[fiascogarcia]

Direct with orginal price ?

Yes. To my knowledge, EE doesn't have any US distributors. Otherwise, they pop up occasionally on the classifieds here.

 

[SBranson]

I got my ESR through Audio46 and they have a 10% discount on right now. They had better intl shipping rates than direct from EE.

 

[fiascogarcia]

I got my ESR through Audio46 and they have a 10% discount on right now. They had better intl shipping rates than direct from EE.

Good to know. I stand corrected!

 

[KuroKitsu]

I got my ESR through Audio46 and they have a 10% discount on right now. They had better intl shipping rates than direct from EE.

Cheaper than direct?! Thats nuts.

 

[TheOracle]

Which of the Empire Ears is perfect for rock/metal music - audiophiles?

What's the difference between zeus-xr custom and legend x custom?

I only have the custom Zeus-R at the moment and the Legend X. Between the two, I prefer the Zeus-R for most rock/metal, unless the recording is overly bright to begin with. If so, the Zeus-R's brightness & high end will be torture and extremely fatiguing. The Legend X wins for bright recordings. For anything not too bright, Legend X's bass is a bit of overkill. The Zeus-R clearly wins here.

Previously, I owned the custom Zeus XRA, so I'm not sure how much the ADEL technology makes a difference in the grand scheme. In the "X" setting, however, I think it might split the difference between the R's flaws for rock/metal and the Legend X's flaws.

 

[SBranson]

Cheaper than direct?! Thats nuts.

As you know shipping to Canada is often the killer on anything. Direct from EE started at $95 then was revised to $65. Audio46 had a $25 usps option that was actually delivered next day by FedEx. Nice.

 

[KuroKitsu]

As you know shipping to Canada is often the killer on anything. Direct from EE started at $95 then was revised to $65. Audio46 had a $25 usps option that was actually delivered next day by FedEx. Nice.

Yup, so overall I guess it was cheaper than direct by a bit? US to Canada at $95 seems....extreme, $65 sounds about right. But dang Audio46 doing next day delivery for $25. It cost me $95 to ship my impressions to 64 Audio on the West Coast and $85 with DHL for my Aries II to EA.

 

[rwelles]

So Massdrop just sent out an announcement for Zeus XIV uni for $999. Drop opens on Sept. 24th. Any interested parties out there?

 

[kubig123]

So Massdrop just sent out an announcement for Zeus XIV uni for $999. Drop opens on Sept. 24th. Any interested parties out there?

Very tempting...

 

[Arkady Duntov]

So Massdrop just sent out an announcement for Zeus XIV uni for $999. Drop opens on Sept. 24th. Any interested parties out there?

As @kubig123 said, "Very tempting..." If this deal had been available two weeks ago, I probably would have bought a Zeus XIV. However, I received a Phantom last week, and it's quite amazing, so I think I might have the IEM I want.

 

[natemact]

this is a great post. I haven't heard the 8 wire, but I PROMISE everyone that NO CABLE will add anything to the mix. It simply can't. It may allow a device to upscale, but it's the source and transducer that affect the range we hear. It could take away from what we have, but there is no physical way a wire will add anything other than possibly distortion or some EMI/RFI of some sort.

+1 and I'll even go one further Pete...only our source and/or renderer - and the cleanliness of the power they run on - can add musical information to the signal. All downstream gear is merely trying to replicate it. Though to say that 100% accuracy is the goal with downstream gear would be putting HF'ers on since I never heard of a company NOT listening and voicing their products to their taste. They probably exist, but they shouldn't.

It's this source-first thinking that's incentive to start playing pin the cable on the component by connecting your most transparent and resolving interconnect to your source. Synergy reigns supreme over "thumb-rules" but best to start here.

Which of the Empire Ears is perfect for rock/metal music - audiophiles?

What you have there is an oxymoron Sure there are some sh.it covered diamonds out there, but 99% of metal is compressed to squat...could easily say the same for rock but being that I listened to Converge on the way in to work this morning I'm gonna stick with what I know best. Can also touch on, metal record labels/studios, the oil/water mix of hifi gear and poorly recorded music, plus the handicap of working with smaller record labels, as the studios chosen are rarely known for superb sound quality. Recommendation at the end.

