You're quickly becoming my "Go to" guy for honest and discerning reviews; I left the hype train when Zeos did that review which you addressed. Everything you said about the Athena also vibes with other honest reviewers who didn't know how to put it the way you do. Seconding another's question, would you recommend Athena or 6xx for atmospheric gaming? Detail and natural counds with good imaging is the goal. (closed a nice bonus) Thanks and keep up the great work!

I like that you point out what we might want to expect at a given price point- what we mostly will get at a given price point, in our current markets. I also like that you separate build strengths, as opposed to sound strengths.. I happen to like the much disparaged Audioquest nighthawks, which- technically fall short by general consent , and absolutely by those who know. However, I love them for the bits I love, and as a proposition on the used market. Your discerments are helpful.

Ghosts are one of my daily drivers for last 5 months. The build, like the Sennheisers, is more robust than meets the eye--and they're very comfortable. I use them with a balanced copper cable out of my Jotenheim2 on low gain. It's an easy listen and somehow I don't feel like I'm missing anything. The bass has nice textures and the mids and treble are well articulated with no harshness. Some have called it "nothing special" and some have called it "boring". I think it's shocking how good they sound for this money even stock. The timber is very, very, good also The driver has some serious engineering behind it. Very good review. Athenas might be my next purchase.

Amazon has the Ghost for $87 I ordered mine got to hear them for myself, I also ordered the pads that zio's from z reviews recommended for these they were $11 on Amazon also fingers crossed

I received my Ghost today! Its comfy and light, but was lacking a bit in bass, so I added about 4 db at 60hz and 100hz. Considering the price, I find these quite pleasing and well worth the 130!

You know I love seeing that pad-rolling section 😍. But there's only so much pads can do, you're 100% correct on what to expect from pad-rolling. Comfort first, sound adjustment second, and it's only broad strokes at that point. I think when you hit prices like 5, 6, 700 USD, we should be lobbying for more stock pad options from manufacturers. More people should get to experience the benefits and limits of pad-rolling without spending more money.

I sold my hd560s and bought the Athena’s a couple of months back. The comfort combined with the warm detailed sound was what made me keep the Athena’s. Now I’m looking very closely at the Zeus Elites since I enjoy the Athena’s so much

I am glad I came across your channel. I was mostly sold on the ghost but for $50 more the Athena sounds more like one I would be satisfied.

iMO linsoul has been a great partner for the channel. A good variety of headphones and iems at varying price points. Helps keep the channel content fresh

The HE400se is phenomenal when just slightly modded. Ghost also can be improved with some mods.

Any thought comparing Athena and DT-770? Thank you for your work! Curious to see other blind test with headphones...

Interesting bit about burn in for some headphones, I recently bought a pair of HE560 V4’s and initially I was a bit put off by how shouty they came off, but I gave them a chance, got the grill mod, and a decent cable, and some time and now I absolutely love them and the bass is a bit more present. Granted it could be mental burn in 😂 who knows

great recommendations! might add to the list when i start earning more hahaha

Thank you very much!

For budget open back the drop X4 and Hi-Fiman 400 are very similar and both kick arse for the price and with EQ they really kick arse.

DCA closed cans have great stage ✌😎👍 good advice & review, thank you

I do not think for a second that the Ghosts are a technically great pair of headphones. I have owned the 400's and they are fine, but I ultimately sold them. Between comfort and all day listenability I would go with the Ghosts. The Ghosts have enough detail to make you not think you are listening through a sock, but they hide the warts in source material. If you want a pair of 8 hour a day work headphones, put the Ghosts on your list. If you are looking for a reference pair of headphones for focused listening sessions, pick something else. Different horses for different courses. I have many pairs of headphones, some are very high end, and I regularly grab the Ghosts when I am working, they present music well, don't create fatigue and breathe enough to keep my ears from getting sweaty. Also the stock tune with some thicker pads is good to go, no need to EQ (I eq almost everything).

Thanks a bunch, Nicely put together. Need a bit of a suggestion, What do you think pairs well with DT 900 Pro X in terms of Dac/Amp. Here are some options I've considered. 1.) Xduoo Link V2 2.) Shanling UA1s 3.) Fiio KA2 4.) Tempotec Sonata HD Pro 5.) Ifi Audio - Go link 6.) Creative Sound Blaster - G3 Did watch some of yours reviews regarding these, although much helpful I still couldn't make up my mind. I would much more emphasize upon the Sound and loudness as opposed to flashy features. Eager to hear from you. Cheers again.

