Wow, Matt's not kidding, they are up and running! A big surprise this morning, my Claire HPC mk2 arrived and I didn't even know it had been shipped. My payment was processed the 3rd of March and 10 days later the cable found me in Japan! And this is with Polish postal services shipping the cable! It seems Japanese customs let the cable through quickly, without any tax or other payments (maybe because tax was already paid in EU). I am amazed I got the cable so quick. Please note that everything about my order was default, no special requests.
The cable itself is beautiful. The quality of craftsmanship is beyond what I expected and even the packaging was neat and well thought out (something very important here in Japan
). The cable is very light and very flexible, miles better than stock HiFiMan cable. Felt immediate relief after switching cables - just enjoying the music instead of fighting the cable.
Still early to fully discern sound differences, but changing from single ended to balanced on a Jot with the HE-560 was immediately noticeable. Besides more volume, I think the sound became slightly fuller and the base hits a bit harder. Listening to "The Fan and the Bellows" and "Second Skin" (by one of my favourite English bands, the Chameleons) certain things are definitely more emphasised. I believe some parts of the midrange came a bit more to the fore, while overall the sound relaxed a tiny bit (less hard). The Jot has a pretty flat soundstage and I noticed a slight improvement there as well (a bit more 3D, a bit more space front to back). Again, I cannot say what contributes to the sound differences, going balanced, the cable, or both. However, even if there were no sound improvements, just the convenience and the build/looks are worth the asking price.
Overall I am very happy with my purchase. It took Matt a day or two to answer my emails before the purchase, but after the payment everything went smooth. I was considering Norne Audio and Toxic Cables as well, but Norne is a bit expensive for me (the cheapest cable coming to more than $240 together with shipping, minus tax) and no way was I going to wait 5-8 weeks for Toxic. The final cost of the Claire HPC mk2 for me was around $146 (cable, shipping, tax) and I don't think I could have done any better at that price. If FAW can keep deliveries on their most popular products below 2-3 weeks, with the prices they are charging and the build quality they are offering, they are unbeatable. Will come back again to Matt for any future cable needs.
