[jonathan c]

I've read that they're 'subdued', which is one thing that draws me to them. As you know from my Focal side, I have a hard time dealing with "harsh" headphones... How do they sound on your Woo?

I do not own the Empyreans. I sold those towards the Grado PS2000e.

 

[Chris Kaoss]

Thanks to some excellent customer service from the folks at Drop, I decided to pull the trigger on what turns out was their last pair of Meze Empyrean's in stock! Looking forward to my first foray into TotL Planars. I have a lot of reading to do between now and whenever they arrive. Any useful tidbits of info I should go check out and/or know before diving into 11,802 posts?

Thanks!

The less info, the better the experience on your side, I'd say.

 

[Terriero]

The less info, the better the experience on your side, I'd say.

And the less money you spend

 

[PopZeus]

Thanks to some excellent customer service from the folks at Drop, I decided to pull the trigger on what turns out was their last pair of Meze Empyrean's in stock! Looking forward to my first foray into TotL Planars. I have a lot of reading to do between now and whenever they arrive. Any useful tidbits of info I should go check out and/or know before diving into 11,802 posts?

Thanks!

Welcome to the thread! My big takeaways from this thread (besides the usual folks dumping on the Empy) are that the silver cables seem like a popular upgrade, and that the headphones pair best with class-A SS or low OI tube amps.

 

[Unseen Aura]

Thanks to some excellent customer service from the folks at Drop, I decided to pull the trigger on what turns out was their last pair of Meze Empyrean's in stock! Looking forward to my first foray into TotL Planars. I have a lot of reading to do between now and whenever they arrive. Any useful tidbits of info I should go check out and/or know before diving into 11,802 posts?

Thanks!

I went mental in terms of research & everything I could find on the Empyrean, before I received my pair. For me, it was my first big purchase since a pair of V-Moda's few months earlier, so you can imagine my excitement (plus never had a big chunk to drop just like that).

It really took away from the experience when I finally received it. Including the feeling of weight in hands to it disappearing in my head, all the exposure has desensitized it all out of me. I'd personally recommend not getting into it, and simply experiencing for yourself. I had even saved some EQ settings, never used it, not my thing turns out.

That being said, aside from the Red Dragonfly by AQ (forgot the reason), my desktop setup was a blind purchase based on someone else's recommendation after getting an idea of what I was roughly looking for, this being my first purchase overall for anything audiophile level.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Welcome to the thread! My big takeaways from this thread (besides the usual folks dumping on the Empy) are that the silver cables seem like a popular upgrade, and that the headphones pair best with class-A SS or low OI tube amps.

I wonder if a 3rd party silver cable would be better than factory (I'm thinking Norne, perhaps).

Thoughts?

I'll be paring these with my ever-faithful Woo Audio WA6-SE Gen 2. Plenty of output power to drive them, methinks...

 

[PopZeus]

I wonder if a 3rd party silver cable would be better than factory (I'm thinking Norne, perhaps).

Thoughts?

I'll be paring these with my ever-faithful Woo Audio WA6-SE Gen 2. Plenty of output power to drive them, methinks...

Hard to say since I've had limited experience with cable upgrades and the improvements heard by the listener can be very subjective. Part of the benefit of going with the Meze cable is that it's designed to work with that exact headphone. If the prices are the same between that and a 3rd party cable, then I'd probably go with the Meze. My experience with the 99 Classics SPC cable was very positive. Great synergy compared to the stock cable, and that seems to have carried through with the Empyrean. If the 3rd party cable is cheaper, do what feels right. High quality silver or SPC should provide similar results, but I can't say for sure without hearing all the options first.

 

[emorrison33]

I wonder if a 3rd party silver cable would be better than factory (I'm thinking Norne, perhaps).

Thoughts?

I'll be paring these with my ever-faithful Woo Audio WA6-SE Gen 2. Plenty of output power to drive them, methinks...

I purchased the Moon Audio Silver Dragon cable when I got my Empy's. A few weeks down the road I bought the Hart Audio Cable, and I have the one that shipped with the EMpy's. All are balanced terminated at the source. I never believed in the whole cable thing, and I'm still not completely sold. But I quicklly got rid of the stock cable, and used the Silver Dragon. I think I can hear tiny improvements in clarity, bass is cleaner, a little more in the top end too with the Moon cable. The Hart cable isn't bad, but it's more like the stock cable. I do love the Hart interconnect system, and the cable itself is much more fluid and forgving, without getting tangled. The Silver Dragon is pretty rigid. Really like the Hart cables, but I prefer the sound with the Silver cable on the my Empy's. Although sometimes, if I am using the alcantarat pads, I prefer the Hart cable. So that's my quick summary...at least with the Empy, I think spending a little more on a better cable, is beneficial.

 

[Kevintj604]

I wonder if a 3rd party silver cable would be better than factory (I'm thinking Norne, perhaps).

Thoughts?

I'll be paring these with my ever-faithful Woo Audio WA6-SE Gen 2. Plenty of output power to drive them, methinks...

3rd party cable helps quite a bit actually.

I was going back and forth between the stock to the Meze Silver PCUHD cable and there's a noticeable difference.

