Empire Ears - Discussion & Impressions (Formerly EarWerkz)
Sep 3, 2019 at 8:37 PM Post #19,426 of 40,355
Just got my legend X, have a few questions if someone could help out

1. the driver flex, is constant untill sealed in my ears. Comply of course reduce this, but will it damage the W9 diaphragms?

2. Do you guys unplug them from the 2 pin whening putting back into the aegis case? I have a pelican 1010 which i use to keep them plugged and coiled

3. What do you pair them with? I have a HIby R5 on the way, but am currently using them with my iphone with a Fiio 2.5 to 3.5 adapter.

Thanks

1. Driver flex is normal on dynamic diaphragms and should not damage it. It probably gets more extension on heavy bass tracks.

2. I would not unplug the cable to store an IEM. I would be worried about wearing out the socket since it would be repeatedly disconnected and reconnected.

3. I use Questyle QP1R and QP2R on single ended.
 
Sep 3, 2019 at 8:44 PM Post #19,427 of 40,355
Sep 3, 2019 at 9:41 PM Post #19,428 of 40,355
depending on your wire the Pandora case may be too small. With the Ares it’ll be fine but with either of my PW Audio cables it was a tight squeeze and I didn’t like it so I used it to store my adapters instead and kept my IEMs in a pelican 1020. It’s a screw on lid, probably too thick height wise for pockets in pants unless they’re loose.
Cheers mate

i looked up the pelican 1020,all i found are cases,similar to the Aegis,do u have a link for the one you talk about?

Cheers
 
Sep 3, 2019 at 9:56 PM Post #19,432 of 40,355
Sep 3, 2019 at 11:38 PM Post #19,433 of 40,355
Here goes initial impressions:

Wraith:

One thing was that, I drove it at a much lower volume that the Valks. From my usual, Wraith was -10 ticks where as Valk was +10 ticks. Very surprising given the 4 ESTs had me expecting the Wraith requiring much more power to drive the Valkyrie. It's definitely a Zeus sucessor: Mids are plucked straight from the Zeus, while up high the treble is silky smooht but without the hotness that plague the Zeus. Mid and upper base were definitely a welcome change, however sub bass is still lacking, you'll hear the thump, but it's the sound ends up dissipating when you expecting some physicality. Overall as an entire package, it's an inoffensive resolution monster, and everything comes together perfectly in a cohesive soundscape.The interesting thing is that nothing really stands out about the Wraith that really grabs you compared to other TOTLs, as a result the Wraith really doesn't lend it self to audition well, you'll have to spend time with it and you either grow to love it or not. All in all it wasn't my cup of tea, but hey it doesn't hiss like the Zeus on my WM1A

Valkyrie:

@Vitaly2017 This one's for you: It does NOT hiss on the WM1A!

Given that my first tribrid was the Khan and I was impressed enough to flip my Phantom to offset the costs. I expected great things with the Valk. Single W9? No problem, the dual W9s on the LX were too much for me. Single EST? No problem, Khan's pizeo sounded great. Single BA mid? Better than the Bravado, that might be a problem. Nevertheless I was enough of a Empire shill to order one terminated in 4.4.

So naturally the first thing I did was go for the mids:Lauren Daigle, Darlene Zarzesch, Kim Walker-Smith for the females, TobyMac, Matt Maher, Mack Brock for the males. So far so good, not an overly thick and warm lower mids, upper mids are not veiled and come across as balanced. Both male and female vocals are done equally well. Check!

Next up, the bass. So I hit Skillet, TobyMac, some Elevation as well as Hillsong, for King & Country. I swear my toes were curling when I heard the W9s.Not overly gutteral viscerak dual W9s LX bass. But sufficient authourity when required, you heard AND felt the bass. Not overly thick bass unlike the Phantom. Check!

How would the EST hold up? I've never heard a EST before. Darlene Zarzesch, Hollyn, some Britt Nicole, Definitely none of the wetness the pizeo on the Khan had, smooth and that sparkle was a nice touch. Check!

So as whole how does it hold up? It's not the Wraith level of resolution, but definitely adequate for it's price point. There's none of the mid/upper bass bleed into the mids, unlike the LX. Mids are slightly forward, but don't steal the show nor drowned out by the lows and highs at any point. Treble doesn't run hot but is smooth and sparkle. Now onto the most impressive part, the soundstage: The Valkyrie definitely doesn't sound like a 3 driver IEM when you take it into account. The soundstage is not so wide that gaps appear like the Zeus, but also not just enough for the sound like the A6t. The soundstage adapts to and gives the prefect amount of room needed for the track at hand.
 
