Apex is the flagship IEM from an Istanbul based company called Virtus Audio. The design caught my attention on Instagram, and after a short while I contacted them and they kindly agreed to send me a review sample. Many thanks!
The review was not conditioned or influenced in any way, all they did was to provide me with the sample and answer my questions (and like my photos on Insta).
Who is Virtus Audio?
In their own words:
“Virtus is three friends from different technical backgrounds, all of us more than a decade into this hobby before we tried to build anything ourselves. It started from a fairly simple frustration: driver, shell, pressure behaviour and acoustic path tend to get developed as separate problems, and we wanted to design them as one system from the acoustic architecture upward.
With Apex, most of the work went into driver integration, acoustic loading, pressure management, and the relationship between the internal volume and the nozzle architecture. A lot of it was building prototypes, measuring them, and working backward from the ones that behaved. We were after real technical performance without ending up with something tiring to listen to. We don’t think those have to trade against each other.
We’re still a young brand, so we’d rather let the engineering and the finished product establish what Virtus represents. There’ll be more to say as we grow.”
Apex is one of their two IEMs and it retails for 1299USD. It is available as a custom (1499USD) or universal, with many design options, all looking gorgeous.
from https://virtusaudio.com/apex/
Apart from the gorgeous design, Virtus packed the Apex with a lot of acoustic technologies. As follows:
1. Acoustic Architecture & Driver Setup
| Technology | What it is | The Role it Plays |
| Co-Axial Driver Array | A 12mm Crystal-Graphene bass driver and a 7mm pure Beryllium dome tweeter. The tweeter is mounted directly at the acoustic center of the bass driver. | Role: Creates a “point-source” radiation pattern. Instead of lows coming from one driver and highs from another at slightly different times/angles, the entire frequency spectrum (lows, mids, and highs) reaches your eardrum as a single, unified wavefront. This drastically improves phase coherence and spatial imaging. |
| Tubeless Venturi Canal | A cabinet design shaped using fluid dynamics that completely eliminates the standard narrow plastic tubing usually found inside IEMs. | Role: Drops acoustic friction to near zero. Pushing massive low-frequency (bass) energy through tight tubes creates resistance and standing waves. Removing tubes allows the 12mm driver to “breathe,” resulting in unrestricted bass output with incredibly fast, snappy transients |
| Acoustic Tangent Waveguide | A mathematically curved exit path for the sound, rather than standard straight tubes. | Role: Directs sound smoothly into the ear canal to prevent internal reflections and diffraction. This ensures that the upper-mid and high frequencies do not bounce around chaotically, preserving treble clarity and preventing harshness. |
| Helmholtz Resonator | An integrated, precisely tuned air chamber inside the shell. | Role: Acts as a selective physical filter. Instead of using acoustic mesh dampers (which can muffle the “air” in the upper treble), this chamber is tuned to target specific unwanted treble peaks, neutralizing them through phase cancellation (destructive interference). |
2. Internal Equalization & Pressure Management
| Technology | What it is | The Role it Plays |
| In-Ear Pressure Release Port | A pneumatic relief valve venting to the outside. | Role: Equalizes air pressure between the ear canal and the outside room. This stops the uncomfortable “ear-suck” vacuum feeling, preventing pneumatic pressure from stiffening the eardrum. The intended low-frequency response stays intact and the benefit is pressure equalisation and comfort over long sessions. |
| Ventilation Port | The ventilation port sits with the internal driver chamber | Role: Regulates pressure and acoustic compliance around the co-axial assembly, keeping the diaphragms under controlled mechanical conditions and eliminating driver flex. This allows the bass driver to move freely to its maximum excursion (back-and-forth movement) without mechanical strain, ensuring distortion-free sub-bass. |
| Impedance Matching Optimisation | A custom 2-way crossover network utilizing linear impedance technology. | Role: Locks the IEM’s frequency response in place regardless of the source device. Usually, an IEM’s sound signature changes depending on the output impedance of your amplifier or dongle. This tech ensures the Apex sounds identical on a high-power desktop amp and a smartphone dongle. |
| Premium Materials | UP-OCC Copper Litz wiring & Mundorf Silver/Gold M-Solder. | Role: Ensures maximum electrical conductivity, minimal high-frequency signal degradation, and long-term joint durability. |
The package I received is quite simple, a cardboard box, with a Pelican-like plastic case inside, hosting the carrying case, holding the IEMs, cable, a brush and a 3,5 to 6,3mm adapter, and a full set of Divinus Velvet tips. These are some of my preferred tips, so this is a welcome addition. I like the audacity of including both a bigger plastic case, and a small high-quality leather(ette) carrying case.
