[PhilW]

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet but I think 15th November is the day in the UK for these to be here.

 

[musicday]

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet but I think 15th November is the day in the UK for these to be here.

That will be nice.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet but I think 15th November is the day in the UK for these to be here.

Have you heard the Ether Flow 2? I know you’ve heard the Empyrean. Are you able to compare the two? Thanks.

 

[racebit]

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet but I think 15th November is the day in the UK for these to be here.

I'm mostly interested to read about the bass response. To complement the Clear I now want a bass strong headphone like the Z1R. If the Empyrean bass is strong as the Z1R but with less overall distortion, I may order one before the end of year.

 

[tunes]

A third contender is the new Hifiman HE 1000 se. This headphone takes the original HEK to the next level. With the CHORD Dave and some time to break in, the HEKse combines the wide sound stage and 3D instrument placement of the HEKV2 with the micro detail of the Utopia but now with more dynamic, impactful bass response and visceral sub base response. I would be interested in a comparison with the Empyrean and ETHER 2. Keep us posted.

 

[revand]

I was able to try Meze Empyrean after listening to Mr. Speakers Ether 2 on a Budapest HIFI Show.

I have a very firm opinion that there is no competition here.
The new champion is the phenomenal Meze Empyrean.
If someone have enough money to buy one try it first, and you won't go anywhere else...

 

[tunes]

I was able to try Meze Empyrean after listening to Mr. Speakers Ether 2 on a Budapest HIFI Show.

I have a very firm opinion that there is no competition here.
The new champion is the phenomenal Meze Empyrean.
If someone have enough money to buy one try it first, and you won't go anywhere else...

How would you describe the difference between the two and have you heard the Hifiman HEK se??

 

[musicday]

I'm mostly interested to read about the bass response. To complement the Clear I now want a bass strong headphone like the Z1R. If the Empyrean bass is strong as the Z1R but with less overall distortion, I may order one before the end of year.

No doubt one of the best if not the best headphone of this type at any price range. I heard it in the summer paired directly with Dave and was really impressive. It had a deep strong bass, lots of micro details and clear highs and very wide soundstage. The headphone is on the neutral side, not sure how is the tuning now for the commercial production. And the build quality is very impressive and comes with real leather replaceable ear pads. Other high end headphones offer only protein leather, that I don't personally like.
Buy with confidence if you can afford and you will not regret it.

 

[PhilW]

Yeah I agree. The bass was just incredible. I wouldn't want to compare various parts of the Empyrean with other earphones to be honest. The synergy of all the component parts made up the Empyrean as a whole and I wouldn't want to start stripping it apart like I can other earphones. The thing the Empyrean does well....... is play music. And people are already taking a gamble and buying without hearing.

 

[tunes]

Yeah I agree. The bass was just incredible. I wouldn't want to compare various parts of the Empyrean with other earphones to be honest. The synergy of all the component parts made up the Empyrean as a whole and I wouldn't want to start stripping it apart like I can other earphones. The thing the Empyrean does well....... is play music. And people are already taking a gamble and buying without hearing.

When will it be available and what is the asking price?

 

[naynay]

When will it be available and what is the asking price?

19th Nov @£2699

 

[revand]

How would you describe the difference between the two and have you heard the Hifiman HEK se??

I could not hear the Hifiman so far.
To be honest I simply plugged in the Meze Empyrean to my Fiio BTR3 a very capable 79 EUR Bluetooth player, using my Xiaomi MI8 phone with a UAPP app sending the music to the Fiio with LDAC codec. I know that it is similar to test a Ferrari with a Barum tyre . However the Meze Empyrean provided the best musical experience I heard so far from any digital source. The sound was very natural, engaging, with huge soundstage, stunning transparency. Beautiful bass, precise mid and treble. The sound of the drums were unbelievable, like on a concert.

I tried the Meze Empyrean listening to the following songs from TIDAL:
Adam Ben Ezra - Can't Stop Running (Pin Drop album)
David Axelrod - Holy Thursday
Dizzy Gillespy - If I Should Lose You (MQA)
Herbie Hanckock - The Jungle Line (MQA)
Garbarek - Hilliard Ensemble - Parce Mihi Domine
Melody Gardot - Bad News (MQA)

Frankly speaking the Ether 2 was only the third best headphones on this show, since the Sennheiser HD 820 with it's own HDV 820 amp ( USD 5400 - local price together) sounded better then the Ether 2 listening to DSD music files. The bad news for Sennheiser is that the Meze Empyrean considerably outperformed the Sennheiser set driven by an EUR 79 gadget. I just imagined what sound quality can be achieved by the Meze Empyrean from a matching source device with a competent headphone amp.
The Meze was bringing pure music to my ears.
I have a good chance to get an Empyrean from one of the local distributor and review it on my Hungarian blog, if it happens I will publish my review here as well.
You should know that I am using a Meze 99 Classics as my daily headphones, and some of you can think that I am a bit biased towards Meze, but believe me I am lifting my hat anytime I hear something amazing, and the Meze Empyrean is the best headphone I have ever heard.
A musical wonder!!!

 

[Pastwa]

I just imagined what sound quality can be achieved by the Meze Empyrean from a matching source device with a competent headphone amp.

I wouldn't expect that much improvement with a full-size desktop set up. The latest headphones (i.e Audeze LCD 4z) are easier to drive being optimized to sound great out of portable equipment (this is the current trend), therefore you get 85-90% of their sonic potential from a smartphone, unlike some older high impedance headphones (Beyerdynamic T1, Sennheiser HD800 or even the power-hungry Abyss).

Still, I would never buy such an expensive headphone without a proper listen to it, especially when already owning something like Utopias, Pioneer and so on, as the potential improvement might be debatable (being subject to our preferences) unless you simply collect hi-end headphones like post stamps;'))

 

[naynay]

You have to admire the Craftsmanship,frame machined from Aluminium is just class.

 

[jinxy245]

I wouldn't expect that much improvement with a full-size desktop set up. The latest headphones (i.e Audeze LCD 4z) are easier to drive being optimized to sound great out of portable equipment (this is the current trend), therefore you get 85-90% of their sonic potential from a smartphone, unlike some older high impedance headphones (Beyerdynamic T1, Sennheiser HD800 or even the power-hungry Abyss).

Still, I would never buy such an expensive headphone without a proper listen to it, especially when already owning something like Utopias, Pioneer and so on, as the potential improvement might be debatable (being subject to our preferences) unless you simply collect hi-end headphones like post stamps;'))

You may be right, but I respectfully disagree. A headphone of this caliber is much more than just its impedance/sensitivity. Even if a better amp only gives modest gains (I think it'll be more than that personally) I'm pretty sure the higher quality signals that better DACs provide will highlight the resolving capabilities of this headphone. At least I hope so with a product in this class.

Of course it's all speculation until these are out 'in the wild', which I am definitely looking forward to.