[Monsterzero]

@ray-dude
Did you have any issues with upgraded cable? It doesnt give me a tight connection to my Gilmore Lite Mk 2,making it sound horrid.

 

[ray-dude]

@ray-dude
Did you have any issues with upgraded cable? It doesnt give me a tight connection to my Gilmore Lite Mk 2,making it sound horrid.

I did not have any issues with my Chord Dave. Solid connection

 

[Monsterzero]

I did not have any issues with my Chord Dave. Solid connection

Cool. Im using my ZMF 2K cable with it,def an improvement over stock cable.

 

[Boogie7910]

I can't believe the amount of improvement with an upgrade cable with these cans. I dare say it's a 40-50% improvement.

 

[singleended5863]

Sorry! I got lost in this thread and have a dumb question that what connection does this headphone have since I only use balanced cable on my Mini Dynalo amp.

 

[Monsterzero]

Sorry! I got lost in this thread and have a dumb question that what connection does this headphone have since I only use balanced cable on my Mini Dynalo amp.

Odd,since your usename is "singleended" cuz thats what comes with the loaner-2 different single ended cables.

 

[Monsterzero]

My week with the Empyrean is up and its boxed up and ready to go out to the next participant later today.
I enjoyed my week with the Empyrean. I feel that its an excellent sounding headphone with the speed,comfort and 3D staging being its strongest points. That being said I also felt the sub bass extension couldve been better with both pad options rolled in.
I currently own the ZMF Verite pheasantwood and to my ears these two flagship headphones sound remarkably similar,with the cloth pads giving the Empyrean a more unique alternative to the Verite.
Rather than type up a lengthy review I will share my video review of the Empyrean that I made last night. In it I discuss the Empyrean,its strong and weak points,amping options and its similarity to the Verite.

All in all the Empyrean is a very fine sounding headphone and would recommend it to anyone in the market for a TOTL open backed planar headphone.

I'd like to thank Todd once again for the chance to participate in this loaner tour. These tours are invaluable to the Head-Fi community.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

My week with the Empyrean is up and its boxed up and ready to go out to the next participant later today.
I enjoyed my week with the Empyrean. I feel that its an excellent sounding headphone with the speed,comfort and 3D staging being its strongest points. That being said I also felt the sub bass extension couldve been better with both pad options rolled in.
I currently own the ZMF Verite pheasantwood and to my ears these two flagship headphones sound remarkably similar,with the cloth pads giving the Empyrean a more unique alternative to the Verite.
Rather than type up a lengthy review I will share my video review of the Empyrean that I made last night. In it I discuss the Empyrean,its strong and weak points,amping options and its similarity to the Verite.

All in all the Empyrean is a very fine sounding headphone and would recommend it to anyone in the market for a TOTL open backed planar headphone.

I'd like to thank Todd once again for the chance to participate in this loaner tour. These tours are invaluable to the Head-Fi community.

Nice video! price is subjective because they easily keep up with headphones costing like $4k. I had the Focal Clear and they were $1500 and these are way better than those cans. So, I don't think they should be that cheap, especially with that build and what it comes with. My opinion.

 

[Monsterzero]

Yeah def subjective. I dont have any other high dollar headphones on hand to do a credible a/b with,so the $2400.00 Verite was the benchmark.
I think you will be quite pleased when you receive them!

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

Yeah def subjective. I dont have any other high dollar headphones on hand to do a credible a/b with,so the $2400.00 Verite was the benchmark.
I think you will be quite pleased when you receive them!

I think they should be with me in a few weeks. I am 5th in line.

 

[Desmohifi]

Its been 3 weeks since the last review. Any status on who has these now and when more reviews are coming?

 

[Todd]

There should be a couple of reviews showing up any day now... the headphones are with
Thenewguy007 and heading sometime this week to PeteSTRADAMUS. I look forward to the reviews to

Todd

 

[Thenewguy007]

I posted my review on the Empyrean thread as well, but here is my short review of the Meze Empyrean that I had on loan.

I had this for a week & this is one of the best headphones I've had & been through quite a few TOTL headphones.
The sound signature is super wide, thick & full, but also ultra clean & transparent with a focus on midrange. The closest comparison I can think of is the Hifiman HE1000 that I used to own. Both headphones had a pleasing neutral sound that sounded large, wide & full. While I wouldn't strictly classify them as warm, as they do not sound dark like the Audeze headphones, but you definitely won't mistake them for a HD800.

The Empyrean is clearly superior in midrange, as the HE1000 had a slight recessed diffused midrange, while the Empyrean's mids are up front & center. Another criticism I had of the HE1000 was the transients were slightly soft & it lacked some excitement in some more high energy songs, while the Empyrean kicks hard.
With the HD800, the mids sound overtly thin & makes the music sound unnatural.

The bass is just like the mids, super full & can make music seem much more realized compared to a thinner sounding headphone like the HD800. This really helps with creating a holographic image. It doesn't rumble as much as a Fostex TH900, even with the bass pads, but I felt it was still superior to what I've heard on the HE1000 & vastly superior to the HD800.

