Harmonix

Hijiri Takumi Maestro Powercord
Editor | Megan
The famous Japanese Audio tuning specialist, Mr.
K. Kiuchi’s Combak Corporation have a few brandsof products. The first known brand of product by
our local audiophiles was Harmonix, producing
various of effective sound tuning devices, tuningcables, room acoustic tuning devices, Powercords,
and Enacoms – signal tuning devices. There is aline of high-end electronics under the brand nameof Reimyo. Then, there is also its own uniqueloudspeaker, first model was the Bravo , and now
is the Encore ENC-5.

Production
X-DC10AC and X-DC Studio Master are the first 2
models of Harmonix powercords which we havetested them more than 10 years ago, the sound isrich and warm. It was very different from manyother Japanese made powercords which tend tosound light and fussy. The Harmonix powercords
did leave us a very good impression.

During these past years, we did pay attention to
the development of the Harmonix powercords.
The X-DC10AC was improved to be the X-DC2 andit has kept its rich and warm character but it was a
lot more detailed with high clarity that you could
hear the weak sound very clearly with better
ambience, and much better imaging. It was surely
an economical powercord with great characters.
The development of the X-DC Studio Master
powercord is even more aggressive. For thecelebration of the 20th Anniversary of Combak
Corporation, the X-DC Studio Master 350 M2R waslaunched. The list price of a piece of 1.5M
powercord was HK$15,300.- Later there was amuch higher price of X-DC Studio Master Million
Maestro at the list price of HK$92,100.- The soundis very sweet and pleasant, rich flavor andfascinating, and also have the ability to polish dry& hard, thin to be brilliant sound. The texture andstrength are even better than the 350 M2R. It iscapable to satisfy the power consumption demandof any of the huge amplifiers.
Harmonix recently has utilized new concept on
the cable design to produce a new series of Hijiricables. The first was the Hijiri Million Interconnect
cable being launched in previous year, thenfollowed by the Hijiri NAGOMI Powercord (listprice of a 1.5M piece is HK$14,500). Now there isa latest higher end model, Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro
Powercord, a 1.5M piece at the list price of
HK$49,000. All Harmonix powercords areavailable in the options of 1M, 1.5M, 2M, 2.5M or
3M to suit audiophiles’ need.
Harmonix cables have always stressed on thesound tuning, and its sound character is carefully
tuned. Looking at the appearance of Hijiri TAKUMI
Maestro, the power plugs on both ends areequipped with black color wood assembly andthere is also a piece of black color wood marked
with "TAKUMI" on the center of the cable. This isHarmonix’s prestigious cherry wood production,and it also proves that this powercord has been
carefully tuned with selected sound tuningmaterials.
On the plug, Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro has utilized
the Wattgate 330i RH American style AC plug
(Harmonix also offers 390i RH Schuko Europeanstyle plug option), IEC is the Wattgate 350i RH, allrhodium-plated, and then insulated withHarmonix specially selected wood on the outside.
It is just like the flagship X-DC Studio Master
Million Maestro powercord.
As explained in the website of Combak
Corporation, Hijiri stands for a maestro or great
leader, and in engineering field, it isunprecedented technology stand alone in theindustry, and it is a new name for the newgeneration of Harmonix cables and powercords.
The packaging of the Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro is avery beautiful and elegant wooden box in redcolor. It is engraved with a word “匠”, which isexactly the meaning of Takumi (hand-craftsman).
Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro can be called “the MasterCraftsman”.
The Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro is specially designedwith custom-made copper. The AC current is
exceptionally smooth and unobstructed, making
the sound very clear, musical and natural. It is the"art of music", reproducing the sound retrieval
reminiscent of the live musical event. This power
cord is also specially designed for those who
cannot compromise, always seeking the bestsound enthusiasts.

