JADE AUDIO Cables

Mattheus, I think you will be very happy with your purchase. I have replaced my cables with the Jade Audio cables, both gold and vermeil. I will be posting my findings in more detail once I get a chance to write the review I feel this product deserves. JD has developed an absolutely outstanding cable.

Thanks Nutella. I hope to receive the cable this week. Could you please tell what cables you replace with JADE's and in what sense they were outperformed?

I use Kubala Sosna Fascination interconnect between pre and power amp (and speakercable).

The cables I used were Purist Aqueous Anniversary and Venustas, Jena Labs Symphony and the top Sonoran cables. I've used numerous other cables but these were well above anything near their price. That is until I got the Jade cables.
I plan to go into more detail once I can better articulate the characteristics of this cable in my system. Needless to say, JD is quite accurate in his description of his cable.

Nutella, could you let us know where in your system you run the gold and where you run the vermeil? thanks

OK, here it goes.
Basis 2500 with Vector arm, Dynavector XX-2 and Tom Evans Groove.
EAD T-8000 transport to a Museatex Bidat or Bitstream (modified) dac.
Preamp is Lamm L1.
Amp is Wyetech Topaz 572B SET 23wpc purple monster.
Speakers are Coincident Total Victory II's.
I have the Vermeil, the gold and the gold with bybees.
The vermeil just arrived. I will be spending some time evaluating where the cables fit best. Currently the vermeil is on my phono. the gold on my dac and the gold with bybees on the pre to amp. I plan do do some listening over the next week to determine which cable I prefer in which position. Like I said I am working on writing down my thoughts on these products and will hopefully have something in the next week or so.

My recommended starting point would be the Vermeil from the source and the gold downstream. Both cables seem to have the same clarity, which tells me they neither one is altering the signal more than the other. The vermeil is a heavily gold plated silver wire. Because it is silver, it does carry with it some sonic signature of silver. I'm not referring to speed or dynamics, they both do that equally, I'm talking about the glaze or haze found with silver. The gold plating has reduced this to an acceptable level, but it's still silver.

The solid gold is the most neutral and natural sounding wire I found. So my advice would be use the Vermeil upstream and the solid gold downstream. It will be interesting to hear if Nutalla confirms this assumption.

jd
Jade Audio

if neutrality is your goal, try chimera labs copper cable.

Mr. Tennis, I see you pushing Chimera Labs on several threads now. Could you please elaborate on your experience with Jade cables? I await your response.

The 'Vermeil' arrived this morning. Plugged it between my DAC and preamp to replace Symphonic Line Reference ic. Will report on my findigs later on.

First impressions 'right out of te box' are very nice: bigger soundstage, more natural and detail but bit 'sharper' than the SL. Will have it burned in for a time and will come back.

I just ordered a Vermeil from JD and he is going to cook it for 10 days prior to shipping it to me. Hopefully that will alleviate some of the burn in time. I'll post my impressions as well when I have had a chance to listen to it.

Plugged the Vermeil now between preamp and poweramp: this seems to be the better place in my system. 3-D imaging impresses me most, together with better (more) lower end emphasis. Sound is very well balanced. The Vermeil has to be burned in further, but I can tell you this cable won't leave my system (I know: never say never)! Was wondering how the 'real' Gold would perform... and am anxious to hear about the experience of other users !

As I said earlier I planned to post my thoughts on the Jade cables once I spent sufficient time with them. I find that initially when one compares components, the differences are noticed and if one likes these differences, one becomes pleased and excited. The true test is to later go back and hear the original component and see if what you initially thought still is true. Well, I did this process several times with the cables and now feel comfortable sharing my thoughts with the community.

I have spent some time with various cables and have found that I definitely have my preferences. I chose Purist Venustas, Aqueous Anniversary and Jena Symphony as my preferred cables. This is because to me they sound tonally correct, place things in space correctly, are not thin or bright but not too full or rounded.

I have in my posession both the Gold and Vermeil cables. I have had them for almost two months. They were burned in extensively both on a cooker and in my system. My initial reaction to the Vermeil has changed because its character changed slightly after a hundred hours. Here it is.

I found the Jade Vermeil to be more transparent, dynamic and detailed than my preferred cables. This was not in any "in your face" way. Some cables attempt to throw detail at you at the expense of musical enjoyment. The detail in this case is more a kin to removing a slight haze that was not apparent before.

