HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite's Review

 

General/Build/Comfort/Packaging

HarmonicDyne is a brand where it needs no introduction within the audiophile community. They have various products under their portfolio and i have the Zeus Elite with me today, which is one of the recent releases from the brand. It is dynamic driver headphone which sports quite a big dynamic driver which supposedly will help with the sonic performance.

Build quality is very solid overall, the headband provides sufficient cushioning for my head, earpads are rather soft and comfortable for long sessions. 

The packaging for Zeus Elite is rather unique as it is my first time seeing headphones packaged in such a manner. The Zeus Elite is stored in a briefcase like storage case, within the case, you will find two high quality dual 3.5mm cable, one is terminated to 4.4, and another is XLR, which is not an issue for me as i will be using balanced 4.4 most of the time, those who are using single ended might have to source for 3rd party cable.

Gears used for this review

• Earmen Tradutto -> Earmen CH-Amp

• Earmen Colibri

• Colorfly CDA-M1P

• Hiby R6 II

• HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite Stock cable 4.4

Foreword

My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far

Sound Impression

Being an open backed headphone, the Zeus Elite is quite open sounding and has a fairly good soundstage in terms of width, height, and depth perception. Tonality wise, Zeus Elite is slightly warm with good enough treble performance. 

Bass

• Sub bass is slightly rolled off but it still has some rumble when the track calls for it

• Mid bass has some slight emphasis here and the bass is very punchy and has good body to it

• The speed is good, listening to Metallica’s Lux Aeterna, Slipknot’s People=Shit!, during the speed drumming session, the bass doesn’t sound bloated, it also doesn’t bleed into the mids

Mids

• The mids are somewhat lacking in terms of resolution, yet it is not overly recessed nor very in your face

• Vocal for both male and females has good enough textures to them, they both sounded very full and not dull at all

• Upper mids are generally safe to my ears and not certainly not shouty

• Details in this range are good enough for the asking price

Treble

• The treble has enough energy yet it is smooth at the same time, certainly not dark

• Detail retrieval is quite good, micro details can be picked up easily

• The treble performance is safe overall, never sibilant nor has any weird peaks

Soundstage/Imaging

• Soundstage is quite good, it has that out of your head experience, depth and height perception is quite good, not exceptional, but not bad either

• Instruments can be picked up easily where it is coming from

• Good layering and separation

Driveability

• Zeus Elite is very easy to drive,doesn’t require a lot of power to perform at its best, but it does scale well with sources and amplification, when fed with more power, bass seems to sound tighter and exhibited better control

• Dongles released recently will power the Zeus Elite just fine, but not to its maximum performance

Comparison (Sundara)

• Sundara sounds more technical compared to Zeus Elite

• Neutral bright in terms of tuning

• A lot harder to drive and demands more power in order to perform at its best

• Bass is tighter and has better speed

• Mid range is very detailed

• A little bit more energy on the treble

• Soundstage is slightly narrower

• Build quality is rather cheap compared to Zeus Elite

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Zeus Elite is quite a well performing headphone, with good enough technicalities for the asking price, and a smooth frequency range which doesn’t have any spikes on the top end makes for a good laid back listening session. I’m definitely recommending this if you are not looking for a critical listening session, else you might have to look for some other options available in the market.

*EDIT:
At the sale price of 322.15$ currently, instead of the usual 379$

*The HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite was sent over by Linsoul for the purpose of this review, I received no monetary compensation nor was I influenced in any way to produce this review.

If you are interested in getting a pair, head over to their official store to grab one now! It is currently available for 322.15$ sale price instead of the usual 379$

HarmonicDyne Zeus Elite - Non affiliated