Muse 2 vs Muse S Athena (2026): which Muse should you buy?

TL;DR

• Muse 2: the lower-cost way to start meditating, with real-time EEG feedback during Mind, Heart, Breath and Body sessions.

• Muse S Athena: everything Muse 2 does, plus fNIRS sensing, Strength sessions and overnight sleep experiences in a soft band you can wear to bed.

• Both: the same Muse app, the same 4-channel EEG, and Muse Brain Age, with your first reading free.

• How to choose: Muse 2 for daytime meditation and neurofeedback. Athena if you want Muse for your nights too, or want to explore mental effort sessions.

• Black Friday: the pre-sale starts November 6. Use code BFCM20 for 20% off bundles and 15% off headbands.

Muse is a brain-sensing headband. It reads your brain activity and turns it into real-time feedback, so you can see how your mind responds and train it over time. Our headbands are built around three things: clarity (training focus and calm during sessions), endurance (practising sustained mental effort) and sleep (support and insights through the night).

Muse 2 covers clarity, and Muse S Athena covers all three. Both include Muse Brain Age, Muse’s weekly measure of how old your brain appears against your actual age. So whether you’re buying your first Muse or thinking about an upgrade, the question is which of those you want.

This guide covers what each headband does, who it suits, whether the extras are worth it, and how to make the most of this year’s Black Friday pricing.

Quick pick

Choose Muse 2 if you want to train focus and calm with real-time feedback at the lower price.

Choose Muse S Athena if you want sleep experiences and overnight tracking, or want to try fNIRS-based Strength sessions to train your mental endurance.

What both headbands do

Clarity: train focus and calm

Staying focused is hard when your attention is pulled in every direction. Muse gives you a way to train it. During each session, realtime feedback shows you what your mind and body are doing as it happens, so you can notice when your attention drifts and practise bringing it back. 

• Mind sessions: train your attention. Most people new to meditation wonder whether they’re doing it right. Mind sessions answer that in real time. The soundscape stays quiet when your mind is calm and picks up when it wanders, and birds chirp when you hold a calm state. You can hear yourself drift and practice coming back.

• Heart: feel calm in your body. Hear your heartbeat and watch it respond as you settle. When your mind is racing, it gives you an anchor that’s easier to follow than a thought.

• Breath: a structured reset. Breath sessions guide your pace and respond as you follow along. Use one for a few focused minutes before a meeting, after a long day, or whenever you want to slow down.

• Body sessions: practice stillness. Real-time feedback on how still you are helps you notice fidgeting and restlessness you’d usually miss, so you can settle in.

After each session, you can see how much time you spent calm, neutral and active, so you can watch your practice build from one session to the next.

See the bigger picture with Muse Brain Age

Your daily sessions also feed into Muse Brain Age, a weekly measure of how old your brain appears against your actual age. Your first reading is free on either headband, and weekly readings come with Premium.

What is Muse Brain Age?

Also on both headbands

• Premium content: Enso: your AI coach, Muse Brain Age, Alpha Peak Frequency, Brain Recharge, 500+ guided meditations, and External Audio, which layers real-time feedback over your own audio

• Curated neurofeedback programs

• The same 4-channel EEG layout at 256 Hz

For many people, that covers everything they want from Muse. The differences start once you look beyond clarity, to endurance and sleep.

What only Muse S Athena adds

Muse S Athena keeps everything above and adds the other two pillars: endurance and sleep. If you’d use Muse for more than a daytime session, this is what the upgrade gets you.

Endurance: practice holding mental effort

Focus is hardest when a task is long or demanding. Strength sessions give you a way to practice staying with that effort and see it register as you go. You concentrate on a sustained mental task, and an owl flies toward the horizon on screen as your effort builds.

This is possible because of fNIRS. EEG picks up your brain’s electrical activity. fNIRS uses near-infrared light to track blood flow and oxygenation in your prefrontal cortex, the area at the front of the brain behind your forehead. Together, the two signals give you a fuller picture of what’s happening during a session, and Athena shows brain blood flow live as you train.

Sleep experiences through the night

Most sleep trackers tell you about your night once it’s over. Muse S Athena can also respond while you sleep, in a soft fabric band designed to stay comfortable overnight. 

• Falling asleep: 

• Sleep Assist plays responsive audio with Smart-Fade Technology that adapts and fades as you drift off. Users fall asleep 55% faster when using Sleep Assist.

• Sleep Sounds gives you steady soundscapes if you’d rather keep it simple. 

• During the night

• Deep Sleep Boost plays quiet audio timed to your brain activity during deep sleep. In internal observational analysis, nights with Deep Sleep Boost active showed:

• 18% fewer wake-ups, about one fewer every night

• 21% fewer long awakenings (5+ minutes)

• Increased sleep efficiency, from 86.5% to 89%

• Decreased time awake from 55 minutes to 45 minutes

• If you’d rather have no audio at all, Silent Sleep Tracking simply tracks your night.

• Waking up: 

• Smart Wakeup (Premium) is an EEG-responsive alarm designed to support waking up refreshed. 

• Dream Recall (Premium) wakes you up at REM sleep to help you remember your dream.