Next was better separation of individual instruments, massed instruments, and more deliniation of multiple vocals. This was both heard and perceived in space (soundstage). A much greater sense of immediacy and presence was also apparent and improved treble extension and clarity. As for the bass, there was more of a difference than an improvement. The bass was slightly tighter and more defined but less full than the Purist.
As for the Gold, most of what I said above holds true for the comparison of the Gold to the Vermeil but in less so. The improvements were slight but apparent. Where the Gold excelled over the Vermeil was that it is more natural sounding, especially in the midrange and definitely more dynamic. It is also slightly more satisfying at lower volumes and had slightly better pace. I felt more drawn into the music when cabling was the Jade Gold. The Gold is excellent at revealing those subtle nuances that are too often lost. Music simply flows like nothing I have ever heard. Remarkable.

The system is in my opinion very neutral and dynamic. It consists of a Basis 2500, Vector arm, DV XX-2 cart and Tom Evans Groove. EAD T-8000, Bidat and Bitsream Dacs (modded). Lamm L1, Wyetech Topaz and Coincident Total Victory II. Great care was put into placement of the speakers and taming room issues.

This is my first attempt at any sort of review. I tend to dislike a lot of the "audiophile cliches" but I tried to explain as well as I could what I perceived in terms that everyone could appreciate. This is more of a general impression I get from my experience. I used a wide variety of music, (classical, jazz, folk. blues. rock) and this would be a very long boring review had I tried to describe it all.
There you have it.
Chris

Thanks Chris. I'd heard some commentary was on the way by someone. I've got a pair of each on the way. Do you have Bybees or Gold Bybees on either of your pairs?

Can anyone else comment?

After a couple of days with both the Vermeil and Gold, I must say I am VERY impressed! Nutella did an excellent job in accurately describing the sonics. I plan to continue aging via the Audioharma Cable Cooker and will report any changes.

JD's wonderful cables are easily among the finest available and the Vermeil is an absolute audio bargain. As most of you know, JD is one of the really good guys in this business and it's been such a pleasure to get to know him and his cables.

HIGHLY recommended!

I have standard bybees in one pair. I have used the plug in bybee filters in the past on IC's and never cared for them. A little gained but something lost. NOT the case here. I have been unable to find a downside. They reveal a little more and provide a touch of added refinement.

I took possession of my Vermeil yesterday. I put it in my system where I had an Oritek X-2. JD cooked it for 120 hours on his cooker, and it has been in my system for about 24 hours. So far I would have to agree with the aforementioned comments. I'm interested to see what happens in another 100 hours or so. Nice cable for the price.

Hey, guys, where do you get these cables?

You can contact AudiogoN member J.D. MacRae. His AudiogoN handle is Jadem6, email is [email protected].
You can e-mail me offline for his phone number.
He usually has ads up on Audiogon, and probably will again in the next couple days.

Cheers,
John

Jade Audio now has a website, check it out: Jade Audio

Cheers,
John

I will give the Pure Gold a try, it will be ordered from JD. Will hear if the social difference will justifie the financial one, since the Vermeil really is a 'big hit' in my system.

If other users of the Pure Gold would like to share their experience, please do chime in !

Social difference? Wow, these must be some cables!

LOL

must be 'sonical' ...

BTW using a Gold cable definitievly moves you up the social ladder

misschien moet ik het in het Nederlands uitleggen?

I got a 1 m. pair of the Jade Vermeil RCA cables with no Bybees in about a week ago. I have to be in St. Paul for Christmas and plan on going by to hear the Vermeil compared with the Golds.

I have been amazed that one pair of interconnects can have such an impact on my sound. I have used them exclusively from my Esoteric X-01 Limited to the H-Cat. The top end, the soundstage, the dynamics, the bass, and overall the realism is fantastic.

I have had many fine cables, such as the Siltech G5s, the Vacuum Reference, the Cerious Technologies (which are the rest of my cabling), the Acapella, Kondo, Purist, etc., these are the best. What about the Golds and the Bybees? I hope to be able to tell soon.

Last night two audiofriends and I had one of our audio-evenings. We compared the Vermeil with my friend's Cardas Golden Reference (between North Star DAC and Sphinx amp). Result: the Cardas was 'blown away' in terms of tranparancy, stage, weight. My friend decided to sell his Cardas and to get the Vermeil.

