[PinkyPowers]

Wonder how much more expensive are the cables than the player itself?

Well, Ares II is the entry level cable in Effect Audio's line. Goes for $149, I think.

Sage is a very warm, smooth IEM.
Ares compliments it well, adding a touch of brightness and clarity, but also energizing the bass nicely.
M3s is fairly neutral and impressively smooth.

All these disparate qualities play together in such a lovely way.

 

[superuser1]

Thanks. $149 seems reasonable. However i saw the Ares II for $550 + and was wondering what that iteration was. Probably it could have been the SPC 8 wire version that is the more expensive one.
I understand what you mean by these different qualities playing together bringing about a harmony of sorts.

 

[twister6]

Thanks. $149 seems reasonable. However i saw the Ares II for $550 + and was wondering what that iteration was. Probably it could have been the SPC 8 wire version that is the more expensive one.
I understand what you mean by these different qualities playing together bringing about a harmony of sorts.

You were looking at 8wire 22awg headphone cable version of Ares II. The 4wire 26awg Ares II is $149, it's thinner, more flexible, suited better for iems since it's a lot less bulky. The difference in price is due to a double amount of wires and the wires itself being thicker. Just like any precious materials, price goes by weight

 

[BartSimpson1976]

Just like any precious materials, price goes by weight

For 500 Dollars I can buy approximately 1kg of silver. There is NO, zero, nada plausible reason to charge 500 dollars or more for a cable.
Yes, they have to put it together, put in a fancy box and have to hire somebody to write all these fancy descriptions. Still the math does not work out.
All these high-end cables have a higher profit margin than heroin.I would never ever pay more than 200 dollars for a cable (which is already overpriced).

But let's not get started with this again....

 

[Dobrescu George]

For 500 Dollars I can buy approximately 1kg of silver. There is NO, zero, nada plausible reason to charge 500 dollars or more for a cable.
Yes, they have to put it together, put in a fancy box and have to hire somebody to write all these fancy descriptions. Still the math does not work out.
All these high-end cables have a higher profit margin than heroin.I would never ever pay more than 200 dollars for a cable (which is already overpriced).

But let's not get started with this again....

Now, Now. We don't want all them drug dealers to start producing audiophile cables

For serious though, I have no idea about cables, have not tested too many and I've no idea how much one is worth.

I guess I would want better cables for some gear, just for the sake of having the best cables and for the sake of them looking nice, but I never posed myself with the question of how much I'd pay for a cable.

I tested FiiO's mmcx cable against Xelento's against ONP's and a few others and while I think the cables might have changed the sound a bit, that might have been from many reasons, including my own listening bias since it takes about 5 minutes to change a cable and the differences were not the largest, so I keep away from talking about them.

On the other hand, all products deserve a nicely built cable with good sound and good technical abilities (no weird crossovers, no noise, no signal degradation). It'd be best to assume that the original company makes a good cable though...

 

[superuser1]

Now, Now. We don't want all them drug dealers to start producing audiophile cables

For serious though, I have no idea about cables, have not tested too many and I've no idea how much one is worth.

I guess I would want better cables for some gear, just for the sake of having the best cables and for the sake of them looking nice, but I never posed myself with the question of how much I'd pay for a cable.

I tested FiiO's mmcx cable against Xelento's against ONP's and a few others and while I think the cables might have changed the sound a bit, that might have been from many reasons, including my own listening bias since it takes about 5 minutes to change a cable and the differences were not the largest, so I keep away from talking about them.

On the other hand, all products deserve a nicely built cable with good sound and good technical abilities (no weird crossovers, no noise, no signal degradation). It'd be best to assume that the original company makes a good cable though...

Thats not always the story, George. Some expensive and inexpensive iems can come with really average cables and though i find it hard with all this Spanish fly talk, aesthetically they do offer a more pleasing experience. As you rightly said with the looks and no signal degradation etc would make the experience more enjoyable. I have even seen some reputed cable manufacturers claim that certain cables would enhance the bass and others the treble. Impressive i say, how they do it is beyond me.

 

[JaeYoon]

Thats not always the story, George. Some expensive and inexpensive iems can come with really average cables and though i find it hard with all this Spanish fly talk, aesthetically they do offer a more pleasing experience. As you rightly said with the looks and no signal degradation etc would make the experience more enjoyable. I have even seen some reputed cable manufacturers claim that certain cables would enhance the bass and others the treble. Impressive i say, how they do it is beyond me.

