[Toom]

@aminus - what tips do you use when reviewing these iems? Apologies if I missed this info somewhere.

 

[aminus]

@aminus - what tips do you use when reviewing these iems? Apologies if I missed this info somewhere.

Tips use are generally whatever is supplied by the manufacturer or by the store. I’m not necessarily a believer in the notion that tips can radically change an IEM’s sound (don’t get me wrong - they do make a difference, but they’re minor tweaks at best in almost all scenarios) enough to make me like or dislike something that I would otherwise have the opposite opinion on, hence I don’t really note this stuff down unless I feel like it’s useful or important to.

 

[Toom]

Tips use are generally whatever is supplied by the manufacturer or by the store. I’m not necessarily a believer in the notion that tips can radically change an IEM’s sound (don’t get me wrong - they do make a difference, but they’re minor tweaks at best in almost all scenarios) enough to make me like or dislike something that I would otherwise have the opposite opinion on, hence I don’t really note this stuff down unless I feel like it’s useful or important to.

Ah OK, fair enough.

 

[papa_mia]

EE: *releases a bunch of new products*

Me:

 

[hi-fi amateur]

@aminus - Do you plan on reviewing the new Thieaudio Tribids?

 

[equalspeace]

how is it that i’ve just found this thread?? i tend to be of the opinion that a lot of the expensive American iems are hit or miss. nice to see someone else can critique gear regardless of price with an unabashed style. very refreshing, and the complete, consistent destruction throughout the thread of peeps coming in here to tell aminus his opinions are wrong is v entertaining haha

 

[unifutomaki]

how is it that i’ve just found this thread?? i tend to be of the opinion that a lot of the expensive American iems are hit or miss. nice to see someone else can critique gear regardless of price with an unabashed style. very refreshing, and the complete, consistent destruction throughout the thread of peeps coming in here to tell aminus his opinions are wrong is v entertaining haha

I could never justify splashing out on most of the gear he reviews but I keep coming back for this very reason

 

[aminus]

EE: *releases a bunch of new products*

Me:

Well aware, might be able to head down and try them out in the next week or two depending on my schedule. Been busy this whole month.

@aminus - Do you plan on reviewing the new Thieaudio Tribids?

If I can get my hands on them, definitely.

 

[panzershrek2]

Those were the ones Crin brought in the unit I borrowed from him, so they were the only ones I had on hand. I did ask him if I could try the green filters next time, though he’s probably forgotten.

Though something makes me suspect it’s not the filter. Though I did find the blue filter not necessarily dead neutral, the lack of bite to it seemed more like a presentation quirk if anything. Though if I’m proven wrong I’ll update the review for clarity’s sake.

Hi Aminus, is there still any chance that you'll try the other filters? I'm honestly curious how the other filters would affect your current rating for the JVC HA-FDX1.

 

[papa_mia]

Meanwhile we can discuss cables man, what are your general thoughts about them, what's your favorite brand (EA?), what are you using right now?

 

[aminus]

Empire Ears: Reboot Roundup
Oh boy, Empire Ears! My favorite company. I fondly recall the massive hit that was the Wraith being one of my earliest “holy crap this is really awful” moments in writing. And its compatriot, the Valkyrie (which has been revamped less than a year later, interestingly enough) wasn’t exactly amazing either. To say the least, I wasn’t really chomping at the bit to hear the new Empire lineup when I heard about it, which was a good bit after people actually began listening to the damn things and talking about it. Talk about out of the loop. Anyways, best to get down to it because damn, that is a lot of IEMs to cover.

Let’s just say the Bravado MKII wasn’t the best opener for this little lineup showing. At this point an Empire hybrid with a DD in it is more or less synonymous with excessive bass, but even amongst that crowd the Bravado is incredibly bassy. And not the good kind of bass either. It’s boomy and bloated with midbass spilling out the sides like a boiling pot of sludge. It’s not like the rest of the frequency range fares any better, given that the midrange is thin bordering on Valkyrie (MKI) levels. I haven’t heard the original Bravado, but I was told by some that it was the most tolerable IEM in their old hybrid lineup. If so, the MKII has definitely landed itself on the opposite of this scale - that is, least tolerable.

If the Bravado was predictable, the ESR MKII surprised me, though for the wrong reasons. I’d heard a lot of praise for the ESR in my usual circles calling it a pretty good neutral monitor. Well to my ears, I don’t hear neutral. The ESR sounds... bright. Almost harsh really. It has a lot of consonance and a surprising amount of hardness in its treble transients for an IEM that supposedly uses ESTs (which I generally associate with wispier or softer treble transients). It kind of reminds me of some of Kumitate’s brighter models like the Focus, except that the ESR trades the Focus’ shoutiness for treble grit. Great layering ability, but I really can’t wrap my head around the tuning, which is especially weird for an IEM supposedly praised for its tonality.