Treble is also super clean with no sibilance or grain that I've heard. This is definitely not a treble tipped or bright headphone, but the transparency of a TOTL headphone is all here & most importantly is does not sound closed in, dark & having the details glossed over like with the Audeze LCD2. If I had to give it a negative, when compared to the HD800, I felt the HD800 layered the details a little better.

Comparing the two from my memory of the HE1000, the HE100 had a smaller soundstage (I A/B tested it with the Sennheiser HD800 & the HE1000 was wide, but noticeable not as wide). While testing the Empyrean with the HD800, I felt this is the closest I've heard a headphone to equaling the Sennheiser HD800. I did A/B tests & genuinely could not tell which of the two headphones sounded wider.
This is one of the most sought after things I been looking for, a super wide sounding headphone that is thick & full sounding without being muddy or dark.

Comfort is also excellent. The headphone weighs practically nothing, there is basically no pressure from the clamp & the earpads are super soft & the inner opening is so big, while plenty of depth that your entire ear can fit in without touching any of the material. Compared to the HE100, the earpad openings were oval, narrow & didn't have the best depth, so my ears did not fit perfectly without touching the insides of it.
The clamping force, while being so effortlessly light, was also very secure & harder to fall off my head than the HD800 with fast head moments.

As for the leather vs velour earpads, I felt the velour gave a more open tone with better treble & neutrality, while the leather pads gave a slightly more pleasing tone with the bass increasing even more. I couldn't not pick a favorite & swapped between them all the time depending on the genres.

The headphones were fairly easy to drive as well. I felt they needed the same type of amplification as the HD800.

The loan also came with a Cardas Clear headphone cable. I felt when using the Cardas over the stock one, it brought more energy to the treble, while the stock cable was more laid back & relaxed sounding.

The only downside I can really come up with is price, but compared to everything out there I can't think of any comparably priced TOTL headphones that checks all the boxes like the Empyrean.

 

[DelsFan]

...Rimsky-Korsakoff: Scheherazade, 1st movement conducted by Fritz Reiner (Analogue Productions Remaster, CD layer from SACD)
The most perfect recording of the most perfect performance I’ve ever heard. Listening to this recording on a transparent system is a life changing experience: you are standing with Maestro Reiner in Chicago as his orchestra reaches for a performance for the ages. A cultural treasure, and worthy of building a world class system around.

Thank you for your review of the Meze headphones, in which I am interested. I went to TIDAL to listen to some of "your" favorite recordings and, sadly/of course, the performance of Scheherazade by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is not available on their playlist.
So (instead of listening to music, I am researching it),
I went to Amazon where I find the SACD available for $9.95, from BMG. Advertised as Hybrid SACD - I have my doubts?
Then I went to the Acoustic Sounds store/site and find I can purchase the remastered SACD for $15.00 (Gold) or $30 (Hybrid 3-channel stereo).

I will really appreciate your assistance:
- At the really high end, to benefit from the 3-channel SACD mix: Do you need a "great" multichannel transport like the new Oppo Blu-Ray players, AND three matching left-center-right speakers (AND, three separate and matching amplifiers, or a "great" three-channel amp)?
- For headphone listening at, again, the really high end
(let's say Blue Hawaii SE amplifier for electrostatics, with either Stax SR-009 headphones or the new Mr. Speakers VOCE; or, if you will, the Mjolnir KGSS Carbon amplifier or MicroZotl MZ3, with Focal Utopia or HiFiMan HE1000 or Meze Empyrean)
is there any benefit to having the Hybrid 3-channel CD over the Gold CD?
To the point: With a headphone system, is the hybrid SACD doing anything at all for me?
- Can one assume the Gold CD from Acoustic Sounds is good and the "plain" SACD from BMG is (for the high-end) crap? Or is it the exact same thing, but the "Gold" CD is just made using a "better" material?
- I have an old Linn Genki CD player I use as a transport, which decodes HDCD CDs but not SACD CDs. I own few CDs (200 max, almost all are neither SACD or HDCD) and as I am putting together a superior headphone system I originally intended to listen mostly through TIDAL and not worry about buying many more CDs, at all. However, should I be looking to score a good, used, SACD CD player sometime in the next year or two? Because regardless of what I say now, I'll be purchasing a few well-chosen CDs as I find the need/desire?

I know the subject of hybrid 3-channel CDs is off the Empyrean topic; I guess I could start a new thread but perhaps no one else really cares (or those who do already know).

 

[kumar402]

There should be a couple of reviews showing up any day now... the headphones are with
Thenewguy007 and heading sometime this week to PeteSTRADAMUS. I look forward to the reviews to

Todd

well I am a loyal customer of another fantastic distributor and seller of Hifi gear but I really appreciate the effort you are making for Headphone fans with these loaner programs.
Please keep the honest reviews coming in.