John
Diamond dust. Hidden sheep. Moon phase. Frosty sheep. Sunpillar. Sungrazer. Nope, this isn’t an acid trip or a Lewis Carroll quote. These are the model names of custom headphone/earphone cables made by Wagnus, a Tokyo company founded by one Haruyuki Kume (better known as ‘Haru’).
Wagnus was first introduced to yours truly by Brannan Mason at October’s Fujiya Avic headphone festival (coverage here). Wagnus distribute Noble Audio’s custom IEM range in Japan. There I learnt of Haru’s extensive Sake knowledge and that he’s an expert photographer with a following on Instagram that apparently stretches to the tens of thousands.
Two months later at the e-earphone Portable Audio Festival, Wagnus were probably the only exhibitor with a reputation as generous as their cable range and (on occasion) their pricing. The flagship Sieve Sheep cable sells for 100,000JPY (~US$1000). At the e-earphone event, Wagnus had foot traffic to match – it took me over four passes to get a seat at a table filled to the brim with cable. Haru’s main business is IEM wire but he also covers a handful of full size ‘phones.
Haru kickstarted his journey down the wire in making third party cable solutions for Fitear IEMs (covered here). Later came additional propulsion from Astell&Kern owners looking to tap their DAP’s balanced output. In 2012, 2.5mm TRSS terminations weren’t as common as they are today. Wagnus have since added balanced cables for the Pono Player to their range.
At the other end, we note MMCX terminations (for Shure / Campfire Audio), ‘Fitear’ 2-pin, ‘Noble’ 2-pin, ‘1964 ears’ 2-pin, ‘JH Audio’ 4-pin and ‘UE’ 2-pin. Haru keeps a complete list on his smartphone (see below).
Our table host sources the majority of his conductive materials at military spec, some from the USA, some from Germany and a smattering from the Czech Republic and the former Yugoslavia where Russian milspec is still available if you know where to look. Haru knows where to look and talks us through his range here:
Further information: Wagnus Cables
