Please let us know your impressions of Athena - I was interested in it before I went with Joule but there were absolutely no owner impressions available at that time.
Didn't have much time to warm this up and stay focused. But what I did hear was very encouraging. This has four 6H30P tubes in a mu-follower configuration. Not the DR supertube but still a tube I have been wanting to hear. I really liked the sound as it was very 3D and the instruments were clearly separated. Also, the dynamics were very impressive - passages that I previously wanted to be more dynamic definitely were with this unit.
On the 3D piece, I could pick out 2 players next to each other in the back and another player in front of them on one track. The soundstage was deeper and wider overall and very enjoyable.
I'm not jumping for joy quite yet as I want to hear another version of the 6SN7 beyond the Mapletree I had here. But overall at first kiss this thing really has got me interested in this tube set as well and I'm trying to be rational and not jump the gun.
Build-wise, this unit is a tank and THEN there is the separate power supply so I coud not imagine how heavy this would get combining them both in one chassis. Some neat features is the variable gain knob on the front to match to your amp (5 steps/choices), and multiple balanced inputs and outputs. There are two sets of SE and XLR outputs.
Oh, almost forgot - I have a sub in the room and turned it off and didn't even miss it. The bass from this thing is very impressive. Midrange is very, very smooth, and the top end is okay but it may be a little harsh and I need to further play this weekend as best I can.
I'm definitely glad I have this to audition and put some data in my head. The best holographic presentation I have heard from my system ever and I didn't realize my HT2's were capable of this.
