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Limited Edition release for Black Friday 2022
(new) Skollvar v2 Elite Fusion
Delivering the greatest benefits of the best fusion silver occ & copper occ litz in our precisely selected strand count and design. The Skollvar v2 Elite utilizes a special design with two different conductors per each polarity (one copper occ litz and one fusion with 50% silver/50% copper occ litz). Each of the conductors utilized were developed to find the perfect combination of strand counts, strand sizes, occ metal type, materials and overall gauge per polarity. Our philosphy with this design was to acheive both the right amount of silver occ added combined with the larger 19awg overall per polarity. This combination provides the benefit of both worlds in one cable (detail from occ silver added and fullness/weight/body from larger gauge).
The Skollvar v2 Elite model can be had in a special 8-wire sleeved design (8 conductor each with their own sleeve of your selection), or it can be had without a sleeve in black + transparent black (for those wanting a more streamlined cable).
Each of the 8 conductors must be manually sleeved by hand. While this requires a lot of time to achieve we feel the look and feel stands apart from any other cable. There are two 8-wire braid patterns when you have selected more than one sleeve color for your cable. The patterns are "single alternating" and "stripe”. The "single alternating" braid pattern alternates between each sleeve color while with "stripe" the sleeves run parallel to eachother down the length of the cable.
By default we will be using the "single alternating" pattern, if you wish to have the "stripe" braid pattern please tell us in the checkout notes. Please see images below for reference.
Image below: Sleeve #1 - Black + Sleeve #2 - Dark grey & Silver herring bone (single alternating braid pattern)
Overview:
19awg per polarity with a total of 8-wires internally (2 uniquely designed stranded conductors per polarity).
Fusion design with silver occ + copper occ litz (enameled strands)
One conductor as fusion (50% silver+50%copper) + One conductor as copper
Specialized strand processing (with new finer stranding added) - more difficult / costly to achieve finer stranding for occ litz type specifically.
Utilizing enlarged cotton cores
Each individual wire has carefully selected strand counts and composition to achieve our endgame sonic goal of the series
Using different ultra fine strand gauges, as well as different gauges per each polarity (varied stranding)
Flexible jacket on each conductor with many textile sleeve options available, including our special metallic fiber tracer options (see below). Combine any two or even three sleeves in one cable (for three you must specify in checkout notes).
The sleeved configuration requires more hand labor than most designs out there (8 conductors manually sleeve for a unique look)
Please see our link for new sleeving and splitter options listed for Black Friday 2022: click here to open the options in a new browser window
Note: We never use any SPC (silver plated copper) in our cables. Any of our cables with silver utilize 100% pure silver occ lstrands, while very costly, it is our opinion that pure silver is superior
to any other utilization of silver in a cable (i.e., silver gold alloy, silver plated copper, etc.). You will only see Copper, Silver or a true fusion of Copper and Silver in our headphone cables. In our view, the best that is possible.
Shown above: Eidolic copper carbon rings. Skollvar v2 sleeve black/dark grey herring bone + black with dual metallic copper+green tracers
Shown above: Sleeve #1: Black - Sleeve #2: Black&Dark grey herring bone (8-wire braid pattern: "stripe")
Shown above: Black with dual metallic red+gold tracer (full cable)
Please see below for just some of our splitter options, you may specify any of these color options in checkout if you do not see it in the dropdown list.
If you want something truly custom please just email us via our contact page. We can do various logo fill color options in our raised silver inlay and raised black inlay splitters.
Combine any base color splitter with any inlay option.
See our sleeve list below for other combinations possible on this series. If not in the drop down, you may combine any two of the below sleeves by putting them in the checkout notes.
Shown above are various sleeve options available for the Skollvar v2.
If there is a particular amplifier or headphone end termination you do not see, odds are we can make it. Please just email us via contact form to confirm what you are after
and we will work out the details with you. For example Furutech 4-pin XLR or 1/4" TRS rhodium, etc.
Exotic Wood custom splitters:
Please note that all exotic wood splitters are hand crafted on a per order basis. These custom wood splitters take a lot of labor and will delay an order longer than a metal splitter.
If you are after the quickest shipping cables select the metal splitter option. Stay tuned in the near future for our wood with metal flush inlay options (coming soon, a perfect match to many wood+metal grill headphone cups)
Exclusive splitter inlays:
Our custom splitter inlays are precisely formed via CNC process and merged with any desired deep recess triangle splitter currently available (see images above). Stay tuned for more options to be added during Black Friday 2022 and beyond.
