Meze EMPYREAN - the First Isodynamic Hybrid Array Headphone

Apr 16, 2021 at 3:07 PM Post #9,616 of 13,270
This is not necessary the case. It is just a top amp is needed. People praise Empys with Eufioria (i personally never tried). I listen to Meze with Ayon ha3 and it amazing, punchy sound with tube imagining.

Btw, how would You compare Empys to Susvara? This comparison seems very interesting.
Bare in mind I only had a day of listening experience with the Susvara and I owned the Empyrean for a few years. I tried the Empyrean out of several different DACs/amps while I only heard the Susvara out of the TT2 and TT1.

Based on this limited experience I would say the Susvara is the better sounding headphone and I would probably trade my Empyrean for a Susvara. That said, the price difference in real life is crazy and I don't think it reflects the level of quality difference.

Sure the Susvara is more balanced and more neutral without sounding boring. To me it sounded like 'the perfect headphone'. The Susvara does everything I want from a headphone and doesn't fall short on anything. More technical than the Empyrean and almost equally musical. The Susvara is the untouchable perfection for £5000. The Empyrean's technical performance is quite behind the Susvara. Not as refined, not as detailed. But the Empyrean's warm and engaging sound for less than half the price makes it a very competitive choice. If someone resonates to the level of Empy's musical engagement I can actually see people picking the Empyrean over the Susvara for certain tracks or albums.

EDIT: The Susvara is better overall. But in some cases the Empyrean is more enjoyable.
 
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Apr 16, 2021 at 3:27 PM Post #9,617 of 13,270
Perhaps it is synergy more than price, but to my experience £500+ amps generally provided a better result than sub £500 amps. For sure, price is irrelevant. This is only my experience. That Cayin looks nice, but planars in general don't like tubes, do they?
The best Empyrean pairing I heard to date was with current strong SS amps.
As it was mentioned before there are good examples of tube amps I can add one more Octave V16. It is all about synergy.
 
Apr 16, 2021 at 3:36 PM Post #9,619 of 13,270
I
Synergy and price... The Octave V16 must be astonishing but it retails for £7495.
I can second the recommendation tho.
An absolutely impressive amp
 
Apr 16, 2021 at 11:48 PM Post #9,626 of 13,270
This is from a reviewer I usually appreciate. Ouch 😣

 
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Apr 17, 2021 at 3:26 AM Post #9,627 of 13,270
Apr 17, 2021 at 6:42 AM Post #9,628 of 13,270
All journeys are different. That is why it is great to share experience.

The best I have heard the Empy from is the Soloist 3XP (power amp mode). Next closest is the Taurus MKII. (DACs were Qutest and ADI2FS).
I tried a few more affordable amps like the THX-789 but the results to me were disappointing.
Would it be worth replacing my ifi pro iCan with the soloist 3xp?

Besides that, sorry for the double post of the review, didn’t catch it was a few pages back.
 
Apr 17, 2021 at 7:22 AM Post #9,629 of 13,270

Lol, I just found this review some pages back. This must be the first reviewer who called the Empy detailed but very bright, nearly piercing 😜.
 
Apr 17, 2021 at 7:27 AM Post #9,630 of 13,270
This has been posted a few pages back, so reactions/discussion about it is also already here.
Couldn’t find it. Does anybody by any chance remember which page? I’d really like to read the feedback on the good guy, bad audio review. Thanks 🤩
 
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