[Smirk 24]

Oh wow, thanks for the quick comparison on that one! U shaped tuning I already have the Andromeda (og version) which from description seems to be pretty similar to the MK3 (except the bass I guess) so I guess I'll pass on the MK3. But yeah, I do agree that the Diva would definitely be a lot more competitive if it's priced closer to the $1000~1300 range. Heck if it was priced at Andromeda's old price at $1099 it'd definitely be a much easier recommend than at its current price.

Of course! Yeah, the Diva is hard to recommend at its current price which is a shame because I really do like it.

 

[AoiMomo]

Can confirm that silver-plated copper wires can sound brittle or just overall not great unless you find a good pairing. I ordered the Cadmus 4W some time back and I’m looking to sell it. It just doesn’t work with my current stable of IEMs.

I’m very curious about the Eros S. It sounds like it could be a winner. Hope it arrives sooner than later for you

Much to my surprise, I actually received my Eros S today, and as suspected they actually gave me the 1st anniversary version instead of the regular version (tbh I kind of liked the regular Eros S color scheme), but the 1st anni version is also pretty nice looking. I didn't get a "perfect" speckle in the gold part on the cord divider but it's ok. comfort-wise I would say on hand feel the Eros S is way softer than the Ares S 4 wire, even though it has more wires going on. On ear it's probably about the same and I didn't feel anything out of place from the thicker wire, comfort is good. Anyways, off to the initial impressions compared to the Ares S stock cable for Diva!

I thought I'd change it up a bit this time around and listen to some different genres to have a better comparison overall on the capabilities of the Eros and Ares (4 wire).

Testing was done on my Cowon Plenue MK II as well as my desktop setup (USB PRE 2.0 + Bryston BHA-1)
First Song: Lovebites- The Hammer of Wrath (J Rock, female vocal)
This song's one of the bass heavy (quantity) songs that I listen to often, and one of the things I've noted is that while there's nothing inherently wrong with this track, it is a track that's prone to sounding congested due to the rapid drums and bass guitar plus a cymbal that is consistently crashing in the back, all of which are kind of overpowering the vocal's voice throughout most of the track. With the Diva, the vocal issue is somewhat alleviated, but overall the vocal would still kind of melt into the drums and bass guitar, while the cymbal would sometimes get lost in the music due to how, well, crowded the track is.

The first thing I immediately took note of was that the Eros S has a better separation than the Ares S in this track, and the presence of the vocal is more cut out than the presentation from the Ares S, and the cymbal crashes were more distinct on the Eros S than on the Ares S. The Ares S also seems to lack a little bit of power in comparison to the Eros S which I dunno if it's because of the difference in wire count, but overall I think Bass is about even with the Eros S eking out a little bit in power (color me surprised I did not expect that). Overall I think the Eros S has slightly better clarity, detail, and power in comparison to the Ares S 4 wire, however, I think I don't mind hearing from either in a standalone situation, neither did anything wrong tbh for this track, so no real loser in this one.

Second Song: Reol- 失樂園 (EDM, Rap/JPop, female vocal)
This time the song is bit of a mix between EDM/ Rap and JPop, as with songs of this type of genre, it's extremely compressed, and.... you guessed it, sibilant as hell. On the Eros S the vocal is really riding that Sibilant hell range for me, it's not quite over it like my pure silver cable, but it's right on that line of tolerance for me, while the Ares S took a step back and while still sibilant was not as hissy as the Eros S. Vocals on the Eros S is a bit sweeter than that of the Ares S if we don't count the sibilance, and in the bass department I'd say they're about equal, with the Eros S a bit more powerful. The main difference between the two cables is that the Eros S gives me more of a 3D and alive feel on this track rather than the Ares S's presentation, which is more in line to what I'm used to hearing, separation goes to the Eros S for this one as well. Again, I don't think there's anything done wrong with both cables, but the Eros S just seems to have a more interesting presentation here... I had a little put down the IEM and sit there thinking wow was that from just a cable swap moment there. I'd say despite the Eros S being more sibilant (the silver at work here) I still prefer it over the Ares S for this track, even though I'd probably choose the Ares S for prolonged listening to sibilant tracks like this.

