JADE AUDIO Cables


Hi

I ordered a pair of Jade Audio cables (Vermeil version, not the Golden one) from Audiogon member Jadem6, who offers a one month return guarantee.

I was wondering wether other Audiogon members already tried and/or bought these new DIY cables.

I read the review made by JD himself, but ofcourse I'm curious to hear the comment of buyers/users.

Thanks
128x128mattheus
I currently own a pair of the Hybrid (RCA) and two balanced pairs of the Vermeil. I also own a pair of the Audio Metallurgy GA-0's (RCA) and a pair of Gabriel Gold Revelation speaker cables, as well as some PAD Dominus speaker cables. I've also had a pair of Gabriel Gold Extreme interconnects on loan recently for a couple of weeks. I've also recently demo'd a pair of the new Vermeil speaker cables. I placed an order. As you can see, I also have fallen for cables that use gold in the conductors.

I concur with all of what Jafox has stated, regarding the Hybrid, The staging is amazing with all of the Jade cables. That is why I prefer them. Though it is difficult for me to compare the Hybrid straight up with the Vermeil because of my system setup. I run the Hybrid from phono stage to preamp. However, I need a two meter balanced run from preamp to amp, so for the sake of cost, I went with the Vermeil cables here. The Gabriel Gold Extreme/Revelation are also very good cables, and to be honest, I could live very happily with them had I not heard the Jade cables. Tonally the Gabriels are very impressive indeed. Possibly even better than the Jade, on certain music. I would say they sound similar tonally, the Gabriel's are slightly quicker, while the Jade's tend to sound slightly richer. They both do brass instruments with incredible natural 'shimmer'. The Jade's win out with the 3-D soundstaging though, IMHO. It's not like the Gabriel's have a faulty soundstage, they just can't match the soundstage of the Jade, but then my PAD Dominus cables cannot match the 3-D stage of the Jade cables either.

The Audio Metallugy GA-0's are very good cables, especially considering their prices. I would have to put the GA-0's in the 'best bang for the buck' category. They are not as refined and rich as the Jade cables, nor quite as clean and crisp as the Gabriels, but they do get you close for a fraction of the price. I currently am using them to run from my DVD player into my preamp.

John
I've not heard the Jade cables,however,I believe member jmcgrogan2 should have listened to the Gabriel Gold Revelation interconnects instead of the Extreme's if he had the opportunity.The Extremes sound fantastic,but the Revelations take things to another level and then some.

Also in fairness I believe both the Revelation and Purist speaker cables member jmcgrogan is using are very short, and not a recommended length by nearly any manufacturer.
It is not uncommon for a short run of speaker wire-say 3ft-
to sound somewhat truncated and to not necessarily take on the true effect of the design whether it be Purist,Gabriel Gold,Audio Metallury,etc.
It should be noted that most speaker manufacturers frown on short lengths and are very reluctant to sell such lengths.

I see that Jade is coming out with a speaker wire line,it will be curious to hear if they will make short lengths and would advise them to do some careful listening to a short run.

I will probably get a pair of Jade cables in the near future so that I can check them out myself.

As far as Audio Metallurgy goes I owned some of their original designs and have heard the GA-O's .
The GA 0's are also a very good cable especially at the auction prices.

Based on jmcgrogans comments I also concur that the Gabriel Golds are in another league and if the Jades are up there with the Gabriel Golds then the consumer has some great options from 2 giant killers.
Audiobuzz, it is hard for me to see if you have some hidden agenda here. Do you have any affiliation with Gabriel cables? You seem to take my comments pretty seriously. I have no affiliation with any manufacturer, and I really do like the Gabriel cable line. So I do not understand your appearant venom towards me.

If not, don't take my critique too hard. The Gabriel's are some VERY good sounding cables. I had no chance to audition the Revelation interconnects, only the Extremes (thanks Art). I also own a 1 meter pair of the GG Revelation speaker cables. Yes, Steve mentioned that he had no way of knowing how they would sound, as they are shorter than any pair he had made previously. My PAD Dominus pair of speaker cables are 3 feet long, and the pair I ordered from Jade Audio is 4 foot long (no complaints from JD). Some cable manufacturers claim that length is an issue, some do not. Since I run monoblock amps, and run a 2 meter length of interconnect to the amps, I do not see the need to spend extra money on cable I do not need. My speakers are about 2 feet from my amps. So what is your point? Should I buy 8 feet lengths and coil them behind my speakers? I find it hard to believe that this is the answer to better sound. Which manufacturer is right? Who knows? Do they simply recommend longer lengths for greater profits? Or is there really a fact driven reason? I would be happy to listen to an 8 foot pair of the Revelation if Steve would lend me a pair, to see if there is a difference. Also, if you are willing to lend me a pair of the Revelation interconnects, I'm all ears. 8-)

FWIW, I do think the 3 ft pair of PAD Dominus sounds great. It is a tad rolled off in the frequency extremes, something that I have heard about this cable in general. The GG Revelation did cure this problem, but it had other issues that led me to prefer the PAD Dominus.

Also, fwiw, both Steve and JD are great guys to deal with. I also do concur with Audiobuzz's comments about us having some great options from 2 giant killers. If you hear any of these cables, you will be surprised at how much you can save. I've owned many higher priced cables from Nordost, Jena Labs, Audioquest, PAD, etc, and both the Gabriel Gold and Jade Audio cables beat all that I've heard fairly easily. I'm also a fan of the Stealth Dream power cords like Tbg and Jafox.

Cheers,
John
Hey John
No hidden agenda here and no affiliation with Gabriel Gold.
As far I know he seems to be a 1 man operation for the time being as I believe the gentlemen from Jade is.
This may be the reason for the high quality sound coming from both of these cables.
There is no personal attack here either I guess I take comments a bit seriously and may be a little bias.
Please accept my apology if you think this is any type of personal attack.
I have been following both this thread and the Gabriel Gold thread and just thought you left out a few details
that you noted in the long running Gabriel Gold thread that you did not mention here.
I simply provided a little more info.

I do have a strong opinion on short lengths of speaker cables not sounding as good as longer,however,this is just my opinion and that would make for a good thread if it hasn't already.
On a different subject sorta
Have you ever gotten a chance to listen a longer pair of say Purist vs the pair you use now?
I would be curious if you heard a big,little or no difference.
Hi Audiobuzz, no harm, no foul. No, I haven't heard a longer length of the PAD Dominus in my system. The only speaker cables that I've heard short lengths vs. longer lengths were a pair of Ridge Street Audio Design Poiema!!!, Tara Labs Decade, and Cardas Golden Reference.
To my ears, I could not detect any real difference due to cable length. The basic sonic charateristics remained the same.

While I do realize that some cable manufacturers recommend at least 6 ft lengths, none, including Steve, have ever had a good explaination as to why this would be. I may have a better grasp on this when my Jade Audio speaker cables come in. The demo pair that I tried was an 8 foot length, the pair I ordered was a 4 ft length. JD has made no comment regarding the shorter length, in fact he also mentioned that it didn't make sense to pay for a length more than you require. Why use 2.5 meter interconnects when all you need for your application is 1 meter? Have you noticed sonic differences in different lengths of cables (i/c's, s/c's or p/c's)?

I'm not really going to argue over the longer interconnect/ shorter speaker cable vs. the shorter interconnect/longer speaker cable debate, that debate is endless, IMHO. Just like tubes vs. SS, or digital vs. analog, each side will have it's proponants. All one can do is listen and choose for themselves.

Cheers,
John