Remiam7
500+ Head-Fier
Zeus is transparent and incredibly detailed and holographic. It places you inside the music and everything is amazingly clear. There were complaints of lack of bass, but it has tons of bass when the track does. If it doesn't, you hear what the track is supposed to sound like. It has a lot of upper mids and upper end, you can hear every tick of percussion and every guitar string clearly. Vocals are amazingly clean and clear. It treats all areas of the sound equally well, none seems to be overwhelming any other. With 14 drivers per side, it is like each of them delivers what it needs to, opening and closing doors as it goes, in complete sync. It has a wide soundstage, especially with an Ares ll 8-wire. I listen to 60's and 70's rock, some jazz, a slight bit of orchestra behind those two genres. It's incredible with acoustic rock/folk. My music does not have or depend on sub bass.
The Phantom has wonderful bass and a very strong midrange, full of timbre. You can hear every bit of every instrument in the mids. You can hear and feel the vibration of guitars and guitar strings, drum strikes, and piano keys being hammered. I found it hard to hear as much upper treble as I would like, and felt that vocals were a bit thicker sounding than other IEM's I have owned. I did not find it transparent or detailed like the Zeus. Some folks have felt the sound is somewhat veiled. A lot of folks that listen to EDM and classical seem thrilled by it. I sold mine after a few months.
I tried a Legend for about a minute at CanJam last year, definitely not my cup of tea. Way too thick sounding for me. I hear the word smooth used a lot. Someone here posted that the treble was too shrill for him. I can't imagine, as I really couldn't hear it. Lots of bass. LOTs of bass. I'll let other fill in the blanks.
Since you have the Phantom, imagine it with a bit less emphasis in the low end, much cleaner in the mids but with less timbre, more natural vocals, and a wide open space of upper mids and treble stretching out to the horizon. The Zeus is much more transparent and detailed. I really wanted to like ithe Phantom, but for about 95% of what I listen to it didn't please me.
I didn't want to buy a Zeus sight unheard (sorry) and when Jack couldn't make CanJam two years ago because of airline/airport issues, I thought I was done with it. But I kept reading reviews and everything I read convinced me it was the sound signature I wanted. So I bought it. And now I have two of them. Put it this way - if the Phantom and the Legend are too warm for you, the Zeus would probably fit your purposes. It's like swimming in crystal clear water.
Sorry- You order it by asking Devon for it and she'll walk you through the process.
Also want to thank you for this detailed description. Have the FA S8F and absolutely love it. But am looking for something from EE for home use only. Was leaning towards the Phantom, but no longer from what you’ve stated. Think the Zeus would be the perfect choice as I also primarily listen to 60’s and 70’s rock plus metal. And what I enjoy about my S8F is the detail retrieval.
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