Why high-frequency extension, capacitance and picofarads go hand in hand regarding:"How much of the music do you really hear?"More Capacitance = More DistortionHF extension or “high-frequency extension” can be described as the frequencies and harmonic structure heard at the sonically extreme levels in music. Part of the frequency/harmonic structure is not even heard but felt in music, through the inner ear bones, the face, the skull and so on. The sonic benefits are not only for cymbals, triangles, brass instruments but for violins which produce frequencies as high as 40 kHz. The high-frequency extension is needed in order to have a more authentic harmonic structure, which enables us to hear leading edge transients and the decay of musical notes. Otherwise the leading edge details of mid-range and bass notes sound dulled. This is also measurable with square waves, where high-frequency attenuation of ultrasonic and audio band frequencies causes distortion known as overshoot and ringing of the square wave.
Part of the reason that TARA Labs interconnects offer the listener more high-frequency extension than any other cables in the world, has to do with our extremely low capacitance (measured in pico-Farads or pF). This remarkable level of achievement has been accomplished through our thirty years of experience in technology & design. Even though this technology exists in all our interconnects, our flagship cables; The Grand Master Evolution interconnects offers a clear example of just how far we have taken this technology. While virtually all of the cable manufacturers in the world claim pF in the double digits, TARA Labs Grand Master Evolution interconnects has a remarkable pF of 2.0. This translates to, as Stereophile’s top reviewer Michael Fremer wrote regarding his review of the Evolution cables, “Limitless high-frequency extension.”
For a more detailed description of the importance of this technology, this can be explained as; For every doubling of the capacitance, the high-frequency bandwidth is reduced by a full octave, thereby high-end audio interconnects in the marketplace manufactured by the most well-known and respected audio cable manufacturers, such as Nordost, Cardas, Stealth, Crystal, Transparent, MIT, Kimber, etc, have capacitance numbers that are typically in the low double digits or slightly lower than 10 pF in their extreme top of the line audio cables. Which again in layman’s terms means; more capacitance equals more high-frequency roll-off and distortion. So for example, if you take 4 pF, double it to 8, double it again to 16 and then double this again to 32, this translates to doubling the capacitance 3 times, which means that each doubling is an octave lost of high frequency. In this example, 3 full octaves of music have been lost or filtered away.
In this particular case, three full octaves of high-frequency extension are lost due to the increased capacitance. More distortion, higher noise floor, loss of high-frequency extension, as well as the nuances that are lost when listening to music at this extreme level of audio technology. Please note the audible frequency spectrum ranges from 20Hz to 20 kHz then the ultrasonic spectrum from 20kHz – 100kHz and then the RF or radio frequency spectrum 100kHz - 300 GHz.
Due to the ultra-low capacitance of the Grand Master Evolution at 2pF, the listener is able to hear more of the music faithfully reproduced, more so than any other high-end reference audio cables in the world.
Below is a comparative list of how TARA labs interconnect audio cables compare in regards to capacitance levels measured in picofarads (pF) to some of the leading and most well-respected audio cable manufacturers in the world. Remember, more capacitance means more distortion.
