[musicday]

These are my first impressions on the Meze Empyrean. I knew its general sound signature already after listening to the prototypes at the "High End" in Munich in May. Empyrean is a great headphone in many respects. It is a special headphone, with a sound signature not easy to describe. I just got it a few hours ago, so no burn-in by now.

My reference headphone is the Focal Utopia, which I really love. It is the king of transparancy and dynamics imo, and tonally a neutral to slighly bright headphone.

Meze Empyrean is a headphone with warm tuning and elevated bass imo, but not overly so. Bass does not bleed significantly into the mids, in constrast to the Audeze LCD4(z), for example. There are no treble peaks above 4-5 kHz, so treble is not at all elevated, but only slightly recessed. Mids are full, warm and lush, with great texture and neutral enough for a high end headphone. Bass is not as fast as I know from the Utopias, but fast enough, dynamic and with impact, goes deep (typical planar) and is very satisfying. The soundstage is rather small and intimate (deeper than wide), but seperation of instruments and voices is surprisingly good. Acoustic dampening is high, reverb tails are short, background is completely black. This is the first headphone which I clearly prefer without crossfeed on Chord DAVE. Synergy with Chord DAVE is simply great imo, less so with the warmer tuned and less resolving Hugo TT2 (I prefer the Focal Utopia on TT2).

Listening with the Empyrean is much fun, extremely satisfying and free of fatigue. I am now listening to David Gilmour - Live at Pompeii, and I think to myself that, even though the Emyprean is not exactly neutral, this is how it should have sounded being there.

Meze Empyrean synergizes well with neutral to bright (solid-state) audio gear, but probably not very well with many tube amps. The Empyrean is easy to drive, very light and extremely comfortable. Build quality is superb, unreached by ALL other manufacturers of planar magnetic headphones.

It is astonishing that it needed a small company from Romania (Meze) and a driver from the Ukraine (Rinaro) to successfully make the first high end planar magnetic headphone, that not only offers real high-end sound, but is also easy to drive, very comfortable, light (less than 400g) and with great design and build quality. So many failed, they succeeded. I am very happy that they did.

Thumbs up!! ​

430 gr whithout the cables to be precise, not that it matters.
Is the most comfortable headphone for me from everything I've tried.

 

[Beagle]

These are my first impressions on the Meze Empyrean. I knew its general sound signature already after listening to the prototypes at the "High End" in Munich in May. Empyrean is a great headphone in many respects. It is a special headphone, with a sound signature not easy to describe. I just got it a few hours ago, so no burn-in by now.

My reference headphone is the Focal Utopia, which I really love. It is the king of transparancy and dynamics imo, and tonally a neutral to slighly bright headphone.

Meze Empyrean is a headphone with warm tuning and elevated bass imo, but not overly so. Bass does not bleed significantly into the mids, in constrast to the Audeze LCD4(z), for example. There are no treble peaks above 4-5 kHz, so treble is not at all elevated, but only slightly recessed. Mids are full, warm and lush, with great texture and neutral enough for a high end headphone. Bass is not as fast as I know from the Utopias, but fast enough, dynamic and with impact, goes deep (typical planar) and is very satisfying. The soundstage is rather small and intimate (deeper than wide), but seperation of instruments and voices is surprisingly good. Acoustic dampening is high, reverb tails are short, background is completely black. This is the first headphone which I clearly prefer without crossfeed on Chord DAVE. Synergy with Chord DAVE is simply great imo, less so with the warmer tuned and less resolving Hugo TT2 (I prefer the Focal Utopia on TT2).

Listening with the Empyrean is much fun, extremely satisfying and free of fatigue. I am now listening to David Gilmour - Live at Pompeii, and I think to myself that, even though the Emyprean is not exactly neutral, this is how it should have sounded being there.

Meze Empyrean synergizes well with neutral to bright (solid-state) audio gear, but probably not very well with many tube amps. The Empyrean is easy to drive, very light and extremely comfortable. Build quality is superb, unreached by ALL other manufacturers of planar magnetic headphones.

It is astonishing that it needed a small company from Romania (Meze) and a driver from the Ukraine (Rinaro) to successfully make the first high end planar magnetic headphone, that not only offers real high-end sound, but is also easy to drive, very comfortable, light (less than 400g) and with great design and build quality. So many failed, they succeeded. I am very happy that they did.

Thumbs up!! ​

Thank you for sharing your impressions. Much appreciated.

