Aroma Audio Jewel

I have always aimed for a reference/neutral type of sound as that was my preference from the very start. The a18t from 64 audio has been with me for a while and though many new IEMs came out, nothing really amazed me enough to buy a new set.

I have finally found something that I felt was worthy of consideration. The Jewel from Hong Kong, the land I am extremely familiar with. I used to go to HK to buy modded playstation 1, 2, and 3s as a child so I had great memories there, and of course how can you go to HK and not eat streetside fishballs on a stick. MmMm good stuff.

To be upfront, the Jewel gave me bad impressions when it came out. The stock cable almost seemed like a slap in the face for that kind of price tag but as mentioned at the same time the buyer does not have to feel that too much money was wasted on a stock cable that would rarely be used. Of course on the other hand one can argue for a 5K retail IEM they are chopping our nuts off for not giving a higher end cable. I like to be positive so I will go with the former thoughts...

I noticed when people buying the baw ka japanese bird for example when wanting to use a different cable they had the stresses of either needing to sell the stock bird cable (which already is good) or they have to keep it feeling like they paid for an extra cable they'd never use.

I have demoed the jewel a few times before and my main pairings preferred with it were the PW 1950s shielding and the PW orphy.

The orphy with the Jewel provides some of the nicest mids I have ever heard with thunderous barbaric whirlwind punch you in the face bass. The treble is presented without any harshness and most to all the info is still fully there and present. Some may feel that the treble is a bit too rolled off with the orphy but the trade offs of the wonderful mids make up for it x3 fold from my point of view, depends where your priorities are. The middle class is slowing dwindling so I got to represent the mids.

The 1950s with the Jewel provides a much more linear experience throughout top to bottom, with the bass punching/slamming a bit harder. For my own ears sometimes the slam is actually too much on super bassy songs so for my case I opted to use the orphy with the Jewel long term.

I did not try the Jewel with the stock cable for too long as the cable looked like an afterthought and I saved my time due to seeing not many Jewel users using stock. I should have trialed and errored myself but as you know time is money.

What I liked about the Jewel most was how it is able to play well with ALL genres. Everything I threw at it was amazing and like the Abyss TC in the headphone world, Jewel continues to scale higher with better and better gear.

There are many flavors of IEMs popping out often, but if you want an all rounder, give the Jewel a listen. It is in my books the best all rounder currently out right now fo sho.

I got mine at Musictek off Andrew. Tokpakorlo also influenced me a bit in the direction I took as he always had good insights and was always honest about his findings. In my eyes he is a specialist consumer in the IEM realms as he really REALLY cares. You can tell by his writing.

I did opt to get the CIEM custom version of the Aroma Jewel and know that I can not sell this down the line for much, I put my money where my mouth was and that's respeck with a K to the Jewel.

Bird man brr brr.

Who this IEM is not made for:
Soft blueberry muffin boys, wizards with coodies

Who this IEM is made for:
Big strong men, barbarians, people with great taste

Kohinoor: It is one of the largest-cut diamonds and one of the most beautiful diamonds in the world.




Aroma Audio Jewel:

Aroma Audio Jewel is currently among the best IEMs on the market, and it does not need an introduction. People have gone crazy listening to them, and I too was hit very hard. The moment I put them in my ears, I was so unbelievably absorbed, it really took me by surprise. This IEM is at a totally different level; I'm not sure if anything at all compares to the Jewel. I know it costs a lot, so I was expecting something good but not this good. It is a freaking all-rounder. It is not a beast of any particular frequency range - you will not say that it’s a bass monster or an iem with the most impressive treble, the most beautiful mids, or the one with the best soundstage; it is not something that has any of these particular characteristics. So, how in the world does it sound so crazy and amazing? I think it’s a freaking all-rounder. A versatile iem, which Jewel is, is something that touches everything that produces great sound for an iem and stitches these characteristics so beautifully that the whole world becomes musical. I am not joking when I say all this. This IEM will ask you to close your eyes and live in the moment because nothing has been so musical to your ears and brain. Is it an IEM with a perfect 10/10 score , I am not sure, but yes, it may be the most musical of all. Forget the technicalities and the pin-pointing analysis; it will not let you do any of that. It just draws your attention to music and asks you to enjoy it.

Sound:

Jewel is quite easy to drive. It does not demand a lot of power, and it sounds beautiful with every source, be it an iPhone, a dongle (Ru6), some very old basic DAP (Fiio M11), or a very high-end set-up. Of course, if you hook it up with a better source, it sounds better and shines a lot. When I had Jewel with me, along with many other sources, I also tried it through: Sony WM1ZM2 + A&K PA10 amp + PWAudio First Times Shielding Cable. Imagine the delivery - unimaginable, right? Goosebumps and Musical Nirvana! Believe me, your chain does not need to be so efficient. I think Jewel just needs a good resolving chain - some good DAP with enough power and resolution - DX320 should be good enough.

