“Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much more.” - Helen Keller
Collaboration. What does the word imply exactly?
The collaborative effort between two or more companies. That’s what I would use to define the term at least.
Empire Ears has been one of the fastest rising stars in the world of portable audio hobby as far as I can remember and their collaboration with multiple well-known companies such as Effect Audio and Asius Tech with ADEL modules have been the biggest proof that their passion has touched the hearts of many, many enthusiasts of all range, both young and old.
Effect Audio has designed plenty of splendid cables that continued to unlock hidden doors to worlds of audio bliss upon many, many IEMs around the world, universal and custom alike, and they have grown to be one of the most well known cable manufacturers I’ve heard until now.
Put both together, and you have one heck of a force of nature to be reckoned with.
It’s like combining multiple F5 tornadoes along with a supercell and together form something equivalent to a the Red Spot found in planet Jupiter, a storm so great that nothing else in our planet compares to it.
And that’s the metaphor I’d like to use when describing what the result is like when I fired the first track upon listening to the long-awaited ARTHUR -- the 14 BA driver made by Empire based on their flagship Zeus design paired with an exclusively beautiful cable meant for the ARTHUR -- and appropriately named -- EXCALIBUR.
DISCLAIMER
Before I begin, I just want to say that I have no affiliation with Effect Audio or Empire Ears and what I am about to say here are pure honest impressions of my own and are completely subjective impressions that should be taken by a grain of salt and if you are curious of spending or investing on this product, I highly recommend you to try it out first and formulate your own thoughts before pulling the trigger.
In the end, it shouldn’t matter whether I like something or not, it’s whether you like it or not once you tried it.
Thank you for understanding.
INTRODUCTION
My name is Arthur Chor and I go by the name Rin1990 across the internet, just your everyday 26 year old audio hobbyist that enjoys listening to all sorts of amazing and great audio-lover products that a majority of time I’ll never be able to afford no matter how I try to save up from my pitiful monthly income from my current job.
I recently known Empire Ears for the past 2 months or so and admittedly it changed my perspective of what BA driver IEMs can truly do when tuned properly. It’s the first ever custom in-ear monitor company that gave me the opportunity to try the entire range of their recent products unlike 64 Audio which only left me with the long-discontinued ADEL series.
The experience is what counts for me most and my 60 minutes spent on the ARTHUR has been nothing short of memorable.
Before I go further, I’ll just show you good folks the source that I use along with some reinforcements given by Kozato from Music Sanctuary to improve my experience with this audition.
All my impressions are done with the ARTHUR using M sized Spinfit tips.
And my source is my own personal Fiio X1 paired with my newly purchased Quartette-ONE Furutech Version Interconnect fed directly to the brand new HUM Hypno portable amplifier set at low gain.
My score is done in a similar way to jelt2359’s Fit-For-A-Bat where the score will be from 1 to 10 points with a chance to break the 10 point scale if there is a spectrum where it exceeded my expectations and reaced Audio Nirvana level in my ears.
Lower than 5 Points -- Poor. Really could use a bit of re-tuning. Lots of flaws here that are either unpleasant, harsh, bloated, thin, or just outright lifeless or even awkwardly artificial at times.
5 Points -- Not bad. This spectrum passed in my opinion. But could still use plenty of refinement.
6 Points -- Nice. This is where the IEM performed above average to my ears. But once again, still a lot of room for that improvement.
7 Points -- Great. This is what I like to see in an IEM in general. Not reaching the awesome level but definitely worth considering as a daily driver for lengthy listening outside, for me at least.
8 Points -- Awesome. Any spectrum that gained this level of points deserve praise because this is where things got very pleasant to my ears.
9 Points -- Stellar. This IEM has something special that I love and I am enjoying every bit of it.
10 Points -- Perfect. This is exactly the type of stuff that I enjoy in my music and the only thing limiting this is the source synergy which can always be mended accordingly.