Third Song: Astor Piazzolla- Libertango (Modern Classical/ Tango Nuevo)
This time it's a full instrumental, with an exciting pace and a slue of instruments at play here (guitar, flutes, drums, cymbal, violin, organs, etc.). This track I'd say in my opinion separated the two cables the most out of the three tracks I've heard so far. While the Ares S 4 wire gave me a pretty normal presentation without much faults, the Eros S again gave me this weird sense of extra liveliness and better separation/ slightly 3D sound. If I have to try to explain it I'd say that the Ares S's presentation of this track is sound on a flat even surface the Eros S gave its presentation on a surface with different depth. I also noticed a better sense of dynamics from the Eros S, possibly due to the improved separation it provided. I'm starting to think EA's choice of making this silver/copper hybrid cable is actually pretty genius (for low output impedance IEMs anyway, I don't think it'll have as a pronounced effect on higher output impedance IEMs tbh...), and obviously this track's cable of choice goes to the Eros S.

Fourth Song: ano- Chu, Tayousei
Same song I used when I tested my previous pure silver cable with the Ares S. The key point I focused on was the beginning when the bass drums started going in and the vocal starts, I noted that while the bass for the Eros S was not quite as tightened as the pure silver cable, what it did instead was give it a bit more separation in which the bass while still rumbly like the Ares S, did not really bother you as much because that vocal just cuts right through it like a hot knife. The Ares S was not quite as capable in terms of this separation, and the bass lacked a bit of depth in comparison to the Eros S albeit not by a lot. If Ares S 4 wire had the sounds rasterized into one layer (Photoshop reference), the Eros S has them in a few layers instead, where congested parts of the song no longer feel as congested and you can actually pick out the layers a bit better than the Ares S would allow you to. I think the vocal and treble is more present in the Eros S, while the bass response about the same for both besides the depth thing mentioned earlier. Overall I think the Eros S has given me the impression of better details possibly due to its weird ability of separation on even congested songs.

(However, the weird 3D-ness is not really present in this recording, so I'm assuming it has more to do with the way the songs were produced, and singing directly into a mic probably wont create that effect as much even if it's live recording.)

Binaural Recording: The Interrogation Chamber
**Note that the content of this recording is somewhat gruesome at some points so listen at your own discretion.**
I use this video to test how convincing and realistic a headphone or IEM sounds, and as previously noted with the Diva review, I heard some veil in sound when it comes to shuffling plastics/ paper and during the sounds of like a chainsaw. To refresh my memory I listened to this recording on both the Eros S and Ares S again, and noted that the Ares S still has the muffle and veil when it comes to the aforementioned sound effects, while on the Eros S this is actually a little bit alleviated, it's not completely gone, but it's definitely not as noticeable as on the Ares S 4 wires. Another thing I noted on the Eros S is that there seems to actually be a bit more breath and presence as well as overall just better soundstage when it comes to reproducing the sounds on this video, one such example is when the "Shawn" character circled around us and stayed at our left without saying a word, on the Ares S the person's presence kind of disappeared when he stopped moving until he swallows once before speaking, while the Eros S I can still kind of "feel" the person standing there even though he's not moving, even before that swallow. It's very subtle, and somewhat eerie, but that's exactly what I want from the Diva that I wasn't able to get before, a sense of presence and breath that seemed lacking when I first listened to it. The overall presentation on the Eros S is also just a little more convincing than on the Ares S in terms of sounding realistic, so I'd say this one goes to the Eros S as well.

