Empire Ears - Discussion & Impressions (Formerly EarWerkz)
Sep 4, 2019 at 9:12 AM Post #19,441 of 40,575
I'm basically looking for the spacious Solaris soundstage with a bit more bass, and the Legend X was recommended to me. My hunch is that the LX has more bass than I'd like, but I'm now very curious about the Valkyries and Wraith. Having never heard a BA woofer or any kind of electrostatic driver, I'm keen to listen to both. Health issues make travel difficult, but I'm determined to make it to CanJam NYC.

I'm a loudspeaker guy, and I can't think of a loudspeaker that uses two different types of tweeter, so the Wraith's layout is particularly intriguing to me. I assume it brings the good qualities of both, and it makes me wonder, could the W9 DD woofer and a BA woofer work together to bring the BA's low-inertia qualities to a low end that also packs a DD wallop?
 
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Sep 4, 2019 at 10:20 AM Post #19,442 of 40,575
@SBranson

It's definitely an all rounder for me. Something I can have when I'm on the go and don't need to have CIEM isolation and removal might be more common.

@Vitaly2017

My trusty WM1A of course, no other DAPs for the time being. As for Valkyrie and Phantom, they're very different animals so I'm not sure if they complement. Valkyrie and Khan do complement each other very well though :wink:

@Layman1

Oh yeah those Dragonhide faceplates are amazing. Pictures really don't do them justice. Inversely the Wraith's faceplates seem a bituunderwhelming IRL
 
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Sep 4, 2019 at 3:36 PM Post #19,443 of 40,575
This is what I received today :beyersmile:

So, a little unboxing?
Go:

2019-09-04 17-52-48.jpeg 2019-09-04 17-53-06.jpeg 2019-09-04 17-53-41.jpeg 2019-09-04 18-14-12.jpeg 2019-09-04 18-14-48.jpeg 2019-09-04 18-16-42.jpeg 2019-09-04 18-17-01.jpeg

Time for listening :) Legend X :)
 
Sep 4, 2019 at 4:06 PM Post #19,445 of 40,575
How long did it take to get to you in the uk? I assume you ordered directly? And also how much did customs cost? Cheers

I ordered it at CanJam in London on 26 of July and made payment on 30 July, so it took 5 weeks to receive it. The package had been delivered by FedEx, and after that I received text message to pay £25 of customs.
 
Sep 4, 2019 at 4:13 PM Post #19,446 of 40,575
I ordered it at CanJam in London on 26 of July and made payment on 30 July, so it took 5 weeks to receive it. The package had been delivered by FedEx, and after that I received text message to pay £25 of customs.
Oops, sorry @gazzington looks like customs fee were a lot cheaper than I thought they would be (was figuring 20% import tax), £25 ain't bad at all! Still there's always black friday :p Might have made a decision by then :)
 
Sep 4, 2019 at 5:20 PM Post #19,449 of 40,575
Oops, sorry @gazzington looks like customs fee were a lot cheaper than I thought they would be (was figuring 20% import tax), £25 ain't bad at all! Still there's always black friday :p Might have made a decision by then :)

When I bought my Hermes directly from them, the declared value was way lower than what the actual IEM's were... *Wink*
 
Sep 4, 2019 at 7:12 PM Post #19,450 of 40,575
You know, a great track to try on the Legend X (and I'm sure on the Valkyrie) is Sacrifice by Björk off of Biophilia. Just excellent. Tidal has it in MQA, if you believe in magic, but if you can find a nice modern V0 copy I'm sure you'll be set.



Edit: I realize that's maybe not convincing, so...

* Really interesting instrumentation that covers a large portion of the frequency spectrum. The main bassline is carried by a "sharpsichord", a 2.5-ton acoustic 46-stringed harp played by a pin-cylinder.
* Björk has an incredible, unique voice, which she layers over itself in a way that really tests detail retrieval. It seems to stretch from 200Hz-1k as she pitches it around.
* The layering also tests soundstage openness, because she'll have several vocal tracks in the ~center, while carrying a differently pitched and times one all the way off to the side--kind of like counterpoint, but I dunno jargon too well :). You should be able to clearly hear each of them in their respective locations.
* lovely synthy bass that will get your dynamic drivers active. It's not down at 20Hz or anything, but it does a good job of punching.

It's really good!

and because i can’t help myself, it’s good to know i’m not talking out of my ass. here, you can see the sharpsichord being plucked, and you can see that it really does cover the frequency spectrum from bottom to top:

upload_2019-9-5_1-32-57.png


(and the bass is around 60Hz)
 
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Sep 5, 2019 at 9:44 AM Post #19,452 of 40,575
You know, a great track to try on the Legend X (and I'm sure on the Valkyrie) is Sacrifice by Björk off of Biophilia. Just excellent. Tidal has it in MQA, if you believe in magic, but if you can find a nice modern V0 copy I'm sure you'll be set.
Brilliant mate

i absolutely love this woman and her music


Edit: I realize that's maybe not convincing, so...

* Really interesting instrumentation that covers a large portion of the frequency spectrum. The main bassline is carried by a "sharpsichord", a 2.5-ton acoustic 46-stringed harp played by a pin-cylinder.
* Björk has an incredible, unique voice, which she layers over itself in a way that really tests detail retrieval. It seems to stretch from 200Hz-1k as she pitches it around.
* The layering also tests soundstage openness, because she'll have several vocal tracks in the ~center, while carrying a differently pitched and times one all the way off to the side--kind of like counterpoint, but I dunno jargon too well :). You should be able to clearly hear each of them in their respective locations.
* lovely synthy bass that will get your dynamic drivers active. It's not down at 20Hz or anything, but it does a good job of punching.

It's really good!

and because i can’t help myself, it’s good to know i’m not talking out of my ass. here, you can see the sharpsichord being plucked, and you can see that it really does cover the frequency spectrum from bottom to top:



(and the bass is around 60Hz)
 
Sep 5, 2019 at 12:57 PM Post #19,453 of 40,575
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

I would be really angey w
If that damagez the w9s and even more andry if that is not warranty covered. My Custom LX do a LOT of flex.

Hey Guys! As some have already mentioned, Driver Flex is common in Dynamic drivers. I wouldn't worry about it. It can be annoying, but not damaging.

And just in case, we do have a lifetime driver flex warranty on dynamic drivers, so you have nothing to worry about here!

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.

Glad you enjoyed the Valkyrie so much. It is such a great IEM. Love your music choices.

This is what I received today :beyersmile:

So, a little unboxing?
Go:



Time for listening :) Legend X :)

Classy! Enjoy!
 
Sep 6, 2019 at 3:56 AM Post #19,455 of 40,575
IMG_20190814_182602.jpg

Empire Ears and Effect Audio makes really good pairing. They produce great music to my ears and blessing to my eyes.
 

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