[Laylow33]

Watch Jude from Head-Fi previewing our soon to be revealed Empyrean.

See you at CanJam NYC 2018 for an audition of our pre-production unit!
You can find us in Uris Room — a dedicated enclosure that we're sharing with Cayin — directly next to the main Broadway exhibit area.

It won't be a bad idea to add one of them to my headphone collection.

 

[Kevintj604]

Sorry but I don't understand this part of your answer "too lacking in technical performance and detail".
I'm able to hear Empyrean, L700 und HD800S side by side. And yes it is a different experience. Empyrean is warm und L700/HD800S have much more energy in mids/highs but there is nothing missing when I listen with Empyrean. Every information/detail from the CD is there. As I said before it is not that type of "in your face" presentation which some achieve by increasing frequencies.

Regarding the RAD-0. I read that it is the king of darkness means warmer than Audeze and Empyrean. I never heard them because I'm not a friend of Audeze and the Rosson is more or less a "clone" of it (sound wise and weight). I owned LCD-X 2 times but sold them after some weeks of use. Not my cup of tea.

Like I said in my previous posts this hobby is highly subjective and our ears and the way that we hear things differ from person to person. For my ears to not perceive a level of detail is certainly not a controversial statement as almost every reviewer would agree with me in one way or another. In a side by side comparison with what I currently own Empyrean is a muddy/soupy experience with everything blending together. There's a very noticeable wall of sound experience in the Empyrean with a lack of detail in the mids especially and a bass bloat that takes over the mid presentation. Even Antonio Meze would agree in my statement regarding technical performance which is the reason why the Empyrean Elite exists.

I only used the RAD-0 as a comparison because it's similarly priced. The RAD's are a noticeable improvement in resolution, detail retrieval, speed, dynamics and trailing ends of tones. However, they are considerably less comfortable because of their weight. Alex Rosson was the Co-founder of Audeze and the person who invented the LCD line of headphones so to call the Rosson's a clone is pretty silly. The LCD5 is the first headphone in the numbered LCD series that wasn't designed by Alex Rosson. You are correct with their stock tuning being warm/dark and if you're not a fan of the Audeze tuning you probably won't enjoy the Rosson's as they share similar characteristics to the LCD4 because they were designed and tuned by the same person.

In conclusion I don't think the Empyrean is a bad headphone. Far from it. At the end of the day they just don't wow me in the way that a headphone at that price range has to in order for me to keep them.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

My Meze Empyrean arrived today - simple stunning, and they sound fantastic with the Meze Silver cable!

 

[equalspeace]

Heard the Empyrean at Can Jam and did not like it at all - too smooth and weak on technicalities. Take that w a grain of salt as i heard it in a rm w background noise. I found the Lyriic shouty as hell too, immediate pain w those. Heard the Elites also and found those too sound quite nice.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Heard the Empyrean at Can Jam and did not like it at all - too smooth and weak on technicalities. Take that w a grain of salt as i heard it in a rm w background noise. I found the Lyriic shouty as hell too, immediate pain w those. Heard the Elites also and found those too sound quite nice.

Can you be more specific? What were you listening to? I'd like to see if I can hear what you were experiencing.

 

[equalspeace]

Can you be more specific? What were you listening to? I'd like to see if I can hear what you were experiencing.

I played a few songs that i use to test w, X from the Black Panther soundtrack which i use to test bass performance. I found it lacking there compared to other headphones i heard, namely the LCD X, the Stealth and Aeon Flow closed. Played some Pink Floyd and the Beatles and just found it lacking fine detail and layering of the sounds. They had it connected to some tube amp that I don't think helped it sound it's best. I would've preferred to hear it on solid state personally. But yeah left unimpressed. My buddy came away w the same impressions of it and the Lyriic

 

[benjifx19]

I played a few songs that i use to test w, X from the Black Panther soundtrack which i use to test bass performance. I found it lacking there compared to other headphones i heard, namely the LCD X, the Stealth and Aeon Flow closed. Played some Pink Floyd and the Beatles and just found it lacking fine detail and layering of the sounds. They had it connected to some tube amp that I don't think helped it sound it's best. I would've preferred to hear it on solid state personally. But yeah left unimpressed. My buddy came away w the same impressions of it and the Lyriic

i Was at Canjam yesterday and it was connected to the Chord Dave and not the tube amp. I tried it on both and the tube amp was awful. on the Chord it blew my mind and i got a pair actually

 

[realmassy]

Interesting so many people find the Empyrean lacking so much in technicalities: during the weekend I connected mine to my iPad Pro using a cheap USB dongle, just to verify I could use it as source for my IEMs (which I haven’t chosen yet…but that’s OT) and save on a DAP, at least initially.
I know I’m a simple guy and easily pleased and I rarely found something sounding really bad, but I was surprised how much I enjoyed them, even with this simple setup. Clearly they lack dynamics, everything sound a bit flat and closed in, but they are fine to listen to music, instruments retain a natural timbre and the usual details in the recordings are still there, just not so evident.

 

[rcoleman1]

Empyrean lover here. I can imagine the signature warmth and subdued dynamics of the Empyrean not working well with a tube amp. Solid State or bust but I love what they've become out of my Hugo 2 with a silver cable upgrade.

 

[ColSaulTigh]

I'd love to know what tube amp y'all were listening to, because on my Woo Audio WA6-SE Gen 2, these sound simply brilliant! I can tell you that the tubes make a HUGE difference, and not all tube amps will sound the same from tube to tube. For headphones as clean and solid as the Empyrean, you need something beefy to get the detail you're looking for. I'm currently running an Emission Labs 274B rectifier and Sylvania 13EM7's. More than enough power to drive these to the point of inflicting pain (if I so desired). I find them to have some very good detail with the leather pads. Plenty of soundstage (although not as cavernous as the Sennheiser 8XX's), and pack plenty of punch when needed. I ordered the Meze Silver cable upgrade as well, haven't even unpacked the stock cable. My past experience with stock cables in general has been lackluster.

The added benefit to me is that they're extremely comfortable - almost like there's nothing on my head. They're not going to displace my beloved Focal Utopia, but they're my #2 choice for now...

 

[realmassy]

I agree, the Empyrean sound marvellous with my Manley Absolute. For convenience I mainly use the FA-12, but during the weekend, when I have more time, I use the Manley and it reminds how nice a tube amp can sound.

 

[catscratch]

Not sure where to ask this but - isn't Rinaro based in Ukraine? Do we know where they are and whether or not they're ok? What does the situation mean for the Empyrean/Elite going forward?

 

[Roasty]

Not sure where to ask this but - isn't Rinaro based in Ukraine? Do we know where they are and whether or not they're ok? What does the situation mean for the Empyrean/Elite going forward?

they're in Romania.

 

[Ichos]

Rinaro was founded in Ukraine but now it seems that their laboratories are based on Hong Kong and Poland.

 

[betula]

Rinaro was founded in Ukraine but now it seems that their laboratories are based on Hong Kong and Poland.

What is the source of this information?