Power cable聖 Hijiri
H-SLC „MILLION”
SOPHISTICATEDLISTENER’S CHOICE
Manufacturer: COMBAK CORPORATION
Price (when reviewed): 32 990 PLN/2,5 m
Contact:
Kazuo Kiuchi ǀ 4-20, Ikego 2-chome, Zushi-shi
Kanagawa 249-0003 ǀ Japan
harmonix@combak.net
MADE IN JAPANProvided for test by: MOJE AUDIO

his is of course a coincident (although some say there
are no coincidents) that when preparing a monographic
article on the XRCD technique, I listened some of thediscs using the Japanese TAD Compact Evolution One
loudspeakers and the 聖 Hijiri H-SLC „Million” speaker cable.
The latter came from the artisan, Mr. Kazuo Kiuchi, who also
owns the XRCD24 brand. These relationships are even deeper,
because his components and accessories, for example power
cables, interconnects and speaker cables, as well as antivibration elements, are used in the Japanese JVC studios,
where remasters are made for this type of releases.
Coincident? - you can decide yourself.

聖 Hijiri, in Japanese meaning 'maestro' or 'important leader',is the brand presented by Kiuchi-san in 2015. In Combak
Corporation's, the mother company, lineup it became
something of the "next step" in relation to the Harmonix brand.
In turn, with the appearance of the "Million" models, it became
the top line. Let me remind you that an analog interconnect
HGP-10R „Million” as well as Harmonix X-DC Studio Master
Million Maestro power cable were presented, the latter still aspart of Harmonix lineup.

| H-SLC25R „MILLION”
H-SLC "MILLION" is therefore the last piece of a puzzle, asystem conceived as a whole, bearing the common name"Million", complemented by the "Sophisticated Listener'sChoice" term. The latter is not just a description taken frompromotional materials, but a part of the product's philosophy,
sort of stamp or seal used by Japanese artists proud of theirworks. And what does "Million" stand for? As we read inpromotional materials: "it is meant to symbolize the BEST OF
THE BEST cable we make".
The cable was being developed for three years and it shares its
DNA with the X-DC Studio Master Million Maestro power cable.
As usually in the case of small Japanese producers who direct
our attention to music rather than technological aspects of theirproducts (unlike many large corporations) there is very little
information available about the design of this cable. What weknow is that development took three years due to painstaking
listening sessions that lead to numerous small changes in thedesign and "tuning" of the sound. We can safely assume thatsome listening sessions and comparisons were also held at JVC
studios.
The H-SLC cables are handmade, one pair at a time. They are
made of copper wires, but we do not know what kind of copper.
The only available information reads: "conductor material: own
design and specially prepared copper". What we do know is thatthe copper is directional – arrows placed on heat-shrink
suggest the correct connection. Solid spades these cables areterminated with, are made of silver-plated PCOOC.

Recordings used in the test (a selection)The standard offered lengths are: 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 and 3 m, but
one can also order longer runs. Let's add that in the "Million"
series, in addition to the aforementioned cables, there are also
Harmonix
TU-666M„BeauTone” MillionMaestro
20thAnniversary Edition anti-vibration feet, that I have been using
for a few years.
The cables' look is exactly what one can expect from Mr.
Kiuchi's product, which is extremely "personal". The box theycome in is modest but striking and it resembles a beautifully
wrapped gift. Opening it makes you feel as if you wereopenning a gift wrapped in a special paper. The cables are quite
thick and nice-looking - they are finished with a three-color
braid: navy blue, black and red. In the middle of cable's length
there are wooden elements with a logotype, which also act as
anti-resonant elements. It took Kiuchi-san a lot of time toselect proper type of wood, size of this element and optimal
placement on the cable. However, as I already said, he is an
artisan who treats his works/products very seriously because
they represent him to the outside world.

The 聖 Hijiri H-SLC "Million" speaker cables connected theSoulution 710 power amplifier and – successively - two pairs ofloudspeakers: Harbeth M40.1 and TAD Compact Evolution One.
For years, I have been using the Acoustic Revive RCI-3H
loudspeaker cable stands so also the 聖 HIJIRI rested on them
together with the cables they were compared to, i.e. to two
other speaker cables sets: Siltech Triple Crown and Crystal
Cable The Ultimate Dream. It was an A/B/A comparison withthe A and B known. The music samples were up to 2 minutes
long, but I also listened to the whole albums.