The original Valkyrie as an IEM that, for how extreme it was in its tuning, I was rather lukewarm about. I saw the appeal but I clearly wasn’t the target audience. I can’t see the appeal of the Valkyrie MKII. It’s lost that visceral subbass focus and instead gone for a much more midbassy response while not fixing the sucked out midrange at all. If anything the midrange might be worse now with how nasal it comes off as. Aside from that, between this and the Bravado, it all kind of blurs into a mess of overly bassy V-shaped IEMs. I suppose the Valkyrie has the better bass control, but at that point you’re just choosing between cholera and dysentery. I don’t get the point of neutering a subbass focused IEM into yet another generic bloated bass cannon. Who does this appeal to? Why make 2 almost identical sounding IEMs in the same lineup? I’ll never get it.

The EVR MKII... yeah, no. This thing is just straight garbage. Horrifically telephonic midrange, nonexistent bass response, and more of the same sharp and gritty treble that the ESR had, if not worse. This thing does absolutely nothing right. The only thing remotely “vocal reference” about this is that the midrange and up is unnaturally boosted, though I suppose the same would apply to the built in speaker of a 1930’s rotary dial telephone. Hell, the telephone probably sounds better. I couldn’t tolerate listening to more than a minute of this because it was physically painful to listen to. It’s basically as disastrous as the Wraith. On the other hand, thank god it’s not nearly as expensive as that atrocity. On the other other hand, you’re kidding if you think this mess is worth the thousand USD Empire are peddling it at.

And then we get to the actual new stuff. Phew, with all these reboots you’d think this was the video game or film industry.

The Hero is, in a sea of otherwise bad to mediocre IEMs, much more to the latter. It’s a bright V shape response, emphasis on bright. The treble on this IEM is aggressive in a manner different to the ESR or EVR. If I had to guess, the treble peak on those two is a good bit lower down than the one on the Hero. The Hero is also surprisingly a lot dirtier sounding up top than especially the ESR. Cymbal crashes don’t get the same kind of definition and delineation that they do on the ESR, and the heavy stick impact on the Hero isn’t exactly making this odd contrast between strong treble and a lack of resolution any less jarring. Aside from that, the Hero’s midrange isn’t really anything to write home about and the bass response is pretty alright. It is, however, surprisingly dynamic, which sticks out considering how flat a lot of the other IEMs in this lineup sound. I’m mostly confused by the treble emphasis, and the actual tonality of said treble. Everything else is fine, fine enough to be worth $1350. But with this treble? I’d say no.

And now the big boy, the Odin. The new big boy of EE’s lineup at a whopping $3400 USD. That’s almost (almost!) as expensive as the Wraith. With the name and all you almost get some Noble Khan vibes from this. So just how good (or bad) is EE’s latest multi-kilobuck 11 driver tribrid whopper of an IEM that the community’s whales will undoubtedly be more than eager to eat up?

It’s not bad. Shocking as it is, it’s actually not a trainwreck. It’s not exactly amazing either though.

Let’s start from the bottom and work our way up as usual for this. The Odin’s bass response is tastefully boosted with good amounts of slam and impact, enough to satiate me at least. Bass control is clean and tight and bass texture doesn’t seem lacking either. If I had a criticism it would primarily be that it lacks character. It’s not thick and meaty like the Z1R or colored and sweet (I still can’t get behind how strange it is to call bass sweet but it’s honestly the first thing that springs to mind when talking about it) like the CE-5’s bass. It kind of just is. I don’t think it’s an inherently bad thing, but I do find myself kind of wishing it had a bit more flair to it. It’s no bass monster like the Legend X or the Bravado and Valkyrie MKII, but trust me when I say that I find this far, far more palatable.

The midrange on the Odin is... interesting. I used to joke a lot about how the Legend X had, well, no mids. Of course in reality it actually did, but it was really overshadowed by how overpowering the subbass and lower treble was on that IEM. The Odin’s mids kind of remind me of that, and I’m not sure if that’s really a good thing. You see, now that the Odin’s mids have been brought to the forefront, they come off as really shrill at a lot of times, especially with higher pitched guitars and keyboards. It’s sort of like the Solaris (OG)’s midrange but more in the upper mid side of things in contrast to the lower mid crunchiness and roughness of the Solaris that I couldn’t stand. On the other hand, lower mid and bass heavy music on the Odin sounds awesome, so long as you don’t breach too much into upper midrange territory. This is where my apprehension to calling the Odin good as opposed to “not bad” stems from. There seems to have been a specific midrange tuning for this IEM that I simply cannot get behind. Props to Empire for sticking to their guns one what they think sounds right, but I heavily disagree.

