GLADIATOR CABLE FLAGSHIP CLEO CABLE REVIEW
SPECS
Japanese Gold Silver Copper Wire
8-core 45 strands/core 25 AWG/core
15 strands pure OCC copper, 15 strands silver plated copper, 15 strands gold plated copper
Pure OFC Gold-plated Copper plug
Pure Copper connectors
INTRO
Upcoming Flagship from Gladiator Cable. Very long waiting time, about ~1 month total.
Alright it's finally here. Let's get started.
The package.
Judging from the packaging, there's definitely not enough protection. No case nor box used for protection, just padded bags. Nope not enough. Won't be surprised there are bent or broken parts parts that won't work etc2.
The cable out from the packaging.
Went for a quick look and found some parts are dirty. Went for full inspection and found even more dirt. Obviously it lacks total care.
The wire itself.
The outer skin apparently are not perfectly smooth (damaged). There is a bit of peel off due to scratching or chaffing? The scrapped part actually sticks out.
BUILD
The Left & Right indicator mark position are misaligned, not consistent on the connectors. (Note the orientation of the earphone).
The cable has a working chin slider. However, the chin to ear cable section is too short, pretty much a neck-stranglehold.
So the chin slider is totally useless.
The cable is skin friendly, has minimal smell and looks gorgeous.
It's also flexible, nice to touch and feel and above all it's light weight.
SETUP
E44 -> SilverAg -> Chu2
then swap SilverAg for Cleo.
SOUND
Just a quick summary:
- Improve all frequency
- Improve imaging
- Improve extension?
- Improve vocal. Vocals so sweet...
- Vocals........
- Sound fuller + more bodied
- Balanced sound?
- Wow colour me surprised.
---UPDATE---
Yeah – Usher
The bass.., in the first 10s is OMG... this can't be true (head shake on the rear low left). Wasn't expecting this.
* Remind you this is on Chu2. (A Chi-fi trash IEM).
Yeah Chu2 with E44, this' only a preliminary test and wasn't expecting anything yet was totally surprised by the sonic quality.
(Wrong sound due to wrong polarity caused by mismatch marking indicator).
DURABILITY
Horrendous. So it's only like a week in and the left connection is already acting up or loose. Depending on the orientation of the wire near the plug, the left channel sound may go missing. This is not a flagship quality cable. This is an absolute garbage!
A Rating of 1/5 is too high. Definitely below 1/5!!!
---
PONDERING THOUGHTS
So after ~1 month of waiting & quite a steep price, this is the finished product. A flagship, probably TOTL, cable but with mediocre or actually rubbish treatment, care & build. Those cheap chi-fi cables have better build, care and treatment than this (sonic properties is a different story). Actually I've never encounter chi-fi cables with these exterior build issues.
Thus the craftsmanship is totally questionable. Not to mention the lack of protection in packaging, But the sound is really good or even phenomenal.
So it boils down to this:
- If you don't care about aesthetics then there are only 2 main issues which are the durability and the neck-choke.
- Else look away.
CONCLUSION
So is it worth it? Probably not, not for this kind of craft. It's a blemish really, A superb cable with golden sound irked by sub-standard exterior basic elementary issues. Durability is also questionable and only time can tell.
A flagship cable can't be like this for sure!!!
TL;DR
The wire itself is no joke but the company itself is a choke joke.
SPECS
Japanese Gold Silver Copper Wire
8-core 45 strands/core 25 AWG/core
15 strands pure OCC copper, 15 strands silver plated copper, 15 strands gold plated copper
Pure OFC Gold-plated Copper plug
Pure Copper connectors
INTRO
Upcoming Flagship from Gladiator Cable. Very long waiting time, about ~1 month total.
Alright it's finally here. Let's get started.
The package.
Judging from the packaging, there's definitely not enough protection. No case nor box used for protection, just padded bags. Nope not enough. Won't be surprised there are bent or broken parts parts that won't work etc2.
The cable out from the packaging.
Went for a quick look and found some parts are dirty. Went for full inspection and found even more dirt. Obviously it lacks total care.
The wire itself.
The outer skin apparently are not perfectly smooth (damaged). There is a bit of peel off due to scratching or chaffing? The scrapped part actually sticks out.
BUILD
The Left & Right indicator mark position are misaligned, not consistent on the connectors. (Note the orientation of the earphone).
The cable has a working chin slider. However, the chin to ear cable section is too short, pretty much a neck-stranglehold.
So the chin slider is totally useless.
The cable is skin friendly, has minimal smell and looks gorgeous.
It's also flexible, nice to touch and feel and above all it's light weight.
SETUP
E44 -> SilverAg -> Chu2
then swap SilverAg for Cleo.
SOUND
Just a quick summary:
- Improve all frequency
- Improve imaging
- Improve extension?
- Improve vocal. Vocals so sweet...
- Vocals........
- Sound fuller + more bodied
- Balanced sound?
- Wow colour me surprised.
---UPDATE---
* Remind you this is on Chu2. (A Chi-fi trash IEM).
(Wrong sound due to wrong polarity caused by mismatch marking indicator).
DURABILITY
Horrendous. So it's only like a week in and the left connection is already acting up or loose. Depending on the orientation of the wire near the plug, the left channel sound may go missing. This is not a flagship quality cable. This is an absolute garbage!
A Rating of 1/5 is too high. Definitely below 1/5!!!
---
PONDERING THOUGHTS
So after ~1 month of waiting & quite a steep price, this is the finished product. A flagship, probably TOTL, cable but with mediocre or actually rubbish treatment, care & build. Those cheap chi-fi cables have better build, care and treatment than this (sonic properties is a different story). Actually I've never encounter chi-fi cables with these exterior build issues.
Thus the craftsmanship is totally questionable. Not to mention the lack of protection in packaging, But the sound is really good or even phenomenal.
So it boils down to this:
- If you don't care about aesthetics then there are only 2 main issues which are the durability and the neck-choke.
- Else look away.
CONCLUSION
So is it worth it? Probably not, not for this kind of craft. It's a blemish really, A superb cable with golden sound irked by sub-standard exterior basic elementary issues. Durability is also questionable and only time can tell.
A flagship cable can't be like this for sure!!!
TL;DR
The wire itself is no joke but the company itself is a choke joke.