Music Source Playback withRich Atmosphere
In the audition, I first used Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro
powercord on the Accustic Arts Drive II CD
transport, so that the powercord was in the musicsource so as to perform the most significant
demonstration of its sound characteristics. I also
found an Audio Note SOOTTO Mains Powercord
for the comparison reference.
The vocal of Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro gave me verywarm, rich and sweet feeling. The imaging isdense with good texture; the vocal is strong withgood energy and powerful, which instantly evoked
the beauty of X-DC Studio Master Million Maestro
from my memories.
To playback the Whitney Houston’s “TheBodyguard” CD album, the several beautiful songs
including "I Will Always Love You", "I Have
Nothing" & "Run To You", being reproduced byHijiri TAKUMI Maestro, the vocal sounded richer
with good taste. A warm solvable affection and afull shape of the mouth of the vocalist could befound. The strong sound was powerful and full ofenergy; the mid-low frequency was steadily stableand real. The songs in this album are much nicer
than Whitney Houston's first album and therecording is much better, although the general
recording of the American pop songs is usuallylightly shined. Plus the sound character of thisDrive II CD transport with clarity but low-sugar
type, in order to playback this CD album to soundvery pleasant, it’ll require to spend a little morethought. Utilizing the Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro
powercord with its warm & rich sound, to power
up the Drive II, is a good match. It allowed
Whitney Houston’s voice to sound warmer andsmoother, with a bit less glare and hardness at thehigh frequencies. It was just like the edges beingslightly polished to be smoother, but notdeliberately asking for the extreme crystal clear
presentation as the microscope-style. It was more
willing to express a bit richer and more pleasantsound. Thus, in the playback of the song "Even If
My Heart Would Break", the reproduction ofKenny G's Saxophone and Aaron Neville's softvocal, it sounded richer and warmer that wassurely another tasteful experience. If you like tolisten to Whitney Houston's songs with morepowerful rhythm, i.e. "I m Every Woman", "Queen
Of The Night" etc., the Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro
powercord, of course, can also reproduce theeffect with the strong and powerful mid-low
frequency, to be steadily stable, vigorously strong,
prudent practical, and full-weight, to provide asolid foundation for the mid-low frequency.
The sound character of Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro
powercord has reminded me of Tsai Chin's voice.
The recording of the album "Tsai Chin Folk Song "with a very sweet warm vocal, dynamic ups anddowns change supple, but also with a little passionof vacuum tube sound, to have the same soundcharacter of the Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro
powercord. Using it to playback this CD album canfurther strengthen the charming voice of Tsai Chin,
making it richer with great flavor. Although theHijiri TAKUMI Maestro and Tsai Chin's recording
have the same distinctive character, but thecombination of the two will not lead to overlap tobe less pleasing due to excessive personality
because there is always the Drive II as the dilution
adjustment. If the CD transport is replaced withthe recent new CD transport, the Metronome
Kalista Ultimate SE, which is using in our big
listening room, the extent of the system matchingco-ordination may not be so high.
Although Hijiri is designed with a new concept, it
still maintains Harmonix’s usual sound characterwith flesh and blood, a rich and strong intoxicating
nature, not blindly focus on the bold fast, highdefinition transparency. On the other hand, it ismore deliberately to fascinate the audiophiles, toindulge in the aesthetic audio world that is
carefully arranged by Harmonix.

Self-contained to be different
Next, we replaced the original Analysis Plus
Ultimate Power Oval power cord (with Wattgateplug) with the Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro powercord
on the ModWright LS 36.5DM preamp. The Drive
II CD Transport was then connected with the list
price over hundred thousand dollars SOOTTO
Mains powercord.
After listening to the several audition tracks, I felt
the performance was even much better. There wasa wider and more opened three-dimensionalsoundstage, the ambience in the weak sound wasmore abundant. The high and low frequency
extension on both ends could also go further, asthe charming sound performance of the Hijiri
TAKUMI Maestro powercord could also bedelivered through the connection on thepreamplifier power supply.
To playback the Zukerman and Midori's "Bach:
Concerto in D minor" violin duet concerto, theviolin sounded so lively, the changes were smoothand elegant. The ending of the high-frequency
sounded long and delicate, the soft sound weremeticulous, the sound was bright enough butwarm, the soundstage was open and wide. Hijiri
TAKUMI Maestro is really the perfectaccompaniment to string music reproduction. It is
tuned to have a warm and charming sound, andeven to show a bit of graceful woodiness. It issurely self-contained to be different. The charm ofthe Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro has also made theEvgeny Kissin's piano recital of “Pictures at anExhibition” to sound more elegant and woodywarm.
Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro sound performance is very
different with the Audio Note SOOTTO Mains,perhaps from the former pure copper conductor,
the latter of pure silver conductor, and theirrespective manufacturers of the usual soundorientation, we can more or less guess thedifference. Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro's acoustic
charm in addition to a warm musical and smoothsound with the effect of special custom-madecopper, there is also carefully selected highdensity wood, just like Tsai Chin’s voice that is
intoxicated and attractive; once you fall in lovewith it, and there is no substitute for it!
Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro sound performance is also
very different with the Analysis Plus Ultimate
Power. Although the tone of the two are also
warm and delicate, not too bright, no hard edges,
but the Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro sound is richer, canbe more virulent, the imaging is also denser andthicker, and Ultimate Power Oval has a little more
fresh air, open soundstage, and the end of the buzzsound to be more relaxed and drift feeling.

