DHC Clone Fusion
2018 HEADFONIA WINNER
Available immediately in limited quantity @ 6ft in various termination options with the ESX4 splitter. It may take up to 12 business weeks for your order to ship, but there will be a small stock of popular variations on hand to ship immediately.
From DHC:
DHC is proud to present something radically different. A cable that distills the work of nearly a decade of headphone cable refinement and firsts at DHC. A cable that belongs at home, on the road, in the studio, or in your pocket. The return of the DHC Clone headphone cable.
Back in 2010, the Clone was our fun name for a high-performing headphone cable featuring two identical cables for left & right. Eventually this platform merged with DHC’s Complement design, our reference home cable. For years we have wanted to offer an impossible cable that could excel in every application while still looking and feeling amazing, so a dramatic rethinking of our core strategies allowed us to bring together the best elements of every DHC design into one – the Clone. Available for almost all headphones AND IEMs!
Design.
The Clone has identical left & right channels that are isolated from one another and are wound together into a flexible pair. A single, streamlined cable goes to each ear – nearly weightless and perfectly sleek. We believe this is the most compact 22awg x 4 headphone/IEM cable in the world.
U-polymer outer jacket.
Even the outer jacket was carefully considered on the DHC Clone. The U-polymer material was specifically chosen to have similar electrical properties to the Fusion mesh conductor underneath it, so that they do not interact and exchange static charge. This jacket is highly resistant to heat, scratches, bending, or stretching, beyond any other material we’ve tested. Its elastic qualities make it a potent damping material in line with the cable’s overall design goals.
Fusion mesh conductor.
The matching 22awg (-) conductor is directly braided around the cotton-encased (+) Fusion conductor. In this way, both conductors benefit from the cotton boundary layer, as they are both positioned against it. The copper and silver OCC litz groups alternate for a unique aesthetic effect.
Pure cotton boundary layer.
The Clone, as with Complement4 and Prion4 flagships, features a cotton primary dielectric layer. DHC was the first to offer a litz cable with a matrix of cotton braided around the strands inside a durable, insulated cable. The result is a cable with cotton as its true primary insulation – a material that does not add or subtract charge from the strands, damps vibration, and offers superior dielectric strength to practically everything – without the strands or constructs being vulnerable, as the cotton-encased litz construct is protected in the outer layers.
At the center.
Clone Fusion has the 22awg heart of the Complement4 Fusion design at its center for the (+) conductor – consisting of 14 alternating groups of ultra-pure OCC copper and OCC silver litz strands around the center core. This design greatly reduces skin effect as each strand is kept close to the surface as the bundles rotate 360 degrees, equalizing impedance throughout the wire from end to end. Each tiny strand of OCC litz is coated in an invisible, razor-thin enamel layer which prevents oxidation and cross-talk between strands, eliminating diodic junctions and their resulting propensity for energy storage. This is a very substantial conductor – more than ample for all audio systems – and dwarfs most of its rivals.
Fusion’s prowess.
Fusion’s combination of copper and silver includes our surprising OCC copper that is more detailed & dynamic than syrupy and dull copper competitors. It’s paired with our even more surprising OCC silver, which expands on the detail & transparency of copper without showing any signs of harshness. DHC’s careful choice of metals, refining, casting, gauges, drawing, and insulation – every step of the wire creation process – is how we avoid our copper and silver conforming to industry stereotypes.
The core.
We take the damping core type 4 model to another level with our conductive core – a DHC innovation. The core is made of a proprietary resistive material which absorbs any internal static buildup, while also allowing vibration damping on all sides of the litz strands – they are “sandwiched” between cotton and this core – the perfect internal environment.
Definitively DHC.
A CNC machined titanium logo tube with engraved DHC dot motif is standard on all Clone Fusion cables, secured in place by custom gray silicone Eidolic grommets inside. The same silicone grommets are used whenever possible to seal connector and split openings and avoid the use of heatshrink unless absolutely necessary.
Eidolic end to end.
With the best possible connectors from Eidolic at each end and an Eidolic y-split, DHC Clone Fusion has an unfair advantage. Try the full package of CNC machined titanium upgrades – the E-STB 2.5/3.5/4.4 barrel, E-SXST titanium IEM slider, E-STBC titanium CIEM barrels, and E-SXT y-split – for an unmistakeable industrial edge.
Performance.
We find that the Clone design performs extremely close to the Complement4 line while being vastly more compact and an ideal design for IEM as much as for home flagships. If you’ve listened to our top cables before, prepare to be shocked. And if this is your first experience with DHC, well…