selected some new tracks that I thought would be more revealing that those I had selected for the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony. The first was Precious, from the album Diva by Annie Lennox<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Annie\u2019s voice has a superb \u201cbrittleness\u201d to it and the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony provided the edge required to highlight that trait.<\/li>\n<li>The base line had a deeper presentation, but also an extended level of control that brought out never before heard texture and the improved dynamics gave the track some additional slam not perviously experienced.<\/li>\n<li>The improved detailing also made the opening chord sequence on the electronic keyboard much more revealing of the textures that had been recorded.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Another track that made me sit up an listen was Turtle Shoes, from the album Don\u2019t Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin.<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>For those of you unfamiliar with his work, Bobby McFerrin multi-tracks pretty much all the vocals himself, with some amazing sound engineering that captures his percussion line which is derived from him pounding and slapping on various body parts &#8211; he also has a very edgy vocal when deemed necessary and again KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony allows those extremely fine details to be heard.<\/li>\n<li>There is depth to the percussion line that is extremely textured, but since the focus is very much on the vocal performance you are also able to hear every delicate nuance of this talented performers considerable vocal talents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">From the album The Police &#8211; Greatest Hits album I had selected Walking On The Moon<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Primarily because I thought that the opening quitar chords would highlight the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony\u2019s dynamic prowess and I was not wrong.<\/li>\n<li>But better still, the details in Sting\u2019s voice and the textures in his bass line reinforces the amazing abilities of this diminutive little RCA plug.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">I\u2019ve used words like \u201cedgy\u201d and \u201cbrittleness\u201d to describe how the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony enhances micro details and combines its extremely fast dynamic abilities to reproduce those traits. But initially, I had wondered if this new edginess was due to distortions that had not \u201cworked themselves out\u201d during burn-in.<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>To verify that this was NOT the case, I returned to a track previously used in the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony review, the Violin Concerto no. 4 in D major KV 218 &#8211; Allegro by Marianne Thorsen \/ Trondheim Solistene.<\/li>\n<li>If there were distortions in the signal, then the violin on this track would likely reveal them.<\/li>\n<li>Instead, the violin came across smooth and extremely detailed with a more spacious image that is wider, deeper and with a more precise placement of the musicians within the space.<\/li>\n<li>What you hear more of are the extremely fine higher frequency micro details, such as those found in the reproduction of cymbals, having a very fast attack of the initial strike, followed by a long decay, both of which has body and texture.<\/li>\n<li>Sibilance now has considerably more texture and depth and is silky smooth.<\/li>\n<li>The sound the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony conveys is full bodied and full range and is definitely NOT \u201cthin\u201d or \u201cbright\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Thinking back to the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony review, a track that I believed would demonstrate how much more revealing these RCA plugs are is Iberia: Debussy &#8211; 3rd Mov\u2019t &#8211; London Symphony, Andre Previn conductor.<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>The first thing I noticed was the extended width of the image, now considerably wider than the distance between the speakers.<\/li>\n<li>There is without a doubt more details, particularly from the percussion section that is placed even further back in the image, but without loosing any clarity or volume.<\/li>\n<li>The tambourine had much more pace to it and the castanets had a more life-like \u201cclack\u201d to them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">One of my favourite newly selected review tracks is With You In Mind from the album Blue Chip, by Acoustic Alchemy, selected because of the extraordinary sound engineering and musicianship. It\u2019s a very easy track to listen to because there is not a cacophony of instruments vying for your attention and distracting you from the details.<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Just a couple of guitars, a little subdued percussion and some nice melodic slide guitar way in the background. That\u2019s where the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony\u2019s excelled, delivering a crystal clear reproduction containing the very subtle micro details of the strings being plucked and the buzzing of the strings on the fretboard and as their hands move up and down the neck the unmistakable rasping of fingers sliding over the \u201cround-wound\u201d strings.