Devon Higgins
Sponsor: Empire Ears
Bravado and ESR Tour
The regular readers of the Empire Ears discussion thread may have seen this coming: We’re running a tour! First up to be sent around the community will be the Bravado from the X Series and the ESR from the EP Series. Both are very competent monitors that far outperform their price-points, and we can’t wait to see more in depth impressions!
Bravado ($599 universal/$699 custom)
Pairing a single W9 subwoofer with a balanced armature counterpart, Empire Ears sets the tone for achieving perfect coherency between the best of both worlds: the naturalness of dynamic driven bass, complemented with the clarity and precision up top of a well-placed balanced armature. Designed for perfect neutrality, the Bravado's signature is intent on equality, providing perfect balance between the bass, midrange, and treble. Its entry-level position might be deceiving, for when it comes to performance the Bravado boldly holds its own; the precise imaging and separation one comes to expect from Empire Ears, yet at a friendlier cost.
The Bravado features:
- 1 W9 Dynamic Driver, 1 Balanced Armature Driver (1 low, 1 mid-high)
- 4-way synX Crossover Network
- Anti-Resonance Compound Technology
The Bravado is one of my top 3 favorites from our current offerings. It provides an incredible amount of detail considering it is a dual driver. I love the way the Bravado handles so many different genres with ease. The bass is powerful and driven while the mids and highs remain perfectly placed. It is bound to impress anyone who gives it a listen.
ESR ($899 universal/$999 custom)
Building forth on the all-round capabilities of Empire Ears' appraised Spartan, the ESR offers similar neutrality, with an improved tuning throughout the spectrum. Combining greater body to the sound with a pleasant touch of warmth results in a more engaging midrange, while further improved extension provides even greater resolution.
Accordingly, the ESR has evolved as the pinnacle of balance, providing one of the most linear signatures in Empire Ears' lineup. A bass that is neutral in quantity, but high in definition, and quick in pace; a smooth midrange that holds the line between forward and laid-back, and a precisely-tuned treble, delicately balancing between clear and smooth. But more than anything the ESR is a detail monster, offering the pinpoint precise imaging, clean separation, and high resolution of top-tier competitors, at a mid-tier price.
The ESR features:
- 3 Balanced Armature Drivers (1 low, 1 mid, 1 high)
- 4-way synX Crossover Network
- Anti-Resonance Compound Technology
Guess what’s also in my top 3 favorites? The ESR. The ESR is a dream for those that value neutrality. It’s crisp, clear, and satisfies on essentially all fronts. It is perfectly balanced. Technical, yet beautiful. Neutral but not boring. The amateur audio engineer in me LOVES the ESR because it truly is an honest reflection of how the music was intended to be heard.
Eligibility
This tour is going to be exclusive to the USA (for now!). International Head-Fiers, fear not. We will make an international tour happen as soon as we can. We want to make sure we smooth out all logistics before we go all in with a world-wide tour.
We’ll be dividing the tour into regions depending on the concentration of interested Head-fiers in different geographical areas. If there are no interested parties, or an extremely small amount in a given region, we may not run the tour in that region, so be sure to spread the word to increase the chance of it running in your region!
We’d love for this tour to reach as many people as possible, so feel free to sign up regardless of your experience with high end audio.
How do you sign up?
SIGN UP IS CLOSED.
Please note that the deadline for the sign-up process is 7/6/2018. The individuals selected for participation will be announced and contacted after.
Rules for this Tour:
1) Each participant will be given 10 days time to spend with the set.
2) After the 10 days have passed, each participant is responsible for safely packing and shipping the unit to the next participant and covering the shipping costs.
3) Each participant will be required to post a review of at least 1 of the IEMs on their respective product page within 2 weeks after shipping the set to the next participant.
4) Each participant is to treat the IEMs as if they are their own.
5) The demo sets will be burned in 100 hours each in our lab so no worries about doing it yourself.
And most importantly, remember to enjoy them! Audio is all about the experience, so don’t get too caught up in analysis and forget to sit back and enjoy the best hand-crafted IEMs out there!
EDIT (7/9): We will provide an Effect Audio Ares II cable (our stock cable for our EP and X Series) in 2.5 balanced termination with 3.5 and 4.4 adapters. Final Audio Type E tips will also be included.
Giveaway
We will be giving away one of our demo units to one of the participants of the tour. The winner will be randomly selected after the completion of the tour and will be able to select if he/she wants the Bravado or the ESR. Yay giveaway!
Thank you for your continuous support of Empire Ears! We could never bring you all these amazing IEMs without the Empire Fam, and we look forward to everyone’s upcoming impressions/reviews! This is the first of many tours so stay tuned.
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The Ares II is not featured on our accessories tab, but there is more information about it embedded within the product pages for the EP/X Series. Check it out here (some scrolling required): 