Conclusion:
I think overall the Eros S is definitely an interesting improvement over the Ares S 4 wire stock cable for the Diva, it kind of alleviated some of the issues that the Diva had in its somewhat lacking resolution and breath/ presence. It may expand the soundstage by a little bit on certain songs but not all of them (depends on how it's recorded I guess), but I think the special thing about this cable is definitely that weird 3D-ness feeling you get when listening to it vs with the stock cable. (Note that this kind of depends on what you listen to, if it's just one person singing to the mic in front of them you wont get this effect as much.) And by stroke of luck it is also the thing that the Diva seems to be lacking a bit in. With the hybrid silver copper wire you are able to squeeze out a bit more details from the Diva while not really sacrificing the bass impact, at the same time not exactly going full ham into sibilance hell but just tethering slight bit over the line, so yeah, this is definitely a $299 I do not regret spending. If anything it's actually a pretty interesting surprise as I did not really expect this much out of this cable frankly.

 

[Smirk 24]

Much to my surprise, I actually received my Eros S today, and as suspected they actually gave me the 1st anniversary version instead of the regular version (tbh I kind of liked the regular Eros S color scheme), but the 1st anni version is also pretty nice looking. I didn't get a "perfect" speckle in the gold part on the cord divider but it's ok. comfort-wise I would say on hand feel the Eros S is way softer than the Ares S 4 wire, even though it has more wires going on. On ear it's probably about the same and I didn't feel anything out of place from the thicker wire, comfort is good. Anyways, off to the initial impressions compared to the Ares S stock cable for Diva!

I thought I'd change it up a bit this time around and listen to some different genres to have a better comparison overall on the capabilities of the Eros and Ares (4 wire).

Testing was done on my Cowon Plenue MK II as well as my desktop setup (USB PRE 2.0 + Bryston BHA-1)
First Song: Lovebites- The Hammer of Wrath (J Rock, female vocal)
This song's one of the bass heavy (quantity) songs that I listen to often, and one of the things I've noted is that while there's nothing inherently wrong with this track, it is a track that's prone to sounding congested due to the rapid drums and bass guitar plus a cymbal that is consistently crashing in the back, all of which are kind of overpowering the vocal's voice throughout most of the track. With the Diva, the vocal issue is somewhat alleviated, but overall the vocal would still kind of melt into the drums and bass guitar, while the cymbal would sometimes get lost in the music due to how, well, crowded the track is.

The first thing I immediately took note of was that the Eros S has a better separation than the Ares S in this track, and the presence of the vocal is more cut out than the presentation from the Ares S, and the cymbal crashes were more distinct on the Eros S than on the Ares S. The Ares S also seems to lack a little bit of power in comparison to the Eros S which I dunno if it's because of the difference in wire count, but overall I think Bass is about even with the Eros S eking out a little bit in power (color me surprised I did not expect that). Overall I think the Eros S has slightly better clarity, detail, and power in comparison to the Ares S 4 wire, however, I think I don't mind hearing from either in a standalone situation, neither did anything wrong tbh for this track, so no real loser in this one.

Second Song: Reol- 失樂園 (EDM, Rap/JPop, female vocal)
This time the song is bit of a mix between EDM/ Rap and JPop, as with songs of this type of genre, it's extremely compressed, and.... you guessed it, sibilant as hell. On the Eros S the vocal is really riding that Sibilant hell range for me, it's not quite over it like my pure silver cable, but it's right on that line of tolerance for me, while the Ares S took a step back and while still sibilant was not as hissy as the Eros S. Vocals on the Eros S is a bit sweeter than that of the Ares S if we don't count the sibilance, and in the bass department I'd say they're about equal, with the Eros S a bit more powerful. The main difference between the two cables is that the Eros S gives me more of a 3D and alive feel on this track rather than the Ares S's presentation, which is more in line to what I'm used to hearing, separation goes to the Eros S for this one as well. Again, I don't think there's anything done wrong with both cables, but the Eros S just seems to have a more interesting presentation here... I had a little put down the IEM and sit there thinking wow was that from just a cable swap moment there. I'd say despite the Eros S being more sibilant (the silver at work here) I still prefer it over the Ares S for this track, even though I'd probably choose the Ares S for prolonged listening to sibilant tracks like this.

