[Ichos]

Or maybe the impressions are not trustworthy because everyone has different expectations and biases...
From reading till now I sense something like a forced rush to call Elite worse than other flagships, not worth the money, not an upgrade over the Empyrean, no bass etc.
Makes me quite sceptical while listening to them and forming my quite opposite opinion....

 

[ThanatosVI]

Or maybe the impressions are not trustworthy because everyone has different expectations and biases...
From reading till now I sense something like a forced rush to call Elite worse than other flagships, not worth the money, not an upgrade over the Empyrean, no bass etc.
Makes me quite sceptical while listening to them and forming my quite opposite opinion....

Maybe they saw the measurement artifact and now expectation bias Kicks in.

 

[Ichos]

Where are the measurements?
The only one I saw was the one that a member posted yesterday.

Maybe they saw the measurement artifact and now expectation bias Kicks in.

 

[MatW]

Or maybe the impressions are not trustworthy because everyone has different expectations and biases...
From reading till now I sense something like a forced rush to call Elite worse than other flagships, not worth the money, not an upgrade over the Empyrean, no bass etc.
Makes me quite sceptical while listening to them and forming my quite opposite opinion....

I'll wait until the picture becomes clearer. Looking forward to your impressions as well.

 

[Ichos]

Thank you.
As for measurements I am waiting for @jude measurements.
BTW, I never read measurements before my first listening sessions.

 

[betula]

At this point I wonder if we have big unit variations on the Elite.

The impressions range from "more subbass but lesser midbass" to "significantly less sub bass" and everything in between.

Nothing new there. You can find similarly controversial opinions on other headphones too. There are a lot of variables: different amps, expectations, previous headphones and preferred sound signatures.
If there is one thing I have learnt is to never judge any headphones before actually auditioning them.

 

[driftingbunnies]

Or maybe the impressions are not trustworthy because everyone has different expectations and biases...
From reading till now I sense something like a forced rush to call Elite worse than other flagships, not worth the money, not an upgrade over the Empyrean, no bass etc.
Makes me quite sceptical while listening to them and forming my quite opposite opinion....

I'm assuming you're talking about my impressions? I don't think anything that I've said contradicts what anyone else has said.

1. I mentioned the Empyrean's bass is more dramatic than the Elites. This is due to Empyrean having more midbass than Elite and one of things that made a lot of Empyrean lovers love Empyrean. The midbass bloat is definitely gone in the Elites.
2. I believe plenty of other people are comparing Elites to other flagships considering the price. Bloom audio's youtube review/announcement puts it up against Sus. I also compared it against Sus because 1) I'm familiar with it and 2) that was what was available to me. There are many things that Elite does well but compared against Sus, it is still lacking imo.
3. Not an upgrade over the Empyrean. If your expectation of Elite is Empyrean with a similar tonality but more refinement all around, I don't think the Elite is it. Everyone's opinion on this is different cause their expectation of what an upgrade is will be different. Maybe your definition of an upgrade is to be more in line with a more audiophile agreeable tonality. If that is the case, then sure Elite might be up your alley. However, if you wanted the same emotion and uniqueness that Empyrean had, I don't think Elite really sets itself apart in that sense against other flagships.

Edit: I'd also like to say those were all just first impressions. If the headphone truly changes that much over the course of burn-in, I'll have to audition it again some other time.

 

[frix]

According to the specs the empy and elite have a compareable rather weak magnetic flux of 0.35T vs. the 1.5T of a LCD4. Maybe a factor for weaker resolving qualities. I know thats not all there is to driver design and that everything is trade of. But could be a factor.

 

[Ichos]

@driftingbunnies
No offense intended as I was not addressing specifically.
I was just pondering including myself and my own impressions as i talked about expectations and biases that we all have.


Regarding my first thoughts I do strongly think, in contradiction with you and a couple of others opinions that the Elite exhibit the same house sound that prioritizes emotions, involvement and musical presentation as close as to reality so it differs with most flagships and it is inline with the Empyrean.

And to clarify that I own the Empyrean and not the Elite.

But more later...

 

[Bonddam]

Well looks like a long weekend of listening is in order:



I will pull tracks from the list above this weekend to compare and contrast:

I will update this post with my initial listening impressions throughout the day. A few notes, I have had the Empyreans 3 or 4X's, I buy them listen to them, EQ them, and then sell them wishing for more mid clarity and top end so I would say I fall into the majority of Empyrean fans on here with loving the comfort and overall listenability but of course wish for just a bit sonically out of them at the end of the day.