<\/li>\n<li>Perhaps my playing guitars for many years has made my ears more \u201creceptive\u201d to these sounds, but it still takes a very adept system to reproduce them with such startling realism and clarity, which left me believing the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony has without a doubt made a significant contribution to my systems performance improvements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">At the other end of the frequency range is added depth in the lower bass frequencies with considerably more control. This was very evident on M\u00e1s, from the album Mi Plan by Nellie Furtado, which has some of the deepest synth work in my collection and another track from the same album, Vacaci\u00f3n, where the thump of the bass drum is very deep and superbly controlled. In fact, the entire album highlights the amazing dexterity of the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">My observations above were made while using the Interconnect to connect the analogue outputs from my DAC to my Amp. I then used the exact same interconnect to connect my Phono Stage to the amp and listened to several tracks from multiple albums.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">To my surprise I found that there were even bigger improvements in image, dynamics and details. It seems that the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony are an even better match for my Phono Stage than the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">I have not found any downside in using the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony on my Stager Silver Solids Interconnects, other than a slightly longer burn-in period that approached 185 hours to reach their full potential. Across the board they perform exceptionally well, providing an image on orchestral tracks that is so deep that a little additional volume is required on some older recordings that were performed in very large venues.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">The response from KLEI posted above was spot on&#8230; more of everything, but in a very balanced presentation that does not accentuate any part of the audible bandwidth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">In the case of the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony I summed up their performance in one word &#8211; <b>Clarity<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">With the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony, especially on acoustic tracks and classical ensemble tracks, <b>it is like being at a live performance<\/b>.<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>On live albums the applause has body, instead of sounding like a game show contestant getting the right answer.<\/li>\n<li>When Eric Clapton talks between songs you just had to close your eyes and he was right there in the room. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">A technique I often use to gauge how well my \u201ctweaks\u201d or \u201cupgrades\u201d are performing, is to stand or move around in the hallway outside my listening room.<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Why? &#8211; it removes distractions such as \u201cspatial image\u201d from the equation and allows me focus solely on the acoustic attributes of the sound.<\/li>\n<li>I find the timbre of an instrument or the subtleties in an artists voice to be much more revealing and allows the realism in the recording shine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">In the case of the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony they transcend clarity &#8211; they are simply &#8211; <b>Transparent<\/b>. The transparency of the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony makes them the closest thing to \u201c3D glasses\u201d for two channel audio I have experienced to date.<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>That is, until I review the KLEI Pure\u00aeHarmony&#8230; stay tuned, coming soon \ud83d\ude42<\/li>\n<li>The details of the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony, including Australian pricing, are available on their website, <b>www.KLEinnovations.com<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\"><b>Conclusions\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Ever get that \u201csmile of satisfaction when something very right is happening\u201d ? &#8211; ME TOO! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">The KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony RCA, when used with high performance interconnect cable, conveys an incredibly detailed analogue signal that results in a very realistic three dimensional reproduction of recorded music, regardless of whether it originates from an Analogue or Digital source.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">One question that came up recently &#8211; Can the KLEI Harmony\u00aeRCA Plug range be used for Digital interconnects?<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>I have not tried them as yet, but plan on doing so soon.<\/li>\n<li>I have read a review that cites exceptional performance improvements over one very expensive purpose built single ended digital cable.<\/li>\n<li>I have also exchanged several emails with KLEI on this topic and it appears that due to the high impedance of the entire KLEI Harmony\u00aeRCA Plug range (i.e. >110 ohms), they do not degrade the transfer of a digital signal between components.<\/li>\n<li>This however, can be a problem with the more conventional RCA designs, where, if not matched exactly to the impedance of the cable, can result in internal distortions and jitter, causing poor sound quality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Until I actually try them, I can only offer an \u201copinion\u201d, but having experienced the speed and dexterity of their analogue performance I would have to conclude that the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony or KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony, when used for digital interconnects utilizing 50, 75, or 110 ohm cable, may well result in the near elimination of jitter caused specifically by interconnect-component interaction and component transmission &#038; reception issues, resulting in a significant improvement in the analogue performance of most current day DAC designs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">In some quality digital products, performance may even transcend the &#8220;digital realm&#8221; and possibly achieve the much sought after &#8220;soul of analogue&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">And YES &#8211; the KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony are my new reference RCA connector!