Third Song: Astor Piazzolla- Libertango (Modern Classical/ Tango Nuevo)
This time it's a full instrumental, with an exciting pace and a slue of instruments at play here (guitar, flutes, drums, cymbal, violin, organs, etc.). This track I'd say in my opinion separated the two cables the most out of the three tracks I've heard so far. While the Ares S 4 wire gave me a pretty normal presentation without much faults, the Eros S again gave me this weird sense of extra liveliness and better separation/ slightly 3D sound. If I have to try to explain it I'd say that the Ares S's presentation of this track is sound on a flat even surface the Eros S gave its presentation on a surface with different depth. I also noticed a better sense of dynamics from the Eros S, possibly due to the improved separation it provided. I'm starting to think EA's choice of making this silver/copper hybrid cable is actually pretty genius (for low output impedance IEMs anyway, I don't think it'll have as a pronounced effect on higher output impedance IEMs tbh...), and obviously this track's cable of choice goes to the Eros S.

Fourth Song: ano- Chu, Tayousei
Same song I used when I tested my previous pure silver cable with the Ares S. The key point I focused on was the beginning when the bass drums started going in and the vocal starts, I noted that while the bass for the Eros S was not quite as tightened as the pure silver cable, what it did instead was give it a bit more separation in which the bass while still rumbly like the Ares S, did not really bother you as much because that vocal just cuts right through it like a hot knife. The Ares S was not quite as capable in terms of this separation, and the bass lacked a bit of depth in comparison to the Eros S albeit not by a lot. If Ares S 4 wire had the sounds rasterized into one layer (Photoshop reference), the Eros S has them in a few layers instead, where congested parts of the song no longer feel as congested and you can actually pick out the layers a bit better than the Ares S would allow you to. I think the vocal and treble is more present in the Eros S, while the bass response about the same for both besides the depth thing mentioned earlier. Overall I think the Eros S has given me the impression of better details possibly due to its weird ability of separation on even congested songs.

(However, the weird 3D-ness is not really present in this recording, so I'm assuming it has more to do with the way the songs were produced, and singing directly into a mic probably wont create that effect as much even if it's live recording.)

Binaural Recording: The Interrogation Chamber
**Note that the content of this recording is somewhat gruesome at some points so listen at your own discretion.**
I use this video to test how convincing and realistic a headphone or IEM sounds, and as previously noted with the Diva review, I heard some veil in sound when it comes to shuffling plastics/ paper and during the sounds of like a chainsaw. To refresh my memory I listened to this recording on both the Eros S and Ares S again, and noted that the Ares S still has the muffle and veil when it comes to the aforementioned sound effects, while on the Eros S this is actually a little bit alleviated, it's not completely gone, but it's definitely not as noticeable as on the Ares S 4 wires. Another thing I noted on the Eros S is that there seems to actually be a bit more breath and presence as well as overall just better soundstage when it comes to reproducing the sounds on this video, one such example is when the "Shawn" character circled around us and stayed at our left without saying a word, on the Ares S the person's presence kind of disappeared when he stopped moving until he swallows once before speaking, while the Eros S I can still kind of "feel" the person standing there even though he's not moving, even before that swallow. It's very subtle, and somewhat eerie, but that's exactly what I want from the Diva that I wasn't able to get before, a sense of presence and breath that seemed lacking when I first listened to it. The overall presentation on the Eros S is also just a little more convincing than on the Ares S in terms of sounding realistic, so I'd say this one goes to the Eros S as well.