Some details down here:

Highs:

Jewel has an outstanding treble extension. It's just a bit on the brighter side for me, but nothing to complain about at all. It has super excellent highs - it’s sharp and precise - with no sibilance, harshness, or shrillness. Jewel has amazing details, accuracy, and clarity on the higher end. There is a great sense of airiness. There is this song I found that challenges the treble handling capability of IEMS. I try it on all the new IEMs that I come across and believe me, the Jewel handled it really well, though I never listen to whole of this song (the highs are too sharp on this song; please skip if you really have issues with hot treble).


Mids:

Mids on Jewel are very natural. As resolving and sweet as it can get. You will enjoy every bit of the delivery of sweet mids from Jewel. The fact that frequency ranges are so beautifully and distinguishably produced that the transition to/separation of mids from other frequencies is amazing - as if the mids take a front seat when it is required. Mids can not sound more beautiful than this, even if it is not tuned to be a mid-centric iem. Vocals are forward (with enough emphasis), with enough weight and texture. The emotions from the vocals come out as intended. Vocals have life, as simple as that.

Lows :

Jewel has a perfect amalgamation (balance) of great quality bass and enough quantity of it. There is enough punch and slam, and Jewel's bass is not at all boomy - quality of bass. Bass is clean, controlled, and has fast decay, and all of this does not eat away or eclipse the other higher frequencies and details. Jewel delivers bass when it is demanded - in perfect quantity. You won’t be left wanting for more bass with Jewel, that’s for sure. If you are looking for a bass monster, better look for the Radon 6; my goodness, what haunting and deep bass there, probably the best bass on an iem!

Staging:

A great strength of Jewel is its imaging and separation of how instruments sound. It is beyond stunning. In a song, I can sense where people are standing and playing instruments. It creates a layout of the arrangement of all the instruments in your head. Instruments play quite separately from each other (yet not very far away). For example, the sound from the acoustic guitar in the left ear, which starts at 0:26 in the song Hotel California is so incredibly detailed and pronounced - it's just unbelievable - seems like the sound etches and tickles your brain and senses. Goosebumps! I know Jewel has an amazing resolution, best of the best resolutions. The things that are sort of faded, muted, or shadowed and not very pronounced on other IEMs just come to life on Jewel, and you can imagine how beautiful such things can be. But is it not too detailed?


Conclusion:

To sum it up, Jewel is a real gem of an IEM. For obvious reasons, a lot of people find it to be the best-sounding pair. The best part is the delivery across all the frequencies and the coherency in how all the frequency ranges are handled. Everything out of Jewel sounds magical, irrespective of genre. Every frequency is given enough weight as if the IEM knows what is the best delivery at that point in time, and as humans, we always look for this. This creates a great sense of musicality. What could sound better than Jewel? I wonder, and then I say I do not want to know. For this reason, I did not even mention any comparisons because I have not heard a better-sounding IEM - FiR Audio XE6, Noble Ragnar, or Empire Ears Odin - they all sound good, but they are behind the Jewel. Aroma Jewel is a jewel in real literal terms - a refined and polished precious iem. A Kohinoor among all the gems.

Overview:

Up for review today is the Aroma Audio Jewel which I received in a trade - they retail for $5,130 and have topped many Top 3 charts over the last year. The Jewel combines 6x EST drivers and 6x BAs with 1x DD to provide you with an insane 13x drivers total covering the entire range of hearable sound. So, the Jewel is starting to get older – how does it compare to some of the newer competition on the market? And yes, I'm going to get crap for this review - couldn't care less.



Accessories/Earpads/Eartips (3/10):

Hahaha, what the hell is up with the box these come in? It’s less annoying to open than the Thunder’s puzzle box, but it’s a gigantic slab of blue aluminum. Why? No really, why? It serves literally no purpose whatsoever. These are a relatively small IEM, the same size as the Aroma Thunder, yet this box is around 3 times the size of the Thunder box and all aluminum. They should have stuck with the wooden box look, it was better. Other than being a giant blue aluminum slab, it’s a super boring box – with almost no markings or anything else on it, it just says Aroma and Push. Who is responsible for Aroma’s packaging? They should start taking lessons from Noble, Campfire, and Mezzo, or even Mangird and TRUTHEAR. Additionally, that ended up having to increase shipping costs by 300% for this box (which comes inside yet another blue cardboard box that’s extremely plain as well) - it’s insanely heavy. On the inside is a giant block of foam with 3 sets of ear tips, the Jewel, the cable, and a blue leather carrying case. What. I thought FiR included sparse packaging, but the Jewel makes them look luxurious. Quick reminder, this is a $5100+ IEM - that’s made out of what amounts to basically plastic. I’m gonna just leave that there along with the 3/10 points Jewel’s ridiculous packaging and accessories have earned. As always, I'm using my Spinfit W1 tips since they're the best I've found (You can buy them here if you want a set: https://amzn.to/3WDrNIk.)



