[ThanatosVI]

How to differentiate the latest version with the earlier one? Is Tungsten Elite latest version?

The earlier Version comes with a silver case like this (minus the Empyrean print, mine is the very first Version)

They include the old non angled Alcantara pads and the Hybrid Pads

The Elite Tungsten which sounds identical and has only aesthetic differences comes in a case like this

The exact case here is from Empyrean II but the Elite Tungsten comes in the same.
They come with angled Alcantara pads and Hybrid Pads.

I think all "new" Elites will come with the latter case and the first is a collectors item by now

 

[Bowbow]

The Tungsten Elite should come with the angled pads and the hybrids by default. And yes, it really improves the Elite (and the Empyrean) for 90% of the people. There is an Elite thread though, you might be better off asking around there.

Thanks!

The earlier Version comes with a silver case like this (minus the Empyrean print, mine is the very first Version)
They include the old non angled Alcantara pads and the Hybrid Pads

The Elite Tungsten which sounds identical and has only aesthetic differences comes in a case like this
The exact case here is from Empyrean II but the Elite Tungsten comes in the same.
They come with angled Alcantara pads and Hybrid Pads.

I think all "new" Elites will come with the latter case and the first is a collectors item by now

Thanks. I just wanna make sure my Elite is equip with angled Alcantara

 

[Garpov]

Bought a mint ex demo set a few weeks ago for £1700 from premiumsound.co.uk. Thought it was an absolute bargain to be honest considering the RRP.

A few weeks later I noticed a similar ex demo set being sold for £1499, Premium Sound agreed to price match and refunded me the £200 difference.

Yesterday I noticed the other vendor had reduced their set to £1249! Contacted Premium Sound again and they were happy to price match again and refund another £250!

Must say I'm astounded by the service from Premium Sound so big shout out to them. Also astounded I've got a mint Empyrean with warranty for £1249. Best money I've spent on the hobby.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Bought a mint ex demo set a few weeks ago for £1700 from premiumsound.co.uk. Thought it was an absolute bargain to be honest considering the RRP.

A few weeks later I noticed a similar ex demo set being sold for £1499, Premium Sound agreed to price match and refunded me the £200 difference.

Yesterday I noticed the other vendor had reduced their set to £1249! Contacted Premium Sound again and they were happy to price match again and refund another £250!

Must say I'm astounded by the service from Premium Sound so big shout out to them. Also astounded I've got a mint Empyrean with warranty for £1249. Best money I've spent on the hobby.

Unbeatable price performance ratio.

 

[betula]

Bought a mint ex demo set a few weeks ago for £1700 from premiumsound.co.uk. Thought it was an absolute bargain to be honest considering the RRP.

A few weeks later I noticed a similar ex demo set being sold for £1499, Premium Sound agreed to price match and refunded me the £200 difference.

Yesterday I noticed the other vendor had reduced their set to £1249! Contacted Premium Sound again and they were happy to price match again and refund another £250!

Must say I'm astounded by the service from Premium Sound so big shout out to them. Also astounded I've got a mint Empyrean with warranty for £1249. Best money I've spent on the hobby.

That's first class customer service. You wouldn't get that everywhere.

 

[turbofeet]

Bought a mint ex demo set a few weeks ago for £1700 from premiumsound.co.uk. Thought it was an absolute bargain to be honest considering the RRP.

A few weeks later I noticed a similar ex demo set being sold for £1499, Premium Sound agreed to price match and refunded me the £200 difference.

Yesterday I noticed the other vendor had reduced their set to £1249! Contacted Premium Sound again and they were happy to price match again and refund another £250!

Must say I'm astounded by the service from Premium Sound so big shout out to them. Also astounded I've got a mint Empyrean with warranty for £1249. Best money I've spent on the hobby.

A bargain! Enjoy the "Premium Sound" of the Meze Empyrean.

 

[Mr X]

Can't believe I contemplated selling mine. So glad I didn't - I do think these will be in my collection forever now.

I posted the following over in the Elite thread but might be suewful to some here, especially if you are considering picking up the Empyrean for a bargain price!

Here's the post.........



I've had a fun weekend testing out my Elites and OG Empyrean against the Empyrean II loan unit.

Quick summary...

The Empy II are exceptionally good and I was quite surprised how similar they sounded to my Elites, to my ears at least.