The cable is one of my few complaints. For a set retailing at 1300 USD, I would have expected a much better-quality cable. Sonically it is ok, but it looks cheap and it feels cheap, making a dissonant note with the rest of the package.
The IEMs are beautifully built, with a magnificent face plate sporting a chrome logo, a body feeling dense enough to give the sensation of quality; a steel nozzle adding further points to the impression of quality and a flush 2 pin port. A single vent located near the two-pin port makes sure there is no driver flex, and no sensation of pressure when wearing them.
Initially, I was puzzled by their mention of a separate “pressure relief valve” since only one port is visible on the shell. When I reached out, Virtus kindly clarified the internal architecture for me:
”…the ventilation port sits with the internal driver chamber and regulates pressure and acoustic compliance around the co-axial assembly, keeping the diaphragms under controlled mechanical conditions and eliminating driver flex.
The in-ear pressure release is a separate structure that equalises static pressure between the ear canal and the outside.”
Sound
Looking at the graph, one might expect a bassy IEM, but the reality is a lot more nuanced than that.
The bass, while being in ample amount, does not bleed into the mids, instead it keeps an authoritative presence, sort of reassuring and stand-off ish. It’s there, it knows its value and is not looking to impress with party tricks.
The extension towards the low frequencies is good, with almost no roll-off. Apex provides a deep, visceral, almost gutural rumble. There is no distortion even on bass heavy tracks. It continues with elevated mid bass, punchy, and decisive slam. What I find interesting is the quality of said bass. Articulation and texture are top notch, and done in a tasteful way, continuing that well-behaved trend of sub bass.
While Virtus claims the Venturi architecture delivers an ‘immediate’ bass decay, my ears tell a different, much more engaging story. By letting the massive 12mm driver move freely without the choke-point of narrow tubes, the Apex actually develops a gorgeous, lingering sustain. Yes, the initial slam is snappy and unrestricted, but the note weight lingers with a natural warmth. It gives up the absolute sheer speed of the Myth in exchange for a highly textured, musical decay that makes acoustic bass and lower-register vocals incredibly rich.
Apex has good note weight, making distorted guitars sound woody and gritty, with good sustain, and, at higher volume, giving an almost tactile sensation.
Lower mids have the same woody and grainy quality, lending male vocals a richness and lush presence that many IEMs lose, in an attempt to maintain a clinical clarity. Growling voices are imbued with a rich body, a chestiness that you can almost feel.
Most instruments are well separated, which is no small feat, considering I have tortured them with pieces ranging from prog masters to symphonies.
They have a pretty standard pinna gain, peaking around 2,8-3KHz, centering vocal overtones cleanly, but with a very fine veil covering the voices, effect more noticeable at lower volume.
There is a slight emphasis of the upper mids, making some of the female vocals pop out more, just like some rogue piano notes. This effect is source dependent, being less evident with more powerful sources. Overall, it favours rough(er) voices, while glossy ones cannot take advantage of its rich texture to the same extent. Not the most suitable for k-pop, where the voices are more glossy.
A slight harshness in the vocal range can sometimes be felt, especially with slow tracks, like, for example, Cecile Verny – the bitter…. the effect is more noticeable at high volume. While the Apex completely lacks high-treble brightness, it can exhibit upper-midrange glare or vocal harshness when pushed to high SPLs.
Sibilance is well controlled, with an aggressive drop towards 6KHz. Only the faintest trace of it can be heard, and only in some well-known offending tracks.
Treble is another success story, for me, with good energy, just a touch less than IE900, for example, but with more impressive note thickness. The space each note occupies is well defined and quite extended in space. The attack may not be the fastest, but once the note reaches the peak, it’s like it plateaus there for a split second, before descending again. The effect is very noticeable with closing hi-hats.
The same rich textures from bass and mids are present here, making them very pleasant for jazz, with all the brushes, gritty trumpets, etc. But also for metal.
