First off, I apologize if you've asked this question before and I've already answered it - there aren't many folks that have heard this unit and I've been feeling a need to spread the love.
Love it; best preamp I've owned by far. The original Hera was a significant, not subtle-at-all, humongous upgrade over the 99 Magnum it replaced. Recently had it upgraded to II status for some nice incremental improvements in sound quality (not night and day, but nice). One thing though - the gain of the II is MUCH higher; I'd estimate 25dB or so of max gain now? For some systems that will be a lot of gain to deal with, for others it will be a godsend. My system ended up with a bit of gain to spare (before, I had JUST enough gain). Oh, mine also has the original stepped attenuator. The new TKD pot is supposedly very good, but I always trust a stepper for sound quality.
Haven't owned anything else in that price range (I stretched a bit out of my range since a great deal came up), but I have owned a BAT Vk5i, PS Audio PCA-2, and Eddie Current Zana Deux in years past. Was not a fan of the first 2; the ZD was very very nice but not magic.
Sound is super clean and linear, not bright and not warm. Anyways, I've been rolling vintage 12AX7 and 12BH7 into amp & phono stage to dial in the desired system balance - don't need to mess with the preamp when it sounds like this. Awesome dynamics, soundstage, and imaging. I've auditioned the Athena and sonically it reminds me a lot of the Hera, but I'd have to hear it in my own system to make a call as to which might be the better buy.
I run all Rogue electronics by now (Ares, Hera II, Apollo), so it's no surprise they work well together. I've definitely benefitted a lot from tube-rolling the Ares & Apollos, though...and still playing around with that.
Love it; best preamp I've owned by far. The original Hera was a significant, not subtle-at-all, humongous upgrade over the 99 Magnum it replaced. Recently had it upgraded to II status for some nice incremental improvements in sound quality (not night and day, but nice). One thing though - the gain of the II is MUCH higher; I'd estimate 25dB or so of max gain now? For some systems that will be a lot of gain to deal with, for others it will be a godsend. My system ended up with a bit of gain to spare (before, I had JUST enough gain). Oh, mine also has the original stepped attenuator. The new TKD pot is supposedly very good, but I always trust a stepper for sound quality.
Haven't owned anything else in that price range (I stretched a bit out of my range since a great deal came up), but I have owned a BAT Vk5i, PS Audio PCA-2, and Eddie Current Zana Deux in years past. Was not a fan of the first 2; the ZD was very very nice but not magic.
Sound is super clean and linear, not bright and not warm. Anyways, I've been rolling vintage 12AX7 and 12BH7 into amp & phono stage to dial in the desired system balance - don't need to mess with the preamp when it sounds like this. Awesome dynamics, soundstage, and imaging. I've auditioned the Athena and sonically it reminds me a lot of the Hera, but I'd have to hear it in my own system to make a call as to which might be the better buy.
I run all Rogue electronics by now (Ares, Hera II, Apollo), so it's no surprise they work well together. I've definitely benefitted a lot from tube-rolling the Ares & Apollos, though...and still playing around with that.