But ultimately the Elites took the win. Just a bit more resolution and detail.
I had originally toyed with selling my OG Empy to fund the II - I'm so glad I waited for the shoot out. Yes the originals Empyrean has its issues but when I want a different flavour from my favourite headphones (The Elite) and fancy some bass heavy tracks, the OG Empy gives me that variation to the Elites that the Empy II doesn't.

I have all the various pads so today the last thing left to test is whether the Duo pads are worth getting for the Elites should they become available in the near future.

 

[turbofeet]

I just bought some OG empys again. Delivered earlier today in perfect condition with very little use.

They really look great in Jet black. My last set was the copper finish

My work setup today now consists of the Chord Mojo 2 and OG Empy although the Meze 109 Pro are still here as well for now.

I can use the 109s in a portable situation (walking around town) though. The Empys, not so much .

I forgot how bassy they are and it took a moment to adjust after listening such clean sound in my main setup.

I switched to the angled pads which tames the mid bass hump but I still think I prefer the OG Alcantara pads and that additional bass as I always did. YMMV.

They really make music a pleasure to listen to. I listen to 80s soul sometimes and it can be a little treble happy. The Empy is perfect for that genre and R&B in general.

Enjoy the music.

 

[ThanatosVI]

I can use the 109s in a portable situation (walking around town) though

It's beyond me why people would use open headphones when walking around town.

All the incoming and outgoing noise

 

[turbofeet]

It's beyond me why people would use open headphones when walking around town.

All the incoming and outgoing noise

Yes a fair point!

 

[Mr X]

It's beyond me why people would use open headphones when walking around town.

All the incoming and outgoing noise

Agreed. Here’s hoping the Liric II fills that gap.

 

[aleopold]

Happy to join the Empyrean OG family today. It will be my first foray into full sized cans, moving up from the Mest 2. Using the Cayin N7 into the C9 amp which I adore. Ordered the Meze copper 4.4m cable just to get started. Using EQ, I’ve pushed the Mest 2 as far as I can take it and am now ready to enter a new world of sound.

The thoughtful and passionate posts from many on this thread encouraged me to pull the trigger. I look for musicality and emotional engagement, and I favor a warm bass and smooth treble. Seems like the empyrean will be a good platform to tune the sound for years to come.

There will be a lot to explore and I’m looking forward to the journey, thanks to all for sharing your passion on this thread.

 

[aleopold]

Did some listening last night with the unit right out of the box (bought new). I listened to about three songs with the leather pads which I found too dark and immediately went to the Alcantara which were more balanced.

Voice tracks in the tube setting were great, very 3D and no sibilance at all. Voices were round and had a two channel like position in space, with good presence and warmth. This was probably the most positive surprise.

Rock and metal were also great, where i enjoyed the body of guitars and the staging which never compressed even at high volume. This was in solid state class AB. There could be a little more attack on drums and guitars, and kick drum bottom is not quite the same impact as the DD on Mest.

Classical was mixed. Instruments had great body and timbre but I felt some dynamics and texture was missing, especially in strings. I think it’s the treble everyone discusses, which I can tweak later on with EQ. This was underwhelming but I see potential here too, especially given the body and staging of instruments which is harder to EQ, so I’m glad it’s there.

Also surprisingly I got the feeling that maybe the C9, while it works well, that it may not have the voltage to drive these to full potential. It’s just a sense I have compared to the Mest which was really open and natural with the C9. On low gain there was no bass and high gain in listening around 50/100 volume which surprised me.

I expect things to improve with burn in and getting used to the sound, so I’ll report back.

Overall I’m happy but expected a little more excitement than I experienced, but I do think it’s a platform I can tune to perfection over time. It took me over a year to get the Mest where it is a chill generation machine as a point of comparison.

 

[aleopold]

I’ve gone from underwhelmed to overwhelmed. What an impressive piece of audio gear!

Leather pads are back on. Did some surgical EQ across the spectrum and these bad boys are producing sound as good as six figure two channel systems. They thoroughly school my poor Mest 2 along every dimension - sound stage, timbre, localization, coherency, dynamics, musicality.

Still in a burn in phase, and I’m sure there are small EQ tweaks left (i sense I’m 90% there), but these headphones are everything I hoped they would be. C9 is driving them better - a lot of my concern was the recessed upper mids and treble which can be easily tweaked and everything opens up.

Most importantly, the chills have returned. That’s my measuring stick when it sounds right.