There is none of the EST shimmer; instead the note remains vigorous until the end. This may give the impression of less air than EST based concurrence on horizontal plane, but when you consider the space the notes occupy, the distance between them, you realize the air is just right. There is enough space above the cymbals, helped by the tall stage.
Stage and layering
Layering is precise, done in a natural way. It never seems artificial or over-emphasised. The drawback is that Apex is never going to impress with this party trick, like some famous IEMs (Hex, being the best example).
The stage is highly dependent on the tips, and source and to some extent the cables used. The first thing I noticed was height. Tall stage, maybe not like Erebus, but heading in that direction.
The stock cable does a decent job, but once you free them of its restraints, the stage expands a bit, while still lagging behind other options. Not a problem for me, since I’ve always valued a natural imaging and good sound density more than a large, hollow stage. Apex, though, has enough sound density to fill a larger stage.
The depth is decent, with the voices brought forward from the rest of the music, and cymbals, bass, all nicely distinguishable, with a natural breathing space between them. It’s the kind of separation you hear in more expensive options, like the Faith Audio E1000, but in a narrower stage.
Listening at low volume vs high volume
Virtus makes a bold claim, that the listening experience is the same regardless of the volume. During my tests it quickly became obvious that Apex sounds great at low volume. I am in general a low volume listener, so this is great news for me.
Virtus was kind enough to explain this behaviour, as follows:
“Some of our acoustic prototypes held their low end at quiet listening levels and stayed composed/controlled/tight near the top of their range, and some didn’t. We isolated the ones that behaved, worked out why, and built the design around it.
Two separate things turned out to matter. At high output it’s driver behaviour: distortion rises with excursion, and the co-axial assembly we settled on stays clean closer to its limits than the alternatives we tried. At low levels it’s the acoustic system rather than the driver: seal consistency, since a leak acts as a high-pass and takes the sub-bass with it, and static pressure between the nozzle and the eardrum. A tensioned eardrum perceives less bass and fatigues faster, so the pressure release port is there to stop that building up.”
Upon increasing the volume, the Apex keeps its composure, with a slight increase in harshness over a threshold that is anyway above my comfortable listening level. In normal use, I would only reach this elevated level when commuting with them, as the public transport can be quite noisy. The passive insulation is so good that sometimes is hard to believe there is no ANC.
Sources and cables
Source pairing was fairly easy, Apex playing nice with everything, from the Hidizs AP80 Pro Max to the mighty Audma Brioso. My preferred source, by a huge margin, was the Cayin N8 III, expanding the stage, while maintaining the sound density elevated. Also, the treble received a shot of caffeine, maintaining the full body, but adding a bit sharpness to the note edge.
A special mention goes to the iFi Go Pod Air, allowing me to use Apex as a TWS. The sound provided was surprisingly muscular, properly extended in both lows and highs and never feeling underpowered.
With a relatively simple setup, 2 coaxial DDs, the influences of cables is maybe less obvious than with quad/multi-brids. However, it is not negligible.
Flash Acoustics Blaze brought the sub bass slightly down, while enlarging the stage and unveiling the voices. A more mids forward presentation and one I really liked.
Nightcraft Audio Vesper 8W enhanced the stage width and added a nice shimmery bite to treble. While the bass was more controlled, it remained overwhelming under certain circumstances.
Plus Sound Copper XL added a nice shimmer to the treble, but it also deepened their natural V shaped response.
Effect Dionysus I brings the bass down, and the treble up, but makes everything sound more claustrophobic and muffled. At the same time, note weight is diminished. Not the best trade.
Eletech Eclipse brought a fuller, more expansive sound, added a touch of vocal clarity, it softened the V and made the cymbals more incisive. All this, combined with good ergonomics, made it my favourite choice.
Comparisons
Vs Unique Melody Maven 2
Maven 2 is, without a doubt, a lot more holographic and it has a more precise contour of each note from mid bass to treble. This comes at the expense of sound density and low frequency force. Is not that Maven 2 lacks sub bass, but as it has to fill more space, it is almost as if it gets dissipated in the large stage. The end effect is a more cinematic presentation, with elements having significantly more air between them, with more details perceived in upper mids and treble, but a thinner sound.