Conclusion:
I think overall the Eros S is definitely an interesting improvement over the Ares S 4 wire stock cable for the Diva, it kind of alleviated some of the issues that the Diva had in its somewhat lacking resolution and breath/ presence. It may expand the soundstage by a little bit on certain songs but not all of them (depends on how it's recorded I guess), but I think the special thing about this cable is definitely that weird 3D-ness feeling you get when listening to it vs with the stock cable. (Note that this kind of depends on what you listen to, if it's just one person singing to the mic in front of them you wont get this effect as much.) And by stroke of luck it is also the thing that the Diva seems to be lacking a bit in. With the hybrid silver copper wire you are able to squeeze out a bit more details from the Diva while not really sacrificing the bass impact, at the same time not exactly going full ham into sibilance hell but just tethering slight bit over the line, so yeah, this is definitely a $299 I do not regret spending. If anything it's actually a pretty interesting surprise as I did not really expect this much out of this cable frankly.

Wow. Thanks for the very in-depth review of the Eros S! It's way more than I bargained for. Super detailed and well organized. Bravo.

I'm glad it was a good purchase for you! Definitely piqued my interest. I'm heavily invested in cables at the moment so I may wait a while before purchasing a new one though the Eros S is now on my list based on your positive review and its metal composition.

 

[amosamayo]

I'm curious as to how the monarch mk3 sounds. Thanks @Smirk 24 for the impressions! Is the monarch mk3 bassier than the diva on low bass setting? and based on the FR graphs that i have found for the MMK3, the uppermids seem to be on the same level as the Diva. Is it true?

In terms of clarity and treble, is the Diva better than the MMK3 too?

 

[amosamayo]

I'm curious as to how the monarch mk3 sounds. Thanks @Smirk 24 for the impressions! Is the monarch mk3 bassier than the diva on low bass setting? and based on the FR graphs that i have found for the MMK3, the uppermids seem to be on the same level as the Diva. Is it true?

 

[Smirk 24]

I'm curious as to how the monarch mk3 sounds. Thanks @Smirk 24 for the impressions! Is the monarch mk3 bassier than the diva on low bass setting? and based on the FR graphs that i have found for the MMK3, the uppermids seem to be on the same level as the Diva. Is it true?

In terms of clarity and treble, is the Diva better than the MMK3 too?

The MMK3 is much bassier than the Diva on the minimum bass setting.

The MMK3 mids are forward like the Diva's. The Diva's mids sound slightly more forward but that may be because of the mid-treble dip on the Diva which lends it that perception.

The MMK3 is slightly more resolving than the Diva overall. The MMK3 brings out more microdetails as well.

I think the treble is slightly better on the MMK3 as well. It's better extended and has a nice sparkle. It's my third favorite treble behind the Annihilator 23 and the Helios.

I have heard some people say they find the MMK3 treble too bright so keep that in mind if you're considering it. The Diva also has a well-tuned treble and I would say it's less fatiguing than the MMK3's.

 

[kaeswiss]

comfort-wise I would say on hand feel the Eros S is way softer than the Ares S 4 wire, even though it has more wires going on. On ear it's probably about the same and I didn't feel anything out of place from the thicker wire, comfort is good.

Nice detailed write-up! As for the comfort, you mentioned it's way softer than the Ares S. Does that mean it's more supple where it has less memory and more free-flowing? The Ares S isn't as bad as other cables I've seen, but I do love a limp noodle of a cable.

 

[AoiMomo]

Nice detailed write-up! As for the comfort, you mentioned it's way softer than the Ares S. Does that mean it's more supple where it has less memory and more free-flowing? The Ares S isn't as bad as other cables I've seen, but I do love a limp noodle of a cable.

I'd say the Eros S (at least the 1st anniversary version, I heard the original Eros S is actually slightly more rigid) is like a step before limp noodle, it's quite supple yes, and doesn't seem to fight you as hard as the Ares S does when you try to bend it around. It's definitely a flowy cable that's for sure.

 

[AoiMomo]

Wow. Thanks for the very in-depth review of the Eros S! It's way more than I bargained for. Super detailed and well organized. Bravo.

I'm glad it was a good purchase for you! Definitely piqued my interest. I'm heavily invested in cables at the moment so I may wait a while before purchasing a new one though the Eros S is now on my list based on your positive review and its metal composition.