Over 10 Points --
Audio Nirvana. To truly obtain the score of over 10 in my scale, the IEM has to really perform in a level that exceeds all my lofty expectations that I have in the first place and still managed to come across as a pleasant experience and not hampered by source synergy.
After all, a true IEM that has versatility on all source is what I call a good IEM as it’s not only amazing sounding but can be forgiving even on poor recordings, as not every audio enthusiasts will always listen only to lossless files, some actually still listen to 320kbps MP3 files and an IEM has to be forgiving on them to and not be too picky.
Listening to the sound of joy of your preference should never have been a luxury to begin with.
FIT
Needless to say, I always find wearing flagship CIEM demos to be a bit of a hassle especially when it comes to trying out models with shells as big as they need to be to hold all the balanced armature drivers inside.
I’ve said before that trying the Empire’s own flagship -- The Zeus R, my left ear sort of disagrees with the fit and as a result it protrudes a bit outside and there’s some slight leak of sound. However thanks to the Spinfit tips I use the sound-leak wasn’t as nearly as bad as I thought it will be.
The same can be said for ARTHUR. I had to readjust my left ear fit once in awhile everytime I tilt my head, unfortunately. But it's nothing bad or invasive enough to ruin the listening experience for me. In fact they stay rather well when I am listening on the couch.
I will say though, that if you want the best out of ARTHUR’s sound at its full potential, it’s definitely recommended to go custom for this and get the perfect fit that’s molded after your ear shape so you won’t miss a thing or have any sound leak at all and with a benefit of the absolute best isolation you can get.
Universal Fit to my ears: 8.8/10 (Awesome)
SOUND I - GENERAL IMPRESSION
The most important part of an audio gear’s impression obviously. No amount of premium materials or manufacturer cost is going to matter too much if the sound presentation isn’t up to snuff, especially with a hefty price tag as big as ARTHUR here.
So how do they sound?
Let me pause for a moment and share this picture.
Serenity and pure nirvana is all I can sense. Once my eyes are closed as I fired my first track, and this is the scene I immediately imagined.
There’s no reality, only my ears and the music I chose to play in my head. And these don’t just ‘play’ music. They envelop my entire presence into the track itself, as it I am immersed into the wondrous world of any music, where there’s no fantasy images can be denied and it’s only limited by your own imagination.
But that is not all the ARTHUR can do. It’s beyond what a chameleon is capable of, which is merely blending in with atmosphere. ARTHUR is not a chameleon at all.
What it really is however -- is an event horizon of spiraling soundwaves thrown at its vortex.
A powerful song found in orchestral composition filled with chorus chanting and majestic presentation of every classical instruments you could think of, being right there in your presence, and you’re in the same position as the conductor himself.
That’s how I feel with ARTHUR when I fired up Ace Combat 5’s finale track -- The Unsung War. Started out slow and build up into a climactic performance that can only be appreciated in all its glory with some of the most resolving IEMs that I’ve tried in my life. Understanding the story behind the song from the game’s story, it just made all the more emotional connection easier to reach. The only time when I got such a bliss was when I listened to Empire Ears flagship -- The Zeus R, then followed by Noble Audio’s Katana.
But unlike the Zeus R that brought me close up and personal to the performance or Katana that performed with precision…
The ARTHUR transport me directly into the world of Strangereal, also known as the universe of Ace Combat world and it let me feel every note as if I was there in the recording studio. It couldn’t possibly get any more staggeringly realistic than this and I honestly do not expect this form of organic sound reproduction level from balanced armature drivers.
An energetic presentation of thrash metal where singers get to vent all the regressed emotions into an explosive energy of pure musical rage and power in synchronicity with the band members together, adding along with the presence of the ever vast and enormous sea of audiences cheering for your favorite band and you are right there on stage in front of the band performing as if it will be their final retirement moments. One last show that will leave their permanent mark in the world.
ARTHUR didn’t just reproduce metal of my preference, it literally threw me into the crowd whenever there’s live gigs that I want to listen. I am not listening to the band and crowd. I am already with everyone there, and the energy I felt is beyond entrancing.