My other friend evaluated the Vermeil between his newly Music First passive preamp and Manley Snappers (and compared it with a Siltech Classic-like silver cable). Result: same story as with the first friend. He will get an XLR Vermeil.

I know it sounds unbelievable and as if I'm hyping JD's cables, but altough my friends and I have totally different setups, we all liked the Vermeil more...

I bought the Gold with Bybees and hope to be able to compare it with the Vermeil next week.

Well, I went over to JD's today for a nice listening. I must say that the Jade cables are largely trial and error. There were many prototypes before he settled on the Vermeil and Gold. These are thus substantially indifferent to the simple axioms of cable design.

Both the Vermeil which I have already tried in my system and the Gold sounded excellent in JD's system. We started with the Vermeil on the link from the dac to the preamp and a gold from the preamp to the amp. It sounded very clean and dynamic. The bass was very well defined. Overall, I heard much of what I heard in my home.

Next JD substituted the Gold for the one Vermeil. There was cleanly more resolution to the Golds and perhaps a little more depth to the soundstage. The bass up to perhaps 350 Hz was not the equal to the Vermeil and it had the softness I associate with the Stealth Pure Gold Signal ics.

JD reality admits that he does not like silver, and I would readily admit that I do not like gold. I do not know from this demonstration whether all Vermeil would be as good or better than a mix, but I decided to go with a long pair of Vermeils to run from my preamp to my amp.

However, JD got to these cables, they are extraordinarilly good and JD is fun to talk with.

I must say that the Jade cables are largely trial and error.

Is this not true for just about everything in the world of high-end audio?

There were many prototypes before he settled on the Vermeil and Gold.

Knowing JD quite well now, I am sure that is an understatement.

These are thus substantially indifferent to the simple axioms of cable design.

Perhaps so, but how many cable manufactures follow such simple axioms in their cable designs? And what exactly are these simple axioms?

In the next week or so I too will get the priveledge to hear JD's cables in my system....through a personal visit by the designer himself. I am eagerly awaiting this opportunity.

Jafox, I think JD's focus was entirely on the sound of the cables rather than skin effects, low impedance, the thickness of the cables or their weight, using teflon insulation, etc. This is a hard path to follow as we know from all the many efforts to isolate components, but he pulled it off.

I hope I implied that I personally prefer the Vermeils but that others may not. Much depends on what you listen for and what your system is like.

I just ordered a set of Jade Audio Vermeil 1m cables and am anticipating them. Any new users of them or any more comments from present users of Jade Audio cables?

Spyder, I have found they don't like to be moved and despite the breakin that JD does, they take several days to be at their best. I am anxiously awaiting my 4.5m. pair of Vermeils. I have heard many, many cables and these are the best.

I have been listening to a 1 meter pair of Solid Gold (RCA), and they are simply phenomenal. Their ability to capture the shimmer of brass (cymbals and horns) is unlike anything I've heard before. Vocals just float into space, the soundstage has much more depth. Tonal accuracy and harmonic textures seem so true, just a 'rightness' to the sound.
Very relaxed and natural presentation, yet I don't feel as if any transparency has been lossed.

I'm using it between phono preamp and preamp. I wish I had the scratch to do the whole rig with the Gold, but that will have to wait. In the meantime I've ordered a 1 meter and 2 meter pair of Vermeil Gold (XLR) to run from cd player to preamp, and preamp to amps. I ordered them a week or so ago, so they may be in soon. If they are even close to the Gold's I think I'll be very happy.

FWIW, the Solid Gold replaced a 1 meter run of the excellent Ridge Street Audio Designs Poiema!!!, which had replaced the Nordost Valhalla.

John

I played with a pair of Vermeil and 2 pairs of Gold trying to find a way not to like the Gold because of the cost. But the way the Gold allows for the performance behind the speakers to come to life is like no other IC I have had here. Gone is the need to compromise between a tonally coherent result vs. the spatial, decay, harmonic structure capabilities that so many other cables manage to filter out.

I still have not heard the Stealth Indra nor Purist Anniv. but these are both significantly higher cost than the Jade Gold. When I hear the Indra soon, I will report back on my findings vs. the Gold.