With how bombastic the bass and mids are on this IEM, one would think that the treble would fall in line with that philosophy. Well, it actually kind of takes a backseat to that rather dynamic duo. Not to say that the Odin is dark (thank god it isn’t), but the treble on it doesn’t really stand out that much. It’s kind of soft and classically EST sounding and could use more emphasis on its extension. It almost sounds lacking in mid-treble, not dissimilar to the U12t’s 8-10khz dip. I do find myself wanting more in a good number of tracks, but in comparison to how damn harsh the ESR and EVR are, this is vastly preferable.

On the intangible side of things, I do find the Odin to lack dynamics and sound overly loud at all times. From a layering side of things, it does feel like it can get a bit confused in dense music, but in simple sections it’s competent. And from a macrodetail perspective I don’t find it particularly lacking at any given moment, which is good because it’d be embarrassing if an IEM with such prominent mids fell flat in that department. Make no mistake, this is a resolving and competent IEM that I do feel like is being done a disservice with its direction in midrange tonality.

All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 4.4mm jack.

In summary? The Odin is, without a doubt, a decent IEM and far and away my favorite of this new lineup revamp. But it’s not without flaws, some of them far too evident for me to overlook. I simply cannot gel with the midrange of the Odin, which is a true shame because I like nearly everything else about it. As for everything else, I gotta say it’s kind of a swing and a miss. I was kind of expecting to like the ESR but I’m not impressed with what I hear, and the rest doesn’t really surprise me in not being great. I just wish the Odin appealed to me more than it does.

Scores:
Bravado MKII: 3/10
ESR MKII: 5/10
EVR MKII: 2/10
Hero: 6/10
Odin: 7/10
Valkyrie MKII: 4/10

Note: Someone tell Empire Ears what a front vent is because jesus christ, every single IEM in this article that has a DD has awful driver flex. I mean, it's not as bad as the old W9 driver, but it's still incredibly annoying to work with. Don't want to imagine what a CIEM version of this stuff would be like.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

Empire Ears: Reboot Roundup
Oh boy, Empire Ears! My favorite company. I fondly recall the massive hit that was the Wraith being one of my earliest “holy crap this is really awful” moments in writing. And its compatriot, the Valkyrie (which has been revamped less than a year later, interestingly enough) wasn’t exactly amazing either. To say the least, I wasn’t really chomping at the bit to hear the new Empire lineup when I heard about it, which was a good bit after people actually began listening to the damn things and talking about it. Talk about out of the loop. Anyways, best to get down to it because damn, that is a lot of IEMs to cover.

Let’s just say the Bravado MKII wasn’t the best opener for this little lineup showing. At this point an Empire hybrid with a DD in it is more or less synonymous with excessive bass, but even amongst that crowd the Bravado is incredibly bassy. And not the good kind of bass either. It’s boomy and bloated with midbass spilling out the sides like a boiling pot of sludge. It’s not like the rest of the frequency range fares any better, given that the midrange is thin bordering on Valkyrie (MKI) levels. I haven’t heard the original Bravado, but I was told by some that it was the most tolerable IEM in their old hybrid lineup. If so, the MKII has definitely landed itself on the opposite of this scale - that is, least tolerable.

If the Bravado was predictable, the ESR MKII surprised me, though for the wrong reasons. I’d heard a lot of praise for the ESR in my usual circles calling it a pretty good neutral monitor. Well to my ears, I don’t hear neutral. The ESR sounds... bright. Almost harsh really. It has a lot of consonance and a surprising amount of hardness in its treble transients for an IEM that supposedly uses ESTs (which I generally associate with wispier or softer treble transients). It kind of reminds me of some of Kumitate’s brighter models like the Focus, except that the ESR trades the Focus’ shoutiness for treble grit. Great layering ability, but I really can’t wrap my head around the tuning, which is especially weird for an IEM supposedly praised for its tonality.

The original Valkyrie as an IEM that, for how extreme it was in its tuning, I was rather lukewarm about. I saw the appeal but I clearly wasn’t the target audience. I can’t see the appeal of the Valkyrie MKII. It’s lost that visceral subbass focus and instead gone for a much more midbassy response while not fixing the sucked out midrange at all. If anything the midrange might be worse now with how nasal it comes off as. Aside from that, between this and the Bravado, it all kind of blurs into a mess of overly bassy V-shaped IEMs. I suppose the Valkyrie has the better bass control, but at that point you’re just choosing between cholera and dysentery. I don’t get the point of neutering a subbass focused IEM into yet another generic bloated bass cannon. Who does this appeal to? Why make 2 almost identical sounding IEMs in the same lineup? I’ll never get it.