• In the morning: overnight insights show how your night went.

Compare Athena to other sleep devices

<long-term perspective>

How accurate is Muse’s sleep tracking?
In a 2025 study published in SLEEP Advances (Lanthier et al.), Muse’s sleep staging agreed with lab polysomnography 88-96% of the time. For context, two expert human scorers looking at the same night typically agree with each other 82-85% of the time.

</long-term perspective>

Side-by-side specs

See full comparison

Who each Muse headband suits

Still deciding? Start with what you want from Muse.

• “I’m new to meditation and want to know I’m doing it right.”
  Muse 2. Instead of guessing, you hear in real time when your mind wanders and when it settles. You can practice coming back to focus and calm from your very first session, at the lower price.

• “I want to see how my brain is doing without spending more.”
  Muse 2. You get the same Muse Brain Age as every other Muse: a read on how old your brain appears against your actual age, with weekly readings on Premium. You also get real-time neurofeedback, plus Premium content when you want to go deeper.

• “My nights matter as much as my days.”
  Muse S Athena. It’s the only Muse that stays with you overnight. Audio adapts as you drift off, Deep Sleep Boost plays during deep sleep, and EEG-based insights are waiting in the morning.

• “I’ve got Muse 2 and I’m ready for more.”
  Muse S Athena. Strength sessions let you practice holding mental effort, sleep experiences carry Muse into your nights, and the soft band is comfortable enough to wear to bed. Your daytime sessions and Muse Brain Age work the same way.

Are Muse S Athena and Muse Premium worth it?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers

If you’ve been weighing up a Muse, holiday pricing starts early this year.

Pre-Black Friday sales start at 11 am Eastern on November 6. Use code BFCM20 for 15% off all Muse headbands and 20% off all bundles. 

The codes don’t cover accessories, extra bands or standalone subscriptions, and they can’t be combined with other codes. 

Every headband comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it at home before you commit.

The bottom line

Choose Muse 2 if you want a focused, lower-cost way to build a meditation practice with real-time feedback. Choose Muse S Athena if you want Muse to cover your nights too, or want to explore fNIRS and Strength sessions. Either way, you get the same core meditation experience and your first Brain Age free.

You’ll also get a 30-day money-back guarantee on all choosemuse.com orders, free shipping in US, Canada, and the EU. HSA/FSA is also eligible through Truemed. Get your Muse today.

[Shop Muse 2] · [Shop Muse S Athena]

Muse Brain Age is a general wellness feature. Muse is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition, including cognitive decline or dementia.

FAQ

Muse 2 vs Muse S Athena: which should I buy?
Choose Muse 2 if you want a daytime meditation practice with real-time EEG feedback at the lower price. Choose Muse S Athena if you also want sleep experiences, overnight tracking, and fNIRS-based Strength sessions. Both use the same Muse app and offer Mind, Heart, Breath and Body sessions.

What’s the difference between Muse 2 and Muse S Athena?
Muse S Athena adds fNIRS sensors, Strength sessions, five sleep experiences, overnight tracking and a soft fabric band. It also has higher-resolution EEG (14-bit vs 12-bit), an upgraded heart-rate sensor and Bluetooth 5.3. Muse 2 covers daytime meditation, focus and relaxation sessions.

Is Muse S Athena worth the extra cost over Muse 2?
It depends on how you plan to use it. If you only want daytime meditation, Muse 2 covers the core experience. If you want sleep experiences, overnight tracking or fNIRS Strength sessions, those are available only on Muse S Athena. Both are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Should I upgrade from Muse 2 to Muse S Athena?
Upgrade if you want sleep experiences, fNIRS Strength sessions or a soft band you can wear overnight. Muse S Athena also has newer EEG and heart-rate sensors and Bluetooth 5.3. If daytime meditation is all you use, your Muse 2 still covers the same Mind, Heart, Breath and Body sessions.

Which Muse headband is best for beginners?
Muse 2 is the simplest starting point for beginners who want to learn meditation with real-time feedback. If you already know you want sleep support or overnight tracking as well, start with Muse S Athena. It includes everything Muse 2 does in the same app.

What is neurofeedback, and which wearable offers it?
Neurofeedback gives you real-time feedback based on your brain activity. In a Muse Mind session, EEG sensors pick up changes in brain activity and the audio shifts in response, so you can hear when your mind settles. Muse 2 and Muse S Athena both offer EEG neurofeedback.

What is fNIRS in a wearable, and do I need it?
fNIRS uses near-infrared light to track blood flow and oxygenation. On Muse S Athena, it tracks blood flow in the prefrontal cortex during Strength sessions. You don’t need fNIRS for meditation, which works on EEG alone. Choose it if you want to explore mental effort sessions.

Best wearable that tracks sleep using EEG
Muse S Athena uses EEG, along with heart-rate and motion sensors, to track your night and power its sleep experiences, including Sleep Assist and Deep Sleep Boost. It’s built as a soft fabric band for overnight wear. Muse 2 doesn’t offer sleep tracking.

Is Muse a medical device?
No. Muse is a consumer wellness device and isn’t intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any medical condition. If you have concerns about your sleep or health, talk to a healthcare professional.