[ken6217]

The dealer I use is awesome. They have already emailed a return label. After sleeping on it, I decided to return the Emps and continue to enjoy what I already own. It is too much of a hassle sending stuff back and forth and waiting for return product, especially given that the warranty is only a year.

Man, that’s a shame.

 

[betula]

The dealer I use is awesome. They have already emailed a return label. After sleeping on it, I decided to return the Emps and continue to enjoy what I already own. It is too much of a hassle sending stuff back and forth and waiting for return product, especially given that the warranty is only a year.

I can understand your decision if you haven't heard the Empyrean and it was a blind buy. If you have heard it I can't understand, as that sound would just worth every hassle and wait for me.

One year warranty is indeed a bit lean compared to the competition, where 3 years is average. I really hope Meze will extend this, but even with one year warranty I did take the risk for this sound.
Meze customer service told me that the drivers are easily user replacable if you are unfortunate enough to have broken drivers after the warranty period. I think this is pretty cool.
The less cool part is the price which is $600 or €600 (for one driver) depending on your location. Overall quite a reasonable price though I would say.

Btw do you guys know why the Empyrean is 10% less expensive in the US? EU made products are usually more affordable in the EU and more expensive in the US (see Chord for example) while US made products are more expensive in the EU and cheaper in the US. Meze worldwide pricing in this case seems a bit odd to me.

 

[ken6217]

I am using a Cayin 300b amp with my Empyreans. It has 3 impedance settings. Can I try the different settings without damaging the Headphones?

 

[Jvincent]

I am using a Cayin 300b amp with my Empyreans. It has 3 impedance settings. Can I try the different settings without damaging the Headphones?

I would start with the volume down all the way for each setting but i believe it should be fine.

 

[Bakath]

I am using a Cayin 300b amp with my Empyreans. It has 3 impedance settings. Can I try the different settings without damaging the Headphones?

Definitely start with the volume down but I used mine with the McIntosh MHA 150 in the 150-300 ohm setting and they just came to life. Was great on the lower two settings but wow on the highest was just amazing. Hence why I am putting my pennies away to pick that bad boy up.

 

[mixman]

I can understand your decision if you haven't heard the Empyrean and it was a blind buy. If you have heard it I can't understand, as that sound would just worth every hassle and wait for me.

One year warranty is indeed a bit lean compared to the competition, where 3 years is average. I really hope Meze will extend this, but even with one year warranty I did take the risk for this sound.
Meze customer service told me that the drivers are easily user replacable if you are unfortunate enough to have broken drivers after the warranty period. I think this is pretty cool.
The less cool part is the price which is $600 or €600 (for one driver) depending on your location. Overall quite a reasonable price though I would say.

Btw do you guys know why the Empyrean is 10% less expensive in the US? EU made products are usually more affordable in the EU and more expensive in the US (see Chord for example) while US made products are more expensive in the EU and cheaper in the US. Meze worldwide pricing in this case seems a bit odd to me.

The only problem with one driver failing is that you generally have to replace both drivers at the same time for level matching, unless Meze has figured out how to do this otherwise. So in essence that’s $1,200 for a failed driver post warranty.

 

[rydenfan]

Anyone tried these on a DNA Stratus?

 

[ken6217]

Definitely start with the volume down but I used mine with the McIntosh MHA 150 in the 150-300 ohm setting and they just came to life. Was great on the lower two settings but wow on the highest was just amazing. Hence why I am putting my pennies away to pick that bad boy up.

So after trying the different settings, the medium is the best by far with the Cayin.

I've always been a solid state fan, but man do these headphones sound like nothing I've ever heard with this amp. Granted I'm also using Sophia Royal Princess 300b and Tung Sol black glass round plate 6SN7Gt tubes. I'm not going to part with my V281, but it's not getting any use at the moment.

 

[Rowethren]

That seems a bit odd considering the EU regulated minimum warranty period is 2 years.

 

[betula]

The only problem with one driver failing is that you generally have to replace both drivers at the same time for level matching, unless Meze has figured out how to do this otherwise. So in essence that’s $1,200 for a failed driver post warranty.

I know, that's why I put it in brackets that the price is for one driver. It is common knowledge that drivers need to be changed in pairs. Unless Meze has found one of the greatest innovation in headphone history: matching all the drivers they ever make.

 

[MezeTeam]

The dealer I use is awesome. They have already emailed a return label. After sleeping on it, I decided to return the Emps and continue to enjoy what I already own. It is too much of a hassle sending stuff back and forth and waiting for return product, especially given that the warranty is only a year.

