[Afsa]

I've asked this before but Hugo TT2 owners. Hi or Lo setting w/these? Lo still seems to knock it out.

they are so easy to drive. I think both settings are fine. I use high because i prefer the colour at my listening range XD

 

[k3kz]

so do i, lo would be more than enough but... i dont know, i just normally use hi

 

[betula]

I've asked this before but Hugo TT2 owners. Hi or Lo setting w/these? Lo still seems to knock it out.

Low would be enough, but I also prefer high as to my ears it is a bit more dynamic. A lot of guys in the TT2 thread use low gain though.
According to Rob Watts (Chord designer) the default for headphones is high gain on the TT2, and low gain is just an extra resistor for IEMs.
Despite this my impression was that the majority of TT2 owners in the TT2 thread use low gain even with full sized headphones for a slightly mellower sound. (Perhaps 60% preferred low gain and 40% preferred high gain, at least that was my impression.) At the end it comes down to personal taste.

 

[JGel]

I am not a seasoned reviewer by any means, but about Empyrean and HEKse I have both (returning one of the two) running from a W4S DAC1v2 -> V281 (balanced) and WA6-SE (unbalanced) in parallel. I do not have a balanced cable for the HEKse and I find it I like the sound better from the WA6-SE at least single ended. The Empyrean I am running it with a dragon silver cable from an LCD3 I have, connected to the V281 (balanced). 100+ hours on each cans.

Roughly speaking, the sound signature is the same debate as LCD3 vs HD800, only Empyrean and HEKse do everything much better imo. I don't feel like typing much so I would summarize the difference between the two are in tonality, bass and soundstage.

The leather pads on the Empyrean make the sound really dark and bassy to my taste, they remind me of the Sony's with these pads. The alcantara pad are more neutral and to my liking, they give Empyrean more air and space. Detail retrieval and extension is about the same in both cans.


(From now on all impressions of the Empyrean are with the alcantara pads)

Overall the sound out of the Empyrean feels very balanced, a bit warm and dark but not much, this makes it possible for me to listen to them for very long hours with no fatigue whatsoever. The bass is always present even at low volumes but it never gets over powering, they are also very transparent and natural sounding. If you were to listen to a life performance, the bass rendition of the Empyrean would be much closer to it than the HEKse. This is easily noticeable with jazz, where the background bass notes would almost be lost with HEKse, the Empyrean would give it an slight boost, enough to make it relevant but not distracting. Empyrean performs spectacularly cross the whole range. Where they do suffer is in the soundstage.

Soundstage is a whole lot smaller on Empyrean than on the HEKse. To put it in perspective, Empyrean soundstage is about the size of the LCD4 while HEKse is about the same of the HD800. Both are better in terms on placement and precision compared to LCD and HD, with HEKse having a lot more air, space and separation between instrument than the Empyrean. If bass is a bit better on the Empyrean, I would say soundstage/imaging is whole lot better on the HEKse. There is also instances where the soundstage/imaging on the Empyrean "breaks down" with complex passages, example of this Metamorphosis by World Saxophone Quartet makes for a very unconformable listening experience on the Empyrean, where I find my left and right ears listening to two different rooms, very disconnected. On the other hand the HEKse never losses coherence and accuracy.

I haven't mentioned HEKse much because aside for the bass, everything else is close to perfection if not perfection itself, and you already have a pair. HEKse are very natural sounding with an outstanding soundstage, both in size and presicion. Mids and highs feels so real that sometimes gets spooky with voices and sudden notes.



Summarizing, if you were to ask me, I would say Empyrean bass is half step ahead of HEKse while HEKse soundstage/imaging is a whole step ahead of Empyrean. Tonal differences are a matter of personal taste and everything else is about the same on both.


Hope it helps, If you want to know something specific, ask and I'll do my best answering.

EDIT:
The Empyrian is "dark or warm leaning" sound, but it is a really pleasing sound with a ton of details and very good soundstage. This makes for a very relaxing/comfortable experience, I can listen much longer to Empyrian than to the HEKse for example.

Thank you very much for the comparison! Super helpful with making my next buy

 

[ThanatosVI]

Up until an hour ago I didn't have these on my radar. However I've seen a video review of these and was blown away from the build quality and finish.
Most importantly though the review described the sound signature as something I might personally really dig.

Up until now my own pinnacle of Sound have been the Hifiman Arya and while the Susvara and LCD-4 always seem tempting they are realistically way out of my budget with 7000€ and 5000€.
The Meze Empyrean while still 3000€ could be "cheap enough" for me to pull the trigger at some point.

