[Pharmaboy]

The high price makes it seemingly apparent that the sound quality will be freakingly great awesome killer out of this world incredible huge best sound you've ever heard. The highest price gets the "best sound" attached to it before anyone has heard it. We assume that it just has to be. And even though we know this is not likely to be, we believe it anyway. We always have hope. Until it is dashed. Repeat.

Your cynicism is obviously warranted. We've all been victimized by our own expectations for this or that hyped audio product.

But I have to tell you...when I went to CanJam, I had absolutely zero intention to listen to $3K+ headphones. I had heard some quite good headphones and was happy I'd gone. Then I wandered into the Meze room, off the main floor, a quiet & calm place. Antonio Meze struck me as a rational, welcoming presence. My friend sat down and put on these striking-looking headphones I'd heard about (the "Empyrean"). So I sat down and put on the other pair. Bad move. Besides being physically beautiful, art objects in terms of their design & construction--it was flat-out the best sound I'd ever heard. Nothing else is all that close, including my favorite headphones. 10-15" of that really shook up my "value system."

Beforehand, I regarded the Empyrean just as I did pretty much all $3K+ headphones: with suspicion and some resentment, thinking it must be the creeping contagion of high-end audio (where 5-6 figures is now normal for anything), following me into headphone audio. But after hearing them, I no longer felt that way. I heard real endgame, state-of-the-art, beautiful sound. It's hard to get that out of my head.

 

[Andykong]

My head is not tiny, and I still thought the Empyrean was designed for people with larger heads...
As for sound - I thought they were very good. $3000 good? maybe not... (IMHO)
Competing in the $2000 range against Ether2, HiFiMAN 1000SE, etc - would be a good fight. For $3000 - I would rather go with the HiFiMAN Jade 2 (at $2500 including the estat amp) personally.

The Jade 2 set is US$4,000: " The Jade II will be sold alone ($1,500) and as part of a system with a dedicated amplifier ($2,500) - ilounge"

 

[Bastianpp]

+1
The Empyrean sounds very good, but not $3000 good (IMHO). Also, even at minimum size - they felt a tiny bit too large for my head... and I might have a smallish head, but definitely not tiny.
I wonder if others felt the same (Empyrean headband being too large).

Hmm, i think my head is '' too tiny '' for that headphone too... sadly i can't test it

The Jade 2 set is US$4,000: " The Jade II will be sold alone ($1,500) and as part of a system with a dedicated amplifier ($2,500) - ilounge"

https://www.moon-audio.com/hifiman-jade-ii-electrostatic-system.html

 

[Zachik]

The Jade 2 set is US$4,000: " The Jade II will be sold alone ($1,500) and as part of a system with a dedicated amplifier ($2,500) - ilounge"

Jade II with amp is $2500 total, for both.
Alone (without amp) it is $1500.

 

[kid vic]

If those older flagship headphones did not set the price so high before, i wonder what the price of the Empyrean would actually be then.

What a great question! We need a dimension rift to enter the parellel universe where no can passed $1,800 to find out.

The high price makes it seemingly apparent that the sound quality will be freakingly great awesome killer out of this world incredible huge best sound you've ever heard. The highest price gets the "best sound" attached to it before anyone has heard it. We assume that it just has to be. And even though we know this is not likely to be, we believe it anyway. We always have hope. Until it is dashed. Repeat.

Fang was ahead of the game....

 

[rfan8312]

I've heard Empyrean may need pricey and, but I've heard that Empyrean sound, comfort, aesthetics are incredible.

 

[erik701]

One Australian e-shop is already taking preorders. They have listed price 4.699AUD = 3.350USD = 2.900€ and information when they will have them in stock (November).

 

[Beagle]

Ouch! Poor Australia. They have it worse than Canadians when it comes to currency value. But I'd give that up to be able to live there

 

[ArthurPower]

I think this is going to be one headphone that is actually worth paying 3K for. Both sound quality and build quality are better then most of the competition costing more.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

I think this is going to be one headphone that is actually worth paying 3K for. Both sound quality and build quality are better then most of the competition costing more.

They’re not going to sell a damn thing unless they actually release it within the next 5 years.

 

[ArthurPower]

lol There are always delays. They better get it out before the holidays!

 

[Pharmaboy]

They’re not going to sell a damn thing unless they actually release it within the next 5 years.

Painfully true.

I've already sold a kidney, bought an Empyrean, and sold it--twice (in my fevered imagination).

 

[Beagle]

They’re not going to sell a damn thing unless they actually release it within the next 5 years.

Maybe the closed version will come out before this one?

 

[Bastianpp]

the empyrean is made of plastic?

 

[Antonio Meze]

Hi everyone.

Just wanted to let you know that the Empyrean is indeed coming this year.
We are building them already as we speak in our headquarters in Baia Mare. There is normaly only one expert person who builds the Empyrean from start to finish so we can only build a few pieces per day. Sometimes me and Paul Stet and Mircea Fanatan (my product development colleagues) also build Empyreans for the pure fun of it, but we are also pretty busy working on some new projects and in general running the company.

Jude has a pair of the final Empyrean and he posted measurements of the alcantara earpads. The Empyrean might come with a second pair of earpads made of leather which have a different sound.

I apologize if I will post only rarely and not address all issues. I will randomly answer questions every now and then whenever I will have time.

For those curious, I sometimes post development process pics to my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/antonio_meze/

We will soon release the website product page of the Empyrean and start taking preorders probably before the end of the month. Hopefully. We will try to start delivering headphones in November.