The Vermeil brings the top-most frequencies from percussion a little more out into the room and the bass was also notably tighter which is a good thing for me with all the bass energy I now have with the addition of many new Stealth PCs. The Gold lags just a wee bit behind here but the bass is never boomy or annoying. But a return to the Gold makes these frequency-extreme differences a moot point once you hear the performance again explode into 3-dimensional magic. Perhaps without the Aesthetix Io/Callisto/JL-3, this one difference between the Jade cables would most likely not be as evident. But the Io-to-Callisto link with an XLR Gold in my system has no peers.

Like John, I don't think I can afford Golds throughout but Jade will work with me to get darn close with a Vermeil or two strategically placed in the system and the Gold in the key locations we identify through listening.

As much as I loved the sound of my system fully loaded with Dominus ICs and PCs, the Stealth Dream & M5000 PCs and now the Jade ICs takes my system to yet another level.

So we all need to hurry up and get these Gold cables before the price of Gold jumps!

Jafox, do you not have the Stealth Dream pcs in your system any longer? I am seriously thinking of getting some.

As I mentioned earlier, I visited JD over Christmas and compared the Vermeil and Gold on his system. There were aspects of the sound I preferred with the Golds, but the mid bass down was better with the Vermeil. I have a 4.5 m. pair coming once JD has the kinks worked out. I should note that all I listen to is single ended RCAs.

Tbg - I currently own a pair of Stealth Dream (power model) PCs and several Stealth M5000 PCs. When I had only one Dream cable, I danced it around the system to determine the comparative benefits at each component. Some models, the Aesthetix Io and Rives PARC in particular, were significantly transformed with the Dream over the M5000 than the others components. The Aesthetix Callisto was next followed closely by the DAC and amps.

The tonality is very similar between the Dream and M5000, but the Dream brings on more resolution and coverage in the top. However, the significant benefit is very much in parallel to the Jade Gold cable - you get a wealth of spatial cues and silence between the notes that catches you off guard. How a silly power cable can do this just makes no sense. With a return back to the M5000, the reduction in these qualities is immediately noticeable. But 1/2 hour back with the M5000 indicates this is still a mighty good PC as everything is well balanced. If I was running with something other than the Io & Callisto, I suspect the Dream vs. M5000 would not be as significant.

Two nights ago, I removed the Dream PCs from the system and shuffled around the M5000's and a spare pair of FIM Gold PCs to get my ears tuned to not having the Dream PCs in the system. A couple hours later, I replaced the M5000s on the CAT JL-3 amps with the Dream PCs. The benefits were much the same sonic characteristics as with the front-end components, but not to the same degree. The M5000 with the JL-3's really works mighty fine already. So there is clearly a pecking order here and I suspect this would be true with any system but not necessarily at the same links. It's best to put aside all the theories and just try out many combinations through trial and error. All these claims that the "best" cable has to be at the top of the chain, etc. etc, is often not at all the case with my own experiementation.

As I get more and more Dream PCs, I will repeat the process to find the best fit for the cables I have. Perhaps with 3 of these, one on a front-end component and 2 back at the amps will be the way to go. But I know that Stealth recommends a system to be fully loaded with the Dream cable to benefit from its unique grounding/sheilding schemes with the various Dream models. These things are so expensive that I have to hope that at least a couple M5000s will survive to keep down the final cost.

I also have recently been advised to investigate having isolated grounds installed for the dedicated circuits. This is reported to be even more significant of an improvement than the benefits of these PCs. Now I just need to find an electrician to come over and give me an idea of the process involved to do this. This is in the back of my mind before I go off and spend a mint on 3-4 more Dream PCs.

John, thanks for the remarks on the Dream p/c's, I'll have to try some. FWIW, have you heard any Virtual Dynamics Master or Revelation series p/c's? I'm thinking these are the best that I've heard to date. VD also recommends that you cable your whole system with their line. I think that's pretty much a stock manufacturer claim. I'm sure one day JD will be bugging us to buy his speaker cables and power cords. ;^)

I do have isolated grounds on my dedicated circuits. I cannot tell you what the difference would be though, because I had them both installed at the same time. Overall, it was a tremendous improvement, but I couldn't sonically seperate the performance parameters of the two.

John

John - I heard the VD Revelation for a brief time last year when I was getting my Manley DAC updated. This audition was made in another audio system. With the VD Rev PC, the Manley had quite a flat presentation, not at all like I had heard it before.....something was just not right. When the VD Rev cable was replaced by a Dominus Ferox PC, the Manley quite extraordinarily blossomed into a most incredible performance. The 2 PCs were than compared to a top-tier Wadia setup and here the differences were very very subtle with the VD Rev cable bringing on just a tiny bit more detail and extension at the frequency extremes as I recall. Somehow the Dominus and more recently I have learned, the Stealth M5000 and Dream PCs, have magical properties to bring out tube gear strengths that somehow escapes other PCs.

