The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.

[Damz87]

Im quite set to get Jewel for my next upgrade.
All reviews about Jewel have been positive. Im trying to find out what it doesnt do well.

So… beside price, what do you hate or found to be mediocre about Jewel?

(Also if anyone plans to sell their Jewel, I would be interested)

For me it was the combination of recessed lower treble and, to a lesser extent, the bass quantity that bothered me about Jewel. It’s an excellent all-round, inoffensive tuning IMHO but I also found it a bit boring, especially considering how expensive it is. The treble dip killed a bit of the energy in my music that I’m used to from other IEM’s. The bass has fantastic texture, control and speed, but at times I just wanted a bit more of it.

With that said, I still think Jewel is absolutely fantastic and one of the best IEM’s money can buy. However at $5k I have to nitpick and those small sonic qualms ultimately drove me to part with it, at least until my financial circumstances change. Maybe next year when my disposable income is back, I’ll pick it up again

Oh and the other thing is the stock cable. At that price tag, it feels offensively cheap.

 

[lycos]

For me it was the combination of recessed lower treble and, to a lesser extent, the bass quantity that bothered me about Jewel. It’s an excellent all-round, inoffensive tuning IMHO but I also found it a bit boring,

Thanks!!

I just bought one
It arrived actually
Need to pick it up but on the road ...

Hopefully you dont have to wait long

 

[DaveStarWalker]

I'm not saying less crossover = less distortion. What I was saying is you could reduce a driver's THD at a certain amplitude by sharing that load across multiple drivers. It's like having two people carry a load of a certain weight instead of one. The pair can do it with half the effort per person. It's one of many reasons why a brand would dedicate, say, 6 drivers to the mids or 8 drivers to the bass. But, it doesn't make the in-ear objectively better or worse. The same time 64 Audio released the A18t, they also released the 4-driver Fourté. Both those models were co-designed by the man who founded FiR Audio too. Even the very brand you mentioned, EE, made the 14-driver Zeus around the time the A18t came out. So, it's not like these brands have opposing, competing ideologies. They've all dabbled with different approaches to make equally-compelling IEMs. All it comes down to is which you prefer, and which direction you choose to go in.

Sometimes, less is more

 

[tone.texture.soul]

For me it was the combination of recessed lower treble and, to a lesser extent, the bass quantity that bothered me about Jewel. It’s an excellent all-round, inoffensive tuning IMHO but I also found it a bit boring, especially considering how expensive it is. The treble dip killed a bit of the energy in my music that I’m used to from other IEM’s. The bass has fantastic texture, control and speed, but at times I just wanted a bit more of it.

With that said, I still think Jewel is absolutely fantastic and one of the best IEM’s money can buy. However at $5k I have to nitpick and those small sonic qualms ultimately drove me to part with it, at least until my financial circumstances change. Maybe next year when my disposable income is back, I’ll pick it up again

Oh and the other thing is the stock cable. At that price tag, it feels offensively cheap.

Interestingly enough, for the exact reasons that @Damz87 didn't really like the Jewel, I love it. I don't find it boring at all; I am sensitive to too much treble energy and this fits my preferences perfectly. It's great for all my different musical tastes. Bass is fabulous and for me the right amount of quantity, I guess I prefer less of a boosted low end than some. It gets out of the way when the music isn't terribly bass heavy, but when called for it can rumble super hard.

If you want a lot of treble energy and big bass this might not be the best choice. For a balanced all rounder it's pretty much the best I have heard, again, for my personal preferences. Right there with the Traillii.

 

[Damz87]

Interestingly enough, for the exact reasons that @Damz87 didn't really like the Jewel, I love it. I don't find it boring at all; I am sensitive to too much treble energy and this fits my preferences perfectly. It's great for all my different musical tastes. Bass is fabulous and for me the right amount of quantity, I guess I prefer less of a boosted low end than some. It gets out of the way when the music isn't terribly bass heavy, but when called for it can rumble super hard.

If you want a lot of treble energy and big bass this might not be the best choice. For a balanced all rounder it's pretty much the best I have heard, again, for my personal preferences. Right there with the Traillii.

Just to reiterate, my comments about Jewel were nitpicks as @lycos was asking for any negatives people had. But overall, I do think Jewel is awesome and one of the best I’ve heard.

I think the biggest issue for me with Jewel is the extremely high price, and the expectations that come with any IEM in that range. Maybe it’s just a mental barrier I have with IEM’s over $5k because I felt the same way with Traillii. At that price, I need it to basically be perfect in both sound (to my preferences) and build quality.

