[thecrow]

Here’s a re re repost that i found useful and owning the hekse and demoing the empy a few that mes. i pretty much agree with. Ymmv

Would having one of each be overkill?

https://musicalhead.de/2018/11/20/t...meze-empyrean-audeze-lcd4z-mrspeakers-ether2/

 

[domho7]

I spent the last couple of weeks reading reviews and researching Audeze LCD-4z, LCDi4, and the the Emps. The result of all the research is my Emps will arrive next Wednesday. I am a little nervous because I have not listened to them yet, but I am really excited. I have listened to both of the Audeze phones and really enjoyed them, but this thread really sold me. Therefore, I blame all of you if they suck. I also own Clears, which I like, and my current source is the Astell & Kern Kann Cube. I am looking for better and more refined bass than what the Clears are capable of delivering.

Hi coolmilo. Hows your kann cube. I am thinking of getting this dap. Any reviews on this dap. Tks.

 

[nick97]

Here’s a re re repost that i found useful and owning the hekse and demoing the empy a few that mes. i pretty much agree with. Ymmv

Would having one of each be overkill?

https://musicalhead.de/2018/11/20/t...meze-empyrean-audeze-lcd4z-mrspeakers-ether2/

That was a good article, thank God for Google translate his taste don't seem like mine though I want musical and fun not perfect balance

 

[MezeTeam]

I spent the last couple of weeks reading reviews and researching Audeze LCD-4z, LCDi4, and the the Emps. The result of all the research is my Emps will arrive next Wednesday. I am a little nervous because I have not listened to them yet, but I am really excited. I have listened to both of the Audeze phones and really enjoyed them, but this thread really sold me. Therefore, I blame all of you if they suck. I also own Clears, which I like, and my current source is the Astell & Kern Kann Cube. I am looking for better and more refined bass than what the Clears are capable of delivering.

The Clear is a wonder headphone, a different sound signature from our Empyrean and compliment each other perfectly, and both headphones are fairly easy going in terms of handling requirements. If there is anything I need to worry right now, you probably will be itched to upgrade your frontend in order to explore the full potential of your headphone collection. Try the SP2000 with Empyrean and you'll know what I mean.

 

[coolmilo]

Hi coolmilo. Hows your kann cube. I am thinking of getting this dap. Any reviews on this dap. Tks.

I am enjoying the KANN Cube so far. The Cube sounds very good when paired with Focal Clears. I feel that the sound is very accurate to the recording. Music that is highly compressed, like most pop albums these days, sounds not that great. Well recorded music, such as albums from Chesky, especially binaural+ recordings, sounds amazing. The sound is very dynamic and wide with a full body flavor to it (if that makes any sense). I am no reviewer, obviously, but the Cube sounds much better than my Ayre Codex and regular KANN that I no longer own. The battery needs charging about every 6 hours (amp set to medium mode in my case). I can’t wait for full Roon support. I sort of miss not being able to add 2 memory cards to it, but with Tidal (MQA too) and Roon support coming, I think a single 512 GB card is fine. I can’t wait to listen to it with the Emps.

 

[domho7]

I am enjoying the KANN Cube so far. The Cube sounds very good when paired with Focal Clears. I feel that the sound is very accurate to the recording. Music that is highly compressed, like most pop albums these days, sounds not that great. Well recorded music, such as albums from Chesky, especially binaural+ recordings, sounds amazing. The sound is very dynamic and wide with a full body flavor to it (if that makes any sense). I am no reviewer, obviously, but the Cube sounds much better than my Ayre Codex and regular KANN that I no longer own. The battery needs charging about every 6 hours (amp set to medium mode in my case). I can’t wait for full Roon support. I sort of miss not being able to add 2 memory cards to it, but with Tidal (MQA too) and Roon support coming, I think a single 512 GB card is fine. I can’t wait to listen to it with the Emps.

Tks for the review.

