[thedanadamsusa]

There was a listing in the sale section, but it looks like it is currently pending sale - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/pending-massdrop-x-empire-ears-zeus-universal-iem.927582/

Ah, my bad. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[thedanadamsusa]

I would buy a new one for $750, before a used one for $600 personally. Too close to the new price, but a good used price if the new price was still $1000.

You’re probably right. If I hadn’t sold my Lionheart, I’d be really tempted by the MD Zeus at $750. Could be a great companion to my LX with Thor II 8-wire. I was holding out to hear how good the A18s is, or maybe demo an Elysium. That MD Zeus is a good price though?!

 

[proedros]

You’re probably right. If I hadn’t sold my Lionheart, I’d be really tempted by the MD Zeus at $750. Could be a great companion to my LX with Thor II 8-wire. I was holding out to hear how good the A18s is, or maybe demo an Elysium. That MD Zeus is a good price though?!

in his TOTL poll back in 2017, @flinkenick thought Zeus was slightly better than A18 , and A18 goes for 3000$

Join the dots.....

Also Lionheart has great synergy with Zeus.

 

[Sifo]

The A18s has new tuning though so it's a bit different, personally I really enjoyed the changes. But Zeus definitely wins on value. I'm really curious as to how the MD ones reshelled by itsfitlab compares to one made by EE.

 

[thedanadamsusa]

in his TOTL poll back in 2017, @flinkenick thought Zeus was slightly better than A18 , and A18 goes for 3000$

Join the dots.....

Also Lionheart has great synergy with Zeus.

Except I sold it when upgrading to the Thor II Silver 8-wire - which pairs beautifully with my LX...

 

[olddude]

The Massdrop ones are very close to the EE ones. EE told me they were similar but I hear slight differences. However, the amount of hours on my EE is much more than the MD so....

I did not like the cable on the MD one. It's a silver hybrid and to me, at least with my AK, the Zeus sounds too bright. I currently have 8-wire Ares ll on both.

For the price, the MD is a steal.

 

[bflat]

Hi all, here are a few notes after owning the Wraith for 7+ months:

• Out of habit, I initially left the included ear tips and cable in the box and used my own. My first month or so, I was satisfied with JVC Spiral tips and PW 1950/1960 cables. After further experimentation I find the included FA ear tips and Cleo cable the best combination to add a little more bite and air to the high end, plus a little more meat to the low end.
• Regarding Cleo cable - I confirmed with EA support that the plugs are not their premium P Squared versions for all EE cables. I am a bit OCD on plugs so I had my cable re-terminated with a Furutech 4.4mm plug and feel that added a touch of brightness to the treble around 0.5-1 dB increase. This is based on my EQ setting before and after.
• Source output impedance - Reading some reviews and from my own experience I found higher output impedance sources to sound more balanced than lower. This sounds counter intuitive given the 4 ohm input impedance of the Wraith. When I asked EA support, they told me not to worry about the general 8X ratio of input impedance/output impedance. My experience trying different sources are:
  • Sony NW-WM1z (<1 ohm) - with no EQ, I hear a a little elevated mid bass and rolled off treble. Adding light EQ +/- 1-2 dB in the affected frequencies helps, but the overall tone remains on the warm side across the spectrum. This is a good, but not great pairing. I did find a nice solution detailed below.
  • Fiio Q5s with AM3E ( 2 ohm) - definitely more brighter than WM1z with a tighter, more neutral bass but rolls off on the sub bass. Upper mids sound a little hot as well. Again light EQ helps but I don't get the spacial depth and width of the WM1z. Also, noticeable hissing.
  • Sony TA-ZH1es - (unable to confirm but heard >5 ohm) - hands down the best pairing of all! Nice sub bass impact with clean textured bass. Treble is crisp, with plenty of air and details. No upper bass bleeding into mids. No EQ needed at all. I really wish there was a portable option that offered the same performance. I wonder if this is the intended tuning of the Wraith.

