Cool. Good to know I can send my cable back to Effect Audio for revising. I understand hiss is unavoidable for most IEMS to detect but my old SE846 really does a great job no matter connect to mojo or WM1A. The hiss can be noticed but it is extremely weak. I just returned my Andromeda today and I'm seeking same around $1K IEMS. As so far, only EE Athena and Lime ears Aether in my eyes. EE Athena has universal version but Aether only has CIEM version. Actually I went to Canjam L.A last Sunday but it's regretful EE can't make it because flight cancel. It's like EE and LE both attended Singapore Canjam but absent together at L.A
. Since Athena and Aether are 8 drivers and 5 drivers, It's hard to find head to head comparison. I can only try to dig out more review and information online now.
@PokerFaze is correct; you can ask Lime Ears to build a universal Aether. I have both the Athena ADEL and the Aether in custom form and they're in my top three favourite all-around IEMs at the moment. Both the Athena and the Aether are balanced IEMs that lean towards a warmer signature, but there are specific aspects that differentiate them from each other.
Starting from the bottom, the Aether has more bass slam than the Athena-A, mostly due to the presence of ADEL in the latter. In terms of presentation, the Aether's bass is more punchy, visceral, and impactful; it emphasises mid-bass over sub-bass which causes it to have more physicality than resolution. The Athena-A has a softer bass presentation. Quantity-wise, the bass is still north of neutral but it doesn't hit as hard as the Aether's, especially with the bass switch up. With the Aether's bass switch down, the bass quantity is actually quite similar. I remember the Athena non-ADEL demo to have more texture and rumble in the bass than my ADEL custom, but YMMV. Though, due to ADEL, the bass is much more airy, making details easier to pick out down low, and eliminating midrange bleed.
In the mids, the Aether and Athena-A have very different presentations. Though both have incredibly smooth and natural midranges, the amount of air and the placement of the mids are what segregate the two. The Aether's have significantly more air in the mids, and especially in the upper mids, where it sparkles more than the Athena. This makes the Aether's sound more lively, energetic, and crisp. However, this makes midrange instruments (i.e. piano, vocals, etc.) sound more distant; it's not V-shaped, but the Aether's immense depth just makes the mids sound further back. I find in long listening sessions, the Aether's can start to sound un-engaging because of this. You always feel like you're reaching for the mids to pull them in closer, but you can't. The Athena-A has a more forward midrange that spans wider left and right, with a warmer, thicker, and richer presentation. It's more in-your-face, but the mellow presentation is immediately enjoyable, even if it seems a bit less transparent and dynamic when compared to the Aether's.
The trebles of the Aether and the Athena-A are actually pretty similar. They're both warm-leaning IEMs and their higher registers are therefore more rounded, smoothed off, and peak/sibilance-free. They certainly have enough headroom and sparkle to present music in an open, airy, and decently transparent manner, but it's not as insanely resolving or crystal-clear as the Zeus, for example. I find the Aether has the edge in treble transparency and clarity, which I admire for its likeness to the treble presentation of studio monitors. On the other hand, the Athena-A is softer on the ear and its upper end complements its mids beautifully; its treble presentation is such that it places more focus on the midrange, for a more euphonic and rich overall signature. I don't find however, the Athena-A to be less resolving than the Aether's; it just takes a bit longer to "find" everything.