The EVR MKII... yeah, no. This thing is just straight garbage. Horrifically telephonic midrange, nonexistent bass response, and more of the same sharp and gritty treble that the ESR had, if not worse. This thing does absolutely nothing right. The only thing remotely “vocal reference” about this is that the midrange and up is unnaturally boosted, though I suppose the same would apply to the built in speaker of a 1930’s rotary dial telephone. Hell, the telephone probably sounds better. I couldn’t tolerate listening to more than a minute of this because it was physically painful to listen to. It’s basically as disastrous as the Wraith. On the other hand, thank god it’s not nearly as expensive as that atrocity. On the other other hand, you’re kidding if you think this mess is worth the thousand USD Empire are peddling it at.

And then we get to the actual new stuff. Phew, with all these reboots you’d think this was the video game or film industry.

The Hero is, in a sea of otherwise bad to mediocre IEMs, much more to the latter. It’s a bright V shape response, emphasis on bright. The treble on this IEM is aggressive in a manner different to the ESR or EVR. If I had to guess, the treble peak on those two is a good bit lower down than the one on the Hero. The Hero is also surprisingly a lot dirtier sounding up top than especially the ESR. Cymbal crashes don’t get the same kind of definition and delineation that they do on the ESR, and the heavy stick impact on the Hero isn’t exactly making this odd contrast between strong treble and a lack of resolution any less jarring. Aside from that, the Hero’s midrange isn’t really anything to write home about and the bass response is pretty alright. It is, however, surprisingly dynamic, which sticks out considering how flat a lot of the other IEMs in this lineup sound. I’m mostly confused by the treble emphasis, and the actual tonality of said treble. Everything else is fine, fine enough to be worth $1350. But with this treble? I’d say no.

And now the big boy, the Odin. The new big boy of EE’s lineup at a whopping $3400 USD. That’s almost (almost!) as expensive as the Wraith. With the name and all you almost get some Noble Khan vibes from this. So just how good (or bad) is EE’s latest multi-kilobuck 11 driver tribrid whopper of an IEM that the community’s whales will undoubtedly be more than eager to eat up?

It’s not bad. Shocking as it is, it’s actually not a trainwreck. It’s not exactly amazing either though.

Let’s start from the bottom and work our way up as usual for this. The Odin’s bass response is tastefully boosted with good amounts of slam and impact, enough to satiate me at least. Bass control is clean and tight and bass texture doesn’t seem lacking either. If I had a criticism it would primarily be that it lacks character. It’s not thick and meaty like the Z1R or colored and sweet (I still can’t get behind how strange it is to call bass sweet but it’s honestly the first thing that springs to mind when talking about it) like the CE-5’s bass. It kind of just is. I don’t think it’s an inherently bad thing, but I do find myself kind of wishing it had a bit more flair to it. It’s no bass monster like the Legend X or the Bravado and Valkyrie MKII, but trust me when I say that I find this far, far more palatable.

The midrange on the Odin is... interesting. I used to joke a lot about how the Legend X had, well, no mids. Of course in reality it actually did, but it was really overshadowed by how overpowering the subbass and lower treble was on that IEM. The Odin’s mids kind of remind me of that, and I’m not sure if that’s really a good thing. You see, now that the Odin’s mids have been brought to the forefront, they come off as really shrill at a lot of times, especially with higher pitched guitars and keyboards. It’s sort of like the Solaris (OG)’s midrange but more in the upper mid side of things in contrast to the lower mid crunchiness and roughness of the Solaris that I couldn’t stand. On the other hand, lower mid and bass heavy music on the Odin sounds awesome, so long as you don’t breach too much into upper midrange territory. This is where my apprehension to calling the Odin good as opposed to “not bad” stems from. There seems to have been a specific midrange tuning for this IEM that I simply cannot get behind. Props to Empire for sticking to their guns one what they think sounds right, but I heavily disagree.

With how bombastic the bass and mids are on this IEM, one would think that the treble would fall in line with that philosophy. Well, it actually kind of takes a backseat to that rather dynamic duo. Not to say that the Odin is dark (thank god it isn’t), but the treble on it doesn’t really stand out that much. It’s kind of soft and classically EST sounding and could use more emphasis on its extension. It almost sounds lacking in mid-treble, not dissimilar to the U12t’s 8-10khz dip. I do find myself wanting more in a good number of tracks, but in comparison to how damn harsh the ESR and EVR are, this is vastly preferable.