Cable (4/10):

It’s crap. Yeah, sorry, it is. For starters, there’s 0 cohesion with the IEM whatsoever. An all-blue IEM with a massive blue box and a blue silver cable…wait, what? Silver? Ok, but the connectors are blue, right? Nope…silver and gold. What? Yeah, the 4/4mm connector is a fake painted gold connector while the splitter is silver with a clear slide. ZERO cohesion whatsoever. That’s NOT the cable's biggest issue though. While it sounds just fine, good even, it’s thin and tangly and has some of the worst memory retention I’ve ever seen on a cable – oh, and bad microphonics. It kinks easily and is always wound up in some sort of circle that you didn’t want it to be wound into because you’re using it and you want it to be straight. It’s also thin and feels cheap – like a $40 Amazon cable. Though in its defense, I tried the Jewel with a $20 Amazon cable (Tripowin), an $80 Amazon cable (Leyding), and a $250 Eletech cable (Fortitude?) and the stock cable sounded better than all of them (though the Eletech did pretty well). Musicteck even offers aftermarket cables in a kit because the stock cable is so bad. So, sounds good…and that’s it. 4/10 points - ‘cause suck.



Build Quality/Comfort (4/10):

OK, if I look at the all-aluminum Rn6 as having some of the best build quality, then the plastic-y clear jewel with a sparkly faceplate and nothing else earns…basically nothing. Seriously, I appreciate the light weight, and they look better than the Trifecta, but they also cost $2,000 more – and still have worse packaging. They also don’t look as premium as the Trifecta with its gold-plated drivers and its cool design. The Jewel looks like my $250 Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite, but slightly sparklier. Again, $5,100 IEMs. At least they won’t scratch easily – so that’s cool.

The comfort isn’t even that great because the Jewel is a very large, thick, chonky IEM. It doesn’t fit in my ears very well and attempting to use an unforgiving aftermarket cable only made things worse (Brise Yatono Ultimate - sounds great, bad ergonomics). In a world where small/light IEMs like the Trifecta and Rn6 exist, the Jewel is rapidly becoming a dinosaur. And yes, the Ronin and Multiverse Mentor are also gigantic but sound quite a bit better. At least the Jewel is lightweight, unlike the Xe6. That’s…that’s the nicest thing I have to say here. 4/10 for build quality – points are given for durability and weight.



Sound:

Check out the wolfhawk.squig.link below. I was lucky enough to have 4 TOTL IEMs on my desk in a week to compare to each other. They are all listed below. Obviously, the Xe6 has the most bass while the Jewel has the most pronounced mids and almost no highs with slightly recessed bass. The Trifecta and Rn6 sit somewhere in between those two with relatively well-balanced presentations. Check out the individual test songs below to get a better feeling on how the Jewel does compared to the other 3.



I am powering these as usual from my Hiby RS8 using the A/B amp and medium gain at around ~40/100 volume through Tidal Hi-Fi with MQA enabled and the 4.4mm balanced jack.

Lows (17/20):

I’m starting off with the Mid-bass/Sub-bass test I’m using David Guetta’s “I’m Good (Blue).” There’s some impact here, but it’s certainly not among the best I’ve ever heard – nor is it basically absent like the Empire Ears ESR. The sub-bass is above average though, especially for an IEM that’s not trying to be bassy. It’s nowhere near the FiR Xe6/Rn6 or the Trifecta though, but is stronger than the FiR VxV. Overall, this is a good showing with no bass bloat or unwanted rattle/reverb. 8/10 points here – better than I thought it would do as a mids-focused IEM.

Up next is Demon Hunter’s “I Am A Stone,” which I use to test whether the bass is too strong and overwhelms the mids as that is just as important as how strong/good the bass is. I’d be really surprised if these had too much bass here. They don’t, though the bass can actually be pretty pronounced here. Aroma did not make a bass-light IEM, even though it’s not as pronounced as a lot of modern IEMs. The vocals are still very forward on this song, and while the bass gets a little too pronounced at times, it manages to walk the fine line of avoiding drowning out the vocals. 9/10 points here.

Mids (18/20):

Weaving The Fate’s “The Fall” is my test song for clean/dirty guitars and vocals with background instruments to see how clearly the vocals can be heard. The clean guitars in the intro sound excellent, very crisp. The distorted guitars don’t sound nearly as good, a little flat and metallic sounding – somewhat artificial. The highs are also nonexistent there and the drums are hard to hear. It’s a bit of a soundwall where only the distorted guitars can be heard. The vocals come in nicely and with a forward presence. The chorus sounds OK, but a bit blurry, though the guitars can still be heard in the background, just not super cleanly. The snare can be heard, but just barely – same with the bass drum. There’s a bit of sharpness here as well, which is odd since the highs are pretty muted. Overall, not the worst, but not the best showing on this song – 4/6 points.