Female vocals have so much presentation in every emotional spectrum regardless of languages, genre or what type of message they’re trying to convey. You cannot help but feel allured to their voices once they sang. Some are pleasant, others are emotional and a handful few are filled to the brim with extreme power and authority, or heart-wrenching sadness and despair. Some even have a spark of hope within their cold and slow singing. With ARTHUR, it doesn’t discriminate.
Whatever emotions I remembered in the songs I listen to, they were all presented in full force, and there’s not a single wasted breathing moment missed on any note or word sung.
Male vocals were no slouch either, Andrea Bocelli sounded especially powerful with every breath of his word caught with sheer perfection. There were no notes missed or veiled. Everything was there.
I shall continue to describe more on the vocals on the Mids section as I am already spending a bit too much time here in general impression.
Even from just the soundstage presentation, I am not thrown into a musical hall. In fact, I feel like I am put in the valley of the kings, Avalon itself because the soundstage is not only naturally wide, tall and has plenty of air, but it’s just…’there’. There’s nothing added into the presentation. The only thing present here is as natural a soundstage as I can truly imagine from an in-ear monitor.
3D imaging presentation is outright laser-pinpoint accurate. Instruments separation are not only convincing to the core, but I can almost immediately reach out and put my hand towards the moving instrument of my choosing on the tracks I am listening.
Once again, I am going to separate all these into their own respective section on Sound Impressions as I continue on.
To keep it short -- my ears are officially spoiled by ARTHUR.
SOUND II - BASS
Well well...where to even begin?
You know what I like about explosions? They always hit in full force in an instant and decay with a very strong rumble. Something that is usually related to such addictive sound is found on dynamic drivers, especially very good ones, yet here I am, experiencing the explosive, dynamic bass from an IEM that is all balanced armature drivers, with only merely two of them being used on the low frequency.
This shows once again, that driver wars really should’ve died a long, long time ago. Because in all honesty, it doesn't matter whether you have two drivers or even eighteen drivers. None of that matters if you don’t know how to tune them accordingly.
Listening to Higurashi no Naku Koro ni from Eiko Shimamiya, the main song I use in testing the bass of any IEM, the bass reproduced by the ARTHUR is nothing short of spine-chilling.
It goes deep. So deep in fact, that I am not even sure if there’s a bottom beneath the bass made by the ARTHUR. This is the sort of bass that decay naturally and you’ll never know when it happens, but once the process is gone through your ears, you can ‘feel’ that presence and disappearance of the bass is natural enough. It’s convincing without trying too hard, yet it’s just quick enough to follow up on even faster, more aggressive metal songs like Slipknot’s Heretic Anthem.
Joey Jordinson’s double-bass is known to be my favorite bass-speed-test drummer as he has always been famous for tapping the bass like a maniacal machine behind the drums.
ARTHUR didn’t even need to try and not a single fast bass note was left unturned in details. Every ripple of the hidden quick dynamic rumble made by those lightning-fast bass-tapping were caught almost effortlessly and it’s very satisfying on each note. I can feel like my eardrums are constantly getting shot by an invisible .50 cal machine gun clapping in full force.
The amount of bass here is both in full quality and quantity. There’s so much body in every bass note regardless of what song I play that they’ll always be more than ready to hit with the strength of a full-blown dynamite or a lightning bolt strike when called upon.
The best thing however, is that despite being so powerful and dynamic in bass, they never creep their way into higher frequencies like the mids and treble which always break the deal of many purists who prefer heavy bass without sacrificing one frequency or another.
The bass here is not only visceral, it’s so well-controlled that it felt like there’s an invisible layer protecting the mids from being invaded by the powerful lows from the IEM, even when heavy bass songs are being played. They linger with such a satisfying impact on the decay of the bass, that it left you wanting for more.
