⌈ The Japanese company TiGLON was founded in 2008. Initially named Kryna Pro, it changed its name to TiGLON in 2010. Its founder and chief designer is Mr. KENTARO OKINO. We are testing its latest and top product, an AC power cable called WHITE TIGER. This is its WORLD PREMIERE. ⌋

AMBITION IS A HUGE causal power. It is what pushes us to work on problems, pushes us to achieve better and better results, and is the force behind change, meant to lead, generally speaking, towards "better". And this is how I understand Mr. Kentaro's decision to introduce an AC power cable called White Tiger to his company's lineup in early March this year. It's a cable that uses, for the first time, a patent-pending technology called Photon, costing almost 12,000 PLN for a two-meter long unit.

This is the second cable with its own name, rather than a numbered symbol, after the 2023 Azure Dragon model. As its designer explains below, this is, on the one hand, a reference to the company name Tiglon, which is spelled "TiGLON" (TiGer + LiON) in company materials: 'tiglon' is an interspecies hybrid, the offspring of a tiger and a lioness. And on the other, it refers to its appearance; the cable really looks like a tiger's tail. In addition, it is limited - the image of a tiger, the signature of the company's owner and the cable's number are applied to a black shrink-wrap.

▌ TPL-3000A-WT White Tiger

COMPANY MATERIALS, posted on the manufacturer's website, are more than sparse. We read only that:

Equipped with four unique technologies: the world-patented “Magnesium Shield” technology that blocks external noise, the patent-pending new technology “Photon Technology” for stable energy transmission, the latest burn-in technology “H.S.E. exclusive,” and “D-REN Sheath” to suppress composite resonance. This flagship power cable is the culmination of 15 years of Tiglon’s technological expertise.

⸜ TPL-3000A-WT (White Tiger), → TIGLON.co.jp, accessed: 17.04.2024.

However, from contacts with previous products of this company, including its AC power cables, it is known that this company has developed several techniques that it sticks to in its products. But, as you can see, it is not a slave to them and sometimes it needs to abandon them choosing other solutions. Although the tested cable is built using DF-OFC copper conditioned by a proprietary process called Hyper Saturated Energizer, and has a screen with a vaporized magnesium layer, we don't see the magnesium filters at the ends, so characteristic of its other products, including the highest model in the range so far, the TPL-2000A; test → HERE.

A little more light is shed on the subject by the designer himself you will find below.

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| A few simple words…

KENTARO OKINO
owner, designer

⸜ Mr. Kentaro Okino • image: Tiglon

TPL-3000A-WT IS AN EXCLUSIVE power cable model that rises to an unprecedented level with the application for the first time of our important, just-patented solution called Photon Technology, which was a long cherished dream of mine, having its origin in the TPL-2000A power cable that served as a catalyst for Tiglon's international career, thanks to which we gained global recognition (emphasis - ed.).

I believe that the TPL-3000A-WT, being the culmination of 15 years of efforts of our company, is a power cable worthy of the flagship name. This product embodies the tiger behind the genesis of the brand's name, and as a result, it has been named WHITE TIGER.

Photon Technology, which is the main part of the sound, is a technology based on a thorough re-examination of how to transmit power in a stable way, and eliminate noise, departing from previous concepts in the process. Simply put, it makes it possible to think of the TPL-3000A-WT as a power cable equipped with a virtual ground.

⸜ This is how the plugs are installed in the White Tiger cable - photo by Tiglon

In our opinion, it's a top power cable that brings out the nuances of the audio components it is used with and makes it easier to reach every corner of the music signal. KO

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WHITE TIGER CABLE HAS A COAXIAL CONSTRUCTION, with three bundles inside a multi-layer shielding and attenuation system. As mentioned, the cores are made of braided copper ˻ 1 ˺ DF-OFC. On top of it is sandwiched insulation made of, in the manufacturer's words, a "special variety" of ˻ 2 ˺ PVC. The next layer is an "intermediate jacket" which is a ˻ 3 ˺ D-REN shield, and on it are wound two more layers of DF-OFC copper strand shields, one is twisted ˻ 4 ˺ to the left, and the other ˻ 5 ˺ to the right, to help cover the cable surface as tightly as possible.