On the intangible side of things, I do find the Odin to lack dynamics and sound overly loud at all times. From a layering side of things, it does feel like it can get a bit confused in dense music, but in simple sections it’s competent. And from a macrodetail perspective I don’t find it particularly lacking at any given moment, which is good because it’d be embarrassing if an IEM with such prominent mids fell flat in that department. Make no mistake, this is a resolving and competent IEM that I do feel like is being done a disservice with its direction in midrange tonality.

All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 4.4mm jack.

In summary? The Odin is, without a doubt, a decent IEM and far and away my favorite of this new lineup revamp. But it’s not without flaws, some of them far too evident for me to overlook. I simply cannot gel with the midrange of the Odin, which is a true shame because I like nearly everything else about it. As for everything else, I gotta say it’s kind of a swing and a miss. I was kind of expecting to like the ESR but I’m not impressed with what I hear, and the rest doesn’t really surprise me in not being great. I just wish the Odin appealed to me more than it does.

Scores:
Bravado MKII: 3/10
ESR MKII: 5/10
EVR MKII: 2/10
Hero: 5/10
Odin: 6/10
Valkyrie MKII: 4/10

Note: Someone tell Empire Ears what a front vent is because jesus christ, every single IEM in this article that has a DD has awful driver flex. I mean, it's not as bad as the old W9 driver, but it's still incredibly annoying to work with. Don't want to imagine what a CIEM version of this stuff would be like.

Ouch! Lol.

 

[szore]

Empire Ears: Reboot Roundup
Oh boy, Empire Ears! My favorite company. I fondly recall the massive hit that was the Wraith being one of my earliest “holy crap this is really awful” moments in writing. And its compatriot, the Valkyrie (which has been revamped less than a year later, interestingly enough) wasn’t exactly amazing either. To say the least, I wasn’t really chomping at the bit to hear the new Empire lineup when I heard about it, which was a good bit after people actually began listening to the damn things and talking about it. Talk about out of the loop. Anyways, best to get down to it because damn, that is a lot of IEMs to cover.

Let’s just say the Bravado MKII wasn’t the best opener for this little lineup showing. At this point an Empire hybrid with a DD in it is more or less synonymous with excessive bass, but even amongst that crowd the Bravado is incredibly bassy. And not the good kind of bass either. It’s boomy and bloated with midbass spilling out the sides like a boiling pot of sludge. It’s not like the rest of the frequency range fares any better, given that the midrange is thin bordering on Valkyrie (MKI) levels. I haven’t heard the original Bravado, but I was told by some that it was the most tolerable IEM in their old hybrid lineup. If so, the MKII has definitely landed itself on the opposite of this scale - that is, least tolerable.

If the Bravado was predictable, the ESR MKII surprised me, though for the wrong reasons. I’d heard a lot of praise for the ESR in my usual circles calling it a pretty good neutral monitor. Well to my ears, I don’t hear neutral. The ESR sounds... bright. Almost harsh really. It has a lot of consonance and a surprising amount of hardness in its treble transients for an IEM that supposedly uses ESTs (which I generally associate with wispier or softer treble transients). It kind of reminds me of some of Kumitate’s brighter models like the Focus, except that the ESR trades the Focus’ shoutiness for treble grit. Great layering ability, but I really can’t wrap my head around the tuning, which is especially weird for an IEM supposedly praised for its tonality.

The original Valkyrie as an IEM that, for how extreme it was in its tuning, I was rather lukewarm about. I saw the appeal but I clearly wasn’t the target audience. I can’t see the appeal of the Valkyrie MKII. It’s lost that visceral subbass focus and instead gone for a much more midbassy response while not fixing the sucked out midrange at all. If anything the midrange might be worse now with how nasal it comes off as. Aside from that, between this and the Bravado, it all kind of blurs into a mess of overly bassy V-shaped IEMs. I suppose the Valkyrie has the better bass control, but at that point you’re just choosing between cholera and dysentery. I don’t get the point of neutering a subbass focused IEM into yet another generic bloated bass cannon. Who does this appeal to? Why make 2 almost identical sounding IEMs in the same lineup? I’ll never get it.

The EVR MKII... yeah, no. This thing is just straight garbage. Horrifically telephonic midrange, nonexistent bass response, and more of the same sharp and gritty treble that the ESR had, if not worse. This thing does absolutely nothing right. The only thing remotely “vocal reference” about this is that the midrange and up is unnaturally boosted, though I suppose the same would apply to the built in speaker of a 1930’s rotary dial telephone. Hell, the telephone probably sounds better. I couldn’t tolerate listening to more than a minute of this because it was physically painful to listen to. It’s basically as disastrous as the Wraith. On the other hand, thank god it’s not nearly as expensive as that atrocity. On the other other hand, you’re kidding if you think this mess is worth the thousand USD Empire are peddling it at.

