[drftr]

At least the Ares II is a tried and tested cable

Are you saying they included a cable that's not even in production any longer? I think it's Ares S for, dunno, over half a year? That doesn't even raise the bar to cheap. But yeah it echoes (y)our point that nobody's going to use the cable anyway so maybe it's just helping to keep the total price "down".

EDIT: I just noticed that the Ares S is actually quite recent. My bad. It certainly feels like I've been Ares S reviews for ages already. That's not proven by facts though!

drftr

 

[yaps66]

Jewel

Unboxing experience 0/10 or maybe I'm just stupid, that tin with the sliding lid had me confused for a while.

Everything else, close to perfect. Still not an IEM that immediately blows me away. I will give it the time it deserves to reveal all its strong points. Immediately I am drawn to the technical capabilities of it. They're certainly worth keeping, I just have to justify it for the price...

Sorry for the out of focus phone pic, as you can imagine I couldn't be bothered to retake it

Indigo finally arrived as well. Unboxing pics to follow.

Congratulations on both your acquisitions! Nice shiny new toys to enjoy! Love it!

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

Honestly I’d blame it on the Trailii. As soon as people accepted that price for Summit fi wares , it raised the water of what people would pay for IEMs.

I remember when $3k was a rare thing for IEMs. Now everyone offers multiple $3k offerings and even push for $4k (Xe6), $5k (Jewel) and $6k+?(Mutilple UM limited edition offerings)

I don't know if you can fully blame them. There were IEMs before them, only a thousand cheaper. So, for many, 6 k became not so much a shock, but a regularity.
After all, UM, Aroma, etc. were added later.

If I could imagine something like this 5 years ago, I think most consumers and manufacturers would say that this is madness and we will continue to buy/release our tops for 2-3 thousand. And 6 is madness for the image, but not the sound.

However, Oriolus clearly showed that 5 k is not the maximum price. And what can you make with such IEMs and sell them expensively. And then this IEMs will be sold with queues and waiting.

So, you know, it's something similar to how the movie Harry Potter showed that there is much more marketing potential in children's age-rated films than in films with an adult rating.

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

The biggest difference now I feel is that the audience this hobby has reached out to is larger, and there’s more people that are willing to spend big bucks for top sets. Not all of them are winners and the market eventually shows that, i don’t know a single person that owns an oBravo Ra and it’s like £9000 or something.

I don't think it's necessary - the collections of many participants include not only IEMs of the level (and prices) of Traillii, but also cables that make the price of Traillii commensurate. And this is not one IEMs in collection.
I agree, it's psychology that says "it's only 3 k, not 10", but together it turns out to be the same amount.

In addition, if in the case of Traillii, when buying them new, the owner gets a good stock cable that costs at least 1/5 of their cost, then with some other IEMs (64, Jewel, etc) the stock cable is very simple and buying these IEMs will cost a few thousand more for cable.
(I'm afraid to say this out loud, but it's good that the manufacturers of universal tips have not yet decided to make them for few thousand dollars).

 

[riverground]

Are you saying they included a cable that's not even in production any longer? I think it's Ares S for, dunno, over half a year? That doesn't even raise the bar to cheap. But yeah it echoes (y)our point that nobody's going to use the cable anyway so maybe it's just helping to keep the total price "down".

drftr

I believe it was still in production until the Ares S and the rest of the signature series was released a few months ago.

You can also take this as a sign that maybe EE or EA was unloading the last batch of Ares II’s. EE somewhat rebranded Ares II as Alpha IV introduced with the release of the Hero.

But yeah, it’s a given at this point that they’ve chosen to go for such a cable to reduce cost.

They could’ve honestly not included a cable as well like what Effect Audio did with the Axiom but then they received quite a bit of flack due to that as well with comments saying that they’re acting like Apple. But I’m like, that’s actually not a bad deal, in turn you had to option to get their cables at a discount when you buy an Axiom along with the cable of your choice iirc.