Update #1: 2 Songs into Shangri-La by Mark Knopfler and I have to say these sound better in the mids but not up top yet. I will go to some less vocally fat tracks (Mark Knopflers voice overrides the instruments on most of these tracks) next but I can say so far the Diana V2 are more resolving to my ears, 'initially' of course.

Update #2: Waltz for Ruth off of 'beyond the Missouri Sky' 2:30 seconds in there are some audible string noises from fingers sliding up and down the fret. On the Elite's these are audible to a similar level as the Diana V2 (I back and forthed 90 secs of the track a few times) and so far the Diana V2 is more open in its presentation and not as full in the mid. So far I think I prefer the Elite mid presentation which is where these strings sound like they reside to me, and I would say that preference is because it is resolving but fuller. Could be Low Mid transition is better on the Elite. These are very close to the Diana V2 though overall so far to me which for my tastes is a Great thing. I would hope to come to a choice between the two over the weekend though so as to not have to have both sets in my arsenal to open me up for a Utopia or something with a definitely different presentation.

Update #3: Black Cow off of Aja - More impactful than the Diana V2 by a good stretch and decay is much better on cymbals and keys.

Update #4: Bella Fleck and the Flecktones Flight of the Cosmic Hippo - Let them run in for a few hours while I ran some errands and also picked up my Hybrid Norne Cable from my office, back at it now. The sound stage is more open on these than the originals and the instruments definitely have more separation but again not to the level of the Diana V2.

Update #5: Para One - Virtual Satori - This is the new Gold Standard for me for Headphone Test tracks to include all of the Cliche Words/Phrases minus Vocals and it shows the New Elite to be more refined and complete in its sound delivery than the Diana V2 to my ears.

My rack needs a cup holder for my coffee too.

Good new FedEx is going to deliver my Elite today. How many companies deliver on Sunday, Amazon doesn't count. Besides that they suck especially when they deliver item without stopping and keep going and forget to throw the box out the open door. It's very annoying when they use that method.

 

[driftingbunnies]

@driftingbunnies
No offense intended as I was not addressing specifically.
I was just pondering including myself and my own impressions as a talked about expectations and biases that we all have.

Ah ok, no worries then. I think everyone should always read impressions with an open mind. There will always be people out there who hate what you have and those who love it. However, there is generally good information if you're able to get past being defensive (if it's a headphone you love) and see what the issues that person had with the headphone. Some issues that people have with headphones I like don't bother me at all or might even be the exact reason I enjoy it. I still know plenty of people who say anything that isn't a Sennheiser HD580/600/650 is just a waste of money and everything you ever need in a headphone is already there.

 

[OneEyedHito]

I’ll get back at it today and keep updating post #147 but in regards to the recent 5-10 comments I just read I’d have to say I did see the measurements but I couldn’t tell you what any of them were from memory. To me the Elite is the Empyrean sound just lighter in color if sound was a color.

The space around the instruments exhibited by the Diana V2 is the only thing I prefer about the Diana’s at this point after 5-6hrs of listening to both. The Elites sound great and I prefer them to the OG Empyreans (if we must start our own nomenclatures) by a significant margin so far.

Right now: if I have to choose between the Diana’s and these I will likely choose the Elite due to comfort, I have an added pad on the Diana headband it was unwearable before that for long sessions and the Elite seal a lot better on my head. I would like more air/space in the elites and will see if that can be eq’d in at all but I’m not hopeful of it without changing the tonality of headphone which would be a counter that’s likely not worth it.

 

[Bonddam]

They where painted in one of the pictures I saw these are just aluminum which is better in hand looks more classy. These don't sound at all like Empyrean. There's no feeling of small sound. Bass is normal and plays low notes where Empyrean did more midbass slam. I have to wear these at min as the pads are not as big. Yeah these better. It better be more then the pads highs are silky. I'm just listening to bunch of different edm on apple and tidal. I have one album I test it's above and beyond waltz single and it's used just for the bass portions. Track one the low bass is coming in clear and track two the bass is coming in strong. Not everyone's cake but they added air.

 

[Ichos]

The Empyrean with the new hybrid pads and the Elite with the alcantara pads come soo close!

In tonality that is because the rest is a different story...

 

[ThanatosVI]

The Empyrean with the new hybrid pads and the Elite with the alcantara pads come soo close!

In tonality that is because the rest is a different story...

How is the Soundstage of the Elite compared to the Empyrean?
Is it bigger?
If so only slightly or really noteable?
To me the Empyrean is rather intimate with leather pads, or has a Medium sized soundstage with Alcantara. While my Solitaire P has a quite Big 3 dimensional Area.

How about Instrument Separation?

Is the treble as smooth as on the Empyrean or more fatiguing?

This will probably all make it into your review, but I can't help it and just need to ask