I don't think protoype has anything to do with craftmanship unless the craftmanship is also a prototype?
Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
Yifang
Posting in four parts due to a character count limit.
As a personal friend of Antonio and also someone who has purchased multiple cables from him, this post is quite the slander and I do want to question a few things here. I will be stating here that clearly I am biased.
Firstly, it is stated on his website that all cables have up to 10 days or so before they can be completed, in addition, there is shipping time, so a month wait is more than normal and this should apply to any custom cable company. If you are expecting made cables ready to ship, you should be looking elsewhere.
Regarding packaging, I've asked Antonio regarding the packaging for his Cleopatra cable as well as seen it shown in his photos, which it should come with a leather pouch but clearly you didn't have one. I went to ask him why this was the case and it turns out that YOU, the buyer, said you didn't want it in exchange for a discount, which is fair, but don't come out slandering this.
As a personal friend of Antonio and also someone who has purchased multiple cables from him, this post is quite the slander and I do want to question a few things here. I will be stating here that clearly I am biased.
Firstly, it is stated on his website that all cables have up to 10 days or so before they can be completed, in addition, there is shipping time, so a month wait is more than normal and this should apply to any custom cable company. If you are expecting made cables ready to ship, you should be looking elsewhere.
Regarding packaging, I've asked Antonio regarding the packaging for his Cleopatra cable as well as seen it shown in his photos, which it should come with a leather pouch but clearly you didn't have one. I went to ask him why this was the case and it turns out that YOU, the buyer, said you didn't want it in exchange for a discount, which is fair, but don't come out slandering this.
Yifang
All my cables from him so far have just come in a bag like your current situation as well but they've been fine, and probably contributes to how he can keep costs low for buyers like us.
Now regarding cable being dirty and such, this I don't have any idea. However, I do know Antonio takes photos of all his final cables before they are sent out, and if these spots weren't present at the time, then it was either something happened during transit, or on your end of things. If these markings were flaws within the cable due to corrosion and such then this would be a different story, you can let us know about this by simply trying to wipe it off.
As for the quality of the wire and outer layer being damaged, misaligned L-R indicators on the connectors and such, I wouldn't know. This would definitely be up to Antonio to check his QC and sort with factories if these are genuine issues so that he can improve on his own work.
Now regarding cable being dirty and such, this I don't have any idea. However, I do know Antonio takes photos of all his final cables before they are sent out, and if these spots weren't present at the time, then it was either something happened during transit, or on your end of things. If these markings were flaws within the cable due to corrosion and such then this would be a different story, you can let us know about this by simply trying to wipe it off.
As for the quality of the wire and outer layer being damaged, misaligned L-R indicators on the connectors and such, I wouldn't know. This would definitely be up to Antonio to check his QC and sort with factories if these are genuine issues so that he can improve on his own work.
Yifang
I believe the splitter to ear length is always defaulted at 35cm, and if this was too short, you should probably let him know beforehand and specify a length. As far as I'm aware, Antonio has always asked all his customers to specify their own needs (myself and other customers that I know), you were no exception in this regard, except there was no communication from you in this regard as to what length you would like. I personally have had no issues with his default lengths and same for others that have bought from him.
Poor durability is definitely something of serious concern, hopefully Antonio can improve on this moving forward if there was genuinely an issue regarding the build, I'm sure he would fix this free for you and also learn what went wrong, probably worth contacting him for this.
As this was a prototype like you mentioned, perhaps there are still changes to the final product regarding the hardware aspects as I doubt he will change the wire. Hopefully issues can be fixed.
Poor durability is definitely something of serious concern, hopefully Antonio can improve on this moving forward if there was genuinely an issue regarding the build, I'm sure he would fix this free for you and also learn what went wrong, probably worth contacting him for this.
As this was a prototype like you mentioned, perhaps there are still changes to the final product regarding the hardware aspects as I doubt he will change the wire. Hopefully issues can be fixed.
Yifang
Lastly, and the thing I also want to question the most, is that despite you having said the wire and sonic improvements are amazing, you are testing the cable on a Moondrop Chu 2, and I find it extremely hard to believe you can notice such sonic differences when using this IEM as a test IEM. If anything the cable is probably more than 10x the cost of the IEM, I'm obviously hoping the cable sounds good, but at the same time I find it hard to believe such improvements are noticeable via Chu 2 and have serious doubt towards how much sonic changes there are.
Perhaps it will be worth getting the cable fixed by Antonio and re-reviewing it while also testing it on another IEM. Nonetheless, thank you for at least providing a review and detailing your experiences with Antonio and the cable. I have been considering a Cleopatra for a while and seeing there might be sonic improvements is always a positive.
Perhaps it will be worth getting the cable fixed by Antonio and re-reviewing it while also testing it on another IEM. Nonetheless, thank you for at least providing a review and detailing your experiences with Antonio and the cable. I have been considering a Cleopatra for a while and seeing there might be sonic improvements is always a positive.
I know of a case where Gladiator fixed the problem, shipped back and got new. Have you reached out to him?
Might be I am lucky and my 3 cables has been outstanding.