Empire Ears Zeus R -Universal review
Let me start off by saying that this is my first review of a product. I had bought my share of totl iems ( Shure 846, 64audio U12, Sennheiser ie800, Tralucent Ref1 ) and others that you can see in my profile. Had the Zeus R not be a breakthrough iem I would not even care to write up anything.
Background:
I am not the typical guy that runs over specs or gets too excited about numbers, what excites me is the sound signature of the iem and how it matches what I love to hear and enjoy. I do not care how many drivers an iem has, or whatever the tech is being used, my ultimate interest is how does it sound.
So as many of us who start our head-fi journey, we buy things and sell things and most of us like to read that a middle priced iem can match a totl iem in performance, so we rush in and buy that iem. Then after getting it, the inner voice starts talking " maybe I should have gotten the best out there instead as I feel there is still something missing '. Now that becomes a vicious cycle we keep going through and it keeps going and going. Ultimately you end buying so many mid tier iems and sell them for a loss. Then one day you say that is it, I am done and want to shoot out to the best there is. This is what happened to me and this is how I reached the Zeus R.
So I contacted Jack from EE after reading so many glowing reviews on head-fi and told him that I am ready to buy the best there is, and I started designing how I would like it to look.
Was I worried, of course yes, because simply I never listened to the Zeus R so I had to buy based on reviews. And in the past I was bitten not only once but many times by glowing reviews that ended up not to my expectations at all. So paying the price for the Zeus R and not knowing exactly how it sounds kept me on my toes until it arrived.
So the arrival date came, I opened the box I looked at this amazing looking iem. It looks fabulous to me.
Ahead of its arrival, I planned to have my sources ready that I will use with the Zeus R. I always start off with the Chord Mojo, followed by Fiio x7 and then the Cowon plenue D.
Listening time:
What I personally care about in an iem is that is it has top quality bass, mids and highs and a wide soundstage with no sacrifice in whatever region at all. I like the mids to be full blown and I do not like thin sounding iems at all.
Bass: The bass is controlled and tight and can punch deep with a good thump and you can simply enjoy the bass in bass heavy songs like no other iem I have heard. You can also eq the bass and it can satisfy audiophile bassheads no doubt, and here I am saying audiophile bassheads as to me I do not like those crazy sounding basshead iems that just destroy and drown mids and highs to give that insane bass. The bass in the Zeus R is top notch and does not affect mids at all. Honestly I always wondered when will we have an iem that can give the best bass that is not bloated and out of control with keeping mids intact to be enjoyed to the fullest, the answer was the Zeus R. Sometimes I listen to some bassheavy tracks and I am absolutely amazed by what i am hearing, I keep on repeating the same track over and over to enjoy that detailed tight controlled bass.
Mids: Are simply the best I ever heard with no iem even coming close to the beautiful presentation that the Zeus R offers. I was so surprised by the mids of the Zeus R in all genres of music whether its pop, rock, synthpop, etc. Simply amazing mids. Ahhh my grip in the past with iems and with in one I owned and loved in the past which was the Ref1 were the mids, the Ref1 was great, but its mids were not there to me. Simply I sold the Ref1 and when I first heard the mids of the Zeus R while listening to a vocal focused track, I simply just smiled and it was the smile of finally finding the missing link in all my iems. The mids are so important to me, especially when I like bands I like them for their vocalist first, so this means to me that I must have the best mids experience before anything else. So here is just another positive that got nailed by Zeus R to perfection. Amaaaaaazing mids like no other.
Highs: The level of detail in the highs is one of its kind, I thought in the past that the ie800 has the best highs due to its sweet highs, but now that place is overtaken by the Zeus R. The highs are beyond description and you can hear notes in songs you really could not hear from any iem I tired at least. What a joy to hear those details and it feels like rediscovering passages in songs that I did not know before
Sound Stage: Its sound stage is wide and you can easily identify the separation of instruments and placements in songs. The stage is well implemented that I feel I am exactly standing at the right spot while the band is playing live in front of me.
Conclusion:
The Zeus R is the King of all iems, it does everything to perfection. It's so easy to drive and works amazingly with all sources I have ( Chord Mojo, Fiio X7 and cowon plenue D ). I enjoy it most with the chord mojo though.
The sound quality signature that the Zeus R offers is the one that leaves me not desiring any changes to the sound signature and it simply met all my sound quality signature preferences without a single doubt. It's been a long journey for me from buying and selling iems until I finally got the Zeus R which will stay with me for a very very long time. The Zeus R is a multi verse iem that can suit people that seek the reference sound signature with amazing bass, mids and highs and at the same time you can tweak it to be adored by audiophile bassheads like me using eq
Superb iem by Empire Ears, thanks.
.
Let me start off by saying that this is my first review of a product. I had bought my share of totl iems ( Shure 846, 64audio U12, Sennheiser ie800, Tralucent Ref1 ) and others that you can see in my profile. Had the Zeus R not be a breakthrough iem I would not even care to write up anything.