Now my questions for you. Can someone compare the Empyrean to any upper tier Hifiman and Audeze?
The more detailed the better(Anything from Arya, Hek, Hex, Susvara, to LCD2C LCD-X, LCD-4)
The reviews here on head fi often took comparisons I am not familiar with (neither from own experience nor extensive reading about sound signature)

From a pairing perspective, how would they work with a Schiit Mjolnir 2 and Schiit Gungnir?
Also do they scale well with power?
Is the cable plug the same as on the LCDs, in other word could I use my aftermarket cable for LCDs on them?

 

[Chris Kaoss]

From a pairing perspective, how would they work with a Schiit Mjolnir 2 and Schiit Gungnir?
Also do they scale well with power?
Is the cable plug the same as on the LCDs, in other word could I use my aftermarket cable for LCDs on them?

Yes.
Yes. Most of the planars will scale very well with power.
Yes. It's a usual mini xlr plug.



Have heard them on a Moon 430, which isn't my cup of tea, and straight out of my V30.
Booth sounded just great.
Can't wait to plug them in my R28.
And the look and feel, oh boy. Never saw a headphone like that.

 

[thecrow]

Now my questions for you. Can someone compare the Empyrean to any upper tier Hifiman and Audeze?
The more detailed the better(Anything from Arya, Hek, Hex, Susvara, to LCD2C LCD-X, LCD-4)

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

google translate

 

[ThanatosVI]

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

google translate

That's a very good review, which I already knew. Best part is that Fidelio (the reviewer) describes headphones in a way I can always fully agree with after I heard them myself.

I am german so I don't need google translate fir this

 

[Law87]

Up until an hour ago I didn't have these on my radar. However I've seen a video review of these and was blown away from the build quality and finish.
Most importantly though the review described the sound signature as something I might personally really dig.

Up until now my own pinnacle of Sound have been the Hifiman Arya and while the Susvara and LCD-4 always seem tempting they are realistically way out of my budget with 7000€ and 5000€.
The Meze Empyrean while still 3000€ could be "cheap enough" for me to pull the trigger at some point.

Now my questions for you. Can someone compare the Empyrean to any upper tier Hifiman and Audeze?
The more detailed the better(Anything from Arya, Hek, Hex, Susvara, to LCD2C LCD-X, LCD-4)
The reviews here on head fi often took comparisons I am not familiar with (neither from own experience nor extensive reading about sound signature)

From a pairing perspective, how would they work with a Schiit Mjolnir 2 and Schiit Gungnir?
Also do they scale well with power?
Is the cable plug the same as on the LCDs, in other word could I use my aftermarket cable for LCDs on them?

I can answer this. I loved the empyrean since last April when I first listened to it at a meet here in DC, ever since I been wanting to get one. I finally got one beginning of April and was quiet disappointed. I had my HE1000se for a long time now (maybe closed to 7-9 months) and listen side by side, I feel like the music has been muffled, it just sound like there is a foam pad between my ears and the cans, the clarity between the HE1000se and the Meze is just vastly different, the soundstage and imaging is greater on the HE1000se, I felt I was sitting further back in the stadium and have the singer directly singing at eyes level rather than me looking up at the singer (if that makes any sense). Compare to the Susvara is not even a real match up, the Susvara really is king, even though I have a Susvara now, I will really miss the HE1000se if I let it go but it just does everything that much better.

Meze also had this annoying mid bass that I cant seem to shake off, its quiet annoying and distracting even swapping out to the Moon Audio silver Dragon cable, I cant seem to remedy that Mid bass hump. Overall I was really sad that I couldn't get into the sound, the headphone ecstatically look really good and construction is top notch!

so who is the meze for? if you love the Audeze and Dan Audio Ether 2 headphone then you will love the meze. If you are in the Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic and Hifiman camp, this is not for you. If you can get a Susvara for the price of a new Meze, I would advise you to at least give it a try, because it does deserve that.

 

[mixman]

I can answer this. I loved the empyrean since last April when I first listened to it at a meet here in DC, ever since I been wanting to get one. I finally got one beginning of April and was quiet disappointed. I had my HE1000se for a long time now (maybe closed to 7-9 months) and listen side by side, I feel like the music has been muffled, it just sound like there is a foam pad between my ears and the cans, the clarity between the HE1000se and the Meze is just vastly different, the soundstage and imaging is greater on the HE1000se, I felt I was sitting further back in the stadium and have the singer directly singing at eyes level rather than me looking up at the singer (if that makes any sense). Compare to the Susvara is not even a real match up, the Susvara really is king, even though I have a Susvara now, I will really miss the HE1000se if I let it go but it just does everything that much better.