Quality costs money, and metal isn't exactly paying the bills as effortlessly as it once did back in the 80's and 90's. It's just not as widely accepted as it was decades ago. Even the biggest metal band today will never see the same fame popular metal bands from the 80's did. Plus pirating didn't help. It's no coincidence that the increase in tours coincided with the increase in piracy. I hear you though, most metal fans should be shouting "no other genre tours more often than metal"....."on average" lol. While I do find that they seem to have less love for their families than the average non-metal band, ALL bands have to tour more often now as well, which means A) more competition at the venues and B) just by the sheer volume of touring acts, fewer available opportunities to book a stage. Point is you clearly gotta tour now to have any hopes of making money which was was most rip-roaring metal bands m.o. well before piracy forced all bands to increase touring - 300+ shows a year wasn't a want, it was a need - and on average I have not seen the same insane tour schedules over the two decades, which has me thinking there's even less money in the genre then in it's heyday which hurts it's audiophile chances.

Going back to the 80's and 90's - the golden age of the business of metal - Why did the SQ of metal suck so hard back then too? Well A TON of recordings sounded like ass back then anyway so it was kinda par for the course. I mean IT WAS THE 80's! Not to mention the dawn of the CD which sounded horrible in it's early onset. It's also kind of the nature of the genre (loud(compressed), demonic vocals, shredding guits, raw, rough, impregnated), which brings us back to present day. What a lot of higher-end gear can do over the big-box-store gear are the little things. We're talking about nuance, micro-detail, soundstaging aspects, deft touches of dynamism, subtle changes in tonal colors, refinement, blah blah. Everything metal music is not lol. And yes, we also expect the big things to be done right as well but I think you'd be surprised how many times a Mfr. errs to the more refined side of things than the other way around. Why? Because for the most part audiophiles listen to more refined musical genres, not metal and the like. Just following $$. The more you pay, the more refined a sound you can attain (typically).

So here it is, advice time, if I didn't lose you yet. If you're the kind of guy that can listen to any album and still enjoy it even if the production is terrible I think you could probably go with Zeus. But if you find some albums to be nearly unlistenable (my love/hate rela with it) then you'd be better off with something more forgiving. Metal's not known for strong sub-bass, or at least the crap I listen to, but what's your taste for bass? You like hip-hop level go LX might work but something tells me the Nemesis is more the hybrid suited to aggressive music (hopefully someone corrects me if I'm wrong). I just remember reading that they went for more of a "live" sound. Conducive to aggressive music? We'll only know if someone tells us : ) Back to LX, now this is just for me, a guy who listens to zero EDM or HH or R&B, you get the picture...I thought the mids were slightly too recessed for me and TBH (unpopular opinion here I think) I found the LX to possess too much of a good thing, especially for metal. If you checkout my past gear you'll see I'm absolutely no basshead though. LX I listened to had no more than 10 hours on it, but that bass would need to tame itself more than burn-in could help IMO. I've only listened to Bravado, LX, Phantom and Zeus-R. Yes, I listen to metal - but also lighter stuff too - and it was a no brainer to go with the Phantom. Even strictly for metal, Phantom was still best for me.

And if you're thinking, but I want to hear EVERYTHING on the track, I don't want to miss anything...I too was like you. I too. For nearly my first 5-6 years in the 2ch hobby I would only piece together gears that excelled at extracting detail, veering on cool, almost highlighting it in the process. I wouldn't have listened to someone like myself back then, so I totally get it if that ends up happening here too. But at some point in time we need to worry about the MUSIC and not all the technicalities most of us (myself included) tend to over-exaggerate to help explain what the hell we're hearing. The Phantoms plays music very well, but I think only for those that have made a relax about FOMO : )

I got my ESR through Audio46 and they have a 10% discount on right now. They had better intl shipping rates than direct from EE.

Canadian FYI - You can purchase all EE iems from https://www.headfoneshop.com/ is what I was told back in April. Charles also matches EE or other dealer sales. Just a way to keep our money in our country. Shipping probably would've been the same. If you don't mind my nosiness, how much did they declare at and how much tax did you pay. You guys are 12%, correct?

 

[KuroKitsu]

@natemact Charles swears he isn't a basshead. But he loves the LX... A LOT

 

[SeeSax]

So Massdrop just sent out an announcement for Zeus XIV uni for $999. Drop opens on Sept. 24th. Any interested parties out there?

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm going to probably be all over this, but I need to do some reading on how it differs from the Zeus XR. At less than half the price, though, I can't see myself resisting this for very long I hope it's not the usual three month wait from MD.

-Collin-

 

[KuroKitsu]

So Massdrop just sent out an announcement for Zeus XIV uni for $999. Drop opens on Sept. 24th. Any interested parties out there?

Are those recessed sockets?! On an EE universal? That said the shape looks...different than what Im use to with EE. Too bad they arnt Rs

 

[natemact]

@natemact Charles swears he isn't a basshead. But he loves the LX... A LOT

And this guy swore he had nothing to drink..

We listen to completely different music..so ya, what was the question?