 

[gLer]

Just to reiterate, my comments about Jewel were nitpicks as @lycos was asking for any negatives people had. But overall, I do think Jewel is awesome and one of the best I’ve heard.

I think the biggest issue for me with Jewel is the extremely high price, and the expectations that come with any IEM in that range. Maybe it’s just a mental barrier I have with IEM’s over $5k because I felt the same way with Traillii. At that price, I need it to basically be perfect in both sound (to my preferences) and build quality.

I agree. Everyone will have their own bar for "expensive". If I can pick up my favourite IEM new for $2000, for example, then for $2500 I expect an IEM to be better (for my preferences), for $3000 significantly better, and for $4000 be virtually flawless. At each highter price point I'd want the IEM to improve on every aspect of my baseline IEM, and definitely not be worse in any metric.

Of course I know that's not how it works, that different companies have different price tiering for different reasons, and that more expensive doesn't always mean better sound. I also know dedicated hobbyists would pay well over the odds for just one area of performance for a niche genre.

But for me, once you're in the multikilobuck league, every tiny flaw or improvement is magnified.
It's like a football player that trades for $80 million as opposed to $20 million. Performance has to be relative to the pricetag, unless you're so flush that money doesn't come into the equation.

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

Quick question, how are you guys getting on tours for IEMs?

I would like to, but I do not take any part in such tours. No one offers)
Recently there was an offer from Effect Audio, but I understand they changed their mind, so I didn't get anything.

More often than not, either a local audio store I know sends me something to review (and it's not TOTL), or I or one of my friends buys it with their own money. And then they send it so that friends can get to know each other.
Thus, thanks to a friend, I recently received, for example, CA Supermoon.

 

[DaveStarWalker]

As I am = more it's pricey, more I am unforgiven...

Also, I am hard to impress.

In the end, only the result counts. Expensive, cheap, that's another subject.

 

[yaps66]

That's a so so comment I think at least
Not all are as crazy as me
The last 6 months I bought IEM's and cables without listening one second to any of them !
So yes some will really appreciate it and buy or not
And for sure it's part of the business but no harm is done either
No one says you need to wire money after ...
Actually this way we can share more opinions so ...

Haha! You are my inspiration, but I’m afraid I can’t keep up!

 

[klyzon]

I just bought one
It arrived actually
Need to pick it up but on the road ...

Still waiting for mine, seems to have reach Singapore but went back to Dubai then to China again with massive delays. UPS is so bad

 

[Scubadevils]

Another round with XE6, I think I'm adjusting this time... @armstrj2 is enjoying TZ700.

 

[Royal Navy]

Maybe I'm in the minority here. I am not a cable believer
But that doesn't stop me from buying cables that cost almost as much as the headphones themselves. Much of the reason is because they’re more aesthetically pleasing and sturdier than stock cables.
Like this one I used for the U12t.
(Photos from dealer)

 

[tone.texture.soul]

Just to reiterate, my comments about Jewel were nitpicks as @lycos was asking for any negatives people had. But overall, I do think Jewel is awesome and one of the best I’ve heard.

I think the biggest issue for me with Jewel is the extremely high price, and the expectations that come with any IEM in that range. Maybe it’s just a mental barrier I have with IEM’s over $5k because I felt the same way with Traillii. At that price, I need it to basically be perfect in both sound (to my preferences) and build quality.

@Damz87, Yeah man, sorry I misquoted you. It was indeed a nitpick you made, not that you didn't like it.

I also have quite the effect on my mind when it comes to price vs perfomance. When I get something super expensive, I spend about a week exhaustingly fretting over every single thing, what isn't perfect. I don't even enjoy the sound, because I am overwhelmed with how much I spent on it, and all the little things I don't like. Then, once I've relaxed, I start to really get an idea of how great it is. Then, I stop worrying about how much it cost, put that aside, and start to appreciate each little nuance it brings, even if it's not perfect. Had that with Traillii, and Jewel. Especially so with the LP6 AE. I thought mine was broken, but once I relaxed, bam, fricken spectacular.
So I've learned to give myself a ten day grace period before I make an decisions

Is anything I own perfect? Nope. Insanely good? Absolutely.

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

Maybe I'm in the minority here. I am not a cable believer
But that doesn't stop me from buying cables that cost almost as much as the headphones themselves. Much of the reason is because they’re more aesthetically pleasing and sturdier than stock cables.
Like this one I used for the U12t.
(Photos from dealer)

Rosenkranz do interesting things visually. I didn't get a chance to try their cables so I bought something else (snake oil haha).

 

[Royal Navy]

Rosenkranz do interesting things visually. I didn't get a chance to try their cables so I bought something else (snake oil haha).

Those stickers are whole new extra level of snake oil