Meze also had this annoying mid bass that I cant seem to shake off, its quiet annoying and distracting even swapping out to the Moon Audio silver Dragon cable, I cant seem to remedy that Mid bass hump. Overall I was really sad that I couldn't get into the sound, the headphone ecstatically look really good and construction is top notch!

so who is the meze for? if you love the Audeze and Dan Audio Ether 2 headphone then you will love the meze. If you are in the Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic and Hifiman camp, this is not for you. If you can get a Susvara for the price of a new Meze, I would advise you to at least give it a try, because it does deserve that.

Well the Meze is for people like me. I just reaquired the Empy. I also have an HEK SE. While I also think the SE has more resolution I now think it sounds too thin. I have been getting into the warmer sounds of the Verite and Empy as opposed to the thinner sounding Hifiman cans, to the point I am thinking of selling the SE and of course keeping the Meze.

Like you I was thinking about getting the Susvara, but thinking now if I have to get another expensive can will get the TC as opposed to the Susvara. It has a more full sound with a little more bass than the Susvara.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Well the Meze is for people like me. I just reaquired the Empy. I also have an HEK SE. While I also think the SE has more resolution I now think it sounds too thin. I have been getting into the warmer sounds of the Verite and Empy as opposed to the thinner sounding Hifiman cans, to the point I am thinking of selling the SE and of course keeping the Meze.

Like you I was thinking about getting the Susvara, but thinking now if I have to get another expensive can will get the TC as opposed to the Susvara. It has a more full sound with a little more bass than the Susvara.

The more I read about it, the more it seems that this could be the holy grail of headphones for me.

I was planning on spending roughly 3k this year to upgrade my amp/dac.
Now I consider getting the Meze empyrean First.

 

[Arcamera]

I have a HiFiMan HE1000v2, as well as an LCD4, and I prefer the Empyrean.

 

[ThanatosVI]

I have a HiFiMan HE1000v2, as well as an LCD4, and I prefer the Empyrean.

You probably expected this follow up question:

Why do you prefer the Empyrean, especially compared to the LCD-4

 

[Law87]

Well the Meze is for people like me. I just reaquired the Empy. I also have an HEK SE. While I also think the SE has more resolution I now think it sounds too thin. I have been getting into the warmer sounds of the Verite and Empy as opposed to the thinner sounding Hifiman cans, to the point I am thinking of selling the SE and of course keeping the Meze.

Like you I was thinking about getting the Susvara, but thinking now if I have to get another expensive can will get the TC as opposed to the Susvara. It has a more full sound with a little more bass than the Susvara.

Not sure what you power your HEKSE with but I'm running balance through Hugo2 feeding into a THX 887 amp/Woo audio WA6-se. Hugo 2 I set on red filter which add warmth and a hint of bass to everything and slightly reduce upper freq (very subtle).

The Susvara and HEKSE is different sounding, Susvara is warmer, I set my hugo 2 on normal filter and I never seems to have problem. Susvara really seems to do everything right except for the ammount of price and the power it takes to moves it. my WA6-se cant power it, I hear clipping everywhere and sound thinning out.

I'm bass-light person so the Susvara natural bass is just perfect for me. The empyrean mid bass is just really bugging me out, that and the treble sometime comes to me as shouting.

 

[mixman]

Not sure what you power your HEKSE with but I'm running balance through Hugo2 feeding into a THX 887 amp/Woo audio WA6-se. Hugo 2 I set on red filter which add warmth and a hint of bass to everything and slightly reduce upper freq (very subtle).

The Susvara and HEKSE is different sounding, Susvara is warmer, I set my hugo 2 on normal filter and I never seems to have problem. Susvara really seems to do everything right except for the ammount of price and the power it takes to moves it. my WA6-se cant power it, I hear clipping everywhere and sound thinning out.

I'm bass-light person so the Susvara natural bass is just perfect for me. The empyrean mid bass is just really bugging me out, that and the treble sometime comes to me as shouting.

I am a bit of a bass nut so the Empy is just fine for me. Only my Hedd bother me as far as bass go, it’s too much on some music. I do love the Susvara and you are right the Susvara is warmer and I like that a little more than the sound of the SE which can sound a little analytical at times. I am using a THX with an RME DAC.