| WORLD PREMIERE |

⌈ The Japanese company TiGLON was established in 2008. Initially, it was called Kryna Pro, and changed the name to TiGLON in 2010. Its founder and chief designer is Mr. KENTARO OKINO. We test its top digital USB cable, the TPL-2000U. This is its WORLD PREMIERE. ⌋

S WE’VE ONCE ALREADY MENTIONED, TiGLON belongs to a group of small manufacturers, specializing in connecting cables. It is based in Japanese Yamato City, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture. The city on the island of Honshu has had municipal rights only since 1959 and has a population of less than 250,000 people. It specializes, among the others, in the electronics industry, which the TiGLON company probably benefits from.

We have been testing its products for some time, and two of them, the Tiglon TPL-2000A power cable and the Tiglon TPL-2000L LAN cables, were included in the HIGH FIDELITY’s reference system (more HERE | PL). It is the fourth product from the top Premium Line series, which, apart from the mentioned cables, also includes the TPL-2000R analog interconnects (test HERE | PL).

Mr. KENTARO OKINO, its founder and chief designer, a graduate of technical studies in the field of mechanical engineering, has his own vision of how cables should be constructed. To realize his goals he uses several technologies and solutions, among which the use of magnesium elements is quite important. As he once told us in an interview, he it caught his attention during a restoration of an antique 1959 Les Paul electric guitar.

As he says, he discovered the potential of magnesium by studying the sounds produced by various metals and wood. As a result, this led him to starting his own company "KRYPTON PROFESSIONAL", which sold accessories and audio cables featuring magnesium, all over the country. As a result of these studies, he obtained an international patent for the "Magnesium Shielding" technology.

MAGNESIUM (Mg), a CHEMICAL ELEMENT, one of the alkaline earth metals from group 2 (IIa) of the periodic table of elements and the lightest construction metal. […] Due to its low density (only two thirds of the density of aluminum), it is widely used in the aviation industry. However, since pure metal has low structural strength, magnesium is mainly used in the form of alloys, mainly with 10% or less of aluminum, zinc and manganese.

TiGLON already in 2005 proposed speaker stands featuring magnesium, the MGT-60S model. In 2008, they patented the use of this material for cable shielding. The screen was made in the form of a special foil with metal vaporized on it. The company pointed out that magnesium was perfect for reducing vibrations, shielding against electromagnetic interference and RF noise. What's more: "Unlike aluminum and copper, magnesium has high internal damping (is non-resonant), so there is no metallic 'ringing' that comes with other metals." This position is supported by measurements provided by the Japan Electric Cable Technology Center (JECTEC).

In 2010, the first equipment rack with magnesium alloy feet was developed, and then it was also joined by anti-vibration feet and a whole range of cables - interconnects, speaker cables and power cables. ♦

→ more: ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, www.BRITANNICA.com accessed: 25.04.2022.

▌ TPL-2000U

TPL-2000U IS A USB CABLE (IEEE 1394 standard). From the source side it is terminated with a flat USB plug (type A connector), and from the digital-to-analog converter side with a square plug (type B connector). It has a rather inconspicuous appearance, but it contains a lot of ideas and techniques that - as we can read in press materials - premiered in the TPL-2000A power cable. Why exactly in the power cable? This is because the USB cable carries a 5V DC power supply along with the signal and the final effect depends to a large extent on how these two runs are isolated from each other.

The cable is made of two types of conductors. The signal is carried over silver OCC wires, with single crystals, i.e. made in the continuous casting technique. On the other hand, the power supply run features copper wires, but also of the OCC type. The runs are shielded from each other with a "magnesium" screen. As the company materials say, the outer jacket is made in a technique that helps minimize vibrations. Magnesium elements are also found in gold-plated plugs - these are Advanced Magnesium Filter (AMF).

Before leaving the factory, the TPL-2000U cable undergoes the Hyper Saturated Energizer process. The purpose of this process is to organize the crystal structure of the cable so that its conductivity improves. There are several methods that give similar results, the most common being cryogenic processing. However, TiGLON chose a different approach which I also saw when visiting Siltech/Crystal Connect.

High current is passed through the wires bundle to saturate them. The Japanese manufacturer adds an amplitude modulation optimized for a specific application. This process also eliminates the non-mechanical stresses of the insulation and the shielding layer around the conductor.

Among the effects of this treatment, TiGLON mentions:

1| thermal decomposition and removal of oxide layers at the grain edges, bringing poly-crystalline copper closer to long-crystalline copper,
2| reducing the internal mechanical stresses of the cable, making the entire cable physically soft and much more flexible.

▌ SOUND

˻ HOW WE LISTENED The TiGLON USB cable was tested in the "High Fidelity" reference system. The source of the signal was the excellent files transport 432 EVO MASTER, and the output section of the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition SACD player was used as the DAC. TiGLON was compared to two reference cables: CURIOUS CABLES and Siltech Classic Legend 380 USB.

