JADE AUDIO Cables

Update... I compared Jade's Vermeil Gold with XLO Limited Edition between my preamp and poweramp. Result: Vermeil is the better in my system: more musical, smoother but without loosing detail and transparancy. XLO LE is 'harder' but with a tad more detail.

Did anyone tried the new Jade 'hybrid' ?

Mattheus - I spent many hours last night with the Jade Hybrid and this cable is absolutely stunning. With the Hybrid, a Jade Vermeil, a Jade Gold and also a Stealth Indra here, I tried these in the following links: Manley Ref DAC --> Aesthetix Callisto Sig --> Rives PARC --> CAT JL-3 amps. The Jade hybrid has silky silky smooth mids and an incredible rendering of tonal colors and textures. The Vermeil has only a slightly greater extension in the bass but this is a moot issue once you hear the magic that the Hybrid brings. In my system here anyway, the Vermeil is a little rough around the edges once you get accustomed to the Hybrid and the Gold. There clearly are sonic benefits to paying so much more for these latter cables, but for the price, the Vermeil simply has no peers.

Compared to the Hybrid, the Gold is a little more lush and rich in the mids but lacks the refinement on the top. And the Hybrid renders piano articulation far greater than the Gold. Overall, the Hybrid is more tonally coherent.

The only challenge to the listening test was to nail down the differences between the hybrid and the Indra. These two cables here were so darn close. Once I get another 1-2 Hybrids here, I will be in a better position to finalize on the pros/cons of the Hybrid vs. the Indra.

John

John,

Thanks for the nice little review. I also had the chance to compare the Vermeil with the Gold and I preferred the former, because like you said the Gold lacked refinement at the top (not 'fresh' enough to my ears).

It makes we want to evaluate the Hybrid, but only if this Hybrid has the same kind of transparancy and 'freshness' as the Vermeil.

Renaat

Mattheus, I am with you. The Gold holds no interest for me, but just maybe the hybrid. I am soon to get a hearing of it. I also long for a Jade that I can use on my phono.

My comments from last night's listening were with the Gold RCA on the specified components. When I listened to the Gold a few months ago, it was an XLR used in the Io-Callisto link. Here it was miles ahead of the Vermeil which was way too sterile in this link. The Io reacts to tubes, PCs and ICs unlike any other product I have owned in that the results are often not at all in common with the results of such tubes and cables tried elsewhere in the system. So even though the Gold did not win me over in the listening last night, I have not at all dismissed it back at the Io. Only a listen to the Gold vs. Hybrid vs. Indra XLR cables there can determine how these 3 cables compare and which one I will choose.

I am done chasing cables to compensate for tonality flaws elsewhere in the system. Discovering cables that flesh out the rest of the character of the music is where the fun begins. And so far the Jade and Stealth cables do this like no other cables I have had in my system.