We are getting off topic here guys, but given your experience I wonder if you have tried the Prana and Purist Audio Anniversary wires. I have several friend urging me to forget the Stealth and to get one or the other of these. I have a good deal more confidence in Serguei than I do in the others, but I have also often been surprised with what people can come up with, with JD being a prime example.

Tbg - I too am very surprised at such products like the Jade cables bringing on the full-suite of attributes that has been difficult to find in a cable. But JD very clearly identified the sonic strengths of a few cable lines that he lived with over the last few years. And he worked to achieve each of these in his product. This is the man who comes to your home, moves your chair 5 feet closer to the speakers and then escapes into the music. He just loves to hug the music...that "get right up there" connection. And his attention to hearing the detail in a musical performance translates back to his product. I must say that he is equally attentive to his Teddy Bears.

I have several friend urging me to forget the Stealth and to get one or the other of these.

This would be a huge mistake if only because you would forever wonder how the Stealth cables might perform in your system. I seek advice and ideas from many audio friends, but I would never dismiss the opportunity to hear a product just because they might praise another.

I have not heard the Prana nor the Purist Anniv. But only a few months ago, my system was fully loaded with Dominus except the speaker cables (Purist Opis) and one Purist Aqueous Anniv XLR IC. I have no idea how the Prana performs. But I do know that the Stealth M5000 handily surpassed the Dominus Ferox PC in every link in my system but the Aesthetix Io. These two PCs are very much alike except the M5000 fills in the top-end a little more and surprisingly, brings on even a more textured midrange without ever having that syrupy midrange of the older Dominus models. The low-end extension and dynamic contrasts with both of these is truly outstanding. The Dream-vs-M5000 differences surpass even the M5000-vs-Dominus differences in that you lose none of the dynamics and spatial strengths, but you get a wealth of detail on the top and a most impressive black background.....the latter I have not heard since I had the Kubala-Sosna Emotion PCs here. So the Dream PC is on another planet altogether over the Dominus. I understand that the Purist Auctorita PC was a step above the Dominus and so this may be more inline to the performance of the M5000. If the Purist Anniv. is as significant of an improvement to the Dominus, then this too is a PC to reckon with and I do indeed want to hear it vs. the Dream.

Jafox, thanks for the comments. Enjoy listening to what would be my 4.5 m. ics. May they be the equal to my 1 m. ic.

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.

Jafox, while we are not in agreement about the Golds or really about having a real confidence that there are cables that don't compensate for tonality flaws (I don't know how I would know this), I fully agree that the Jades and the Stealth Dreams are truly exceptional. I truly look forward to hearing the Hybrids and speaker wires.

If you are anyone else have not experienced an all Dream power cord sound, all I will say is rush to do so. It is the zenith of audio ac supply bar none. To do this you must follow the careful use of the three different Dream cords. The Power must be used on you amps and phono and tuner if you have one. The Digital needs to be used on both dac and transport. And the Preamp should be used only on your preamp or line stage or in running a outlet box into which everything is plugged. I must say that I was just dumbfounded by the improvement.

Speaking of Stealth, anyone try the M-5000? I'm interested in trying one but thought maybe someone would be able to give an opinion of it first. Of course, if it is an all or nothing proposition with Stealth power cables that might not be a good solution for me.

Clio09, I didn't mean to imply that the Stealths only sounded good if they were throughout your system. Rather although an individual power cord by power cord comparison proved them to be better, when you used them throughout, the sound improved enormously.

I have had communication with users of the M-5000 who seem happy with them but who say they will ultimately try the Dreams. I have not had the M-5000s.

Tbg - It was not my intent to imply a cable can be without tonality flaws. My comment was about avoiding the temptation to choose a cable to compensate for peaks and valleys elsewhere in the system. There are many threads here where somebody is seeking a cable to bring on more "warmth", greater bass, etc. The visit here by Joe Kubala in late 2005 made it clear to me that such a practice is not the way to configure a music system.

Even between the 3 Jade models, there are tonal differences but these differences are easily overshadowed (at least in my system) due to the much greater differences in dynamic contrasts, initial strike of the notes, piano and voice textures/decays/ambience, etc. Other than the Gold's softer frequency extremes, the 3 cables are very close tonally.