The bass on ARTHUR is one that erupts with the out-of-nowhere nature of a bomb went off, and slams with the force of a gigantic hammer. It lingers and decays naturally like the flames of a wildfire. It’s one of those very rare BA driver IEMs that has a very strong and organic characteristic bass tuning that can only be found on very well-tuned IEMs with dynamic transducers.
This bass resonates deep within my heart and stays there until it decays naturally like a devil that just finished possessing an innocent heart after forcing that person doing his bidding. That’s how spine-chilling the bass in the ARTHUR is.
Compared to the Zeus R, which has just as much authority and impact, the ARTHUR excels and took it one step further with the bass presentation with both impact and detail, along with an even more natural decay.
Is it the work of Mr. Vang’s tuning on the dual drivers?
Or the work of Effect Audio’s King Sword cable made for ARTHUR -- EXCALIBUR doing its work in extending the bass spectrum splendidly?
Or is it both working in synchronicity that yielded such an amazing bass frequency?
Honestly, I don’t know, nor do I care because one thing's for certain without a shadow of a doubt --
I adore the bass of ARTHUR immensely. It’s mind-blowingly, staggeringly and absurdly good sounding to my ears.
I don’t think I’ll be able to let go off the addiction of the bass from these along with those wonderful dynamic high-end IEMs that gave such a beautifully natural bass presentation.
The bass of ARTHUR gets a 10.5/10 on my scale. It literally broke the scale of my score for the first time because it’s just too good for me to give it a perfect score even.
Doubtful this will ever happen a second time where I will score an IEM’s bass score far beyond the full score scale because to do that, the IEM will really have to truly impress me on the bass frequency, and it’s very likely only some of the absolute best and well-tuned dynamic IEMs will have such an ability, but here, ARTHUR has succeeded in breaking the scale as the first balanced armature IEM that ever graced my ears with a bass score that broke the 10 point scale.
Nicely done.
Bass score -- 10.5/10 (Audio Nirvana)
SOUND III - MIDS
During the beginning of my journey in this hobby, the first ever mid-centric IEM that truly moved my soul and caused something to steer in my heart in delving into this hobby further was none other than the Vision Ears VE5.
That CIEM demo built by them has got to be the most unique thing I’ve tried as it not just sits comfortably in my ears, but hardly felt like it was there. But that’s not even the moving part at all.
The moving part was when I fired my first vocal track --
The vocal artist was singing directly in front of me, as if she is in right there in body and flesh, her voice recorded perfectly by those state-of-the-art grade microphone and yet when sung through my ears with the VE5, I cannot sense any microphone at all.
It’s all simply me and my vocal artist. There were nothing else in the background, except for the instruments that took a backseat whenever they need be for the singer’s voice to stand out in full spades.
I have been listening to multiple tracks from Adele, Loorena McKennit, Lenka and many, many of my favorite JPop singers like LisA, Aoi Eir, Utada Hikaru and Kalafina. And especially on slower songs like Loorena McKennit’s Caravanserai, Lenka’s Two Heartbeats, Adele’s Someone Like You, that’s when ARTHUR shows its magic in bringing the soulful voices directly to the center of your forehead.
Very few IEMs are ever capable of producing vocals in such an immersive sense, and the only time I ever experienced such vocal bliss was twice in my mind.
The first time being Vision Ears VE5, the second time being Empire Ears Zeus R, and finally the third time with ARTHUR.
My recent experience with Noble Katana was very, very close into bringing me into this level of vocal bliss but still don’t quite reach to the level of ARTHUR.
With the ARTHUR, the vocals was shown in so much natural and organic sense that even the sibilance feel like it’s ‘supposed to be there’ in the first place and didn’t strike me as invasive at all.
Never has there been an IEM where I actually welcome a bit of natural sibilance, because of how sensitive my ears were to harsh treble in general, and yet here I am actually liking some of it because some recordings were either of poor quality in mastering admittedly, that or maybe their singers weren’t given pop filters on their mics.
