[Army-Firedawg]

  Sadly the Athena and Apollo are rather out of my budget. I might consider the Hermes... How would you rank bass quantity between Hermes, Spartan and Cerebus?
I'll need to see if the local shops carry Plussound cables. I'm guessing Tri Metal is a mixture of copper, silver and gold?

 
The Hermes and Cerberus models are pretty close in the sound signature with the Cerberus being slightly more bass heavy with the Hermes having more forward mids and a slightly small her bass hump. The Spartans are pretty close to the Athena (if I'm remembering correctly) being quite balanced overall with great detail retrieval. 

 

[Luciferhawk]

  Sadly the Athena and Apollo are rather out of my budget. I might consider the Hermes... How would you rank bass quantity between Hermes, Spartan and Cerebus?
I'll need to see if the local shops carry Plussound cables. I'm guessing Tri Metal is a mixture of copper, silver and gold?

Bass wise the Hermes outranks the Spartans and Cerberus...in fact it outranks them both overall. With the stock cable it actually performs really well...just on one of my KPop track which happens to be my reference file, the female vocal doesn't "shine" as it should be.
 
But the Effect Audio Eros did the trick and the Plus Sound EXO Tri Metal (yes they're Gold, Silver and Copper...spot on) brought the Hermes overall experience 1 level up. I would really like to try out the Plus Sound X8 Tri Metal as well as their Gold & Silver cable.
 
I think you will enjoy the Hermes VI

 

[Luciferhawk]

   
The Hermes and Cerberus models are pretty close in the sound signature with the Cerberus being slightly more bass heavy with the Hermes having more forward mids and a slightly small her bass hump. The Spartans are pretty close to the Athena (if I'm remembering correctly) being quite balanced overall with great detail retrieval. 

 
That's an accurate and detailed comparisons. I would say the Spartans is a "budget" version of the Athena just like the Noble Savant is to the Katana.

 

[FenW]

   
The Hermes and Cerberus models are pretty close in the sound signature with the Cerberus being slightly more bass heavy with the Hermes having more forward mids and a slightly small her bass hump. The Spartans are pretty close to the Athena (if I'm remembering correctly) being quite balanced overall with great detail retrieval. 

  Bass wise the Hermes outranks the Spartans and Cerberus...in fact it outranks them both overall. With the stock cable it actually performs really well...just on one of my KPop track which happens to be my reference file, the female vocal doesn't "shine" as it should be.
 
But the Effect Audio Eros did the trick and the Plus Sound EXO Tri Metal (yes they're Gold, Silver and Copper...spot on) brought the Hermes overall experience 1 level up. I would really like to try out the Plus Sound X8 Tri Metal as well as their Gold & Silver cable.
 
I think you will enjoy the Hermes VI

 
Many thanks for the help! I do enjoy the detail retrieval from the Athena but that's not what I'm looking for so I guess I can cross the Spartan off my list.

I do enjoy female vocals tho I much prefer the lower pitched vocals more. Would you mind sharing a link to that KPop track you mentioned?
It seems I'll have to go pay the shop another visit... good thing cables can come later the 400 USD bump is probably going to hurt lol
edit: If a link isn't possible the name would work too!

 

[Luciferhawk]

   
Many thanks for the help! I do enjoy the detail retrieval from the Athena but that's not what I'm looking for so I guess I can cross the Spartan off my list.

I do enjoy female vocals tho I much prefer the lower pitched vocals more. Would you mind sharing a link to that KPop track you mentioned?
It seems I'll have to go pay the shop another visit... good thing cables can come later the 400 USD bump is probably going to hurt lol
edit: If a link isn't possible the name would work too!

The song title is 두 여자 (Two Women) by Wax (왁스/Cho Hye-ri) you can google her and this is her MV link to youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzpemS-PHFU
 
The defining moment for me is between 0:59 to 1:03 where the vocal and music interlace with one another. My AK320 was able to separate this and bring her vocal forward whereas the AK120II wasn't able to, that was the main reason for me to spend the additional $800 over my budget. It has been my top reference song for DAP as well as IEMs.
 
Other songs includes Michael Jackson's Billie Jean (mids & vocals), Metallica's Creeping Death (tightness and response of the mids & bass), Megadeth's Holy War (guitar speed and double bass response), Taylor Swift's Blank Space (mids & vocals) and Jay Z's Empire State of Mind (testing the tightness of mids and lows response) just to name a few
 
Enjoy 

 

 

[proedros]

Athena is great on the highs and mids but not really attractive to me on the lows. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to try it out with the aforementioned cables.

