[Tom Blake]

What do you like about the Meze over Utopia?

I have been very happy with Utopia direct from DAVE. At times they can be a bit much though with the hyperdetail and I take a break with my ZMFs. I was intrigued by the Empyrean and wanted to give them a try. The potential of a top tier planar that can be easily driven direct by DAVE is very appealing. They have the nicest build quality of any headphone I have encountered and they are extremely comfortable. I wore them for 6 hours yesterday and had no issues at all. I am not done in my comparisons with Utopia yet but so far I am very impressed. They have a warm signature with very impactful and rich bass. They clearly best the Utopia here. The midrange is very enjoyable with great presence to vocals and guitar without being too forward. The treble is highly resolving and detailed. It is not as impressive as the Utopia but Empyrean are more laid back and not as bright. Overall a very enjoyable and fun headphone to listen to that may well suit my listening preferences better than Utopia. Meze has a real winner here and it's a relative bargain to its competitors like Utopia, LCD-4, Abyss, etc. They seem to synergize really well with DAVE also as does Utopia, of course. I am at a similar volume level on DAVE with the Empyreans as I am with Utopia so they seem just as easy to drive. Absolutely no need for an external amp. Highly recommend DAVE owners check them out!

 

[STR-1]

I have been very happy with Utopia direct from DAVE. At times they can be a bit much though with the hyperdetail and I take a break with my ZMFs. I was intrigued by the Empyrean and wanted to give them a try. The potential of a top tier planar that can be easily driven direct by DAVE is very appealing. They have the nicest build quality of any headphone I have encountered and they are extremely comfortable. I wore them for 6 hours yesterday and had no issues at all. I am not done in my comparisons with Utopia yet but so far I am very impressed. They have a warm signature with very impactful and rich bass. They clearly best the Utopia here. The midrange is very enjoyable with great presence to vocals and guitar without being too forward. The treble is highly resolving and detailed. It is not as impressive as the Utopia but Empyrean are more laid back and not as bright. Overall a very enjoyable and fun headphone to listen to that may well suit my listening preferences better than Utopia. Meze has a real winner here and it's a relative bargain to its competitors like Utopia, LCD-4, Abyss, etc. They seem to synergize really well with DAVE also as does Utopia, of course. I am at a similar volume level on DAVE with the Empyreans as I am with Utopia so they seem just as easy to drive. Absolutely no need for an external amp. Highly recommend DAVE owners check them out!

Good feedback.

I see you also have the Blu 2. Can I ask if you have taken any steps to reduce the rf contamination travelling through to the DAVE from the Blu 2? The glare that results from this will be highlighted by the Utopia more so than by the Empyrean.

 

[hehaw77]

Can anyone help me? I managed to get the funds for either the TT2 or a Dave for about £5k. The dream is to save up for the Abyss Phi CC next but would I be better served with the TT2 or the Dave. Don’t think I’ll get the opportunity again so what I get I’m stuck with in a way. Thanks for any help for a newbie .

Absolutely get the Dave... it has higher taps... etc.. you can pair it later with the Mscaler...

 

[hehaw77]

Good feedback.

I see you also have the Blu 2. Can I ask if you have taken any steps to reduce the rf contamination travelling through to the DAVE from the Blu 2? The glare that results from this will be highlighted by the Utopia more so than by the Empyrean.

?? are you familiar with how the Blu and Chord work in tandem? There is next to no RF contamination.... The blu works on getting a perfect sign wave via the 104mhz clock. What is key here is the type of interconnects you are using between the two. The better the interconnect the better the sound.... and he doesn't have the blu2 he has the mscaler ; different products...

 

[Triode User]

Absolutely get the Dave... it has higher taps... etc.. you can pair it later with the Mscaler...

Agree, if you can get a Dave for £5k then it is a bargain. Rob Watts has very recently confirmed on here that there are currently no plans at all to replace Dave and so it is going to be top of the game for quite a while which will protect your investment.

 

[Triode User]

?? are you familiar with how the Blu and Chord work in tandem? There is next to no RF contamination.... The blu works on getting a perfect sign wave via the 104mhz clock. What is key here is the type of interconnects you are using between the two. The better the interconnect the better the sound.... and he doesn't have the blu2 he has the mscaler ; different products...

Unfortunately you are wrong there. There has been quite a bit of discussion about this in the Blu2 thread and Rob Watts himself originally brought up the issue of RF contamination from the Blu2 getting into the Dave and causing harshness/glare. Rob's suggestion was to use clip on ferrites and many Blu2 owners do this with great success and that allows the Blu2 to be heard in all its magnificence. The significance of the cables between Blu2 and Dave is not so much about traditional 'quality' so much as the ability to filter the RF. Yes the Blu2 and MScaler are different products but they have exactly the same technology inside them although the MScaler has internal filtering to limit the RF transfer.

 

[miketlse]

deleted

 

[burbster]

This comment triggers something I have been wondering about. With the very high quality of the HMS/Dave combo, are you able to hear any difference between CD quality and hi-res files? I can think of a lot of technical arguments why the difference should no longer be audible but I am curious to see what you can hear in practice. Thanks!

Yes I have posted on this subject previously, whilst I concede that the HMS makes a bigger difference in general to RBCD material, it still elevates my HiRes collection to yet another level! Really special.

 

[JaZZ]

This comment triggers something I have been wondering about. With the very high quality of the HMS/Dave combo, are you able to hear any difference between CD quality and hi-res files? I can think of a lot of technical arguments why the difference should no longer be audible but I am curious to see what you can hear in practice. Thanks!