Sep 3, 2019 at 11:55 PM Post #19,434 of 40,355
Here goes initial impressions:

Wraith:

One thing was that, I drove it at a much lower volume that the Valks. From my usual, Wraith was -10 ticks where as Valk was +10 ticks. Very surprising given the 4 ESTs had me expecting the Wraith requiring much more power to drive the Valkyrie. It's definitely a Zeus sucessor: Mids are plucked straight from the Zeus, while up high the treble is silky smooht but without the hotness that plague the Zeus. Mid and upper base were definitely a welcome change, however sub bass is still lacking, you'll hear the thump, but it's the sound ends up dissipating when you expecting some physicality. Overall as an entire package, it's an inoffensive resolution monster, and everything comes together perfectly in a cohesive soundscape.The interesting thing is that nothing really stands out about the Wraith that really grabs you compared to other TOTLs, as a result the Wraith really doesn't lend it self to audition well, you'll have to spend time with it and you either grow to love it or not. All in all it wasn't my cup of tea, but hey it doesn't hiss like the Zeus on my WM1A

Valkyrie:

@Vitaly2017 This one's for you: It does NOT hiss on the WM1A!

Given that my first tribrid was the Khan and I was impressed enough to flip my Phantom to offset the costs. I expected great things with the Valk. Single W9? No problem, the dual W9s on the LX were too much for me. Single EST? No problem, Khan's pizeo sounded great. Single BA mid? Better than the Bravado, that might be a problem. Nevertheless I was enough of a Empire shill to order one terminated in 4.4.

So naturally the first thing I did was go for the mids:Lauren Daigle, Darlene Zarzesch, Kim Walker-Smith for the females, TobyMac, Matt Maher, Mack Brock for the males. So far so good, not an overly thick and warm lower mids, upper mids are not veiled and come across as balanced. Both male and female vocals are done equally well. Check!

Next up, the bass. So I hit Skillet, TobyMac, some Elevation as well as Hillsong, for King & Country. I swear my toes were curling when I heard the W9s.Not overly gutteral viscerak dual W9s LX bass. But sufficient authourity when required, you heard AND felt the bass. Not overly thick bass unlike the Phantom. Check!

How would the EST hold up? I've never heard a EST before. Darlene Zarzesch, Hollyn, some Britt Nicole, Definitely none of the wetness the pizeo on the Khan had, smooth and that sparkle was a nice touch. Check!

So as whole how does it hold up? It's not the Wraith level of resolution, but definitely adequate for it's price point. There's none of the mid/upper bass bleed into the mids, unlike the LX. Mids are slightly forward, but don't steal the show nor drowned out by the lows and highs at any point. Treble doesn't run hot but is smooth and sparkle. Now onto the most impressive part, the soundstage: The Valkyrie definitely doesn't sound like a 3 driver IEM when you take it into account. The soundstage is not so wide that gaps appear like the Zeus, but also not just enough for the sound like the A6t. The soundstage adapts to and gives the prefect amount of room needed for the track at hand.


Wow soinds like the Valkyrie is true in between all goodies that EE has to offer and at a great price considering it can do so much and with a good kick to lift your moude.

I like what your saying about the bass thats really good. A controlled bass and deep low is very fun plus it seems to be very visceral!

Much thanks I appreciate you did the hiss test cause that one is upper important I know phantom has very very slight hiss with 1z and 1a. Valkyrie has here one more advantage!

I guess it looks like a great combo to go with valkyrie + Phantoms.


Do you have the eros 2 cable ?



Thanks for your feedback really cool to know!
 
Sep 4, 2019 at 12:02 AM Post #19,435 of 40,355
Here goes initial impressions:

Wraith:

One thing was that, I drove it at a much lower volume that the Valks. From my usual, Wraith was -10 ticks where as Valk was +10 ticks. Very surprising given the 4 ESTs had me expecting the Wraith requiring much more power to drive the Valkyrie. It's definitely a Zeus sucessor: Mids are plucked straight from the Zeus, while up high the treble is silky smooht but without the hotness that plague the Zeus. Mid and upper base were definitely a welcome change, however sub bass is still lacking, you'll hear the thump, but it's the sound ends up dissipating when you expecting some physicality. Overall as an entire package, it's an inoffensive resolution monster, and everything comes together perfectly in a cohesive soundscape.The interesting thing is that nothing really stands out about the Wraith that really grabs you compared to other TOTLs, as a result the Wraith really doesn't lend it self to audition well, you'll have to spend time with it and you either grow to love it or not. All in all it wasn't my cup of tea, but hey it doesn't hiss like the Zeus on my WM1A

Valkyrie:

@Vitaly2017 This one's for you: It does NOT hiss on the WM1A!