Just wondering if the Empyrean leaks a lot of sound (out the back) compared to the Utopia. Or is the leakage controlled, more like a semi-open phone?

 

[xxx1313]

430 gr whithout the cables to be precise, not that it matters.
Is the most comfortable headphone for me from everything I've tried.

I cannot find the kitchen scale at the moment.

390g is mentioned here:
https://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/meze3/1.html

It is lightweight and comfortable. Exact weight also varies with the pads used.

 

[HK_sends]

These are my first impressions on the Meze Empyrean. I knew its general sound signature already after listening to the prototypes at the "High End" in Munich in May. Empyrean is a great headphone in many respects. It is a special headphone, with a sound signature not easy to describe. I just got it a few hours ago, so no burn-in by now.

My reference headphone is the Focal Utopia, which I really love. It is the king of transparancy and dynamics imo, and tonally a neutral to slighly bright headphone.

Meze Empyrean is a headphone with warm tuning and elevated bass imo, but not overly so. Bass does not bleed significantly into the mids, in constrast to the Audeze LCD4(z), for example. There are no treble peaks above 4-5 kHz, so treble is not at all elevated, but only slightly recessed. Mids are full, warm and lush, with great texture and neutral enough for a high end headphone. Bass is not as fast as I know from the Utopias, but fast enough, dynamic and with impact, goes deep (typical planar) and is very satisfying. The soundstage is rather small and intimate (deeper than wide), but seperation of instruments and voices is surprisingly good. Acoustic dampening is high, reverb tails are short, background is completely black. This is the first headphone which I clearly prefer without crossfeed on Chord DAVE. Synergy with Chord DAVE is simply great imo, less so with the warmer tuned and less resolving Hugo TT2 (I prefer the Focal Utopia on TT2).

Listening with the Empyrean is much fun, extremely satisfying and free of fatigue. I am now listening to David Gilmour - Live at Pompeii, and I think to myself that, even though the Emyprean is not exactly neutral, this is how it should have sounded being there.

Meze Empyrean synergizes well with neutral to bright (solid-state) audio gear, but probably not very well with many tube amps. The Empyrean is easy to drive, very light and extremely comfortable. Build quality is superb, unreached by ALL other manufacturers of planar magnetic headphones.

It is astonishing that it needed a small company from Romania (Meze) and a driver from the Ukraine (Rinaro) to successfully make the first high end planar magnetic headphone, that not only offers real high-end sound, but is also easy to drive, very comfortable, light (less than 400g) and with great design and build quality. So many failed, they succeeded. I am very happy that they did.

Thumbs up!! ​

I really appreciated your impressions! Did you listen to the Empyrean with both sets of pads? If so, what was your opinion of the differences in sound quality with each set?
Thanks in advance!

Cheers!
-HK sends

 

[xxx1313]

Thank you for sharing your impressions. Much appreciated.

Just wondering if the Empyrean leaks a lot of sound (out the back) compared to the Utopia. Or is the leakage controlled, more like a semi-open phone?

Leakage is a bit more compared to the Utopia, but much less than a very open can like the HD800(S).

 

[Rowethren]

Well, there are some tracks, where the Empyrean has too much bass, but there also are (maybe even more) tracks where all "reference" headphones have too little for my taste. A matter of preference. It is clear to me that with Utopia AND Empyrean I have the best of both worlds.

I guess so, but I would rather have too much bass on some songs than not enough on others. If you can afford both though then that is a win win. Although I really didn't get on with the Utopia when I demo them, sharp treble and lacking bass to my ears, really was not my cup of tea.

I always wear ear plugs to live music though so I guess I must have good hearing still

 

[xxx1313]

I really appreciated your impressions! Did you listen to the Empyrean with both sets of pads? If so, what was your opinion of the differences in sound quality with each set?
Thanks in advance!

Cheers!
-HK sends

They do not sound completely different, but different enough to have a benefit with both sets of pads included. In general, I nearly always prefer leather pads (also sonically), but on the High End there were also several people who preferred the alcantara pads. There is slightly better bass definition and more natural mids with the leather pads, imo. But it is on you to decide.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

These are my first impressions on the Meze Empyrean. I knew its general sound signature already after listening to the prototypes at the "High End" in Munich in May. Empyrean is a great headphone in many respects. It is a special headphone, with a sound signature not easy to describe. I just got it a few hours ago, so no burn-in by now.