Byrd,
McLean,Coltrane, Taylor’sWailers,
Prestige/Analogue Productions CPRJ 7117 SA, SACD/CD(1957/2013)
Chet Baker, Baker’s Holiday, Limelight Records/Verve
Records SUHD 00960, Test Pressing SACD/CD(1965/2004)
ColemanHawkins, TheHawkFlies
High,Riverside/Mobile Fidelity UDSACD 2030, SACD/CD(1957/2006)
Jean-Michel Jarre, Magnetic Fields, Dreyfus Disques/Epic
EPC 488138 2, CD (1981/1997)
Jolivet, Concerto Pour Violon/Chausson, Poème, wyk.
Isabele Faust, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin,
Harmonia Mundi France/King International HMSA 0025,SACD (2006/2015)
Kazumi Wabe, Jazz Impressions, Ewe Records EWSA0163, SACD/CD (2009)
Mario Suzuki, Masterpiece II: Touching Folklore Music,
Master Music XRCD24-NT021, XRCD24 (2018)
Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come, Atlantic
Records/ORG
Music
ORGM-1081,SACD/CD(1959/2013)

Japanese issues available atI could not let go this thought, and yet if you think about it for a moment - it's
stupid: seeing the XRCD24 logo next tothe Harmonix, Reimyo and Hijiri logos, I subconsciously began
to identify the sound of this type of disc, encoded in my headby listening to a few dozen titles in a short time, with the soundof the H-SLC "Million" cable. Stupid, but only if it was a loose
association, I wanted to share with someone. In this case I amquite sure: the XRCD24 technique and the reviewed speaker
cable have a very similar "personal" sonic character.
It is a sound set to present the fullest possible and mostdynamic midrange. Both high and low tones are pristine, but
the resolution and speed of the midrange makes us focus ourattention on it. One could say that it is a "targeted" sound, inthe sense that from many parallel sonic signatures one waschoosen that draw listeners attention most to the music theylistened to. Sitting in front of good speakers, connected using
Mr Kiuchi's cables, we find ourselves immersed in music. If wereally want to, we can start to analyse the sound, it's not aproblem, but the first impression is so well-known to me frommy own system - it's the emotions over the analysis every time.
First things first. Speaking of focusing on the middle of the band,
I did not mean shifting the tonal balance in this direction, northat the extremes were lacking something. It's absolutely not
like that, but also proves what I started this test with, i.e. theobvious association between this cable and XRCD24 format.
Because the treble is very nice, strong, and the attack is more
pronounced than in the Siltech's cables and – even more so Crystal Cable's. It is similar the Tellurium Q Absoluteperformance.
Listening to the guitars from the latest album produced by Mr.
Kiuchi, ie Masterpiece II with guitarist trio lead by Mario Suzuki,
I heard a beautiful combination of box and strings. The stringsin his release were a bit more expressive than with cables madeby Ms and Mr van Kley, and the performnce was placed closer
to me. It was obviouse, that the creator of this cable wanted toimmerse listener in emotions which are the heart and soul ofmusic. The shift of attention I mentioned did not result fromthe sound being lean, because the bass was powerful andsaturated. It was presented nicely on Jarre's Magnetic Fields,
where I found known to me from the best performances,saturation and impact.

It is difficult to call this sound "warm", but again and again
during this test, the word came to my mind. And this is not thecase, it is a cable with good selectivity and detailed, resolving,
fast and open. I think that the need to use the word startingwith "w" stemmed from the excellent formation of bodies ofphantom images, from perfect vocals. Like, for example, on theChet Baker's Baker's Holiday album, that I have the "Test
Pressing" of.
It delivers a wide panorama, with sections artificially placed at
the edges - brass on one side, and drums and piano on theother. But in the middle, suspended in the space between thespeakers, there is Baker's big, deep vocal. Although he wasrather young at that time and the voice was quite high, thisparticular album played via Hijiri presented him as a bit older,
more experienced man. The trumpet was presented in a similarway, ie it had a strong lower mids. With the Hijiri cable, thisfeature, that is, the way the sound was prepared by the soundand remastering engineers, and then emphasized by pressing
and playing it, was particularly obvious.
Because, on the one hand, it is a very accurate cable, and on
the other hand it goes so deep into the sound that what wehear is no longer just about hi-fi, but about music and how ITchanges. It is clear that it is about sound changes, but becausethe technical aspect largely "disappears" from before oureyes/ears, so it seems to us that it does not exist at all and we
rather think about what it was called for and what defines its
meaning. Therefore, both the vocal and the band on theaforementioned album were powerful and dense. This is thedensity known from XRCD24 discs - I'm sorry to repeat myself,
but I can't help it - thanks to which they sound so great, so
greatly bypassing the weaknesses of the Compact Disc format.
There is also, of course, a slight warming of the upper treble,
something like "gilding" that makes the cymbals sound nicer,
more "friendly" than when presented "raw". This is not a bigchange, but you should know about it. There are no colorations
to the whole presentation, it is not closed, because the attackand selectivity of the midrange are stron, stronger than withmy reference cables. And there is also excellent dynamics.
Since the foreground is placed close to us and it focuses ourattention, we perceive this presentations as particularly
immersive and very natural.

