Pair ups.

Here is how I hear Euclid and Aristotle pair up with different IEMs.  For this testing, I chose a handful of popular premium monitors with different sound sigs, to compare the sound between these latest Eletech cables.

In this test I used P6 Pro as a neutral reference source while playing the selection of my usual test tracks, such as Agnes Obel’s “The Curse”, Sandro Cavazza’s “So much better” (Avicii remix), C-Bool’s “Never go away”, Ed Sheeran “Shape of you”, Counting Crows “Big yellow taxi”, Galantis “Hunter”, Alan Walker “Darkside”, Iggy Azalea “Black widow”, Indila “Boite en argent”, Robin Schultz “Oh child”, Dua Lipa “Love Again”, David Elias “Vision of her”, and Michael Jackson “Dirty Diana”.

Also, please keep in mind that I’m describing the sound of an IEM paired with a specific cable, driven from a P6 Pro source, and how the sound of that IEM compares when I switch cables.  I don’t want to imply that cable will have a drastic EQ-like night’n’day effect on the sound of IEMs.  Based on what I’m hearing, the cable can finetune the sound, but if you find the original signature of IEM to be not your cup of tea, no cable alone will change that.

Furthermore, in each of these selected pair-ups and comparisons, I switched between Aristotle and Euclid, offering my personal opinion on which one I think has a better pair-up synergy and why.  A more detailed Sound Analysis of each cable will be summarized in the Conclusion of the review.

Aroma Jewel – in this comparison, it will come down to if you want deeper and punchier bass, then you would go with Ari.  If you want lusher more emotional vocals, Euclid will deliver that refinement to Jewel.  I was on the fence about which one I would choose.  Punchier bass and slightly wider soundstage were great with Ari, pushing Jewel’s DD bass to work harder.  But more musical lusher mids with Euclid gave me a more emotional connection with vocals while listening to Jewel.

Unique Melody Amber Pearl – here, I wasn’t sure which cable I liked paired up better with AP.  And, please, keep in mind, I’m not saying which one I like “better”, but rather if I like either of them with AP.  Doesn’t matter how much you like IEM tuning or cable “tuning”.  Everything comes down to a pair-up synergy, the reason why I wanted to test AP since it is pickier when it comes to cables.  Ari gives the bass a more controlled punch and extracts more details from the mids.  But also, Ari gave AP’s treble a bit of an extra zing which I wasn’t too crazy about.  With Euclid, the bass of AP was smoother and too laidback, but mids were warm, lush, and detailed, scaling it up to sound like the latest Mason FS flagship IEMs.  I liked AP vocals with Euclid, but the reason why I like AP is due to its more elevated bass in comparison to Mentor Multiverse.  In pairing up with Euclid, the bass was more relaxed.  If I had to pick one cable between these two, I would go with Euclid and how it transformed AP vocals, but I was also missing that extra bass punch.

EE Odin – with Odin, the decision between Ari and Euclid was easier to make because Odin has a more mid-forward tuning.  With Ari, it was nice to hear a stronger punch in the bass, but mids were thinner and more sparkle in treble made them brighter.  With Euclid, the bass had a nice subtle sub-bass rumble, and the treble was still well-controlled, with extra sparkle and no harshness.  But mids benefitted the most with additional body, more warmth, and lusher tonality.  Just for the transformation in mids, it was worth picking Euclid over Ari in this pair-up.

FirAudio RN6 – with RN6 the decision between these two cables was also easy and clear.  The borderline L-shaped nature of RN6 tuning to my ears always calls for more transparency in mids so that vocals would shine through with more clarity and higher resolution.  And that is exactly what Ari brings up to this pair-up.  With Euclid, the smoother lusher treatment of mids made them warmer, less resolving, and even a bit muddier to my ears.  With Ari, the bass tightens up with a bit shorter decay to give it more control, and mids become less colored which gives them more clarity and transparency.  With RN6, I preferred Ari over Euclid.

Comparisons.

Consistent with my cable testing philosophy, I used the same IEM (Jewel) and the same source (P6 Pro) and only changed one variable at a time to note the sound difference I heard while keeping the volume matched.  Remember that I’m describing how a particular IEM sound compares between Euclid or Aristotle and other cables.

Euclid vs EA Cleo 2 octa – the presentation of the bass is quite similar, but mids and treble do vary.  Euclid has warmer and smoother mids.  Cleo 2 is a warmer-tuned cable, but Euclid gives it another layer of lushness.  Then, when it comes to the treble, it’s the opposite with Euclid having more zing while Cleo 2 is smoother.  The warmer tonality of Euclid mids also gives its soundstage a more intimate focused feeling.

Euclid vs EA Fusion 1 – here, I found the tonality in mids to be quite similar, having a smoother natural tonality, but F1 had mids/vocals closer to you while Euclid pushed it a few rows further away.  Bass and treble are where I found more differences between these cables.  Euclid gave the bass a tighter presentation with a shorter decay of notes while F1 had a more laidback presentation of bass with a longer decay of notes, giving the sound a more relaxed feeling.  Also, Jewel paired up with F1 had a smoother and warmer treble while Euclid gave the same IEMs more sparkle and airiness.