Yes I have posted on this subject previously, whilst I concede that the HMS makes a bigger difference in general to RBCD material, it still elevates my HiRes collection to yet another level! Really special.

I agree with burbster: 44.1 kHz recordings benefit the most from the M Scaler, but even 192 kHz recordings sound better with it, although to a minor degree. If we (and Rob) are lucky, 44.1 kHz could be all we need once Davina is an established component in recording studios. As I see it, the main reason why hi-res still sounds better is the common A/D conversion and decimation in the studios that needs to be improved, while higher sampling rates offer the better precondition for transient accuracy than a frequency range that has to be strictly limited to 22 kHz. That is, till Davina comes into play.

 

[Tom Blake]

Good feedback.

I see you also have the Blu 2. Can I ask if you have taken any steps to reduce the rf contamination travelling through to the DAVE from the Blu 2? The glare that results from this will be highlighted by the Utopia more so than by the Empyrean.

Yes I run WAVE Storm Reference cables between Blu2 and DAVE. Very happy with these cables from Nick! They definitely reduced some residual brightness in my system and provided a richer, darker tone to my overall sound quality. I compared them to Snake River Boomslangs, SOtM, and Clearer Audio Optimus Reference. I preferred the WAVE cables over these competitors. I am confident RF pollution is not an issue with my BluDAVE setup

 

[hehaw77]

Unfortunately you are wrong there. There has been quite a bit of discussion about this in the Blu2 thread and Rob Watts himself originally brought up the issue of RF contamination from the Blu2 getting into the Dave and causing harshness/glare. Rob's suggestion was to use clip on ferrites and many Blu2 owners do this with great success and that allows the Blu2 to be heard in all its magnificence. The significance of the cables between Blu2 and Dave is not so much about traditional 'quality' so much as the ability to filter the RF. Yes the Blu2 and MScaler are different products but they have exactly the same technology inside them although the MScaler has internal filtering to limit the RF transfer.

Use quality interconnects and that solves your RF issue.... I''ve always used quality interconnects so this RF issue has not been an issue for me. Also can you quote this Rob Watts thing on ferrites. When I was using lower grade power cables I used ferrites however I don't need them anymore... as everything is upgraded now...

 

[Drewligarchy]

I know this probably has been discussed to death in the thread, but can someone describe for me both the amount and type of improvement I'd get from adding an M-Scaler or Blu2 to my newly acquired Dave?

There are some other audio upgrades I have to consider in my system first - and I am incredibly happy with the Dave - but obviously curious.

To me, Dave sounds relatively perfect for the sound I was going for. I am primarily using it with my KGSSHV Carbon and Stax 009. I also use with my LCD-4, and I find nothing lacking going direct vs my V281, in fact, I like it significantly more.

Is there a change in tonal balance or an increase in resolution, depth, space etc? I read someone mentioned "Mscaler does for horns what Dave does for strings". In fact, Ive been blown away by what Dave does for horns. "Black Beauty" in DSD on the first Opus 3 sampler is incredible.

Dave is the only DAC that has fully taken advantage of the resolution of the 009 that I've listened to - though it's also the most expensive DAC I've listened to, with only the Bricasti M1 SE being in the same ballpark.

What would an M-Scaler do to my system? I'm sure I'll try it eventually but curious.

 

[ray-dude]

I know this probably has been discussed to death in the thread, but can someone describe for me both the amount and type of improvement I'd get from adding an M-Scaler or Blu2 to my newly acquired Dave?

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/chord-blu-mk-ii-digital-cd-transport.22848/reviews#review-19675

Looking forward to updating this soon with mScaler impressions!

 

[Drewligarchy]

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/chord-blu-mk-ii-digital-cd-transport.22848/reviews#review-19675

Looking forward to updating this soon with mScaler impressions!

Thanks so much - did read your review and it was fantastic. I think you had mentioned the HD800 was the bottleneck. While the Stax can resolve better than the HD800 in my opinion, I'm also going through an external amp. For headphone listening is there a consensus on the best pairings with the Dave?

I tried an hd800 years ago and liked it - but found it slightly bright. I think Dave would ameliorate that. I had the Utopia for a week and the mids sounded a bit too dry in my system.

Ultimately, is it a worthwhile upgrade for headphones?

 

[ray-dude]

Thanks so much - did read your review and it was fantastic. I think you had mentioned the HD800 was the bottleneck. While the Stax can resolve better than the HD800 in my opinion, I'm also going through an external amp. For headphone listening is there a consensus on the best pairings with the Dave?

I tried an hd800 years ago and liked it - but found it slightly bright. I think Dave would ameliorate that. I had the Utopia for a week and the mids sounded a bit too dry in my system.

Ultimately, is it a worthwhile upgrade for headphones?

I'm waiting on a TT2 to pair with an HMS for auditions, but on my short list is the Susvara and Abyss Phi. I'd like to compare mDAVE vs mTT2 with these headphones (and the HD800 for continuity). The Utopia is a fine pairing (and m-scales a bit better than the HD800 to my ear) but I'm a sucker for the speed/soundstage/detail from both the Susvara and Abyss Phi. I just want to be sure to hear them with both the brawn of the mTT2 and the elegance of the mDAVE so I can get a handle on what is source attributable vs what is intrinsic to the headphones.

I was able to audition the HEKse. Shockingly good with the Hugo2 and DAVE (wow).