Summary
The Hijiri H-SLC "Million" has everything we expect and requirefrom the top high-end cable: tonal richness, depth, resolution,dynamics, etc. However, above all, it has a soul, a soul of awarrior and an artisan in one. Like the man who created it. This
cable delivers remarkably natural presentation, reminiscent of
the aesthetic choices of what we get with XRCD24. This is an
outstanding cable, that will be hard to top in its price range.

ANALOG SOURCES- Turntable:
AVID HIFI Acutus SP [CustomVersion]- Cartridges:
Miyajima Laboratory KANSUI, |Miyajima Laboratory SHILABE, |Miyajima Laboratory ZERO (mono) |Denon DL-103SA,- Phono stage:
RCM Audio Sensor Prelude IC,
DIGITAL- Compact Disc Player:
Ancient Audio AIR V-edition,
AMPLIFICATION- Line Preamplifier:Polaris III [Custom Version] + ACRegenerator,- Power amplifier:Soulution 710- Integrated Amplifier:Leben CS300XS Custom Version,
LOUDSPEAKERS- Stand mount Loudspeakers:
Harbeth M40.1 Domestic,- Stands for Harbeths:
Acoustic Revive Custom Series
Loudspeaker Stands- Real-Sound Processor:
SPEC RSP-101/GL

HEADPHONES- Integrated Amplifier/Headphone
amplifier:Leben CS300XS Custom Version,- Headphones:
HIFIMAN HE-6, | HIFIMAN HE500, | HIFIMAN HE-300, |Sennheiser HD800 | AKG K701, |Ultrasone PROLine 2500,
Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro, version
600 - Headphone Stands:
Klutz Design CanCans (x 3),- Headphone Cables:
Entreq Konstantin 2010/Sennheiser
HD800/HIFIMAN HE-500,
COMPUTER AUDIO- Portable Player:
HIFIMAN HM-801- USB Cables: Acoustic Revive USB1.0SP (1 m) | Acoustic Revive USB5.0PL (5 m),- LAN Cables:
Acoustic Revive LAN-1.0 PA (kable ) |RLI-1 (filtry),- Router:
Liksys WAG320N- NAS:
Synology DS410j/8 TB

CABLES
System I- Interconnects:
Acrolink Mexcel 7N-DA6300, |preamplifier-power amplifier:
Acrolink 8N-A2080III Evo,
- Loudspeaker Cables:
Tara Labs Omega Onyx,
System II- Interconnects:
Acoustic Revive RCA-1.0PA | XLR1.0PA II- Loudspeaker Cables:
Acoustic Revive SPC-PAPOWER
System I- Power Cables:
Acrolink Mexcel 7N-PC9300, allsystem,- Power Distributor:
Acoustic Revive RTP-4eu Ultimate,- Power Line:power cable Oyaide Tunami Nigo(6m); wall sockets 3 x Furutech FTSWS (R)
System II- Power Cables:
Harmonix X-DC350M2R ImprovedVersion, | Oyaide GPX-R (x 4 ),- Power Distributor:
Oyaide MTS-4e,

ANTIVIBRATION ACCESSORIES- Stolik:
SolidBase IV Custom, /all system- Anti-vibration Platforms:
Acoustic Revive RAF-48H, /digitalsources | Pro Audio Bono [Custom
Version]/headphone
amplifier/integrated amplifier, |Acoustic Revive RST38H/loudspeakers underreview/stands for loudspeakers
under review- Anti-vibration Feets:
Franc Audio Accessories Ceramic
Disc/ CD Player/Ayon Polaris II Power
Supply /products under review, |Finite Elemente CeraPuc/ products
under review, | Audio Replas OPT30HG-SC/PL HR Quartz,- Anti-vibration accsories:
Audio Replas CNS-7000SZ/power
cable,- Quartz Isolators:
Acoustic Revive RIQ-5010/CP-4
PURE PLEASURE- FM Radio: Tivoli Audio ModelOne