Apex has a much meatier sound, darker and warmer, closing in, as opposed to the outgoing sound of Maven 2. For vocal-centric genres, Maven 2 might sound a bit more natural, the voices have a more natural, easiness to them, while for bass-heavy, instrumental-centric music, Apex has an advantage, with his seductive, lush low end.
Vs Myth
Myth sounds more open, with the bass being a bit faster, at least in the decay, leading to a drier sound. The most striking difference is the highs tonality, with Myth having a more metallic and closed-in timbre, as if the cymbals are slightly choked. The bass is fast, more localised, agile, but like a cat not venturing too far from the house. Bass guitar articulation is pushed back, in the stage, everything is lined up behind the voice.
Apex impresses with its unapologetic bass and more natural treble tones. Lower mids sound more detailed, thanks to that graininess, but the voices lack a touch of clarity, compared to Myth.
Vs NGAudio Erebus
I have chosen Erebus because it has a rather peculiar stage, tall, deep, but quite narrow. Erebus presents voices with more clarity, has more articulation in mid bass and less granularity than Apex. It does sound larger, warmer and, despite the 8 ESTs, a touch darker. The treble does carry more details, but the placement is rather conservative, so there is no real advantage in terms of highs energy, other than some extra air. Voices are a bit mellower on Erebus.
It is amazing how close Apex gets to the 5K Erebus. Yes, there is significantly less air between instruments and Apex seems more raw, but in most cases, the listening pleasure is similar.
Some Songs
The Book of Boba Fett – Strong bass presence that still allows some woodiness in the strings, in the beginning, with nice warm voices and strong impact of the percussion. The only niggle is the slightly restriction by the stage. I am used to this song being more cinematic, but the enjoyment is not lessened in any way.
Maven 2 has clearly less bass reach, the extension taking a big step down. It does have a slightly longer decay, which can only be heard at some points, but it offers a much larger space for the music to manifest. The percussion has less impact and overall Maven 2 sounds a bit softer on this track.
Myth has a deeper extension than Maven 2, but its bass seems to have faster decay, than both Maven 2 and Apex. The impact of the percussion is also somewhere in the middle, clearly higher than Maven 2’s, but still softer than the Apex.
Verdict: Maven 2 is the most cinematic, Apex the most engaging. All three are good matches.
Eminem – Houdini
Apex has the voice a bit more distant than the other two, but clearly separated from the background and very easy to understand. This is interesting, as the voice does not have the same outstanding clarity of the other two, but with better relief from the background and less clutter from other frequencies, it shines here. The extra warmth and slower decay make the experience more enjoyable for me.
Myth is the one to beat here, with large, fast bass and clear voice, while the treble, is present, but not intruding. The tightness of the bass works really well here.
Maven 2 is more open, a tad brighter, but also more prone to cause problems with its low treble/upper mids aggressive energy. The voice is clear but a slight overlap with the combo of snare and cymbals makes it less easy to understand.
Verdict: Apex emerges as the favourite, while Maven 2, tuned with cables and tips to enhance treble pays a steep price, coming in third. Myth is more than capable, once more highlighting why it is considered the best IEM in its segment.
Eleni Mandell – Burma Shave
This is an impressive vocal performance, framed in a very simple acoustic space. Apex shines with a well textured voice. All the elements are perfectly dosaged and the trumpet at the end add a touch of contrast, like a falling star on the dark sky.
Maven 2 adds a sparkle of magic, the voice flowing more effortlessly, more feminine and more lively. The texture is also better kept in check and the slightly more intimate voice, contrasting with the spacious guitar is guaranteed to give me goosebumps every time.
Myth puts up a correct performance, with a good mixture of musicality and details, if a bit dry. The least textured of the bunch, it has just enough to not feel overly glossy. The guitar is missing that bit of vibrancy Maven 2 has.
Verdict: Maven 2 is the most emotional and vibrant presentation here, an easy win for one of my most loved IEMs. Apex comes second with too much texture for my taste, while Myth is virtually equally adequate, just with not enough texture.
Altin Gün – Öldürme Beni
Maven 2 sounds open, slightly bright in the beginning, with plenty of sparkle in the upper mids, and a relatively modest sub bass. In a signature move, mid bass is nicely articulated, acting as one of the anchors.