We are extremely sorry for all the inconvenience caused. We respect your decision, but for your information, the Empyrean comes with two years warranty. If this is what bothering you, I hope you'll reconsider your decision with this update.

I'll drop you an email for more detail because we want to track this down and talk to dealer as soon as possible. We take this seriously and we'll try our best to stop this from happening again. Keep in touch.

 

[MezeTeam]

I have a solid state (no tubes) Yamaha S2100 Integrated amp with my Empyreans. This one has a built in headphone amp they say is equivalent to a separate headphone amp costing $600 - $800. My Empyreans sound great with this amp. The Yamaha S2100 weighs over 50 lbs and is a throw back to the large amplifier/receivers from the 70s and 80s. It seems that everyone here uses tube amps for their headphones. I have never listened to headphones paired with a tube amp, and am not interested to do so, meaning that I am delighted with my large Yamaha amp. Does anyone here also use a large solid state integrated amp like mine?

Empyrean works great with solid state headphone amplifier, and we have used various solid state headphone gears at various shows and dealer demo, including but not limited to Cayin iHA-6 (4 pin XLR), Wells Audio Milo and Chord Dave.

I am not familiar with the headphone output of your S2100 integrated amplifier, If it has a dedicated headphone amplifier circuit, then it should work fine from what you have described. We have concerned with headphone output of some of the integrated amplifiers if they are using the pre-out to deliver headphone output. Pre-out skipped the current amplification state, so it might have the voltage output that works fine with dynamic headphones, but the current capability is lacking relatively and that's what it take to drive a planar headphone satisfactory.

 

[MezeTeam]

I am using a Cayin 300b amp with my Empyreans. It has 3 impedance settings. Can I try the different settings without damaging the Headphones?

We have a set of Cayin HA-300 inhouse, so we happen to know a bit about this amplifier.

First of all, the impedance setting of HA-300 is very different from gain setting of solid state amplifier. It didn't increase or decrease the output proportionally (is that the right word to describe gain output?), it is basically the same output optimized for different impedance loading. From technical point of view, Cayin custom designed the output transformer of HA-300 with three sets of "impedance-matched" headphone output. Theoretically, specifying the nearest or matched impedance output will minimize change to headphone sound signature and deliver cleaner bass. If you are listening at regular sound level, you can switch between the impedance setting freely, it won't hurt your headphone or the amplifier, and you don't have to turn the volume down in due course.

Having said that, it's up to your personal preference to decide what works best for you. As long as you have tried the low impedance setting of HA-300 and genuinely preferred the Mid impedance setting, then you should stick with it. This is your system, so you should set it up to maximize your personal enjoyment.

 

[ken6217]

We have a set of Cayin HA-300 inhouse, so we happen to know a bit about this amplifier.

First of all, the impedance setting of HA-300 is very different from gain setting of solid state amplifier. It didn't increase or decrease the output proportionally (is that the right word to describe gain output?), it is basically the same output optimized for different impedance loading. From technical point of view, Cayin custom designed the output transformer of HA-300 with three sets of "impedance-matched" headphone output. Theoretically, specifying the nearest or matched impedance output will minimize change to headphone sound signature and deliver cleaner bass. If you are listening at regular sound level, you can switch between the impedance setting freely, it won't hurt your headphone or the amplifier, and you don't have to turn the volume down in due course.

Having said that, it's up to your personal preference to decide what works best for you. As long as you have tried the low impedance setting of HA-300 and genuinely preferred the Mid impedance setting, then you should stick with it. This is your system, so you should set it up to maximize your personal enjoyment.

I’ll have to go back and try the low setting again. I like the medium, but the high is not good at all for me.

 

[ken6217]

We have a set of Cayin HA-300 inhouse, so we happen to know a bit about this amplifier.

First of all, the impedance setting of HA-300 is very different from gain setting of solid state amplifier. It didn't increase or decrease the output proportionally (is that the right word to describe gain output?), it is basically the same output optimized for different impedance loading. From technical point of view, Cayin custom designed the output transformer of HA-300 with three sets of "impedance-matched" headphone output. Theoretically, specifying the nearest or matched impedance output will minimize change to headphone sound signature and deliver cleaner bass. If you are listening at regular sound level, you can switch between the impedance setting freely, it won't hurt your headphone or the amplifier, and you don't have to turn the volume down in due course.

Having said that, it's up to your personal preference to decide what works best for you. As long as you have tried the low impedance setting of HA-300 and genuinely preferred the Mid impedance setting, then you should stick with it. This is your system, so you should set it up to maximize your personal enjoyment.

I tried it with the low impedance setting and the medium setting is DRAMATICALLY better, as in I only had to listen to it for not even 5 seconds to know.