Hopefully in future there will be even more IEMs where they tuned the natural sibilance to actually be tolerable to my sensitive ears because this is a pleasant surprise.
If you are able to tune an IEM with a natural presence of sibilance that isn’t invasive even to someone who’s treble-sensitive from the vocals alone, you know you’ve done something right here.
Human has to breathe after a period of using the voice chords vigorously whether it’s through talking or singing. And here, not a single moment of breathing was missed. I can ‘feel’ every moment where the singer has to catch his or her breath whenever they cleared a long lyrical note. Overall the presentation is just full of life and organic.
I could go on and on with how beautiful the mids were on ARTHUR but I’ve spent enough time on this section.
Once again, ARTHUR broke the scale of the 10 point in this section as it scored tremendously on the mid range to my ears. It presented not just body and airiness in mids, but soulfulness and immersion along with an overall organic presentation of natural sibilance that cannot, and probably should not be veiled at anyway without rolling off the treble slightly.
The midrange here is presented in a way that, whatever recordings you feed to it -- it will leave no stones unturned and present everything to you in full spectrum, even sibilance in the original recording session.
And this is the mid range that I can learn to appreciate even on top of the line IEMs.
Great work, Empire Ears and Effect Audio.
Midrange Score: 10.3/10 (Audio Nirvana)
SOUND IV - TREBLE
As King Arthur’s life ends in his final resting place in Avalon, his memory and story continued for generation till today. It extended infinitely, generation after generation learn of how Arthur rose up to be the king that lead Britian to victory through the invasion of the Saxons.
The same can be said on the smoothness and nigh limitless extension of ARTHUR the IEM.
The tonality produced were nothing short of natural and organic. There were no filters from natural sibilance here so whatever you feed through this IEM, it’s going to return directly to your eardrums without any veil whatsoever.
ARTHUR is not about giving you so much smoothness that it rolls off the treble in the process, no. This IEM is about giving you the most sincere type of treble extension that you would expect from this model that has its own colorfully regal personality.
It leans towards clarity of such level that I feel as if I am looking at the surface of the ever famous and beautiful Five Flower Lake in China. Sparkles extended to the point where when called upon from a song, I can almost reach out and grab them like a naive child reaching for the stars he saw at night as his mother sang his favorite lullaby.
Finally, it extends infinitely. The treble on ARTHUR just has no limit in how far it can extend, even through my puny Fiio X1’s DAC chip. Listening to RIKKI’s Suteki da Ne has never felt so emotionally immersive yet after the violin solo’s sparkle, it just tops every IEM I’ve tested so far in terms of emotional delivery on that final bit before the song begin anew once more.
There’s just so much to like about the ARTHUR’s treble that it’s impossible to put any more words through describing it.
Treble Score: 10/10 (Perfect)
SOUND V - SOUNDSTAGE & IMAGING
You know the moment when a ripple travels from a stone thrown at a flat and calm lake, it can extend to the point where if you pay attention, it’ll be quite a surprise that it might reach near half the distance of the other side of the shore?
That is the soundstage of the ARTHUR.
It extends far. Very far in fact. Granted I am not sure how far can an IEM’s soundstage expand, but the sound of ARTHUR is vast in itself. The only reason why it still sounded as if it has some sort of limitation was all due to my Fiio X1’s inferior DAC chip which is easily expected. However even with that in mind, ARTHUR is generous with its spatial presentation.
When I fired up O Fortuna from Carmina Burana, everything is exactly where I expected them to be. Not one spot of misposition were felt. Again, there’s still a very slight ever sense of narrowness due to Fiio X1’s limitation despite the wonderful pairing with HUM Hypno’s amplification. But this is nothing invasive at all. Not even close enough for me to slightly bat an eye on any awkward positioning sensing. If anything else this just means my player isn’t really pushing the IEM to its limit enough and ARTHUR still continue to impress in spades.