I don't have a good explanation of why higher output source impedance sound better than lower. I believe EE used a Hugo 2 for tuning the Wraith and that has around 0.5 ohm output impedance. Plus, EE support said that matching output impedance didn't matter. So how do I explain my own experience. Here is my theory - a 4 ohm input impedance is very low and difficult for amps to drive without distortion. Imagine a flute player versus a trumpet player and which one can hold a steady note the longest, not factoring volume. The trumpet player wins 100% of the time because their breadth has a lot of resistance because the air is compressed entering the mouth piece, and tone remains relatively even because volume drops before tone changes. The flute player on the other hand has no resistance and quickly runs out of air and the quality of the tone diminishes as they run out of air. Electric current works the same way as air in this analogy. What I believe is happening is that my WM1z is struggling with distortion and frequency balance trying to drive the 4 ohm input impedance. This would also explain why the higher output impedance sources sound better since that is additive to the Wraith input impedance. However, a source like Hugo 2 has low output impedance, but a very linear frequency response and distortion for lower input impedance. Unfortunately I don't have a beefy amp with low output impedance to test, but referring to @twister6 excellent review, it seems his pair up experience seems consistent with this theory.

When I switched to high output option on the WM1z, the tone changed with a more neutral bass and a slightly elevated treble. Fortunately, I only get a very mild level of hiss that I don't notice. I still add +2 dB at 8 kHz out of personal preference. It sounds close to my TA, but still a touch warm on the mid to low end but that is probably due to how the WM1z is tuned. For now this is my preferred portable setup but plan to try the Fiio M15 with its' 3 ohm output impedance.

 

[proedros]

• Sony TA-ZH1es - (unable to confirm but heard >5 ohm) - hands down the best pairing of all! Nice sub bass impact with clean textured bass. Treble is crisp, with plenty of air and details. No upper bass bleeding into mids. No EQ needed at all. I really wish there was a portable option that offered the same performance. I wonder if this is the intended tuning of the Wraith.

Since you own WM1Z, I suggest you check the wm1a/z thread and ask @Whitigir to share his thoughts&wisdom via PM.....

 

[bflat]

Since you own WM1Z, I suggest you check the wm1a/z thread and ask @Whitigir to share his thoughts&wisdom via PM.....

I thought about that, but don't really have the means to do the level of hardware modifications that he's done. Besides, I don't want to screw up the great synergy with the IER-Z1R which is my all rounder. Wraith is amazing for acoustic, jazz, and vocals.

 

[proedros]

I thought about that, but don't really have the means to do the level of hardware modifications that he's done. Besides, I don't want to screw up the great synergy with the IER-Z1R which is my all rounder. Wraith is amazing for acoustic, jazz, and vocals.

try the FWs at least

 

[twister6]

Hi all, here are a few notes after owning the Wraith for 7+ months:

• Out of habit, I initially left the included ear tips and cable in the box and used my own. My first month or so, I was satisfied with JVC Spiral tips and PW 1950/1960 cables. After further experimentation I find the included FA ear tips and Cleo cable the best combination to add a little more bite and air to the high end, plus a little more meat to the low end.
• Regarding Cleo cable - I confirmed with EA support that the plugs are not their premium P Squared versions for all EE cables. I am a bit OCD on plugs so I had my cable re-terminated with a Furutech 4.4mm plug and feel that added a touch of brightness to the treble around 0.5-1 dB increase. This is based on my EQ setting before and after.
• Source output impedance - Reading some reviews and from my own experience I found higher output impedance sources to sound more balanced than lower. This sounds counter intuitive given the 4 ohm input impedance of the Wraith. When I asked EA support, they told me not to worry about the general 8X ratio of input impedance/output impedance. My experience trying different sources are:
  • Sony NW-WM1z (<1 ohm) - with no EQ, I hear a a little elevated mid bass and rolled off treble. Adding light EQ +/- 1-2 dB in the affected frequencies helps, but the overall tone remains on the warm side across the spectrum. This is a good, but not great pairing. I did find a nice solution detailed below.
  • Fiio Q5s with AM3E ( 2 ohm) - definitely more brighter than WM1z with a tighter, more neutral bass but rolls off on the sub bass. Upper mids sound a little hot as well. Again light EQ helps but I don't get the spacial depth and width of the WM1z. Also, noticeable hissing.
  • Sony TA-ZH1es - (unable to confirm but heard >5 ohm) - hands down the best pairing of all! Nice sub bass impact with clean textured bass. Treble is crisp, with plenty of air and details. No upper bass bleeding into mids. No EQ needed at all. I really wish there was a portable option that offered the same performance. I wonder if this is the intended tuning of the Wraith.

