It's not price, its synergy. What someone else likes does not mean you will like it, in sound quality plus with types of music. As to Zeus and cables, they ship with Ares ll from EE. It's a well-matched cable and keeps the tone of the IEM where they want it. I found the stock cable on the Massdrop Zeus not to my liking in comparison. The Ares ll 8-wire simply improves the Ares ll experience, bringing more width to the sound stage, perhaps a bit more bass as well, and giving a lot more room for the instruments and voices within the sound stage. I tried the Ares ll + and found it artificially bass-y (warm) in the lower end. Also, going from a single-ended to balanced cable makes a difference, depending on your DAP. If you are using your phone, you are limited in that area. I would suggest a DAP before a cable. If you are running the phone into a Mojo, from what I've read, it's going to smooth out the sound. As I said before, there are plenty of smooth IEMs out there, and I don't understand why you would want to do that to a Zeus. The Zeus' strong suit is that it is pretty much excellent across all areas (bass, mods, trebles), with a somewhat reference sound, loads of detail, lots of treble, a forward mid that is excellent for vocals, really transparent and somewhat 3-D. It's not a warm IEM, as say their Legend X is, or even the Phantom. I would suggest getting used to the sound first with brain burn in (and give the Zeus at least 50 hours to burn in) before doing anything. I can't see sticking a $1k cable on it until you know what you are doing. If you want warm and smooth, you can buy a reasonable DAP for less than half the cost of a $1k cable and then go from there. Playing the cable game can get both expensive and frustrating, which is why I suggest the Ares ll.