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">But it\u2019s not farewell to the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony just yet &#8211; I\u2019ll try them on a very good digital interconnect I have &#8211; so check back in a couple of weeks Happy<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\"><b>DIGITAL UPDATE:<\/b> As planned, I transferred the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony to one cable in a pair of \u201cThe NAME\u201d, a 75 ohm interconnect from Van den Hul.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Removing the existing RCA\u2019s from \u201cThe NAME\u201d revealed that they were in fact very well made RCA\u2019s that appeared to have been matched ,from an impedance perspective, to that of the cable. Not that I can tell that for certain, but the construction approach appeared very similar to that of quality BNC connectors.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Attaching the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony to the much thicker centre conductor and the braided shield of of the 75 Ohm cable was a little more difficult than my 24 gauge solid silver interconnects, but much easier than the Silver Bullets and once the housing was in place and the small set screws were tightened onto the 7.3mm diameter cable it provided very good support.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">To test the cable I reinstated my Pioneer Elite DV-45A DVD player with SACD capability, Unfortunately SACD playback is only available via the players analogue outputs, so the de facto digital standard for the purpose of this review was going to be the 16\/44kHz digital stream via it\u2019s S\/PDIF output, which in turn was connected to my Schiit Bifrost DAC.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">However I was able to easily perform an A\/B comparison with the exact same tracks within my iTunes library on my iMac that is connected to the same Schiit Bifrost DAC via its USB-2 asynchronous interface. My iMac also uses Audirvana for final digital transfer to the DAC, in order to bypass the vastly inferior Apple audio routines that alter the digital content before transmission. So the \u201cdata\u201d being transferred is what resides in the actual music file &#8211; nothing added!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">Several tracks of varying musical styles were auditioned, several times each in fact and I can report that I could not tell any difference between<\/p>\n<ul lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI','Cambria', 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #441E1F; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; text-align: justify;\">\n<li>The digital stream from the DVD player\u2019s s\/pdif output using the Van den Hul \u201cThe NAME\u201d interconnect with the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony RCA\u2019s<\/li>\n<li>The digital stream from the iMac via iTunes\/Audirvana using a USB digital link.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">I did also manage to play some music DVD\u2019s that contain 24\/96kHz tracks, but alas the DV-45A down samples to 16\/48kHz, so that was the best sample rate I was able to test with.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">There were no signs of jitter, and playback was very smooth, spacious, detailed and dynamic, which supports the claims of KLEInnovations(KLEI), that the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony and KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony are also very capable performers when used on digital interconnects.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">I did switch over to the other Van den Hul interconnect that is terminated with VDH\u2019s own RCA\u2019s and by comparison. There was a very slight degradation in high frequency details, most noticeable in the smoothness of the presentation of cymbals and sibilance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">One reviewer, with a digital front end capable of higher sample rates than my own, was very surprised to find that a cable he constructed himself using the KLEI Harmony\u00aeRCA plug, performed better than a very expensive interconnect he owned.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">So, if you find your digital components are not performing to your satisfaction, give the Harmony\u00aeRCA plugs a try.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: #441E1F;\">You might be pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Khmer UI', 'Cambria','Calibri','sans-serif'; color: black;\"><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.image99.net\/blog\/files\/0224b0cee9c3aa5973fe99f27c45ecc3-50.html\" target=\"_blank\">Read More &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>\n<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>\n<o:RelyOnVML\/>\n<o:AllowPNG\/>\n<\/o:OfficeDocumentSettings>\n<\/xml><![endif]--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, it seems like the guys at Keith Louis Eichmann Innovations (KLEI) liked my KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony RCA Plug review so much, that they sent a pack of their new KLEI Silver\u00aeHarmony RCA plug, which is the middle entry in their KLEI Harmony\u00aePlug range. Visually, the only thing to distinguish between the KLEI Copper\u00aeHarmony and the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1444"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5014,"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444\/revisions\/5014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kleinnovations.com\/bartime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}