Unfortunately the cable wasn't enough to make me keep the Empyrean and I just sold it this week. If I didn't own a Rosson I'd probably keep the Empy's but going back and forth between them shows me all I need to know.

This is a highly subjective hobby though and I appreciate the people who like the Empyrean. There's quite a bit of unwarranted dislike for Meze from the reviewers.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

3rd party cable helps quite a bit actually.

I was going back and forth between the stock to the Meze Silver PCUHD cable and there's a noticeable difference.

Unfortunately the cable wasn't enough to make me keep the Empyrean and I just sold it this week. If I didn't own a Rosson I'd probably keep the Empy's but going back and forth between them shows me all I need to know.

This is a highly subjective hobby though and I appreciate the people who like the Empyrean. There's quite a bit of unwarranted dislike for Meze from the reviewers.

Thanks for the feedback! I actually ordered the Meze Silver PCUHD cables (arrived today, HP arrive tomorrow). If you don't mind me asking - why did you part with your Emps specifically? Was is sound quality, and if so, what about it didn't you like?

 

[Kevintj604]

Thanks for the feedback! I actually ordered the Meze Silver PCUHD cables (arrived today, HP arrive tomorrow). If you don't mind me asking - why did you part with your Emps specifically? Was is sound quality, and if so, what about it didn't you like?

Like many of the other people in the thread have already eluded to the Empyrean was just waaaay too lacking in technical performance and detail compared to what I currently own to keep them. I don't want to troll and bash them in the thread as I don't think that makes anyone feel good, myself included. And everyone hears things a little differently. Some people are looking for more of a warm, forgiving and generally less fatiguing sound that Meze provides.

I still think they’re an incredible headphone for comfort, build quality, design and overall aesthetic. For sound I think they have excellent imaging and are very forgiving with all quality of music files. With specific gear I’m sure they scale well but with mine not so much.

Im in a place in the hobby after being incredibly active in my searching, buying, listening and selling to know exactly what I’m looking for in my collection. For my ears the Empy just didn’t make the cut.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Like many of the other people in the thread have already eluded to the Empyrean was just waaaay too lacking in technical performance and detail compared to what I currently own to keep them. I don't want to troll and bash them in the thread as I don't think that makes anyone feel good, myself included. And everyone hears things a little differently. Some people are looking for more of a warm, forgiving and generally less fatiguing sound that Meze provides.

I still think they’re an incredible headphone for comfort, build quality, design and overall aesthetic. For sound I think they have excellent imaging and are very forgiving with all quality of music files. With specific gear I’m sure they scale well but with mine not so much.

Im in a place in the hobby after being incredibly active in my searching, buying, listening and selling to know exactly what I’m looking for in my collection. For my ears the Empy just didn’t make the cut.

Interesting you say that as the reviews I've heard point to a more laid-back, musical headphone, perhaps lacking a bit on the high end. None of the reviews I've read make any mention of them being hard to wear or fatiguing (calling out Audeze LCD-4's specifically for this problem). Time will tell, I'm sure, but I appreciate the candor.

 

[Kevintj604]

Interesting you say that as the reviews I've heard point to a more laid-back, musical headphone, perhaps lacking a bit on the high end. None of the reviews I've read make any mention of them being hard to wear or fatiguing (calling out Audeze LCD-4's specifically for this problem). Time will tell, I'm sure, but I appreciate the candor.

Sorry. Lemme clarify what I meant by not fatiguing. I don’t mean in terms of comfort. I meant less fatiguing in terms of sound. They are generally very warm and bass bloated, specifically in the mid bass to mid treble. I find them considerably more forgiving compared to something that’s highly resolving ie: Abyss Diana, Rosson RAD-0 or D8000 Pro.

 

[jonathan c]

Sorry. Lemme clarify what I meant by not fatiguing. I don’t mean in terms of comfort. I meant less fatiguing in terms of sound. They are generally very warm and bass bloated, specifically in the mid bass to mid treble. I find them considerably more forgiving compared to something that’s highly resolving ie: Abyss Diana, Rosson RAD-0 or D8000 Pro.

Now if one could meld the Empyrean comfort with the RAD-0 sound………

 

[TheDuke990]

Like many of the other people in the thread have already eluded to the Empyrean was just waaaay too lacking in technical performance and detail compared to what I currently own to keep them. I don't want to troll and bash them in the thread as I don't think that makes anyone feel good, myself included. And everyone hears things a little differently. Some people are looking for more of a warm, forgiving and generally less fatiguing sound that Meze provides.

Sorry but I don't understand this part of your answer "too lacking in technical performance and detail".
I'm able to hear Empyrean, L700 und HD800S side by side. And yes it is a different experience. Empyrean is warm und L700/HD800S have much more energy in mids/highs but there is nothing missing when I listen with Empyrean. Every information/detail from the CD is there. As I said before it is not that type of "in your face" presentation which some achieve by increasing frequencies.

Regarding the RAD-0. I read that it is the king of darkness means warmer than Audeze and Empyrean. I never heard them because I'm not a friend of Audeze and the Rosson is more or less a "clone" of it (sound wise and weight). I owned LCD-X 2 times but sold them after some weeks of use. Not my cup of tea.