On top of that comes another layer of ˻ 6 ˺ D-REN, then there is still ˻ 7 ˺ magnesium infused film screen, another ˻ 8 ˺ D-REN and ˻ 9 ˺ screen that the manufacturer says is: "photon screen". On the outside there is a four-layer, transparent ˻ 10 ˺ shield, under which you can see silver and black threads nicely pretending to be mottles on the skin of a white tiger. This cable is thus mechanically complex, but is, nevertheless, quite flexible.

TECHNOLOGIES • Since we have already talked about the various technologies many times, let's just briefly mention them. The most interesting because applied for the first time, Tiglon's solution is Photon Technology. Nothing is known about it, and we don't know what it consists of, other than the enigmatic "virtual grounding". If I understand correctly, it's about ˻ 9 ˺ screen. The use of the word "photon" could involve, for example, the conversion of vibrations and interference into infrared and radiation outward - this type of filter is already on the market. Passive noise filters from companies such as → THUNDER MELODY and → VERICTUM operate on a similar principle.

MiedźDF-OFC copper ˻ 1 ˺ is one variety of oxygen-free copper (OFC) obtained by a process called DIP Forming. This method of production was patented by the US company General Electric and involves pulling out a thin wire and passing it through a trough of molten copper. Once the thick core is formed, it is then hot-rolled.

This type of material formally has a purity of 99.99%, but actually has a higher conductivity than comparable OFC cables; for more on contemporary copper types used in audio see → HERE.The better properties of Tiglon copper are obtained not by thermal treatment, such as cryogenic treatment, but by passing high amplitude signals through the conductors; the device that is used for this is called Hyper Saturated Energizer.

Let me remind you that the technology was jointly developed by Tiglon and, as we read, "a group of engineers from Europe, the United States and Asia". There are three separate devices, generators of various types of signals, used to form the crystalline structure of cables - audiophiles call the process "breaking-in" in this context.

Another technology used by Tiglon, bearing the name given to it by the company, is ˻ 3 ˺ D-REN. It is a sort of additional mechanical insulation layer. On the manufacturer's website, we read that it is supposed to suppress noise generated by vibrations having a source outside the cable (the so-called "triboelectric noise"), thus „significantly improving the precision of signal transmission”.

It works together - and this brings us to the flagship solution of this Japanese manufacturer - with ˻ 7 ˺ a shield on which magnesium has been infused. As early as 2005 the manufacturer proposed speaker stands in which it used this material, and in 2008 it patented the use of this material for cable shielding. Since then, magnesium can be found in all of its products. In the two latest power cables, that is, Azure Dragon and White Tiger, however, the magnesium filters attached to the plugs have been abandoned. Apparently, other solutions were deemed sufficient.

PLUGS • Tiglon uses some of the best plugs available on the market, the Furutech FI-50 NCF, which is manufactured by Furutech, and which is also found in the Siltech Triple Crown Power cable costing $60,000, serving as my reference. It was introduced for sale in 2017. An even though an even higher version is currently sold, the one in question is still the focus of many serious audio manufacturers.

Its body is made of chrome-plated brass and of a distinctive silver braid. The contact elements are rhodium-plated. Most important, however, is the material from which the black parts where the contacts are mounted are made. It's a compound with the company's name Nano Crystal²-Nano Crystallin Formula (NCF), which includes carbon dust and NCF ceramic nanoparticles. It's a new crystallized material that actively produces negative ions to eliminate static electricity and converts thermal energy into infrared.

It is a mechanically complex, very, extremely nice looking, yet modest, so to speak, AC power cable.

▌ SOUND

HOW WE LISTENED • The Tiglon TPL-3000A-WT WHITE TIGER AC power cable was tested in the "High Fidelity" reference system, powering an Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition SACD Player (№ 1/50) in an AA/BB/A comparison test.

The reference point was the → SILTECH TRIPLE CROWN POWER AC power cable. Both cables were plugged into a power strip → ACOUSTIC REVIVE RTP-4EU ABSOLUTE, standing on an Acoustic Revive RST-38H anti-vibration platform.