Yeah it's definitely an interesting cable for sure. I've listened to both again today in the morning just to make sure I wasn't sniffing pixie dust yesterday but I think my impressions stay the same for now. The Ares S 4 wire just sounds a bit less lively and flat compared to the Eros S, and overall power from the notes just seems to be a little dampened compared to the Eros S. So I think you might actually get something of a similar experience when you get the Ares S 8 wire... maybe for a 4ohm OI IEM wire count matters...?

That's just a wild guess for now as I don't really have a 16 wire cable to test nor do I want to spend more on cables at the moment XD... But as a reference I didn't get this feeling when I compared the Ares S stock cable with the Pure silver cable I had which is also 4 wires, if anything I thought the silver cable actually sounded a little less powerful and impactful compared to the Ares S.

 

[amosamayo]

The MMK3 is much bassier than the Diva on the minimum bass setting.

The MMK3 mids are forward like the Diva's. The Diva's mids sound slightly more forward but that may be because of the mid-treble dip on the Diva which lends it that perception.

The MMK3 is slightly more resolving than the Diva overall. The MMK3 brings out more microdetails as well.

I think the treble is slightly better on the MMK3 as well. It's better extended and has a nice sparkle. It's my third favorite treble behind the Annihilator 23 and the Helios.

I have heard some people say they find the MMK3 treble too bright so keep that in mind if you're considering it. The Diva also has a well-tuned treble and I would say it's less fatiguing than the MMK3's.

I think the treble on the MMK3 would be very appealing to me as i like a bright sound signature. But the amount of bass might be too much for me, which could be a deal breaker for me. I guess if i wanted more uppermids, i should stick with the Diva?

 

[Smirk 24]

I think the treble on the MMK3 would be very appealing to me as i like a bright sound signature. But the amount of bass might be too much for me, which could be a deal breaker for me. I guess if i wanted more uppermids, i should stick with the Diva?

Yeah, the MMK3 has a lot of mid-bass. I heard the MMK2 is lighter on the bass so maybe that can be a good option for you. Otherwise, the Diva is really nice if you can stomach the price tag.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Much to my surprise, I actually received my Eros S today, and as suspected they actually gave me the 1st anniversary version instead of the regular version (tbh I kind of liked the regular Eros S color scheme), but the 1st anni version is also pretty nice looking. I didn't get a "perfect" speckle in the gold part on the cord divider but it's ok. comfort-wise I would say on hand feel the Eros S is way softer than the Ares S 4 wire, even though it has more wires going on. On ear it's probably about the same and I didn't feel anything out of place from the thicker wire, comfort is good. Anyways, off to the initial impressions compared to the Ares S stock cable for Diva!

I thought I'd change it up a bit this time around and listen to some different genres to have a better comparison overall on the capabilities of the Eros and Ares (4 wire).

Testing was done on my Cowon Plenue MK II as well as my desktop setup (USB PRE 2.0 + Bryston BHA-1)
First Song: Lovebites- The Hammer of Wrath (J Rock, female vocal)
This song's one of the bass heavy (quantity) songs that I listen to often, and one of the things I've noted is that while there's nothing inherently wrong with this track, it is a track that's prone to sounding congested due to the rapid drums and bass guitar plus a cymbal that is consistently crashing in the back, all of which are kind of overpowering the vocal's voice throughout most of the track. With the Diva, the vocal issue is somewhat alleviated, but overall the vocal would still kind of melt into the drums and bass guitar, while the cymbal would sometimes get lost in the music due to how, well, crowded the track is.

The first thing I immediately took note of was that the Eros S has a better separation than the Ares S in this track, and the presence of the vocal is more cut out than the presentation from the Ares S, and the cymbal crashes were more distinct on the Eros S than on the Ares S. The Ares S also seems to lack a little bit of power in comparison to the Eros S which I dunno if it's because of the difference in wire count, but overall I think Bass is about even with the Eros S eking out a little bit in power (color me surprised I did not expect that). Overall I think the Eros S has slightly better clarity, detail, and power in comparison to the Ares S 4 wire, however, I think I don't mind hearing from either in a standalone situation, neither did anything wrong tbh for this track, so no real loser in this one.