The coherency presented is so staggeringly good even through X1’s limiting sound quality it’s almost surprising to my ears. Even the accuracy of instruments through orchestral piece were near pixel-perfect-laser-pinpoint precise. This sort of accuracy in will definitely be amplified even further if you pair with a better source.
Soundstage & Imaging score: 9.9/10 (Stellar)
And speaking of source-pairing…
SOURCE MATCHING
I also need to mention that ARTHUR’s sense of scale is so incredible that it even forgive budget players feeding it. But I can believe that without a shadow of a doubt, that ARTHUR will reward the sound generously should it be fed with a much better source like Astell & Kern or Cayin players.
A more neutral or organic source pairing will truly bring out the true colors of the ARTHUR as it’s greatest strength is its resolution in all frequencies.
I cannot score this section appropriately as I have no other DAPs to compare but this is the score I can give to my current setup done for it.
Fiio X1 + HUM Hypno + Quartette-ONE Furutech Ver. Interconnect -- 9.3/10 (Stellar)
COMPARISON TO ZEUS-R
I’ll keep this short and simple.
ARTHUR is like Zeus-R on steroids with a very musical and resolving nature that has a boosted level of detail retrieval and more precise imaging.
It has a more holographic 3D imaging, wider soundstage, much more organic sound, more detailed in its retrieval from a track, bass slams much deeper, carry more body, quality and quantity, punches tighter.
Midrange is much more lush, soulful and syrupy thick. Its treble extends infinitely and soars with no end, much like Zeus R but it’s refined tuning along with the EXCALIBUR cable’s combination make for that final push that I originally feel in the Zeus R. The Zeus R soars extremely high, but not THIS high in the ARTHUR.
But keep in mind, that Zeus R (priced at $2100) is significantly cheaper than the ARTHUR ($3600) so maybe keep that in mind when you are trying to decide whether the price difference of $1500 is worth about...25% more sound quality from the Zeus R along with an exclusive and beautiful EXCALIBUR cable that you can play with other CIEMs or universals that uses the 2-Pin connector.
Is the steep price worth such exclusivity along with that 25% increase of sound quality in all frequencies? That is ultimately up to you. The best way to judge this from your own perspective would be of course, try and do an A/B comparison with both units in your hands.
Both are outstanding IEMs at what they do, and it’s just that ARTHUR needed a lot to achieve that promised audio Nirvana effect for me, and with an impressively huge price increase to boot along.
VALUE
It is to my personal belief that no matter how amazingly beautiful or innovative an IEM is made from a successful company, that it should never reach beyond a certain line of blatant excessiveness even amongst summit-fi enthusiasts that have already own multiple top-of-the-line IEMs or DAPs such as those from iRiver’s Astell & Kern.
That certain line of excessive price tag beyond my tolerance would be $3500. An IEM should never have to be more expensive than that. Full stop. Even the Shure KSE1500 electrostatic IEM is almost pushing it to my range but because it brought something new to the table and actually being the first to innovate listeners into bringing a new tech readily from the full-sized headphone world, it earns an exception from me.
With that in mind, I will just go ahead and say that ARTHUR is not a good investment.
Why? Because keep in mind, you’re paying an a grand and half for basically a very, very well tuned Zeus-R based unit that bears the name of a king into it, along with an extremely well-made cable based from Effect Audio’s LEONIDAS cable which is re-made and re-wired internally exclusively to match the best synergy possible for this particular IEM.
You’re paying a steep extra price for collaborative cost and labor cost that went beyond the range of what regular goldsmiths do with rings and other jewelries.
While the ARTHUR is without a doubt, a sound reproduction marvel from an IEM standpoint, it is in no way, a fully justified investment of an extra 1500 dollars from the Zeus R model. Because it doesn’t sound a grand better, and because it certainly isn’t any more innovative than a possible ADEL module inclusion in future where there’s actually something new. Here you’re mostly paying for an exclusive cable and a refined tuning of the Zeus which is something you’ve expected and that’s all there is.