And then we get to the actual new stuff. Phew, with all these reboots you’d think this was the video game or film industry.

The Hero is, in a sea of otherwise bad to mediocre IEMs, much more to the latter. It’s a bright V shape response, emphasis on bright. The treble on this IEM is aggressive in a manner different to the ESR or EVR. If I had to guess, the treble peak on those two is a good bit lower down than the one on the Hero. The Hero is also surprisingly a lot dirtier sounding up top than especially the ESR. Cymbal crashes don’t get the same kind of definition and delineation that they do on the ESR, and the heavy stick impact on the Hero isn’t exactly making this odd contrast between strong treble and a lack of resolution any less jarring. Aside from that, the Hero’s midrange isn’t really anything to write home about and the bass response is pretty alright. It is, however, surprisingly dynamic, which sticks out considering how flat a lot of the other IEMs in this lineup sound. I’m mostly confused by the treble emphasis, and the actual tonality of said treble. Everything else is fine, fine enough to be worth $1350. But with this treble? I’d say no.

And now the big boy, the Odin. The new big boy of EE’s lineup at a whopping $3400 USD. That’s almost (almost!) as expensive as the Wraith. With the name and all you almost get some Noble Khan vibes from this. So just how good (or bad) is EE’s latest multi-kilobuck 11 driver tribrid whopper of an IEM that the community’s whales will undoubtedly be more than eager to eat up?

It’s not bad. Shocking as it is, it’s actually not a trainwreck. It’s not exactly amazing either though.

Let’s start from the bottom and work our way up as usual for this. The Odin’s bass response is tastefully boosted with good amounts of slam and impact, enough to satiate me at least. Bass control is clean and tight and bass texture doesn’t seem lacking either. If I had a criticism it would primarily be that it lacks character. It’s not thick and meaty like the Z1R or colored and sweet (I still can’t get behind how strange it is to call bass sweet but it’s honestly the first thing that springs to mind when talking about it) like the CE-5’s bass. It kind of just is. I don’t think it’s an inherently bad thing, but I do find myself kind of wishing it had a bit more flair to it. It’s no bass monster like the Legend X or the Bravado and Valkyrie MKII, but trust me when I say that I find this far, far more palatable.

The midrange on the Odin is... interesting. I used to joke a lot about how the Legend X had, well, no mids. Of course in reality it actually did, but it was really overshadowed by how overpowering the subbass and lower treble was on that IEM. The Odin’s mids kind of remind me of that, and I’m not sure if that’s really a good thing. You see, now that the Odin’s mids have been brought to the forefront, they come off as really shrill at a lot of times, especially with higher pitched guitars and keyboards. It’s sort of like the Solaris (OG)’s midrange but more in the upper mid side of things in contrast to the lower mid crunchiness and roughness of the Solaris that I couldn’t stand. On the other hand, lower mid and bass heavy music on the Odin sounds awesome, so long as you don’t breach too much into upper midrange territory. This is where my apprehension to calling the Odin good as opposed to “not bad” stems from. There seems to have been a specific midrange tuning for this IEM that I simply cannot get behind. Props to Empire for sticking to their guns one what they think sounds right, but I heavily disagree.

With how bombastic the bass and mids are on this IEM, one would think that the treble would fall in line with that philosophy. Well, it actually kind of takes a backseat to that rather dynamic duo. Not to say that the Odin is dark (thank god it isn’t), but the treble on it doesn’t really stand out that much. It’s kind of soft and classically EST sounding and could use more emphasis on its extension. It almost sounds lacking in mid-treble, not dissimilar to the U12t’s 8-10khz dip. I do find myself wanting more in a good number of tracks, but in comparison to how damn harsh the ESR and EVR are, this is vastly preferable.

On the intangible side of things, I do find the Odin to lack dynamics and sound overly loud at all times. From a layering side of things, it does feel like it can get a bit confused in dense music, but in simple sections it’s competent. And from a macrodetail perspective I don’t find it particularly lacking at any given moment, which is good because it’d be embarrassing if an IEM with such prominent mids fell flat in that department. Make no mistake, this is a resolving and competent IEM that I do feel like is being done a disservice with its direction in midrange tonality.

All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 4.4mm jack.

In summary? The Odin is, without a doubt, a decent IEM and far and away my favorite of this new lineup revamp. But it’s not without flaws, some of them far too evident for me to overlook. I simply cannot gel with the midrange of the Odin, which is a true shame because I like nearly everything else about it. As for everything else, I gotta say it’s kind of a swing and a miss. I was kind of expecting to like the ESR but I’m not impressed with what I hear, and the rest doesn’t really surprise me in not being great. I just wish the Odin appealed to me more than it does.