Staind’s “Something to Remind You” has clean electric guitars and wonderful vocals – this song tests vocal quality and background noise. Nice. Really good vocals and clean guitars. You can hear the fingers on strings detail in the background on the left side, but it’s not pronounced or distracting. The vocals have a great level of detail without any unwanted vibration and the bass guitar sounds really good without overwhelming the mids. There’s emotion, there’s breadth and body – great representation. 7/7 points here – love it.

To test classical instruments in the mids, I’m using The Piano Guys' “Code Name Vivaldi.” The intro cello sounds great, lots of detail and a very full sound. The piano in the background can be clearly heard along with the mid-cello. It’s always nice when the bass-cello here doesn’t overwhelm the piano or mid-cello. This has the emotional connection the Trifecta brings to the table and that the excellent Rn6 misses on this song. It hits all of the detail while making you want to just close your eyes and listen. 7/7 points here – these nail classical.

Highs (11/20):

To test sibilance on headphones I use Panic! At The Disco’s “High Hopes.” Ohhhh. That’s why there’s that massive dip in the highs. They managed to almost completely remove the sibilance from this song. It’s not perfect, but it’s about the closest I’ve heard on any TOTL IEM – ever. 6/6 points – very impressive.

Dream Theater’s “The Alien,” is the highs test song I use to see if the cymbals/high-hats/snare drum can be clearly heard and distinguished from the rest of the music (also good for instrument separation.) And here’s the downside to that dip – basically no cymbals here at all. The drums come through well, and you can occasionally hear a really hard cymbal hit, but I can’t give this more than a 1/7 points. The guitars and drums sound great though – love the solo, but that’s not what we’re testing here.

Michelle McLaughlin’s “Across The Burren” is another of my favorite highs/sharpness test songs as it can easily sound painful on some headphones. Oddly, there is some sharpness here, and it’s not great. Piano high-notes live in the upper 3k range and that dip doesn’t start until 4k. They failed to tune out the sharpness here – not the worst, but not great, especially on certain chords – 4/7 points here.

Soundstage/Instrument Separation/Imaging (7/10):

I use MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” to test soundstage, instrument separation, and imaging. The soundstage on the Jewel is pretty wide, but very forward 180 leaning. Don’t expect the 360-degree field that the Xe6, Rn6, or Mentor will give you. Instrument separation is also just OK and nowhere near the level of the Rn6. The overall is very flat and wide. Imaging is good though, and more to my preference than some headphones, especially on The Beatle’s “Eleanor Rigby.” 7/10 points here.

Comparisons:

The Rn6 is better in every way, though the mids come through more forward and crisp sounding on the Jewel. The bass on the Rn6 is better, the highs are better, the mids are more detailed and don’t blur together with great instrument separation, etc., etc. The Rn6 is also brand new, and FiR managed to really crush those. The Trifecta? Also, better – for me anyway. Better highs, way more sibilance though, worse quality lows, but better quantity. The Trifecta also feels fuller-bodied with more “soul” than the Jewel. I prefer the Trifecta’s mids and soundstage and instrument separation. Again, this is all to my preference, you will have your own preference - go complain to a wall or write your own review. Objectively though, the highs on the Jewel suck – even though there is almost no sibilance. That’s just one of the many tradeoffs you have with audio. I have yet to see someone have excellent highs with no sibilance or sharpness. Still, the Jewel is a highly rated TOTL IEM for a reason – I’m comparing it to newer, and excellent IEMs – the Jewel is still no slouch and I prefer it over the Thunder, which was my previous best Aroma Audio IEM. You will be very happy with one if it fits your preferences (i.e. you hate hearing highs).

Conclusion:

The Jewel used to be the top of the pack, up there with the Traillii. It’s impressive the difference that a year makes in the IEM-scape. The Jewel has been knocked off its perch by some young blood raring to fight. Still, that doesn’t make The Jewel any less of a TOTL contender. It’s still worth the ~$3k you can find it for on the used market, especially if you hate treble. So, if you want really good lows, solid, forward mids, and almost no treble at all, the Jewel is a great IEM for that preference. If you want a really nicely balanced IEM, grab the Rn6 before it sells out and if you want an IEM with soul and great treble, grab the Trifecta. Oh, and the Xe6 is obviously the basshead IEM. After having wanted a set of these since I discovered TOTL IEMs, and they have showed up near the top of everyone’s list since they came out, the Jewel was a bit of a letdown.