Has anyone here tried an Athena with the Kinki EX-M7, or compared Athena to Kinki EX-P27?
Did this about a month ago. Brought my speakers, power amp and a dac around to the local dealer. I was looking for a preamp.
The dealer had a big and expensive pair of Wilsons. I brought in custom made speakers consisting of a 10 inch constant directivity horn with compression driver for the higher frequencies and a 10 inch driver for mid bass duties. These are high efficiency and flat to 40 Hz.
The main source was a Soundaware D300REF. The main dac was a Terminator Plus with Gaia.
Tried the Athena with the Apollo. Sound was ok, but lacked detail and depth. Recessed and dark.
Took out the Apollo and put in my 6CA7 amp. Sounded much better. Detailed, natural and good soundstage.
Took out my amp and put in an EX-M7. That sounded great. Everything was better. Big and deep soundstage, detailed, dynamic, meat on the bones and great bass. Real "you are there" stuff. Did not know my speakers could do that.
Took out the Athena and put in an EX-P27. Backward step. Not much better that the Athena with the Apollo.
We tried different dacs and speakers, as well as every combination of the two preamps and three power amps mentioned above. The clear and obvious winning combination was the Denafrips Athena with the Kinki Studios EX-M7.
I like the idea of matching equipment. I went in thinking the Athena would go with the Apollo and that the EX-P27 would go with the EX-M7. For me, it did not turn out that way. Hope this helps.
P.S. We listened to lots of different music that day. A big surprise for me was that "Here Comes The Sun" is a great recording. Sounded awesome. Guess you just need the right gear to notice.