Scores:
Bravado MKII: 3/10
ESR MKII: 5/10
EVR MKII: 2/10
Hero: 5/10
Odin: 6/10
Valkyrie MKII: 4/10

Note: Someone tell Empire Ears what a front vent is because jesus christ, every single IEM in this article that has a DD has awful driver flex. I mean, it's not as bad as the old W9 driver, but it's still incredibly annoying to work with. Don't want to imagine what a CIEM version of this stuff would be like.

What's your problem with the Valkyrie?

 

[szore]

Empire Ears: Reboot Roundup
Oh boy, Empire Ears! My favorite company. I fondly recall the massive hit that was the Wraith being one of my earliest “holy crap this is really awful” moments in writing. And its compatriot, the Valkyrie (which has been revamped less than a year later, interestingly enough) wasn’t exactly amazing either. To say the least, I wasn’t really chomping at the bit to hear the new Empire lineup when I heard about it, which was a good bit after people actually began listening to the damn things and talking about it. Talk about out of the loop. Anyways, best to get down to it because damn, that is a lot of IEMs to cover.

Let’s just say the Bravado MKII wasn’t the best opener for this little lineup showing. At this point an Empire hybrid with a DD in it is more or less synonymous with excessive bass, but even amongst that crowd the Bravado is incredibly bassy. And not the good kind of bass either. It’s boomy and bloated with midbass spilling out the sides like a boiling pot of sludge. It’s not like the rest of the frequency range fares any better, given that the midrange is thin bordering on Valkyrie (MKI) levels. I haven’t heard the original Bravado, but I was told by some that it was the most tolerable IEM in their old hybrid lineup. If so, the MKII has definitely landed itself on the opposite of this scale - that is, least tolerable.

If the Bravado was predictable, the ESR MKII surprised me, though for the wrong reasons. I’d heard a lot of praise for the ESR in my usual circles calling it a pretty good neutral monitor. Well to my ears, I don’t hear neutral. The ESR sounds... bright. Almost harsh really. It has a lot of consonance and a surprising amount of hardness in its treble transients for an IEM that supposedly uses ESTs (which I generally associate with wispier or softer treble transients). It kind of reminds me of some of Kumitate’s brighter models like the Focus, except that the ESR trades the Focus’ shoutiness for treble grit. Great layering ability, but I really can’t wrap my head around the tuning, which is especially weird for an IEM supposedly praised for its tonality.

The original Valkyrie as an IEM that, for how extreme it was in its tuning, I was rather lukewarm about. I saw the appeal but I clearly wasn’t the target audience. I can’t see the appeal of the Valkyrie MKII. It’s lost that visceral subbass focus and instead gone for a much more midbassy response while not fixing the sucked out midrange at all. If anything the midrange might be worse now with how nasal it comes off as. Aside from that, between this and the Bravado, it all kind of blurs into a mess of overly bassy V-shaped IEMs. I suppose the Valkyrie has the better bass control, but at that point you’re just choosing between cholera and dysentery. I don’t get the point of neutering a subbass focused IEM into yet another generic bloated bass cannon. Who does this appeal to? Why make 2 almost identical sounding IEMs in the same lineup? I’ll never get it.

The EVR MKII... yeah, no. This thing is just straight garbage. Horrifically telephonic midrange, nonexistent bass response, and more of the same sharp and gritty treble that the ESR had, if not worse. This thing does absolutely nothing right. The only thing remotely “vocal reference” about this is that the midrange and up is unnaturally boosted, though I suppose the same would apply to the built in speaker of a 1930’s rotary dial telephone. Hell, the telephone probably sounds better. I couldn’t tolerate listening to more than a minute of this because it was physically painful to listen to. It’s basically as disastrous as the Wraith. On the other hand, thank god it’s not nearly as expensive as that atrocity. On the other other hand, you’re kidding if you think this mess is worth the thousand USD Empire are peddling it at.

And then we get to the actual new stuff. Phew, with all these reboots you’d think this was the video game or film industry.

The Hero is, in a sea of otherwise bad to mediocre IEMs, much more to the latter. It’s a bright V shape response, emphasis on bright. The treble on this IEM is aggressive in a manner different to the ESR or EVR. If I had to guess, the treble peak on those two is a good bit lower down than the one on the Hero. The Hero is also surprisingly a lot dirtier sounding up top than especially the ESR. Cymbal crashes don’t get the same kind of definition and delineation that they do on the ESR, and the heavy stick impact on the Hero isn’t exactly making this odd contrast between strong treble and a lack of resolution any less jarring. Aside from that, the Hero’s midrange isn’t really anything to write home about and the bass response is pretty alright. It is, however, surprisingly dynamic, which sticks out considering how flat a lot of the other IEMs in this lineup sound. I’m mostly confused by the treble emphasis, and the actual tonality of said treble. Everything else is fine, fine enough to be worth $1350. But with this treble? I’d say no.