At the end of the day, the buyers will just accept it. if I had the money, I’d get the SP3K and Odyssey in a heartbeat regardless of the included cable. But I’m pretty sure the only chance I’ll get to owning them is when they’re in the market for a while and they show up on the classifieds at a much lower cost

 

[Whazzzup]

How much does one figure a stock cable costs? I’d put it at under 50$ could be like 5$, if volumes are big enough. It’s negligible. Huge doe being made by better cable manufacturers. I’d hesitate to make a markup %. Course they have a higher break even but…

 

[maegnificant]

How much does one figure a stock cable costs? I’d put it at under 50$ could be like 5$, if volumes are big enough. It’s negligible. Huge doe being made by better cable manufacturers. I’d hesitate to make a markup %. Course they have a higher break even but…

I think if we start to realistically analyze how much the development and production of these IEMs and cables actually cost, we would get a little angry

 

[wazzupi]

How much does one figure a stock cable costs? I’d put it at under 50$ could be like 5$, if volumes are big enough. It’s negligible. Huge doe being made by better cable manufacturers. I’d hesitate to make a markup %. Course they have a higher break even but…

Clearly aroma Jewel was one of those companies that said just throw in any cable lol but one thing it did was introduce me into IEM cable world xD

 

[DaveStarWalker]

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/show-off-your-iems-buds-and-accessories.945980/page-74#post-17141276

 

[dmphile]

end of 1st night with jewel, ended up tip rolling a bit (with the very limited options i have, since i dont own many eartips since i have 4 pairs of customs)...

drastically helped, i'm much more into it now. can't wait to try more tips when I can meet up with toronto friends

I would’ve been even okay with it having no cables at all. This is coming from a guy that has way more cables than IEMs

When are we meeting up? Need more ears on Solaris and Indigo to get some second opinions on their sonic performance. Also, want to hear your IEMS with the VE kit making its way back to @riverground. I miss the Phonix.

 

[Levanter]

https://shop.musicteck.com/collections/elysian-acoustic

Oh? Seems like Musicteck managed to agree terms with Lee on becoming a dealer for his products. Will be interesting to see the turnaround time and how they will cope with the orders.

 

[audio123]

Soon 10K will be the minimum price for flagship IEMs.

 

[claud W]

I’m hoping my local shop would carry a demo but due to it being a limited release the chances are slim but we’ll see.


I say you could take that away to gauge how “expensive” it really is. I mean, they could’ve probably put the same SB cable on the Odin but have it drastically priced higher. I’m actually surprised at the price of both the IEM and the DAP. AK sacrificed storage to make the pricing on par with the previous flagship and lowering to the Ares II on the Odyssey to match the Odin.

Would I have liked a better cable? Yeah maybe since I’m all for aesthetics. But how many of the people actually buying it would use a stock cable?

I don’t doubt the Jewel is amazing, but based on what people say, the cable isn’t that great. At least the Ares II is a tried and tested cable. And the Jewel costs way more and it’s not even a limited release.

Heck, the bird even comes with what most consider an “end game” cable and a majority of owners use even more expensive cables on it.

I would’ve been even okay with it having no cables at all. This is coming from a guy that has way more cables than IEMs

I’d rather have a cheap cable sit in the box unused rather than an expensive one. But who knows maybe the Ares II had the best synergy with the IEM.


I haven’t had any problems with EE shells so far and I’ve had at least 4.

A good inexpensive cable for Jewel is the Liquid Links Venom. That is what I am using.
Cheaper still is a DrJuggles cable. He has two different ones. About half the price of the Venom. Should have mine by the end of the month.

 

[gLer]

A good inexpensive cable for Jewel is the Liquid Links Venom. That is what I am using.

Good, sure, inexpensive?

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

A good inexpensive cable for Jewel is the Liquid Links Venom. That is what I am using.
Cheaper still is a DrJuggles cable. He has two different ones. About half the price of the Venom. Should have mine by the end of the month.

I agree with this. I heard it at CanJam Chicago and I thought it was a very revealing cable. That's why I ended up buying it for Annihilator since the Venom is the stock cable for X.