Second Song: Reol- 失樂園 (EDM, Rap/JPop, female vocal)
This time the song is bit of a mix between EDM/ Rap and JPop, as with songs of this type of genre, it's extremely compressed, and.... you guessed it, sibilant as hell. On the Eros S the vocal is really riding that Sibilant hell range for me, it's not quite over it like my pure silver cable, but it's right on that line of tolerance for me, while the Ares S took a step back and while still sibilant was not as hissy as the Eros S. Vocals on the Eros S is a bit sweeter than that of the Ares S if we don't count the sibilance, and in the bass department I'd say they're about equal, with the Eros S a bit more powerful. The main difference between the two cables is that the Eros S gives me more of a 3D and alive feel on this track rather than the Ares S's presentation, which is more in line to what I'm used to hearing, separation goes to the Eros S for this one as well. Again, I don't think there's anything done wrong with both cables, but the Eros S just seems to have a more interesting presentation here... I had a little put down the IEM and sit there thinking wow was that from just a cable swap moment there. I'd say despite the Eros S being more sibilant (the silver at work here) I still prefer it over the Ares S for this track, even though I'd probably choose the Ares S for prolonged listening to sibilant tracks like this.

Third Song: Astor Piazzolla- Libertango (Modern Classical/ Tango Nuevo)
This time it's a full instrumental, with an exciting pace and a slue of instruments at play here (guitar, flutes, drums, cymbal, violin, organs, etc.). This track I'd say in my opinion separated the two cables the most out of the three tracks I've heard so far. While the Ares S 4 wire gave me a pretty normal presentation without much faults, the Eros S again gave me this weird sense of extra liveliness and better separation/ slightly 3D sound. If I have to try to explain it I'd say that the Ares S's presentation of this track is sound on a flat even surface the Eros S gave its presentation on a surface with different depth. I also noticed a better sense of dynamics from the Eros S, possibly due to the improved separation it provided. I'm starting to think EA's choice of making this silver/copper hybrid cable is actually pretty genius (for low output impedance IEMs anyway, I don't think it'll have as a pronounced effect on higher output impedance IEMs tbh...), and obviously this track's cable of choice goes to the Eros S.

Fourth Song: ano- Chu, Tayousei
Same song I used when I tested my previous pure silver cable with the Ares S. The key point I focused on was the beginning when the bass drums started going in and the vocal starts, I noted that while the bass for the Eros S was not quite as tightened as the pure silver cable, what it did instead was give it a bit more separation in which the bass while still rumbly like the Ares S, did not really bother you as much because that vocal just cuts right through it like a hot knife. The Ares S was not quite as capable in terms of this separation, and the bass lacked a bit of depth in comparison to the Eros S albeit not by a lot. If Ares S 4 wire had the sounds rasterized into one layer (Photoshop reference), the Eros S has them in a few layers instead, where congested parts of the song no longer feel as congested and you can actually pick out the layers a bit better than the Ares S would allow you to. I think the vocal and treble is more present in the Eros S, while the bass response about the same for both besides the depth thing mentioned earlier. Overall I think the Eros S has given me the impression of better details possibly due to its weird ability of separation on even congested songs.ow

(However, the weird 3D-ness is not really present in this recording, so I'm assuming it has more to do with the way the songs were produced, and singing directly into a mic probably wont create that effect as much even if it's live recording.)