Are there more expensive IEMs now? Of course. Look at 64 Audio’s new flagship, the Tia Fourte. That 4-driver unit with their pending patented Tia-driver exclusivity made it feel justified for interested clients to actually invest as much as a grand on each driver.
Yes.
One full thousand US dollars per driver for that particular unit.
Sounds pretty bonkers when you put it in comparison to other multi-driver behemoths, doesn’t it? What could possibly make that unit so expensive beyond all lofty expectations even? That remains to be seen as I doubt it’s only the driver design that made it so costly.
With that closing thought, I will say that even though ARTHUR isn’t exactly worth $3600’s price tag despite the amazing collaborative effort between Jack Vang and Suyang, it’s still at least much better a price compared to the Tia Fourte because with 400 bucks, you can actually do a lot with it when you think about it.
Perhaps even invest on a very, very well-done interconnect from Effect Audio or PW Audio, or DIYs from your trusted friends if you believe in their R&D experiences! Now that would be an ideal combo to go with your amazing setup along with ARTHUR and EXCALIBUR if you ever thought of spending a full-blown four grand of an upgrade leap.
Value Score: 5.8/10 (Not bad)
CONCLUSION
Empire Ears and Effect Audio have been out for audio world domination with their own respective ways to innovate enthusiasts for quite a fair amount of time, and as the competition continued to become tighter, so do their passion burn brighter.
Empire Ears’ current collaboration with Asius Technology in reintroducing ADEL modules on their Olympus line up has proven an overwhelming success to audio lovers and it is an effort worth celebrating as portable audio continued to soar ever higher in satisfying music lovers, young and old together. The ARTHUR stands as one of their pinnacle product that is fully eclipsed and probably will not be replicated in future, because they don’t need to.
Empire Ears is not a company that will stay and sit comfortably with one ultimate product. They’re like a moving force of nature that constantly change as the ripple of time continued to test their innovation and creativity in refining their approach in sound reproduction.
I believe the same can be said on Effect Audio’s end too. The EXCALIBUR cable represents as the fruit of labor from years and years of their cable design’s research and development all put in this collaborative project. And the final result is nothing short of mesmerizing and even beautiful to just look at.
Can Effect Audio ever make anything else that top the EXCALIBUR cable? I believe so. No cables they designed are ever a be-all-and-end-all case. That’s what makes them so successful because they constantly journey through multiple ways in designing their cables and even though I am not a strong believer of cables making better sound, Effect Audio changed a lot of things in how I see through cable swapping alone and this project only further confirms it that they’re truly on top of the game they’re playing.
It is sad to say however, that this is just a product that is on a bridge too far to cross for me, and a stair too high to climb. It is a star product that can only be bought by individuals with the most stable monthly income. But should they make the jump, they will experience an Audio Nirvana that I can only dream of experiencing every day and that alone deserve my utmost respect.
For everyone else, it’s never about owning a product in this hobby. Experiencing it is what makes the journey so satisfying after all, because you’ll at least have an idea in learning what it means to experience sounds that you thought you recognize only to realize that you have so much more to journey to.
It is a ring of experience that extends infinitely with no end.
And now, I need that mug of coffee from finishing this write up.
Pros
+ Audio Nirvana sound that can cater to many, many types of genre music lovers
+ A beautiful cable that owning it alone can be considered a proud luxury for cable collectors.
+ Surprisingly forgiving on even poor quality tracks compared to other more picky IEMs.
Cons
- Significantly more expensive than the Zeus R it was based on.
- How is Effect Audio and Empire going to top this? If possible, when?
- I don’t have this unit for myself.
I want it more than ever.
- Universal fit might not be for all and tips might be limited. Go custom for full listening potential.
Many thanks to Kozato from Music Sanctuary for providing me the demo unit to experience the ARTHUR.
And of course, thank you Effect Audio and Empire for this collaborative project. Keep up the good work.
Cheers, everyone.
Meanwhile, we will first PM'ed the participants while also releasing the list of participants 
