Denafrips Athena- is damn good

I bet you were drunk at a strip club, met a stripper named Athena, and meant to say she was good :)

@topside3

yes RCA to the Odyssey. The 6 moons review of the Athena’s sound is dead on. Definitely a read if you’re considering.

It’s still my favorite piece of equipment. Elevate it with a DH Labs Corona Cryo power cord.

@gochurchgo I also have Odyssey Kismet monoblocks and am looking at the Athena to pair with them. I currently use a Pass XP-12, but I think it's a bit too detailed sounding. It sounds like the Athena may work well. I'm assuming you went single-ended RCA into your Kismets?

typing between swigs of booze again, i see

everything sounds awesome when intoxicated... 😂

@gochurchgo no worries. Good thing you just posted and didn’t go on a high end audio shopping spree…

@rickysnit it’s 33lbs with a remote that’s a solid block of metal. It’s more than a remote, it’s a weapon. Boxed to ship its 45lbs. My power amp weighs almost 40lbs.

@ozzy62 the 6moons review sold me along with @regismc who was incredibly helpful in his observations. After looking at the Hattor I became convinced that what I wanted was an active, no gain/unity gain set up. The Quicksilver Linestage which was replaced had so much gain the system was never quiet.
The Athena is dead quiet. It’s running single ended into fairly upgraded (and possibly Kismet level future upgraded) Odyssey Khartago. The inputs were a hassle and forced me to upgrade my DAC to a Schiit Modulus (?) balanced DAC. This left the only single ended input free for the Sutherland 20/20 to input.

the volume knob was slightly disappointing in its feel but since I use the remote 99% or the time it’s not a huge deal. I’ve asked Alvin (Vinshine) if there were plans to have the display to turn off but it seems that’s not on the table (it does dim).

as for the sound, Srajen really summed it up by describing it as “analog” and that it trades leading edge definition for body. My QS had a sort of high frequency shimmer on the attack of a sound and the Athena doesn’t. It sounds more realistic vs hyper realistic. The trade off in the attack though means the decay and subsequent sustain of the sound are fuller (using ADSR envelopes as a model).

any questions, let me know.

Drunk posting aside, the Athena is on my short list of next preamps. It shares the top of that list with a fully specced Hattor Audio preamp.

I would like to hear more opinions, either high or sober.

Ah man, I'm a preamp dink too. It's a shame these nice models don't have more fixed level outs. The build quality of the Denifrips looks fantastic and love that Relay Based Stepped Attenuator - maybe they got it right, unlike my Cambridge 840e.

It must have been quite a night...

My extreme apologies to all. It’s been a very rough few months and after imbibing, I let my fingers do the walking. Inappropriate.

I do think the Athena is excellent and a step up from my previous line stage, but this isn’t how I would want to bring that up.

Again, many apologies. I flagged this thread to be deleted.

I read this:  Dina's friend, Athena, is damn good!  I'm in the sink and she's pretty much all I want.  It's great!

Hi, dink!  How are you?

Shite faced dunk?  Maybe.  At least I hope so.  But Athena is a great preamp.  If u can live with a single rca input and lotz of balanced. It’s sounded great with everything I put up or downstream.  She’s a beast compared to her two little sisters, Hestia & Hades…

Probably not the kind of post that's going to generate a lot of respect 😏.

https://www.denafrips.com/athena

I read: This preamp is all I want it to be.  Yes, it's great.

Actually, the brand new Hades also looks very interesting.

@roxy54 I think he may have meant to say “I’m drunk” instead of “Im dink”

I have a Sumo Athena preamp in my collection. Designed by James Bongiorno!

What language is that?