Binaural Recording: The Interrogation Chamber
**Note that the content of this recording is somewhat gruesome at some points so listen at your own discretion.**
I use this video to test how convincing and realistic a headphone or IEM sounds, and as previously noted with the Diva review, I heard some veil in sound when it comes to shuffling plastics/ paper and during the sounds of like a chainsaw. To refresh my memory I listened to this recording on both the Eros S and Ares S again, and noted that the Ares S still has the muffle and veil when it comes to the aforementioned sound effects, while on the Eros S this is actually a little bit alleviated, it's not completely gone, but it's definitely not as noticeable as on the Ares S 4 wires. Another thing I noted on the Eros S is that there seems to actually be a bit more breath and presence as well as overall just better soundstage when it comes to reproducing the sounds on this video, one such example is when the "Shawn" character circled around us and stayed at our left without saying a word, on the Ares S the person's presence kind of disappeared when he stopped moving until he swallows once before speaking, while the Eros S I can still kind of "feel" the person standing there even though he's not moving, even before that swallow. It's very subtle, and somewhat eerie, but that's exactly what I want from the Diva that I wasn't able to get before, a sense of presence and breath that seemed lacking when I first listened to it. The overall presentation on the Eros S is also just a little more convincing than on the Ares S in terms of sounding realistic, so I'd say this one goes to the Eros S as well.

Conclusion:
I think overall the Eros S is definitely an interesting improvement over the Ares S 4 wire stock cable for the Diva, it kind of alleviated some of the issues that the Diva had in its somewhat lacking resolution and breath/ presence. It may expand the soundstage by a little bit on certain songs but not all of them (depends on how it's recorded I guess), but I think the special thing about this cable is definitely that weird 3D-ness feeling you get when listening to it vs with the stock cable. (Note that this kind of depends on what you listen to, if it's just one person singing to the mic in front of them you wont get this effect as much.) And by stroke of luck it is also the thing that the Diva seems to be lacking a bit in. With the hybrid silver copper wire you are able to squeeze out a bit more details from the Diva while not really sacrificing the bass impact, at the same time not exactly going full ham into sibilance hell but just tethering slight bit over the line, so yeah, this is definitely a $299 I do not regret spending. If anything it's actually a pretty interesting surprise as I did not really expect this much out of this cable frankly.

Wow! Thanks. Eros S just shot top of my list when I need to pick up a new cable.

 

[AoiMomo]

Wow! Thanks. Eros S just shot top of my list when I need to pick up a new cable.

It's definitely an interesting cable, though I wasn't able to test it on all the IEMs I have but I'd guess that if your IEM's on the lower end for output impedance you should be able to replicate a similar effect to what I got from the Diva 2023 (4ohms output impedance).

 

[vikinguy]

Of course! Yeah, the Diva is hard to recommend at its current price which is a shame because I really do like it.

I’d rec it at 2k enthusiastically.

 

[vikinguy]

In the past month I’ve owned
Elysium OG
MEST mkiii
64 Audio Trio
Monarch mkiii
Nostalgia Camelot
Diva 2023

The Camelot is probably the best IEM I’ve ever heard. An absolute WOWZA from the first song. 2 ten mm DD which put out an incredible quality of bass. It’s big but it’s not a basshead set. Everything is perfect to my ears. Treble is wonderful but never ever piercing or sibilant. Mids are better than Elysium. Yep, I said it.

MEST mkiii is awesome. A clear step up from mkii which I loved. The bone conductions driver they’re using is really something else. It’s another one that will wow you several times during a listen. I didn’t love the cable. Not very ergonomic. Very very well made though.

Trio. I love 64’s stuff. Trio is my fave of their lineup. It’s perfect to my ear. That bass and timbre…whew. They killed it with Trio. Keeper.

Monarch mkiii did a lot of things right but the treble was just too much for me. I sold it same day I got it.

‘Elysium OG is a killer set. And I must have had a great fit because I didn’t find the bass that light at all. Mids are epic.

Diva. Maybe I’m just mesmerized by how the hell he did this with BA’s. The low end is CRAZY big and really nice. It’s right there with Trio for bass quality yet totally different. I’m not really hearing a lack of resolution that’s being talked about here. It’s not Kublai Khan or anything but it’s more than satisfying me. DEF has better bass than U12T. IMO of course and I’m a big fan of u12t.



Diva is a SICK set. Love it.