And now the big boy, the Odin. The new big boy of EE’s lineup at a whopping $3400 USD. That’s almost (almost!) as expensive as the Wraith. With the name and all you almost get some Noble Khan vibes from this. So just how good (or bad) is EE’s latest multi-kilobuck 11 driver tribrid whopper of an IEM that the community’s whales will undoubtedly be more than eager to eat up?

It’s not bad. Shocking as it is, it’s actually not a trainwreck. It’s not exactly amazing either though.

Let’s start from the bottom and work our way up as usual for this. The Odin’s bass response is tastefully boosted with good amounts of slam and impact, enough to satiate me at least. Bass control is clean and tight and bass texture doesn’t seem lacking either. If I had a criticism it would primarily be that it lacks character. It’s not thick and meaty like the Z1R or colored and sweet (I still can’t get behind how strange it is to call bass sweet but it’s honestly the first thing that springs to mind when talking about it) like the CE-5’s bass. It kind of just is. I don’t think it’s an inherently bad thing, but I do find myself kind of wishing it had a bit more flair to it. It’s no bass monster like the Legend X or the Bravado and Valkyrie MKII, but trust me when I say that I find this far, far more palatable.

The midrange on the Odin is... interesting. I used to joke a lot about how the Legend X had, well, no mids. Of course in reality it actually did, but it was really overshadowed by how overpowering the subbass and lower treble was on that IEM. The Odin’s mids kind of remind me of that, and I’m not sure if that’s really a good thing. You see, now that the Odin’s mids have been brought to the forefront, they come off as really shrill at a lot of times, especially with higher pitched guitars and keyboards. It’s sort of like the Solaris (OG)’s midrange but more in the upper mid side of things in contrast to the lower mid crunchiness and roughness of the Solaris that I couldn’t stand. On the other hand, lower mid and bass heavy music on the Odin sounds awesome, so long as you don’t breach too much into upper midrange territory. This is where my apprehension to calling the Odin good as opposed to “not bad” stems from. There seems to have been a specific midrange tuning for this IEM that I simply cannot get behind. Props to Empire for sticking to their guns one what they think sounds right, but I heavily disagree.

With how bombastic the bass and mids are on this IEM, one would think that the treble would fall in line with that philosophy. Well, it actually kind of takes a backseat to that rather dynamic duo. Not to say that the Odin is dark (thank god it isn’t), but the treble on it doesn’t really stand out that much. It’s kind of soft and classically EST sounding and could use more emphasis on its extension. It almost sounds lacking in mid-treble, not dissimilar to the U12t’s 8-10khz dip. I do find myself wanting more in a good number of tracks, but in comparison to how damn harsh the ESR and EVR are, this is vastly preferable.

On the intangible side of things, I do find the Odin to lack dynamics and sound overly loud at all times. From a layering side of things, it does feel like it can get a bit confused in dense music, but in simple sections it’s competent. And from a macrodetail perspective I don’t find it particularly lacking at any given moment, which is good because it’d be embarrassing if an IEM with such prominent mids fell flat in that department. Make no mistake, this is a resolving and competent IEM that I do feel like is being done a disservice with its direction in midrange tonality.

All listening was done out of the WM1A’s 4.4mm jack.

In summary? The Odin is, without a doubt, a decent IEM and far and away my favorite of this new lineup revamp. But it’s not without flaws, some of them far too evident for me to overlook. I simply cannot gel with the midrange of the Odin, which is a true shame because I like nearly everything else about it. As for everything else, I gotta say it’s kind of a swing and a miss. I was kind of expecting to like the ESR but I’m not impressed with what I hear, and the rest doesn’t really surprise me in not being great. I just wish the Odin appealed to me more than it does.

Scores:
Bravado MKII: 3/10
ESR MKII: 5/10
EVR MKII: 2/10
Hero: 5/10
Odin: 6/10
Valkyrie MKII: 4/10

Note: Someone tell Empire Ears what a front vent is because jesus christ, every single IEM in this article that has a DD has awful driver flex. I mean, it's not as bad as the old W9 driver, but it's still incredibly annoying to work with. Don't want to imagine what a CIEM version of this stuff would be like.

Fake it till' you make it...

 

[Tristy]

What's your problem with the Valkyrie?

It isn’t made by Sony