My reference headphone is the Focal Utopia, which I really love. It is the king of transparancy and dynamics imo, and tonally a neutral to slighly bright headphone.

Meze Empyrean is a headphone with warm tuning and elevated bass imo, but not overly so. Bass does not bleed significantly into the mids, in constrast to the Audeze LCD4(z), for example. There are no treble peaks above 4-5 kHz, so treble is not at all elevated, but only slightly recessed. Mids are full, warm and lush, with great texture and neutral enough for a high end headphone. Bass is not as fast as I know from the Utopias, but fast enough, dynamic and with impact, goes deep (typical planar) and is very satisfying. The soundstage is rather small and intimate (deeper than wide), but seperation of instruments and voices is surprisingly good. Acoustic dampening is high, reverb tails are short, background is completely black. This is the first headphone which I clearly prefer without crossfeed on Chord DAVE. Synergy with Chord DAVE is simply great imo, less so with the warmer tuned and less resolving Hugo TT2 (I prefer the Focal Utopia on TT2).

Listening with the Empyrean is much fun, extremely satisfying and free of fatigue. I am now listening to David Gilmour - Live at Pompeii, and I think to myself that, even though the Emyprean is not exactly neutral, this is how it should have sounded being there.

Meze Empyrean synergizes well with neutral to bright (solid-state) audio gear, but probably not very well with many tube amps. The Empyrean is easy to drive, very light and extremely comfortable. Build quality is superb, unreached by ALL other manufacturers of planar magnetic headphones.

It is astonishing that it needed a small company from Romania (Meze) and a driver from the Ukraine (Rinaro) to successfully make the first high end planar magnetic headphone, that not only offers real high-end sound, but is also easy to drive, very comfortable, light (less than 400g) and with great design and build quality. So many failed, they succeeded. I am very happy that they did.

Thumbs up!! ​

You’re the first person I’ve heard say that the soundstage is small and intimate. Most people describe the Empyrean as spacious. Is the soundstage larger than the Utopia?

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

These are my first impressions on the Meze Empyrean. I knew its general sound signature already after listening to the prototypes at the "High End" in Munich in May. Empyrean is a great headphone in many respects. It is a special headphone, with a sound signature not easy to describe. I just got it a few hours ago, so no burn-in by now.

My reference headphone is the Focal Utopia, which I really love. It is the king of transparancy and dynamics imo, and tonally a neutral to slighly bright headphone.

Meze Empyrean is a headphone with warm tuning and elevated bass imo, but not overly so. Bass does not bleed significantly into the mids, in constrast to the Audeze LCD4(z), for example. There are no treble peaks above 4-5 kHz, so treble is not at all elevated, but only slightly recessed. Mids are full, warm and lush, with great texture and neutral enough for a high end headphone. Bass is not as fast as I know from the Utopias, but fast enough, dynamic and with impact, goes deep (typical planar) and is very satisfying. The soundstage is rather small and intimate (deeper than wide), but seperation of instruments and voices is surprisingly good. Acoustic dampening is high, reverb tails are short, background is completely black. This is the first headphone which I clearly prefer without crossfeed on Chord DAVE. Synergy with Chord DAVE is simply great imo, less so with the warmer tuned and less resolving Hugo TT2 (I prefer the Focal Utopia on TT2).

Listening with the Empyrean is much fun, extremely satisfying and free of fatigue. I am now listening to David Gilmour - Live at Pompeii, and I think to myself that, even though the Emyprean is not exactly neutral, this is how it should have sounded being there.

Meze Empyrean synergizes well with neutral to bright (solid-state) audio gear, but probably not very well with many tube amps. The Empyrean is easy to drive, very light and extremely comfortable. Build quality is superb, unreached by ALL other manufacturers of planar magnetic headphones.

It is astonishing that it needed a small company from Romania (Meze) and a driver from the Ukraine (Rinaro) to successfully make the first high end planar magnetic headphone, that not only offers real high-end sound, but is also easy to drive, very comfortable, light (less than 400g) and with great design and build quality. So many failed, they succeeded. I am very happy that they did.

Thumbs up!! ​

Badass!

 

[xxx1313]

You’re the first person I’ve heard say that the soundstage is small and intimate. Most people describe the Empyrean as spacious. Is the soundstage larger than the Utopia?