The Most Effective Way
Our editor, Sam Ho, with good knowledge andvery experienced in audio, has listened together
with me for a while, and he immediately pointed
out that we should use the Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro
on the DAC so as to maximize its performance inthe complete system. We then used the Ultimate
Power Oval back on the preamplifier so as to allow
the Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro to power the AccusticArts Tube DAC II mk2 decoder, replacing theoriginal Vitus Audio Andromeda power cord.
When we turned on the system again, the soundperformance was definitely better overall. The
soundstage was further open and wide; the energy
and dynamic were also the most powerful, and theHijiri TAKUMI Maestro’s rich flavor sound can also
be highly distributed, so that we’re all listening
very happily! Then, we playback Evgeny Kissin’s"Pictures at an Exhibition" again, the sound of thepiano did not only exude the Hijiri TAKUMI
Maestro’s woody warm flavor, and the body was
also thicker and plump, fuller and powerful. We
could feel his fingers moving fast on the keys andpowerful, the impact and liveliness were stronger.

To playback Diana Panton’s "I Believe in Little
Things" album with the melodic melody of Alice inWonderland episode "In A World Of My Own", thebeginning of the refreshing guitar sound throughthe Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro interpretation also
made us feel so much better and tasteful, the lowfrequency string was deep and powerful, coming
right from the floor. Diana Panto 's voice was fullbody with precise imaging, but also lively andlovely, calm and supple, full of charm. The
soundstage was open and wide with good density,and it really easily filled up our big listening room.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra directed by Paul
Paray , the album "Suppe and Auber Overtures" ofwhich the third song "Franz Von Suppe: LightCavalry" got a lot of passionate strings musicalinstruments; the bright and loud brass, and full ofmarching rhythmically dynamic drums, under theinterpretation of Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro, thesound was absolutely strong and powerful,energetic, loud and charming. It also gave you alittle bit of the rich, thick and warm flavor of thispower cord. The bright glory sound was no longer
harsh or too sharp for your ear, it was really awonderful result!

The sound characters of the Accustic Arts Drive II
CD transport, Tube DAC II mk2 D/A Converter andModWright LS 36.5DM preamplifier were all lightwith low sugar type, vivid and strong direction,
they were all well-matched with Hijiri TAKUMI
Maestro powercord. Under our long-term
experience with these equipment, we recognizedwhich type of powercord would be the most idealand comprehensive for them. I like mostly thesound to be more vigorous open, more details on
the weak sound, more extend on the high and low
frequencies in both ends by connecting thepowercord on the CD transport. I like the open &wide soundstage, powerful and imaginative power
cord for connecting the preamplifier and I also likethe sound with strong flavor of the power cord topower up for the D/A Convertor. This is an
example of how to configure the power cord forthis combination in a very stable manner.
As for the power amplifier to select the power
cord, I’m the same as many of you that we prefer
to use the powercord that is powerful and strong
with good texture. The performance of the Hijiri
TAKUMI Maestro in this area is quite ideal, eventhough it has not yet reached the level of the X-DC

Studio Master Million Maestro as be more freely.
In addition, the Hegel H30 sound character issimilar to the Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro as bothsounds rich. These two work well together thatthe sound is marvelous tasteful, but it is just a bit
less vigorous jumping. Thus, it is better to let thedeep affection of the Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro
powercord for the D/A Convertor to express themout.
The Hijiri TAKUMI Maestro and Tube DAC II mk2
D/A Converter really hit it off, making Evgeny
Kissin's piano sound so deep, rich and strong, andit also made the "I Believe in Little Things" inwhich the jazz big cattle tendons coming from theearthquake. To playback the "Suppe and Auber
Overtures" was so lively, and moreover to makethe 6th song "Orpheus / Sonnet" of Patricia
Barber’s "Mythologies" in which the electric guitarsound full of tension and charming, drum sound sopowerful and strong, low-frequency so deep andheavy, as powerful as the earthquake. It reallystimulated excitement to all the listeners!