The AR strip was powered by a 2.5-meter Acrolink Mexcel 7N-PC9500 AC cable. The Acrolink was connected to a Furutech NCF wall outlet, to which a separate power line with its own fuse from HPA leads. This line is made from a 6-meter section of Oyaide Tunami Nigo cable.

» RECORDINGS USED FOR THE TEST ⸜ a selection

⸜ THE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET, The Sheriff, Atlantic/Warner Music Japan WPCR-25129, „Atlantic 60th”, CD ⸜ 1964/2007.
⸜ BILL EVANS TRIO, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Riverside Records/Craft Recordings/Universal Classics & Jazz UCGO-9058, „Bill Evans Remaster Series”, SHM-SACD ⸜ 1961/2023.
⸜ THE JIMIE HENDRIX EXPERIENCE Electric Ladyland, Reprise Records/Sony Records Int'l SICP 30823, BSCD2 ⸜ 1968/2015.
⸜ LAURIE ANDERSON, Homeland, Nonesuch Records 524055-2, CD ⸜ 2009.
⸜ ROBERT KANAAN, Music Therapy: Whispers of the Five Oceans, Soliton SL 821-2, Gold Master CD-R ⸜ 2018.
⸜ ENYA, Enya, BBC Entertainment BBC CD 605, CD (1987).

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THE FIRST PUNCH of percussion and double bass, opening ˻ 1 ˺ title track from The Sheriff album by THE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET and I knew that the Japanese cable was playing freshly, playing dynamically and in an open way. That is, it departs somewhat from what the previous top cable from this manufacturer had to offer. But at the same time I knew that its sound was somehow delicate, as if wrapped in silk.

The wealth of information we get with this album is staggering and White Tiger handled it quite easily. From the distinct overtones, or so-called "hum" heard underneath, beneath the instruments, to Percy Heath's fast, very quick, spot-on double bass playing in the right channel to Milt Jackson's sonorous but, I repeat, silky vibraphone in the right channel, I had it all before my eyes.

This dynamic, high-paced track was shown by the tested cable in a very pleasant way, because on the one hand open, and on the other in a smoothed way. Maybe, by the way, it's not the smoothing that's the issue, I'm thinking now, but a kind of pastel sound building. The latter can be dark or bright, but at the same time hard or soft, or sonorous or dull. That's not the end of it, usually we move in a spectrum between these extremes, but here it was not a two-dimensional graph, but a multidimensional palimpsest, in which many lines intersected in the same place, creating dense masses having a three-dimensional "body."

In the case of this cable, the line of opening timbre and high dynamics intersects with smoothness and keeping everything under control. This is very interesting, because we usually associate control in audio with an "iron hand", with forcing the sound to conform to the rhythm and "lines" within which the sound should be shown. The TPL-3000A-WT cable is different. It has everything at "hand", it is in control of everything, and does not have to exert itself. That is - we don't have to exert ourselves, nor do we have to focus hard, because everything is conveyed in such a way that we listen to the music rather than focus on the sounds.

With recordings from the BILL EVANS TRIO's Sunday at the Village Vanguard, which is the first part of a dylogy that also includes Waltz for Debby (reviewed → HERE), White Tiger did something similar. The presentation was slightly more open than with the reference cable, and the difference between the brighter realization of the MJQ album and Evans was slightly smaller. This is because the tested cable puts emphasis on the opening of the sound, on its sonority, on its information. That's why in Scott LaFaro's track ˻ 1 ˺ Gloria's Step (take 2), the cutlery and voices heard somewhere around 3:20 - this is a concert recording from a club - are a bit clearer, more present with it.

AND THAT’S WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING - and not because the sound is brighter. It's something I hear almost exclusively with products coming from Japan, as if the companies there have mastered a skill that others have only just figured out. That's not the case, I know that, but the impression remains. The thing is, it's not clarity but opening, not sharpness but silkiness. I can't explain this other than with the high resolution of the sound achieved by the Japanese, including in the Tiglon cable.

That's why, I think, White Tiger, despite not having a tightened low midrange and upper bass, conveys large lumps of sound in a way that removes for a moment that strangeness we feel when hearing sound reproduced in our room. The mass, saturation and density of the sounds that begin the Electric Ladyland album by THE JIMIE HENDRIX EXPERIENCE, in the ˻ 1 ˺ „...And Gods Made Love”, i.e. manipulating the tape, playing it backwards, increasing and decreasing its speed, panning the sounds, first passing from between channels and then surrounding us, as with surround speakers, all this with the Japanese cable seemed not only psychedelic, but also very cool, coherent, interesting.