To me the soundstage of the Empyrean is a bit less wide than that of the Utopia, but deeper. I also read impressions that Empyrean's soundstage is larger than Utopia, but to me it is not. Deeper yes, but definitely not wider. I personally feel that the soundstage size is comparable with Empyrean + Dave without crossfeed and Utopia + Dave with crossfeed 1. Instrument positioning is a bit different, so this may be a reason for the differenct soundstage size perceptions.

 

[HK_sends]

They do not sound completely different, but different enough to have a benefit with both sets of pads included. In general, I nearly always prefer leather pads (also sonically), but on the High End there were also several people who preferred the alcantara pads. There is slightly better bass definition and more natural mids with the leather pads, imo. But it is on you to decide.

Thank you very much, that helps a lot! Now I'm really looking forward to getting my set!

Cheers and All the Best!
-HK sends

 

[xxx1313]

Thank you very much, that helps a lot! Now I'm really looking forward to my set!

Cheers and All the Best!
-HK sends

Thanks. I think you would not regret.

It is a pity that I do not have much time for listening with this great headphone tomorrow, but nevertheless I should get a few hours sleep now at half past one in the morning. Have a nice day / evening / night.

 

[Fernando Goñi]

They do not sound completely different, but different enough to have a benefit with both sets of pads included. In general, I nearly always prefer leather pads (also sonically), but on the High End there were also several people who preferred the alcantara pads. There is slightly better bass definition and more natural mids with the leather pads, imo. But it is on you to decide.

I agree with you, while the bass with Alcantara pads is fast and powerful, it's a bit too much for my taste. Leather pads sound better to me. I have the Empyreans on loan from Headphoniaks and, although they sent the 6,3 cable and that limits the test to my Marantz NA-11S1 HP output, the sound is astonishing, I have never heard something like that. I have ordered a convertor to 3,5 from Amazon so I can test them with my DX200. But so far, they are superb!!

 

[Tom Blake]

I have put in a lot of additional head time with the Empyreans and remain VERY impressed! They do nothing wrong while excelling in many areas. My findings are almost identical to xxx1313 from my BluDAVE. The stock 3M 1/4" cable is crap though. Very stiff and unwieldy and clearly bettered by a Norne Draug V2. Pitch it. Other than that minor issue Meze has hit a grand slam! Congratulations Antonio and team.

 

[Quadfather]

These are my first impressions on the Meze Empyrean. I knew its general sound signature already after listening to the prototypes at the "High End" in Munich in May. Empyrean is a great headphone in many respects. It is a special headphone, with a sound signature not easy to describe. I just got it a few hours ago, so no burn-in by now.

My reference headphone is the Focal Utopia, which I really love. It is the king of transparancy and dynamics imo, and tonally a neutral to slighly bright headphone.

Meze Empyrean is a headphone with warm tuning and elevated bass imo, but not overly so. Bass does not bleed significantly into the mids, in constrast to the Audeze LCD4(z), for example. There are no treble peaks above 4-5 kHz, so treble is not at all elevated, but only slightly recessed. Mids are full, warm and lush, with great texture and neutral enough for a high end headphone. Bass is not as fast as I know from the Utopias, but fast enough, dynamic and with impact, goes deep (typical planar) and is very satisfying. The soundstage is rather small and intimate (deeper than wide), but seperation of instruments and voices is surprisingly good. Acoustic dampening is high, reverb tails are short, background is completely black. This is the first headphone which I clearly prefer without crossfeed on Chord DAVE. Synergy with Chord DAVE is simply great imo, less so with the warmer tuned and less resolving Hugo TT2 (I prefer the Focal Utopia on TT2).

Listening with the Empyrean is much fun, extremely satisfying and free of fatigue. I am now listening to David Gilmour - Live at Pompeii, and I think to myself that, even though the Emyprean is not exactly neutral, this is how it should have sounded being there.

Meze Empyrean synergizes well with neutral to bright (solid-state) audio gear, but probably not very well with many tube amps. The Empyrean is easy to drive, very light and extremely comfortable. Build quality is superb, unreached by ALL other manufacturers of planar magnetic headphones.

It is astonishing that it needed a small company from Romania (Meze) and a driver from the Ukraine (Rinaro) to successfully make the first high end planar magnetic headphone, that not only offers real high-end sound, but is also easy to drive, very comfortable, light (less than 400g) and with great design and build quality. So many failed, they succeeded. I am very happy that they did.

Thumbs up!! ​

I am anxious to get impressions from both Sony players and PAW gold.