They give out ideas, and then let the customers do the rest of the talking and reviewing.

 

[superuser1]

They give out ideas, and then let the customers do the rest of the talking and reviewing.

You mean to say placeholders for placebo or something more like inception and planting the seed?

 

[JaeYoon]

You mean to say placeholders for placebo or something more like inception and planting the seed?

 

[Dobrescu George]

They give out ideas, and then let the customers do the rest of the talking and reviewing.

There is a lot to be taken from their marketing that can induce an impression.

As a rule of thumb, I avoid talking about things that are smaller than my mood swings, which are not exactly small. So any differences that are less than those, I simply avoid talking since there can be error on my side.

I believe they can change the sound through cables easily by adding a passive component that does that, even a very small resistor that acts as a passive high shelf or low shelf can add or take a few dB from the bass or treble. Beyond that it is their own R&D and such.

That being said, I have heard some differences between the stock cables of the IEMs I own, but again, fairly small. I think that the design / ergonomics / durability are far greater concerns. some custom cables look extremely durable, and that is a plus for me. Those that also look comortable are cables I would consider too. Now if they check the two things above and are priced okay, then it a cable I'd buy

 

[JaeYoon]

There is a lot to be taken from their marketing that can induce an impression.

As a rule of thumb, I avoid talking about things that are smaller than my mood swings, which are not exactly small. So any differences that are less than those, I simply avoid talking since there can be error on my side.

I believe they can change the sound through cables easily by adding a passive component that does that, even a very small resistor that acts as a passive high shelf or low shelf can add or take a few dB from the bass or treble. Beyond that it is their own R&D and such.

That being said, I have heard some differences between the stock cables of the IEMs I own, but again, fairly small. I think that the design / ergonomics / durability are far greater concerns. some custom cables look extremely durable, and that is a plus for me. Those that also look comortable are cables I would consider too. Now if they check the two things above and are priced okay, then it a cable I'd buy

I think Aesthetic and ergonomics and good price are definitely excellent reasons to buy a new cable. Size and length that you need and prefer as well!

I should also add non-microphonics as well!

 

[twister6]

Ok, let's just get back on topic of M3s If you want to talk more about the cables based on your own personal experience, rather then speculations, I'll be happy to continue through PM

 

[superuser1]

So what is the freebie mSD card some sellers are offering on AE with the M3s. I dont see any mention of any storage capacity for the said SD cards.

@JaeYoon I absolutely agree with you re: ergonomics and durability. Some with sleeves can be really great!
Well said @Dobrescu George

 

[PinkyPowers]

For 500 Dollars I can buy approximately 1kg of silver. There is NO, zero, nada plausible reason to charge 500 dollars or more for a cable.
Yes, they have to put it together, put in a fancy box and have to hire somebody to write all these fancy descriptions. Still the math does not work out.
All these high-end cables have a higher profit margin than heroin.I would never ever pay more than 200 dollars for a cable (which is already overpriced).

But let's not get started with this again....

They are definitely making a killing off what they charge. No question. But then I think about my tia Fourté, using only four drivers, and costing way more than IEMs with 12 or more drivers.

Cables, like anything in this business, is priced for sound, not manufacturing costs... though that does come into some measure of consideration. But mostly sound quality. Are these things overpriced? Is tia Fourté? Hard not to argue that. I would never pay full price for that IEM unless I was a millionaire. But it is the best-sounding IEM I've heard, so it's really hard to say exactly what it "should" cost.

The Effect Audio Thor Silver II is $400. Currently the most expensive cable I own. It also changes the sound more than any other cable I own. Is this change better? Depends on what you want from your IEM. For some I would think the answer is yes, for others, I'm sure it would be no. For me, I love what it does to Encore, but didn't like it for the U12. I can understand the price, though. It's far less subtle than lesser cables.

 

[BartSimpson1976]

well, pricing is an issue... Just read an interview with the developer of the new KlipschHP-3 headphones, where he said that he has been told that $1,200 is not enough to warrant attention in the category of audiophile headphones.
So, for 1199 Dollars it is too cheap to be of interest for (self-declared) audiohiles. Unfortunately that seems to be true nowadays, also proven more than enough on head-fi.

Rule of thumb on head-fi: More expensive is always better

Even see this thread where it has been repeatdely said how good the the M3s sounds "for its price".