[Dellwolf]

Although price differences do not necessarily equal to sound quality. But there is still a reason why EE place the 5-BA Phantom up to that price range. It is hard to say which one is better than the other, but they have some very different characteristics. As Kerouac mentioned a few.

I would like to elaborate more on the point of the wider soundstage on the Andromeda. I totally agree with this point. The Andromeda has an exceptionally wide soundstage. The soundstage is also wider than Zeus-XR non-Adel (EE stock cable / Ares II), as so for Phantom. The vocalist position sounded 1-2 meter further on the Andromeda compared to the Phantom. At the same time, the separation of instruments and vocals on the Andromeda is also more obvious due to the wider soundstage. Instruments sounded slightly further away horizontally (left and right) on the Andromeda, whereas instruments sounded closer to the listener on the Phantom. However comparing directly with the Phantom, I realized the soundstage of the Andromeda lacked depth and height. Phantom is able to reproduce the position of instruments in a x,y,z axis. While the Andromeda mostly relied on the width for instruments placement and placed the vocalist further away from the listener to produce the width and depth of the soundstage. I would say the Andromeda slightly cheated in the reproduction of the depth of the stage in this case.

The Phantom sound like it has a higher resolution compared to Andromeda. It may be due to the closer placed instruments and vocalists. Instruments and vocalist on the Andromeda sounded smaller in size and further away. In this case, the Phantom allows me to look into the detail of the music easily as everything sounded closer. But if I listen closely, I would say they have a similar amount of detail, but Phantom just take one to two steps forward and edges out Andromeda in terms of detail.

Vocals on the Andromeda sounded slightly thinner, but the Andromeda is very dependent on the source as it is sensitive to output impedance.

Generally, I would describe the Andromeda as imitating a concert performance, while the Phantom as studio performance.

I haven't gotten a chance to listen to the new models yet, but from the pre-existing EE line up I'd say the Andromeda is most similar to the Athena in presentation, being more like a concert performance than studio.

 

[13candles]

@thebratts


Actually also my all time favorites Depeche Mode also sounds quite good with the Zeus. Or why not Alphavilles: forever young record(can't believe it's 35 years old, still going strong and in some strange way sounding fresh..). (Also good with the VE8 )
[/QUOTE]

Im liking your post because it so happens Depeche Mode and Alphaville are two of some of my fav bands of all time. I would list DM in my Top-5....

Cheers Mate

 

[pacman46]

Hi. Seeing new EE lines are out and will be in my local headphone shop very soon. I picked up the Apollo x at a great cost saving about 6-700 bucks!! I recently had the Athena-VIII and for me I found the vocals just a tad to forward for my liking and they just got to tiring for me. Other then that they sounded great. For me the Apollo has the mids/ vocals sitting just perfect for me. Not to close and not to far away. I find them to be rather neutral. Nothing really stands out too much. Separation and imaging is fantastic actually, maybe not as good as the Zeus just a different animal. The soundstage is also very wide when called for. I do notice that they play well with a lot of different kinda of music. I also notice when there is say bass or mid bass or any other frequency in the song it’s there, when not it’s not,, sorry I’m not the greatest at describing this stuff. Anyways I’m loving this IEM. They very much grow on you. Like i said nothing stands out at first but it all shows up when needed. I also tried the spin fit tips at first for awhile but I couldn’t stand them. I couldn’t get a proper seal with them for some reason. I reached for a pair of tips that came with my TE100 ‘s and sooooo much better, isolation, bass, soundstage, just seemed to open them up a lot more, maybe due to the tip not covering any of the sounds holes like the spinfits did. Anyways I’m very happy with these

 

[asquirrel88]

Hi. Seeing new EE lines are out and will be in my local headphone shop very soon. I picked up the Apollo x at a great cost saving about 6-700 bucks!! I recently had the Athena-VIII and for me I found the vocals just a tad to forward for my liking and they just got to tiring for me. Other then that they sounded great. For me the Apollo has the mids/ vocals sitting just perfect for me. Not to close and not to far away. I find them to be rather neutral. Nothing really stands out too much. Separation and imaging is fantastic actually, maybe not as good as the Zeus just a different animal. The soundstage is also very wide when called for. I do notice that they play well

I want to echo your opinion on the Apollos! I just received mine and went with custom molds, the church I play for gives us a good discount and EE recommended them as their stage monitor. I'm a guitar player and everything is just so balanced and open. Guitars sound nice and full. The soundstage is very wide which helps being on stage. I could use maybe just a touch more sub-bass but like you said when it's there in the music it rumbles quite nicely! It was good to see another post about the Apollos, they don't seem to get much love around here. They really are humongous sounding as a live monitor, which is what they were designed for.

 

[Decreate]

I guess it's time to let 'em burn.

 

[Deezel177]

I guess it's time to let 'em burn.

Awesome, dude! Did you get a custom or a universal?

 

[Decreate]

Awesome, dude! Did you get a custom or a universal?

Universal as 1) I didn't want to wait any longer and 2) with my two previous customs from another company, I've had fit issues and it was always my right ear so I'm guessing my right ear was not built for customs...

 

[Wyville]

I guess it's time to let 'em burn.

Awesome! Great to see the first ones getting out there! Not in the least because it means mine might be coming soon as well...

We would make a pretty good team by the way, I had trouble with my left ear when I had CIEMs.

 

[Decreate]

Awesome! Great to see the first ones getting out there! Not in the least because it means mine might be coming soon as well...


We would make a pretty good team by the way, I had trouble with my left ear when I had CIEMs.

Calvin and Hobbes was one of my favourite comic books back when I was a kid...always wanted a pet tiger back then.

 

[Deezel177]

Universal as 1) I didn't want to wait any longer and 2) with my two previous customs from another company, I've had fit issues and it was always my right ear so I'm guessing my right ear was not built for customs...

Nice! Enjoy the IEMs, we'd love to hear your impressions.

 

[Wyville]

Calvin and Hobbes was one of my favourite comic books back when I was a kid...always wanted a pet tiger back then.

Yeah, Calvin and Hobbes are great. My wife even bought me the complete collectors edition. She says it reads like my biography.

 

[ezekiel77]

Yeah, Calvin and Hobbes are great. My wife even bought me the complete collectors edition. She says it reads like my biography.

I wish I had the transmogrifier around to turn some old IEMs into Phantom and Legend X right now haha.

 

[Wyville]

I wish I had the transmogrifier around to turn some old IEMs into Phantom and Legend X right now haha.

If I remember correctly @Kerouac built one for his kids a while back (best dad ever!), perhaps it still works.

 

[Decreate]

Nice! Enjoy the IEMs, we'd love to hear your impressions.

I'll try to post a bit more on my impressions of these once I get over the new toy syndrome.

 

[Kerouac]

I guess it's time to let 'em burn.

Great! I'm also really looking forward to your Phantom impressions later on

Happy listening!!!

If I remember correctly @Kerouac built one for his kids a while back (best dad ever!), perhaps it still works.

Yeah, you remember correctly! And it came with a 3000 years warranty as well, so I'm not that worried about its functionality.
But you know, my kids are just like (many of) us. Soon after they got the Transmogrifier MKII, they asked when the MKIII would come out