Recordings used for the test | a selection

⸜ ART BLAKEY, Moanin’, Blue Note/Tidal, MQA Studio 24/192 (1958/2014).
⸜ CANNONBALL ADDERLEY, Somethin’ Else, Blue Note/Tidal Master, FLAC MQA Studio 24/192 (1958/2014).
⸜ NAKANO MAYO PIANO TRIO, Sentimental Reasons, Briphonic, Direct Master Files WAV 24/192 + DSD64 (2017).
⸜ JOHN COLTRANE, Blue Train, Blue Note/Classic Records HDAD 2010, rip DVD-A 24/192 (1957/2000).
⸜ THE DOORS,MorrisonHotel, Electra, DSD, rip z SACD (1970/2012).
⸜ CHARLIE HADEN & CHRIS ANDERSON, None But The Lonely Heart, Naim label, WAV 24/96 (1997).
⸜ NORAH JONES z Come Away with Me, Blue Note, FLAC 24/192 (2002/2013).
⸜ MIKE OLDFIELD, Crises, Mercury/HD Tracks, FLAC 24/96 (1978/2013).
⸜ METALLICA, Metallica, Electra | Warner Brothers Records, FLAC 24/96 (1991/2016).

The JAPANESE USB CABLE repeated most of the things I had heard before with the company's analog interconnect and its AC power cord, also belonging to the "2000" series. Its sound (by "sound" I mean how it modifies the signal) is fast, open and accurate. Both ART BLAKEY from Moanin’ and CANNONBALL ADDERLEY from Somethin’ Else sounded much more accurate with it, clearer than with both reference cables.

The difference was so big that I listened to these recordings with interest, following the details that were previously there somewhere, but which did not build the music in the same way as with the tested cable. It happened not only because of how detailed the sound now was, because it was not about it, but thanks to the resolution - it was clearly better thanks to it. The sound of the instruments was deepened with it, the depth of the stage was also better than with both reference cables. This cable builds larger phantom images, but not by inflating them, but by delivering more information about them, by better - let me repeat - depth.

Most of the other cables in this price range sound more hazy. THE DOORS’ Waiting for the sun from the Morrison Hotel, in the Analogue Productions remaster, listened to from DSD files, sounded with TiGLON in a much more authoritative, denser way. Because the tested USB cable is not only very clean and resolving, but also dense. This combination reminds me of the sound of SACDs and "master" tapes, but TiGLON is closer to the former.

It also changes the way the sound stage is rendered in front of us. NORAH JONES from Come Away with Me, still from the old master (FLAC 24/192), was less clear with the Curious cable, but warmer. The tested USB cable moved the rear "wall" much further away from me, as well as - not by much, but still - the foreground. Warmer cables build a tangible sound by boosting the lower midrange, and thus by shifting the information coming on the listening axis.

The Japanese cable did it much better, because it differentiated distances. The blows of the sticks on the cymbals that opened the aforementioned piece were deeper with it and had a better defined placement. Similarly, the piano, was shown with a lot of reflected sounds, and thus without the contour clearly "cut out" from the image. With the tested cable, the reflections that I am talking about were clearer and came out more strongly to the sides of the stage and to the back, behind my head.

The Curious cable, to which the TiGLON has been compared, fills the sound nicely, shows it in a very pleasant way, that's clear - it is still an excellent - at this price - USB cable. However, I had no doubts that it loses many details and when the sounds are piled up, let it be the beginning of the second minute of the song Moonlight Shadow from MIKE OLDFIELD's album entitled Crises, it gets lost, it's not as warm then as it is in the quieter part. The Japanese cable showed a much better differentiated sound, it also had no problems with powerful tracks, with which it showed a not so warm, but much more vivid presentation.

So Enter Sandman from Metallica's "black album" was much stronger, denser and faster. The tested cable showed not only the impact of the sound, but also its sustain. As before in jazz pieces, now he accentuated the reverbs more clearly, not only the "meat" itself. The foreground, as before, was presented further away with it, but it gave me a better perspective.

▌ SUMMARY

COMPARED TO MANY USB CABLES from reputable companies "rooted" in audio, TiGLON is still a „freshman” building its position, despite the fact that it has been present on the audio scene for several years. It's still a tiny company though. Nevertheless, the TPL-2000U is a mature, complete product that offers much of what we get from more expensive, reputable competitors at a good price. This is not surprising, because such small companies keep improving, polishing what others consider finished products, ultimately achieving better results.

The tested cable is fast, clear, accurate and differentiating. However, it does never sound cold, skinny or emotionally bland. The manufacturer managed to choose the right proportions between these elements and not overdo any of them. The cable’s appearance is not as eye-catching as - for example - the Siltech or Wireworld cables, but this is the case where what you see does not announce what you will hear with it. A truly high quality, great sounding USB cable. ■