Just bought the ghost for literally 50 as linsoul is having a sale rn this is going to be literally my first Proper headphones and first experience on openbacks

great review man, you finally found a over-ear headphone you can actually power with Sony N306 walkmann 💀💀(1.1mW max output on 32Ohms, $350 💀💀)

Great review! I was wondering however, how the Athena’s stack up against the BEYERDYNAMIC Dt 900 pro X, as they seem both semi closed/semi open headphones around the same price range. Cheers.

My money's still on the Sennheiser HD600 or HiFiMan Sundara, below $500 even for hundreds more, and I don't need or want anything better. Chinese are getting better slowly but it still seems like a crap shoot to me. I had gone through the same thing with IEMs. You could have good performance for the price, but face poor build like the early HiFiMans.

What will be better choise - HE400SE (or even Sundara) or Athena as 1st headphones?

Can you please review Ananda Nano and compare it with similar level headphone, including meze 109 pro especially? Thanks!

Great review! Would you consider the Zeus Elite a substantial upgrade to the Athena or not so much considering how much more they cost? Thanks.

I wonder how the Ghost would compare with a Sennheiser HD 599SE

"Brainwavz angled oval hybrids" are great with Ghost. Stock Ghost is meh, but with these pads the Ghost has replaced my 6XX as daily driver.

Do you still have the Meze 99 neo if you're suggesting up to $500 closed recommendation.

With linsoul discount rn it's at 49 bucks would u say the price difference is still worth it?

Great to see you finally featured these two pairs on your channel! I know the comparison might be a little weird, but would you recommend the Athena over the 58X or 6XX? I can get any of the three at a quite similar price, so I'd like to know which pair suits me better, specially since they'd be my second pair of headphones. I love details in music, but I'm more into detailed bass without being too bassy (Etymotic - ER2XR / Tripowin x HBB - Olina SE as reference). I know they're semi-open vs open but maybe you can help me. Which one you would choose?

Hi passion need your helps asap. I have bitfrost 2 connected to jotuneim 2 , how do I connect my android mobile phone to bitfrost 2 ? My phone has all my streaming music apps..this is weird can't find where to connect.

As i see we can call the Athena a minimum semi-open headphone,not a closedback!

Just giving a warning about the Athena. Both my co-worker and I have that headphone and both of ours have a poor connection to the left ear-cup, regardless of which cable we use it happens all the time. I contacted Linsoul and in order to replace them I would have to pay for shipping, plus $30 USD for customs clearance, so the RMA was not worth it. There may be some production line issues that HarmonicDyne is not aware of because it seems very unlikely that both of us would have the exact same problem if this wasn't the case. That being said, thank you for your review!

Why would they send you anything in the future if you give a negative review? Links to negative reviews?

Followed z reviews a while and one thing I came to learn quick is he hypes up many products. I dare to even call them "reviews" on his channel. You can go through an entire long video and still not know how a product he is talking about sounds. Plus not buying into the hype and flavour of the month products that never seem to end is better for the wallet and not having a collection of gear you won't use. I only watch his channel for entertainment. I view your channel as a more professional, no nonsense review not full of hype unless the product is justified. Rare on yoir channel. I watch and read many reviews to get a feeling if it's what I'm looking for. Sometimes reading and watching all these reviews many times leads to not purchasing a piece of new gear. One thing I will say is z has a crap ton of pads in his collection and doesn't hesitate to pull any out and try. Even $$$ pairs. I don't want to buy a product new to have to tweak the sound. Only if it was recommended by the manufacturer would I do that. Thanks for adding some perspective and slowing down the hype train and finding a nice budget headset to recommend!

I was underwhelmed by the Theo Audio Ghost. I find the Ghost to be poor value because is does not perform. It lacks detail and bass.

Or else get an akg 371. One of the best closed back headphones for it's price

The lesson here in this video is, if you spend $50 more you will get a better headphone. So why stop at the Athena’s keep going if you spend $50 more then the athenas you’ll get even better headphones it just $50 more 😂

Every headphone benefits from burn in. You should always do at least 200 hrs of burn in minimum 150 and sometimes even say more. I always burn in my new headphones for days without stopping just playing all the right burn in tracks.There is a big difference whoever tells you bs that it's placebo is full of shit. One day after burning in my 560s I just started doing normal stuff hearing music,playing games and I swear my 560s the bass just switched and sounded way superior it literally sounded like someone hit a switch and switched the headphones to superior mode it was the most profound change in sound I ever heard from any headphone I ever burned in it was nuts when I experienced in real time my headphone going through the second burn in stage.

100% no hifiman is worth buying don't care how good they sound those shitty headphones break so easily. Hundreds of people have the same experience. I took care of mine treated like gold shit fell apart in ways you would even believe. I won't trust that shitty company never again. I learned my lesson especially when many are saying the same.