Background:
I am not the typical guy that runs over specs or gets too excited about numbers, what excites me is the sound signature of the iem and how it matches what I love to hear and enjoy. I do not care how many drivers an iem has, or whatever the tech is being used, my ultimate interest is how does it sound.
So as many of us who start our head-fi journey, we buy things and sell things and most of us like to read that a middle priced iem can match a totl iem in performance, so we rush in and buy that iem. Then after getting it, the inner voice starts talking " maybe I should have gotten the best out there instead as I feel there is still something missing '. Now that becomes a vicious cycle we keep going through and it keeps going and going. Ultimately you end buying so many mid tier iems and sell them for a loss. Then one day you say that is it, I am done and want to shoot out to the best there is. This is what happened to me and this is how I reached the Zeus R.
So I contacted Jack from EE after reading so many glowing reviews on head-fi and told him that I am ready to buy the best there is, and I started designing how I would like it to look.
Was I worried, of course yes, because simply I never listened to the Zeus R so I had to buy based on reviews. And in the past I was bitten not only once but many times by glowing reviews that ended up not to my expectations at all. So paying the price for the Zeus R and not knowing exactly how it sounds kept me on my toes until it arrived.
So the arrival date came, I opened the box I looked at this amazing looking iem. It looks fabulous to me.
Ahead of its arrival, I planned to have my sources ready that I will use with the Zeus R. I always start off with the Chord Mojo, followed by Fiio x7 and then the Cowon plenue D.
Listening time:
What I personally care about in an iem is that is it has top quality bass, mids and highs and a wide soundstage with no sacrifice in whatever region at all. I like the mids to be full blown and I do not like thin sounding iems at all.
Bass: The bass is controlled and tight and can punch deep with a good thump and you can simply enjoy the bass in bass heavy songs like no other iem I have heard. You can also eq the bass and it can satisfy audiophile bassheads no doubt, and here I am saying audiophile bassheads as to me I do not like those crazy sounding basshead iems that just destroy and drown mids and highs to give that insane bass. The bass in the Zeus R is top notch and does not affect mids at all. Honestly I always wondered when will we have an iem that can give the best bass that is not bloated and out of control with keeping mids intact to be enjoyed to the fullest, the answer was the Zeus R. Sometimes I listen to some bassheavy tracks and I am absolutely amazed by what i am hearing, I keep on repeating the same track over and over to enjoy that detailed tight controlled bass.
Mids: Are simply the best I ever heard with no iem even coming close to the beautiful presentation that the Zeus R offers. I was so surprised by the mids of the Zeus R in all genres of music whether its pop, rock, synthpop, etc. Simply amazing mids. Ahhh my grip in the past with iems and with in one I owned and loved in the past which was the Ref1 were the mids, the Ref1 was great, but its mids were not there to me. Simply I sold the Ref1 and when I first heard the mids of the Zeus R while listening to a vocal focused track, I simply just smiled and it was the smile of finally finding the missing link in all my iems. The mids are so important to me, especially when I like bands I like them for their vocalist first, so this means to me that I must have the best mids experience before anything else. So here is just another positive that got nailed by Zeus R to perfection. Amaaaaaazing mids like no other.
Highs: The level of detail in the highs is one of its kind, I thought in the past that the ie800 has the best highs due to its sweet highs, but now that place is overtaken by the Zeus R. The highs are beyond description and you can hear notes in songs you really could not hear from any iem I tired at least. What a joy to hear those details and it feels like rediscovering passages in songs that I did not know before
Sound Stage: Its sound stage is wide and you can easily identify the separation of instruments and placements in songs. The stage is well implemented that I feel I am exactly standing at the right spot while the band is playing live in front of me.
Conclusion:
The Zeus R is the King of all iems, it does everything to perfection. It's so easy to drive and works amazingly with all sources I have ( Chord Mojo, Fiio X7 and cowon plenue D ). I enjoy it most with the chord mojo though.
The sound quality signature that the Zeus R offers is the one that leaves me not desiring any changes to the sound signature and it simply met all my sound quality signature preferences without a single doubt. It's been a long journey for me from buying and selling iems until I finally got the Zeus R which will stay with me for a very very long time. The Zeus R is a multi verse iem that can suit people that seek the reference sound signature with amazing bass, mids and highs and at the same time you can tweak it to be adored by audiophile bassheads like me using eq
Superb iem by Empire Ears, thanks.
.
The most spot on thing you said, though, has nothing to do with the review:
"...the inner voice starts talking " maybe I should have gotten the best out there instead as I feel there is still something missing '. Now that becomes a vicious cycle we keep going through and it keeps going and going. Ultimately you end buying so many mid tier iems and sell them for a loss. Then one day you say that is it, I am done and want to shoot out to the best there is."
That's it in a nutshell, isn't it?? Man, I'd love to try the Zeus.