Concerning the Gold, as stated before, this was just magical in the Io-Callisto link compared to the Vermeil. Only an XLR will work here if I want to achieve the Aesthetix models' phenomenol rendition of space. With a number of other ARC, BAT & CAT phono stages I have owned or heard here, this would be less a factor and perhaps the Vermeil's strengths would make it the "winner". But my system does decays like no other system I have heard and here the Gold excels over the Vermeil in this very critical attribute. Of course now I am eager to hear the Hybrid XLR in this link.

Clio09 - Congrats on the Gabriel Gold Extreme auction. I was chasing this but once I got two more Jade Hybrid cables here today and dropped them in the system, I backed off the auction. I too would like to hear the Gabriel Gold but now I need to hear the newest top model, the Revelation, to determine if it has any chance against the Jade Hybrid or Stealth Indra.

And concerning the M5000s, as I wrote up above, I have much experience with the M5000 vs the Dream. And with 3 more Dream PCs arriving next week, I will have all sorts of combinations to try with 5 Dreams and 4 M5000s and the 4 Electraglide Epiphany X. Once I iron out the pros/cons of the PCs in the system, I can email you what I learned.

And as much as I think so highly of the Stealth Dream PC, it was only marginally "better" than the M5000 in the amps when I only had two Dreams here. But the Dream is phenomenol on the front end. I also have an itch to get a pair of the DreamState PCs and try these on the amps vs. the Stealth Dream.

Now onto the 3 Jade hybrids in my system. I started with the change of the one Gold to a Hybrid. The Hybrid brought in a far more balanced rendition of piano fundamentals. Dynamic contrasts were much improved. And with this came more splash and portrayal of harmonics into the trebles. The somewhat overdone and fatiguing piano was now well controlled.

With 2 Hybrids and 1 Indra in the system, I then swapped out the Indra for the 3rd Hybrid. These two cables are so very very close across the board. Where the Hybrid renders more distinct strikes on the piano, the Indra conveys a smoother transition from key to key. The Hybrid is more lively in the mids vs. the wee-bit more mellow and distant Indra here. But the Indra also has a little more ambience and carry-through into the trebles. The differences are truly slight with the one exception of the Hybrid's weightier lower mids; there's just more meat on the bones. Between the ManleyDac-Callisto and Callisto-PARC links, it comes down to personal preference here. Both cables are truly so close otherwise. When it came to the PARC-JL3 link, the Hybrid's more dynamic and alive presentation was more like an analog vs. digital comparison. The Hybrid more greatly brought on the believeability that this was the real thing instead of a recording. This yet again confirmed that the most critical IC link in my system is the one into the amps. IC differences have always been the greatest here.

For all you Vermeil fans out there, you will be pleasantly surprised of the tonal coherency of the Hybrid but also appreciate all the other attributes in the performance that all too many cables out there simply do not let through.

The Jade Hybrid and Stealth Indra ICs are a significant cut above all others I have so far auditoned here.

John

Jafox,

I have been wanting to try the Gabriel cables for a while and the Revelation are on my list as well, but I thought I may as well try the Extremes to get started. BTW - there were 4 pair available and I'm only getting 1 pair, maybe Steve will contact you regarding the others.

Ironically I have tried the Jade Vermeil and am probably one of the very few to send them back. I agree with both yours and Tbgs assessment of these cables, but in my system at the time, while I thought the Vermeil's were excellent and for the money a great value, they did not beat out my Oritek X-2 cables. My goal was to try the Jade Gold, but so far I have not gotten around to it and based on yours and Tbgs experiences with the Hybrids this may be the cable to try in the future.

My system has changed a bit since my last IC evaluation and in hindsight I wish I still had the Vermeil to listen to for comparative purposes. The Oritek have been replaced by the RSAD Poemia!!! and I have some VD Master cables in the system as well. I would definitely be interested in your opinions on the M-5000 and Dream power cords. So feel free to email me offline.

john,

if you'd sell an Hybrid, let me know :-)

it seems this one is the way to go

I can't find any price tags on the Hybrid ...

renaat

I have 2 pair of Jade Hybrids that are suppose to ship on Monday, so I wait for their arrival. They will go into my Greatroom system in place of my Silversmith silver RCA interconnects.