 

[thecrow]

That was a good article, thank God for Google translate his taste don't seem like mine though I want musical and fun not perfect balance

Well i guess it takes the hekse and ether2 off the table then

 

[nick97]

Well i guess it takes the hekse and ether2 off the table then

Too bad, the ethers would have saved me some serious dough

 

[kid vic]

I sometimes wonder where people get ideas from, not manufacturers, but people commenting on them. If anything, we've seen successful manufacturers who did their own thing, rather than copy others, especially in the case of Meze.

The Empyrean is the sum of all it's parts, not just the drivers. Even if Meze decides to make a pair of $1500 headphones using similar technology, it wont be the Empyrean.

My comment was completely facetious, it was meant to be read, chuckled at and discarded. I think you took my comment more seriously than you needed to.

By hifimans own description and the comments their official head-fi account has made in both the Arya and HEKse threads, the Arya is essentially a HEKv1 in a cheaper enclosure. Assuming your just talking about rumors spreading on the Head-fi my comment was not inaccurate.

Similar technology and same drivers are not the same thing at all; the Fostex TH600 and TH600v2 use the same drivers, but have similar technology to the TH900 while not being the same drivers. The Empy drivers in a cheap plastic enclosure would still be more Empy than the TH600 to TH900 comparison. A new Meze headphone using the same driver techniques and design cues of the Empy but being physically and fully different is still different (see Focal Utopia to Clears). I don't think Meze would just slap the same drivers in a new enclosure, clearly their pride in craftsmanship is above that.

 

[thecrow]

Too bad, the ethers would have saved me some serious dough

Not the hekse

If working off a budget don’t fully discount the arya

 

[MezeTeam]

Around 500 on the used market I'd say

I use the Empyrean quite often with my ifi micro BL. Given your budget that is in my eyes the best solution, it for sure brings out a lot of goodness . If you want to go up some levels higher, go for the Hugo2... but that is of course between double and triple in price.

Since @Hoegaardener70 mentioned Hugo 2 and @nick97 didn't mind second hand electronics, maybe a second handed Hugo original version is an option. There are very positive impressions on Hugo/Empyrean combo (here, here and here). Depends on your location and condition of the gear, the original Hugo is available from $7xx-$8xx, definitely worth consider as a Empyrean companion DAC /Amp.

 

[ken6217]

The Ether 2 isn’t even in the same ballpark. I had them for two weeks and then sent then back to MrSpeakers for a refund.

 

[racebit]

By hifimans own description and the comments their official head-fi account has made in both the Arya and HEKse threads, the Arya is essentially a HEKv1 in a cheaper enclosure.

BASTARDS!!!! CANNIBALS!!!!!

 

[xxx1313]

ZMF later on told me they do not consider the TT2 as a good enough source/amp to drive their headphones, so take my experience with a grain of salt.

Haha, they must be kidding. TT2 is the best DAC/headamp out there for its price, imo. What do they recommend instead? Only tube amps? In case that a headphone only sounds good with tube amps, there is some fundamental flaw, imo.

Btw, thanks for your impressions!

 

[betula]

Haha, they must be kidding. TT2 is the best DAC/headamp out there for its price, imo. What do they recommend instead? Only tube amps? In case that a headphone only sounds good with tube amps, there is some fundamental flaw, imo.

Btw, thanks for your impressions!

This was the response I got:
"If the only amp used was the chord TT2 it's going to sound vastly different than most typical amp setups. The chord amp/dacs are amazing and great - but they have extremely low impedance which makes the mids sound much further back and our high impedance headphones very different than even most regular solid state amps that have output impedances of usually 1 or 2 ohms. The chord tt2 has an output impedance of . 042 ohms. This isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, it just makes the setup a much better match for low impedance headphones. I've made similar comments to zmf owners about the Rupert Neve amp because it has an extremely low output impedance. Again this isn't a good or bad thing, just worth listening to other solid states and amps without such a high damping factor before reaching a final conclusion regarding our headphones."