Myth has more sub bass, a more V profile, with more cavernous bass than Maven 2, less brightness, narrower stage and the voice placed a bit closer. The bass is just a touch overwhelming, especially in the absence of that bright(er) treble of Maven 2.
Apex strikes gold here, with its warmer touch, and good spatial depth. Its darker tint matches well the bright prog song, in particular by comparison with the dryer Myth. Bass is more impactful, with the bass guitar less highlighted than Maven 2. There is no brightness whatsoever, no matter how much the volume goes up.
Verdict: Despite Maven’s more refined sound, Apex takes the first spot here, thanks to its great engagement factor.
Amon Amarth – Find a way or make one
I could have chosen any of their songs, but this one has a lot of elements to look for. The scratchy guitar tone is unequalled. Bass guitar is well presented, easy to follow, but not stealing the spotlight. Impactful drums and the spite gargling voice complete the “dirty” metal image. Yes, cymbals could have used more energy, although the ride bells sound surprisingly crystalline at the 3 min mark.
Myth sound clean and technical, more open and slightly brighter. However, the gritiness is reduced compared to Apex, and the overall sound a bit dryer. The imaging is more intricate, and the treble is only a smidge more intense. However, the timbre is more accurate for Apex.
Maven 2 is the undisputed king of this fight, with medium grit, but wide open space, more details than the other two in almost any part of the spectrum, but the lower mids. The voice is close, sparkly, the bells are loud, the timbre is accurate.
Verdict: Apex does not dethrone my long-standing heartwarming IEM (Maven 2), but it comes close. It does make me question the utility of Myth in the current climate…
Sting- It’s probably me
Cinematic presentation from Maven 2, with nice little echoes of the lighter in the beginning, but also the bass guitar. The voice is textured just enough, full of emotion and placed close to the listener. Nice spatialisation of the sound effects throughout the song.
Apex has a closed-in presentation with the voice carrying a bit more texture, sounding a bit more natural from this point of view. A faint trace of sharpness is present in the S sounds, but nothing serious. Both the guitar and sax carry a more lively sound than Maven 2. Less vibrant echoes, but the imaging remains very good.
Myth has the advantage of the larger stage, with the bass covering more ground, thus seemingly more ample than Apex, while at the same time dryer. The voice is less textured than both Maven 2 and Apex, and the treble has the perfect amount of energy and clarity. It does give the impression of a colder presentation, with its colder lower frequencies and its more metallic timbre in the highs.
Verdict: Maven 2 and Apex share the top spot, leaving Myth behind.
Closing words
Apex is a surprising IEM in the current landscape. Rather than taking part in the audio version of the “pixels war” – the driver-count arm race, Virtus opted for a simple setup, with two coaxial dynamic drivers. Coaxial drivers is, of course, nothing new, even some of the over ear headphones have them (Noble Apollo). In order to reduce parasitic high frequencies, Virtus built in a Helmholtz resonator – a technique we have seen in the Sennheiser IE900 and IE600. The end result? An IEM that is not afraid to get dirty, playing music with a richness of textures that makes owning an L&P DAP less of a priority. Even the notoriously lean-mids AK SP3000 produces a respectable growl with Apex. Its bassy nature does not render it unusable for any genre, as it is quite responsive to tips rolling and that bass can be tamed with ease, should one wish to do so.
There aren’t many competitors to Apex. Apart from the Maven 2 and Myth, there is the TXN Diamond, a Ti shell, single DD, neutral bright IEM, at a higher price. From memory, Diamond has a larger stage, more energy and details in treble, but it has less richness in lower mids and mid bass. The choice between them eventually comes down to bass vs treble.
Those wanting the largest possible stage might be disappointed. However, metal heads might have just found the ultimate tool for extracting the last bit of chug out of those distorted guitars. With fast attack and natural decay, Apex has one of the best presentations for this genre. Be it Pantera, Behemoth or Death, the guitars sound meaty, gritty and menacing, while the cymbals have enough energy to act as a counterbalance. That’s not to say Apex cannot handle other genres, EDM takes benefit of the forceful bass, just like rap.
In the end, Apex is a natural sounding set, coherent and comfortable, musical, yet detailed. Well done, Virtus Audio!
