Fogelstrauss
New Head-Fier
Utopia is technically superior imo, and still my reference headphone. Its resolution, speed and dynamics are second to none. Empyrean is darker sounding (especially with the leather pads), is more enjoyable with less than optimal and brighter recordings, non-fatiguing and offers a larger soundstage. Typical planar sound, clearly superior to the 4z imo (I am no fan of the 4z at all, to be honest). Utopia and Empyrean are complementary and both really great driven directly from DAVE. I listen to the Utopia with Crossfeed 1, to the Empyrean with Crossfeed 0.
I posted some initial impressions on Eymprean here:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mez...-array-headphone.871859/page-98#post-14633089
Well put. I really like my Empyreans... but the utopias are a little bit better, if I wanna focus on the music and enjoy every little detail.