Given that my first tribrid was the Khan and I was impressed enough to flip my Phantom to offset the costs. I expected great things with the Valk. Single W9? No problem, the dual W9s on the LX were too much for me. Single EST? No problem, Khan's pizeo sounded great. Single BA mid? Better than the Bravado, that might be a problem. Nevertheless I was enough of a Empire shill to order one terminated in 4.4.

So naturally the first thing I did was go for the mids:Lauren Daigle, Darlene Zarzesch, Kim Walker-Smith for the females, TobyMac, Matt Maher, Mack Brock for the males. So far so good, not an overly thick and warm lower mids, upper mids are not veiled and come across as balanced. Both male and female vocals are done equally well. Check!

Next up, the bass. So I hit Skillet, TobyMac, some Elevation as well as Hillsong, for King & Country. I swear my toes were curling when I heard the W9s.Not overly gutteral viscerak dual W9s LX bass. But sufficient authourity when required, you heard AND felt the bass. Not overly thick bass unlike the Phantom. Check!

How would the EST hold up? I've never heard a EST before. Darlene Zarzesch, Hollyn, some Britt Nicole, Definitely none of the wetness the pizeo on the Khan had, smooth and that sparkle was a nice touch. Check!

So as whole how does it hold up? It's not the Wraith level of resolution, but definitely adequate for it's price point. There's none of the mid/upper bass bleed into the mids, unlike the LX. Mids are slightly forward, but don't steal the show nor drowned out by the lows and highs at any point. Treble doesn't run hot but is smooth and sparkle. Now onto the most impressive part, the soundstage: The Valkyrie definitely doesn't sound like a 3 driver IEM when you take it into account. The soundstage is not so wide that gaps appear like the Zeus, but also not just enough for the sound like the A6t. The soundstage adapts to and gives the prefect amount of room needed for the track at hand.


THANKS!! This sounds great.., Sounds like a lot of the nice features of the Bravado sound but just pushed much further.. Also seems like a great all'rounder which is something I've been looking for.
 
Last edited:
Sep 4, 2019 at 3:17 AM Post #19,437 of 40,355
Good to hear those feedback about the Valkys and Wraith.

Odin?! Where are you? Do I need to do a sacrifice to hear more from you?
 
Sep 4, 2019 at 4:12 AM Post #19,438 of 40,355
Valkyrie:
So naturally the first thing I did was go for the mids:Lauren Daigle, Darlene Zarzesch, Kim Walker-Smith for the females, TobyMac, Matt Maher, Mack Brock for the males. So far so good, not an overly thick and warm lower mids, upper mids are not veiled and come across as balanced. Both male and female vocals are done equally well. Check!

Next up, the bass. So I hit Skillet, TobyMac, some Elevation as well as Hillsong, for King & Country. I swear my toes were curling when I heard the W9s.Not overly gutteral viscerak dual W9s LX bass. But sufficient authourity when required, you heard AND felt the bass. Not overly thick bass unlike the Phantom. Check!

How would the EST hold up? I've never heard a EST before. Darlene Zarzesch, Hollyn, some Britt Nicole, Definitely none of the wetness the pizeo on the Khan had, smooth and that sparkle was a nice touch. Check!

So as whole how does it hold up? It's not the Wraith level of resolution, but definitely adequate for it's price point. There's none of the mid/upper bass bleed into the mids, unlike the LX. Mids are slightly forward, but don't steal the show nor drowned out by the lows and highs at any point. Treble doesn't run hot but is smooth and sparkle. Now onto the most impressive part, the soundstage: The Valkyrie definitely doesn't sound like a 3 driver IEM when you take it into account. The soundstage is not so wide that gaps appear like the Zeus, but also not just enough for the sound like the A6t. The soundstage adapts to and gives the prefect amount of room needed for the track at hand.

Great impressions, thanks for sharing! Well, I've been recommending people to try the Valkyries since I heard them in July; I can only second everything you said :)
They're not going to be to everyone's taste (smooth/neutral fans?) but for those who want something energetic, bold and huge (sound wise), these are pretty epic!
Add to that they're comparatively tiny, very ergonomic, and those Dragonhide (TM) shells.. gah.. "Alas poor wallet, I knew him well" :D
 
Sep 4, 2019 at 7:48 AM Post #19,439 of 40,355
My miss is hiding my credit cards these last couple months to hold me on a impulse buy...it's hard to not jump on this hype train. but I really would like to see how the Odin will come.
 
Sep 4, 2019 at 7:55 AM Post #19,440 of 40,355
My miss is hiding my credit cards these last couple months to hold me on a impulse buy...it's hard to not jump on this hype train. but I really would like to see how the Odin will come.

This is why cash is king. Credit cards can be hid, but ATM cards are generally not. The added benefit is that there are no future payments.
 

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