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Waterfall is looking good too, you can better see the hot spots in the FR and again I’m not spotting any weird driver movement in the FR. You can also spot the hotter parts in the FR and as you can see bass and treble are standing out the most. If it is plastic sealed when you get it, it should remain plastic sealed. Some types of goods such as CIEMs and custom cables cannot be returned. I now feel I was perhaps too hard on the Zeus in my earlier review. Even though the Poseidon offer much of the same, I find I appreciate them more. I couldn’t distance myself from the flaws of the original Helios, and I got hung up on the thought of paying twice as much for the Zeus, rather than truly judging them on their own merits.
HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite | Headphone Reviews and Discussion HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite | Headphone Reviews and Discussion
The wood paneling on parts of the headband also seems somewhat incongruous, as it doesn’t match the wood on the earcups. HarmonicDyne’s headphones look and sound distinctive, with complex grill designs and warm tunings. Technical Specifications This is a warm sounding headphone. The Zeus is biased towards the left of the frequency scale, away from treble, and weighted in the mid-range and bass regions. We have a slight passive noise isolation, about 5-8 dB, and they don’t leak absolutely everything, so you can listen rather loud without everyone hearing absolutely everything. Everything that’s magic in Zeus Elite is handled by the Daichi CCAW Voice Coil, which is a pairing between a new diaphragm membrane with an ultralight premium voice coil from Japan, making the driver movement lighter, snappier and faster. The magnets are stronger, which helps with the agility of the sound in Zeus Elite. Treble lovers and those looking for extreme precision aren’t likely to find their perfect headphones here. But let’s be honest, those people probably stopped reading at “warm”. The Zeus’ high end has just enough bite to keep things lively without ever sounding glary or harsh. Soundstage
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It is moderately hard to drive the Zeus, and any decent source will do, but they scale greatly with the source, indicating excellent drivers used inside, and good overall attention to the tech inside. At 64 OHMs, they are not sensitive to hiss at all, and at ~100 dB SPL, they will need some serious power to get loud. On Single Ended, I can crank Lotoo Paw 6000 all the way to 100 on high gain, so I can exhaust the maximum available volume and still would want to go higher. Zeus stays calm, like an ancient greek figure and is able to take all that with no distortions. It was unusual seeing Zeus beating the S4X at pretty much any measurements: Zeus driver matching is much better, its THD is lower and its spectral decay is faster. I’ve also recorded a higher ringing of the driver on S4X especially in the bass, that wasn’t present on the Zeus.
HarmonicDyne Zeus 50mm Beryllium Dynamic Driver Linsoul HarmonicDyne Zeus 50mm Beryllium Dynamic Driver
The change of driver material coating has subtly changed things for the better. The Poseidon are both punchier and airier while maintaining that deliciously smooth character delivered by the Zeus. A side-grade perhaps, but in this case, a worthwhile one. And when I connected these headphones for the first time, I immediately noticed that they have an analytical presentation but with a shift towards the bright side, that is, the mid and high frequencies occupy a more dominant position than the bass.If you are wondering why going for the Greek Mythology, it’s really quite simple: Kennerton, Schiit Audio, Nordost and others already embraced the Norse Mythology in full force so it was a logical move going for the Greek Mythology instead. The earpads, also, are functional but not luxurious. The material doesn’t feel very premium, and the foam used is a bit stiff. However, they didn’t create any serious comfort issues, and I can easily use the headphones for a reasonably lengthy period of time. Zeus Elite Sound Taking the pads off is easy and reveals the driver, where the dome seems to be made out of some biomaterial. But I can’t help but think that some parts of the Zeus Elite’s design reflect somewhat poor taste. For example, the top of the headband seems to be a textured plastic emulating vinyl faux leather, which reminds me of the inside of my economy car. These adaptors will allow Zeus to connect to most other devices. However, using adaptors to go from 4.4mm to ¼” makes me worry that the termination might easily snap off due to the extreme length. I wish HermonicDyne just provided a separate connector from 4.4mm to ¼” instead. As a small detour, I find them by a hair more detailed than Ollo S4X (€400), than Erzetich Mania (€1200) and about on the same level detail wise with a Kennerton Magni (€690). Sennheiser HD650 and lower tired headphones like Meze 99 Classics didn’t stand a chance and sounded smoother, muddier, with a layer of information being wiped clean from existence. If detail retrieval is important to you and you want the most transparent sound for your hard-earned money, as of right now there are two options: the Zeus and any of the Hifiman entry-level planars.
HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite Flagship 50mm Suspension Diaphragm HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite Flagship 50mm Suspension Diaphragm
On the other hand, the stainless steel that’s revealed as one adjusts the headband is a nice touch. Comfort The headband feels cheap and doesn’t have much padding. There is a very specific tiny dip exactly in the peak of the upper midrange, so while the whole range is emphasized, the peak itself is kind of inverted. This makes Zeus open and vivid, but non-fatiguing. Smart approach, but it means you will crank the volume as much as possible, since they are really easy on your ears.
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On top of the headband is a leather pad with some foam material. Although it’s not the softest foam, it’s still soft enough to ensure that there won’t be hotspots on top of my head.
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