I don't have a good explanation of why higher output source impedance sound better than lower. I believe EE used a Hugo 2 for tuning the Wraith and that has around 0.5 ohm output impedance. Plus, EE support said that matching output impedance didn't matter. So how do I explain my own experience. Here is my theory - a 4 ohm input impedance is very low and difficult for amps to drive without distortion. Imagine a flute player versus a trumpet player and which one can hold a steady note the longest, not factoring volume. The trumpet player wins 100% of the time because their breadth has a lot of resistance because the air is compressed entering the mouth piece, and tone remains relatively even because volume drops before tone changes. The flute player on the other hand has no resistance and quickly runs out of air and the quality of the tone diminishes as they run out of air. Electric current works the same way as air in this analogy. What I believe is happening is that my WM1z is struggling with distortion and frequency balance trying to drive the 4 ohm input impedance. This would also explain why the higher output impedance sources sound better since that is additive to the Wraith input impedance. However, a source like Hugo 2 has low output impedance, but a very linear frequency response and distortion for lower input impedance. Unfortunately I don't have a beefy amp with low output impedance to test, but referring to @twister6 excellent review, it seems his pair up experience seems consistent with this theory.

When I switched to high output option on the WM1z, the tone changed with a more neutral bass and a slightly elevated treble. Fortunately, I only get a very mild level of hiss that I don't notice. I still add +2 dB at 8 kHz out of personal preference. It sounds close to my TA, but still a touch warm on the mid to low end but that is probably due to how the WM1z is tuned. For now this is my preferred portable setup but plan to try the Fiio M15 with its' 3 ohm output impedance.

Only tried FiiO M15 for 5min at CanJam NYC when Jude let me listen to his unit, and it sounded thicker in mids and smoother in treble. Have no idea if anything has been tweaked ever since FiiO released fw updates. So, take it with a grain of salt since I don't have M15 in my hands now to test with Wraith, but based on that short listening session I don't think M15 would have a good synergy with Wraith.

 

[bflat]

Only tried FiiO M15 for 5min at CanJam NYC when Jude let me listen to his unit, and it sounded thicker in mids and smoother in treble. Have no idea if anything has been tweaked ever since FiiO released fw updates. So, take it with a grain of salt since I don't have M15 in my hands now to test with Wraith, but based on that short listening session I don't think M15 would have a good synergy with Wraith.

I think a few folks have reported the same in the M15 impressions thread, but it's unclear if the high output impedance of 3 ohms is causing the poor paring with some of popular IEMs. I personally don't know many "standard" IEMs that are 24 ohm or higher input impedance to reach the recommended 8X ratio. Unfortunately nobody has posted anything about M15 and Wraith. I was hoping that M15 would work out like R2R2000 for the Wraith.

 

[gazzington]

I notice the wraiths get a bad rep. Does anyone like them or found a good synergy with a dap?

 

[mvvRAZ]

I notice the wraiths get a bad rep. Does anyone like them or found a good synergy with a dap?

The wraith is a weird IEM - most people I’ve come across that have tried it have disliked it, while it got pretty consistently great reviews. As far as I remember it was tuned on a Hugo2 so maybe if someone who owns one and a Hugo2 can let us know what they synergy is like

even after reading the review though I don’t see what it offers over an already cheaper A18t and even less so over say the Elysium, which is both cheaper and has better implemented estats

 

[eldss]

The wraith is a weird IEM - most people I’ve come across that have tried it have disliked it, while it got pretty consistently great reviews. As far as I remember it was tuned on a Hugo2 so maybe if someone who owns one and a Hugo2 can let us know what they synergy is like

even after reading the review though I don’t see what it offers over an already cheaper A18t and even less so over say the Elysium, which is both cheaper and has better implemented estats

I’m one of those who didn’t like it at all. I think unless you have the right synergy with your gear, you’ll likely miss out what the intended tuning was intended to be.