Euclid vs EA Code 24 – very interesting comparison here.  Some people forget that Code 24 is an SPC cable rather than a variation of copper Code 23.  Nevertheless, I do find them to have a similar presentation of the bass, adding a bit of a rumble to the sub-bass while keeping the mid-bass softer.  They also have a similar presentation of treble with a more revealing crisper sound, though no harshness with either one.  The mids is where I find more of the difference.  C24 presents mids being more revealing, less colored, and brighter in tonality.  In comparison, Euclid has a lusher, smoother, more organic presentation of the mids.  In combination with its treble, Euclid mids are more natural and still quite resolving.  With C24, the transparent nature of the mids and brighter treble makes the mid-range more revealing in comparison to Euclid.

Euclid vs PS SPC XL – here, I found more similarities between these two cables.  They both put more emphasis on the sub-bass rumble, though Euclid also helps the mid-bass punch, making it tighter and a little more articulate in comparison to XL.  Mids are very similar, warmer, and natural in tonality.  With treble, Euclid has more airiness and better extension.  Also, despite Euclid giving the soundstage a more intimate feeling with more out-of-your-head depth, I found its soundstage width to be a bit wider than XL.

Aristotle vs EA Code 23 – I was looking forward to this comparison and found quite a few differences.  One thing these two cables do have in common is how they expand the perception of the soundstage in all 3 directions, including more holographic imaging.  But to my big surprise, I noticed changes in bass and mids.  Ari adds more rumble to the sub-bass and improves the mid-bass with a tighter punch.  In comparison, C23 keeps bass relatively balanced between sub- and mid-bass, without boosting its weight.  Instead, C23 puts more emphasis on mids being slightly forward and with added body, in comparison to Ari keeping mids more transparently and not as upfront.  As a result of the mids tuning, Ari’s bass has more focus, while with C23 – the mids have more focus.  Both have an airy resolving treble with extra sparkle.

Aristotle vs EA Code 24C – this comparison was another big surprise to me because of how close these cables sound.  They have a very similar presentation of the bass with added sub-bass rumble and tighter mid-bass punch, and similar well-controlled resolving airy sparkle.  But the presentation of mids does vary.  Ari has a bit more transparency, less coloring, and mids pulled slightly back, while C24C has a bit more coloring, and warmth in mids, and is slightly more forward in presentation.  If anything, I think the preference of one vs the one will come down to picking Ari if you want a bit softer wire or C24C if you want a TermX connector to switch between different plugs.

Aristotle vs PS Copper XL – the change in sound and how both of these cables affect IEMs is a bit similar to my comparison with C23.  Copper XL has a more mid-forward presentation of the sound relative to Ari.  That is more noticeable in the bass where Ari added more sub-bass rumble and stronger mid-bass punch paired up with Jewel, while XL paired up with Jewel yielded a more neutral presentation of the bass.  They both have a similar treatment of treble, though Ari adds a little more air to the sound.   But I think this could also be due to a perception of XL having more forward mids that draw your attention away from the bass and the treble.  Of course, it could vary with different IEMs, but I noticed this as the main sound change in the pair-ups I tried.

Conclusion w/Sound Analysis.

As I already mentioned in the intro of the review, considering the overlap in the design and packaging, it made sense to review both of these cables together.  Of course, each cable uses a different wire material, and the more time I spent going over different pair-ups and comparisons, the more I realized how different they sound, with each one offering a unique sound refinement.  At the end of the day, here is how I summarize each one:

Aristotle (copper) – adds more rumble to the sub-bass and tightens the mid-bass, cleans up mids with more transparency (less coloring) and some improvement in layering and separation of the sounds, and gives treble more airiness which improves the resolution.  This cable has a very distinct sound characteristic with a slightly U-shaped tuning, giving more emphasis to the bass and more air/sparkle to the treble, while keeping the mids clean and clear.  It also keeps the soundstage wide/expanded.

Euclid (silver/gold) – adds a bit of rumble to the sub-bass, but not as much as with Ari.  Also, gives mids a smoother and more analog organic tonality, noticeable in vocals and instruments with additional warmth without any muddiness or reduction in the retrieval of details.  Plus, it gives the treble a little more crunch and airiness, more crunch than Ari.  This cable also has a distinct sound characteristic with warmer and smoother mids and more crunch in treble.  The combination of changes in mids and treble gives the sound a more resolving natural tonality with improved resolution and no harshness.  The effect of the lusher tonality of mids gives the sound a more center-focused and slightly out-of-your-head soundstage expansion.

Of course, everything will depend on the pair-up synergy since the essence of the cable is about the finetuning of the baseline signature of your IEMs.  As I always say, there is no magic “EQ” silver bullet or fairy dust behind the cable.  If you are not happy with the sound of your IEMs, get another pair of monitors with a different sound signature.  Nevertheless, based on the unique sound characteristics of Aristotle and Euclid, each of these cables was easy to distinguish even in a blind test, offering a refinement of the sound in tonality and technical performance as mentioned above.  As you would expect with all Eletech cables, they don’t just have a distinct sound characteristic but also have a quality build, unique custom hardware design, premium packaging, and accessories.  These two new Eletech wires also feel relatively supple for an 18-gauge wire, and now also feature an optional Versa modular connector system.  It is certainly worth checking out these two latest eye/ear candies from Eletech!