Custom Sleeves
We are proud to say that our outer textile sleeves are 100% made in the USA to the highest quality and standard. Our sleeves are not simply something you can find off the shelf and they have their own extremly nice quality and feel. The factory we are using in the USA only adheres to the highest standard of quality given their long list of other prestigious clientelle. Not only possessing a top feel, our sleeves are very durable with a lower level of mechanical noise (microphonics). Our special metallic fiber tracer sleeving is original to us in headphone cables, having spent years working to locate what we feel is the best sleeve out there. We are also the original source of this special sleeve with metallic fiber look for headphone cables.
Packaging:
Every Skollvar v2 Series headphone cable ships with our custom Black top metal zipper bag.
Please note: Page description under construction, check back soon for more details. See bottom for specs.
Please note: All cables are hand made on a per order basis and have a wait time, we cannot rush shipments on request currently. We have a vast amount of customization options meaning they must
all be built by hand from scratch on a per order basis (not premade). If you need to know a wait time, please contact us with your specifications for an ETA on your specific build before ordering.
Why OCC?
Used throughout the high end audio industry in most flagship cable products, occ provides the superior quality copper and silver possible today.OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) is the name given to the casting process developed to help defeat annealing issues and virtually eliminate all grain boundaries in copper or silver with a unique patented process. The OCC casting method uses specialized heated moulds in order to draw a single crystal up to 125 meters in length. With only a single crystal in very long lengths, there is an unimpeded free path for the best possible signal transfer. Along with this superior single long crystal structure, OCC provides copper and silver with the least possible oxides and other impurities.
Why Litz?
With each strand utilizing a razor thin enamel coating, Litz based wire provides a cable that will last a lifetime (will not oxidize). Further with each strand acting independently until joining at the termination point, the design negates any bad effects typically associated with normal stranded wire (skin effect, proximity effect, etc.). As another side benefit durability and flexibility are both increased.
Combining OCC (purest metal) with Litz design you really have an end result that is the ultimate cable possible today.
Why Pure OCC Copper, OCC Silver and True Fusion OCC Silver + OCC Copper
We go by the numbers using science as the guideline. All metals have a conductivity rating as describe by the International Annealed Copper Standard (IACS). All metals are compared against Copper at the 100% IACS rating mark. OCC Copper is rated at 103% IACS and Silver 106% IACS. Gold is rated at 73% IACS or 27% lower conductivity as compared to standard OFC/ETP copper (given the exact same amount of each metal). Therefore it would take a significant amount more Gold to achievethe higher conductivity rating of copper.
We will never release anything less than OCC copper and will never release any alloys. So what is an alloy? An alloy is defined as a mixture of two or more different metals, making the original metal less pure with worsened electrical performance than the original pure metal. An alloy of 1% gold with 99% silver would yield around 89% IACS rating or 11% less conductivity than standard OFC/ETP copper. While cables made of metals/alloys that are inferior to copper may alter the sound in a specific way, that is not our goal. Norne Audio will always seek to utilize the absolute best materials (going by the numbers) in our pursuit of the absolute best cables possible today. We believe that the cables with the best specifications yield the best possible sound of ones system.
Please watch the above animation if you prefer a quick visual overview.
IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard)
The IACS rating is the metric used to describe a metals conductivity as compared to the standard of copper.
First take a look below at pure metals conductivity ratings.
(1) OCC Pure Silver - 107%
(2) OCC Copper - 103%
(3) Copper (common grade) - 100%
(4) Gold - 73%
Silver is the best there is, in pure form, period.
example:
If you take a 1"x 1"x 1" cube of pure silver and compare its conductivity to an identical 1"x 1"x 1" cube of gold, the gold is considered 32-35% less conductive than the pure silver.
Alloys
An alloy, by definition, is less pure than the original pure metals it is comprised of. Alloys are in existence largely for strength / hardness properties and are not meant for high end audio cables. When you alloy a metal, say gold with silver, you quickly decrease its purity and IACS rating. Even at just 1% gold alloyed with silver the IACS rating drops down well below plumbing grade copper. Alloys in the audio world came about purely as competition increased and there was desperation for new ways to try and market a cable to the uneducated masses.
Norne Audio will always utilize the purest form of a metal and will always use pure silver occ litz, pure copper occ litz, spc occ litz or mixes thereof. Our goal is the design that possesses the absolute top specifications of the highest possible quality.