 

 
what is it that was unattractive to you lows-wise ? too much bass, too little bass, sth else ? 

I am looking to get a 2nd ciem as wingman to my (reference sounding) NT6 and athena seems like a good choice , if i have understood correctly (and please help me out fellow athena owners....) it is a balanced, midcentric with good sparle on top and robust lows ? or am i too off here ? not many people own it so my perception on it is kinda vague....

i am also confused with description as athena being an enhanced spartan , as spartan is supposed to be the neutral sounding one out of the EE lineup

thanx 

 

[FenW]

 
The song title is 두 여자 (Two Women) by Wax (왁스/Cho Hye-ri) you can google her and this is her MV link to youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzpemS-PHFU
 
The defining moment for me is between 0:59 to 1:03 where the vocal and music interlace with one another. My AK320 was able to separate this and bring her vocal forward whereas the AK120II wasn't able to, that was the main reason for me to spend the additional $800 over my budget. It has been my top reference song for DAP as well as IEMs.
 
Other songs includes Michael Jackson's Billie Jean (mids & vocals), Metallica's Creeping Death (tightness and response of the mids & bass), Megadeth's Holy War (guitar speed and double bass response), Taylor Swift's Blank Space (mids & vocals) and Jay Z's Empire State of Mind (testing the tightness of mids and lows response) just to name a few
 
Enjoy 

 

That I definitely will later! Many thanks for the recommendations!

 

[Luciferhawk]

   
what is it that was unattractive to you lows-wise ? too much bass, too little bass, sth else ? 

I am looking to get a 2nd ciem as wingman to my (reference sounding) NT6 and athena seems like a good choice , if i have understood correctly (and please help me out fellow athena owners....) it is a balanced, midcentric with good sparle on top and robust lows ? or am i too off here ? not many people own it so my perception on it is kinda vague....

thanx 

The mid and high of the Athena is really outstanding and outshines the Hermes, Spartan and Cerberus...but the lows has too little bass. For slightly more I would just go for the Apollo X, or in my case, get the Hermes and upgrade the cable 

 

[proedros]

 
The mid and high of the Athena is really outstanding and outshines the Hermes, Spartan and Cerberus...but the lows has too little bass. For slightly more I would just go for the Apollo X, or in my case, get the Hermes and upgrade the cable 

 
 
i was afraid that athena would have too much bass , what you are describing is almost my ideal signature 

btw, how is the imaging/separation/soundstage ?
 
 
thanx for the feedback , much appreciated 

 

 

[Luciferhawk]

   
 
i was afraid that athena would have too much bass , what you are describing is almost my ideal signature 

btw, how is the imaging/separation/soundstage ?
 
 
thanx for the feedback , much appreciated 

 

 
If low bass up to nearly no bass is your preference then Athena is your goddess 

 
I would say the imaging, separation and soundstage is really good...at least as good as the FitEar 334

 

[Tony1110]

If low bass up to nearly no bass is your preference then Athena is your goddess 

I would say the imaging, separation and soundstage is really good...at least as good as the FitEar 334

Sorry but this is absolute drivel. Nearly no bass? Have you even heard it?

 

[Luciferhawk]

Sorry but this is absolute drivel. Nearly no bass? Have you even heard it?

I'm sorry if I've offended you but that's what I heard...literally...when I tested it to my choice of music.

I agree "no bass" is too extreme...Athena has to little bass to my liking hence I prefer the Hermes and Apollo over Athena.

 

[FenW]

I'm sorry if I've offended you but that's what I heard...literally...when I tested it to my choice of music.

I agree "no bass" is too extreme...Athena has to little bass to my liking hence I prefer the Hermes and Apollo over Athena.

Speaking of choice of music, I gave the AK Jr and AK70 a listen earlier today and found the vocals to be rather veiled on the 70. If you've heard the Jr how does it compare with the AK320? Was thinking of picking the Jr up since it's 300 USD right now.

 

[Luciferhawk]

Speaking of choice of music, I gave the AK Jr and AK70 a listen earlier today and found the vocals to be rather veiled on the 70. If you've heard the Jr how does it compare with the AK320? Was thinking of picking the Jr up since it's 300 USD right now.

That's an off topic discussion and should be taken over to the AK thread...but in short it is not comparable to the 320

 

[FenW]

That's an off topic discussion and should be taken over to the AK thread...but in short it is not comparable to the 320

Ahh sorry about that tho I can imagine with that price diff