We won't get some particularly deepened dynamics or low, massive bass with it, that's not the case. And that's because this cable tries to play everything in a maximally balanced way, no matter what signal we're talking about. So it doesn't spice things up or "pull" sounds out of the background. When in ˻ 4 ˺ Voodoo Child a low guitar in the right channel enters at the beginning, heard together with a rather strong overtone, and in a moment it is joined by, in the right channel, the sound of a Hammond B-3 organ, all this is conveyed in a wonderfully organized way.

The organization I am talking about is very empathetic, if I may say so, because it is not aggressive. I've mentioned this before, but I'm repeating it because it's a thing that "spoke up" with each successive album and each recording. So when LAURIE ANDERSON in the ˻ 6 ˺ Falling sings "Maybe if I fall..." and there is a strong bass underneath, the cable shows the two in harmony, but also differentiates their placement and timbre. In addition, with very well marked stereoscopy.

I didn't mention this before, because the space is so natural with the tested power cable that it disappears from our "radar", even if we listen to music critically, as I do at the moment. Stereoscopic space is deep and wide here, but above all smooth. In the sense that it fills the panorama in front of us, sometimes from the sides and back, with no gaps, no unevenness, as if it were all part of the same "foundation". As if the sounds were lying on a "cushion" of gentle mousse, to refer to the culinary industry. You know what I mean - it's something underneath that makes us get two, three, or more flavors from a single flavor source, all in one "package".

What I'm talking about came out very well in the track ˻ 1 ˺ Welcome to Waterland opening the album Music Therapy: Whispers of the Five Oceans by ROBERT KANAAN - a wonderful album, I should add - of the sound of sea waves. Robert, born in Wroclaw, a Pomeranian by choice, is imbued with this noise and you can hear it in his music, as the tested cable immediately showed. And not only directly, as here, but also in - for example - the sound of the chorus, which enters immediately after the sound of the sea dies down.

And you can hear momentum, depth, only that it is built behind the speakers rather than in front of them. White Tiger does not impose itself with sounds. Rather, it celebrates them and invites us to this celebration. So the very quiet, almost meditative music from Robert's album was a great background, an excellent backdrop for my writing - it was with it that much of the technical description of the TPL-3000A-WT was written. But when I put down my laptop and listened to the sound of the guitar and other electronically generated sounds, when I imagined the choruses, the presentation became clearer, it was no longer just a background, it was the "Voice of God," to refer to the title of Stanislaw Lem's novel, something that could not be ignored.

▌ Summary

BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT this cable is. It plays in a pastel, soft way, without imposing itself on us with a strong attack of sound. And yet the presentation is very interesting with it. And this is because it is open, sonorous and "wide", that is, not one-dimensional. The bass of this cable is not as low and as energetic as with the Siltech Triple Crown, but - in truth - almost no other cable can do that, and yet the Dutch cable is many times more expensive than the tested cable from Japan.

White Tiger is, as I understand it, something like an elegant invitation. Surely you have encountered something like this, whether for a wedding or some other equally important event - the font, paper, the colors, the envelope. When ENYA begins to sing, when the soft, bell-like sounds of the synthesizer enter in ˻ 8 ˺ Fairytale, then we know we are "home". It's such a pleasant sound, so inviting to listen to music, that it's hard to resist.

And maybe that's what audio is all about, music played in such a way that it is more than a collection of sounds for us, that it is, quite simply, a story. And that's what Tiglon's cable is - an interesting, engaging story. And since we like stories and well-told stories, to refer to the advertising slogan, from us the White Tiger cable receives our ˻ RED FINGERPRINT ˺. ●

THIS TEST HAS BEEN DESIGNED ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES adopted by the Association of International Audiophile Publications, an international audio press association concerned with ethical and professional standards in our industry, of which HIGH FIDELITY is a founding member. More about the association and its constituent titles → HERE.

→ www.AIAP-online.org