[paradoxper]

Agreed! They sound nothing alike actually. But I enjoy both FWIW.

Hey! Don't chump out! Which is better enjoyed.

 

[thecrow]

my experience has lead me to believe synergy is quite important with the empys.

i did not like them much with my cayin iha6 (a little bloaty).
bought them after i demoed them with my auralic taurus mk ii

 

[Arcamera]

Anyone in Canada know of an Empyrean in stock?

Regarding the Hedd-- would that be considered more analytic?

 

[paradoxper]

In direct contrast, yes. Less-colored, more detailed and importantly, quite, quite smooth.

An characteristic potentially more important, the HEDD is much more dynamic and present.

Many like the Empyrean for its more subdue presentation.

 

[makan]

Anyone in Canada know of an Empyrean in stock?

Regarding the Hedd-- would that be considered more analytic?

Headfoneshop.com does or at least did 2 weeks ago when I checked it out. Charles is a great guy to deal with.

 

[ls13coco]

Anyone in Canada know of an Empyrean in stock?

Regarding the Hedd-- would that be considered more analytic?

Issues getting the cases due to coronavirus and the cases are sourced from China I hear. Might be hard to get for a little while.
The Gun Metal is being discontinued too due to difficulty of consistency with that version I hear.

 

[thecrow]

The Gun Metal is being discontinued too due to difficulty of consistency with that version I hear.

in what regard (have you heard) and who speaks of these inconsistencies ?

 

[NoTimeFor]

Been listening to Empyrean for few days now. My other phones are nighthawk and Aeon flow closed. The Emp is obviously much better than the other 2, and it should be given the price difference. I auditioned Abyss Diana and Focal Utopia at different stores. They all had their own strength and things I did not like. When it comes to headphone, I value comfort the most then followed by sound and build quality. The Emp scored very high in that criteria for me. When I put this headphone on, it stays on my head for good. No readjustment needed. I can wear it for hours. I auditioned Diana with WA 11 and Utopia with a Sony amp. They all sounded pretty good, but for a long term use, I thought the utopia would be bright for my ears. Daina was a clean sounding headphone with excellent staging but I didn't like the fit on my head. I wanted to take it off in 5 mins. Empyrean has a hint of sonic richness that is very pleasant to listen to. Top end is extended but with no harshness. It has an excellent soundstage. Listening to female vocals and classical is pure joy with this.

I am currently driving the emp using moon 390. Plenty of power, it sounds superb and better than WA11 I listened to. Lastly, the build quality is first class. I really appreciate all of engineering, design, and care went into this thing to make it. After reading and watching videos about how it's made, I was so impressed and did not have a problem with buying at the retail price. Also, the empyrean has really a nice packaging and presentation. I really wish other hifi manufacturers learn from Meze and up their game with packaging.

So far I am really happy with the the emp.

 

[MezeTeam]

Been listening to Empyrean for few days now. My other phones are nighthawk and Aeon flow closed. The Emp is obviously much better than the other 2, and it should be given the price difference. I auditioned Abyss Diana and Focal Utopia at different stores. They all had their own strength and things I did not like. When it comes to headphone, I value comfort the most then followed by sound and build quality. The Emp scored very high in that criteria for me. When I put this headphone on, it stays on my head for good. No readjustment needed. I can wear it for hours. I auditioned Diana with WA 11 and Utopia with a Sony amp. They all sounded pretty good, but for a long term use, I thought the utopia would be bright for my ears. Daina was a clean sounding headphone with excellent staging but I didn't like the fit on my head. I wanted to take it off in 5 mins. Empyrean has a hint of sonic richness that is very pleasant to listen to. Top end is extended but with no harshness. It has an excellent soundstage. Listening to female vocals and classical is pure joy with this.

I am currently driving the emp using moon 390. Plenty of power, it sounds superb and better than WA11 I listened to. Lastly, the build quality is first class. I really appreciate all of engineering, design, and care went into this thing to make it. After reading and watching videos about how it's made, I was so impressed and did not have a problem with buying at the retail price. Also, the empyrean has really a nice packaging and presentation. I really wish other hifi manufacturers learn from Meze and up their game with packaging.


So far I am really happy with the the emp.

Glad you like the Empyrean, and you have selected Black Copper which is my flavor color, when we debut Empyrean at Canjam NYC 2018, I have voted for the Copper personally but the gun metal seems to be a "safer" choice according to users.

When I look at your setup, i though you were using Moon Neo 430HA. The 390 is very good DAC/Streamer and now I know the headphone output is also first class.

 

[MezeTeam]

How hard are these to drive? I'm hearing contradicting claims.

Pretty easy, way easier than your HEKse (or my HEKv2). Not as easy as Utopia, but definitely closer to that end of the ‘drive-ability’ spectrum.

As @LCMusicLover has put it, the Meze Empyrean is relatively easy to drive. It is rated at 100dB (1 mW/1kHz with impedance at 32ohm, it is one of the easiest loads in terms of full size planar headphones. Several reviewers even describe it as portable-friendly.

On the other hand, the Empyrean is very scalable, and it will be benefited if driven by high quality DAC/Amp. Maybe that's why you hear contradicting opinions.

 

[Roasty]

Are there going to be any new pads coming out? I remember someone mentioning it a while back.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

@MezeTeam And are the gun metal Empys really gone forever?

 

[MezeTeam]

Are there going to be any new pads coming out? I remember someone mentioning it a while back.

Yes, we are working on a new Empyrean pad. Sorry, I don't have a firm schedule on that, will keep the forum informed as soon as I receive update on this.

 

[MezeTeam]

@MezeTeam And are the gun metal Empys really gone forever?

Yes, we have discontinued the Gun Metal Empyrean. We are not doing this because of the inconsistency issue. The whole story is, we have not only change the grill color of the Empyrean but changed the complete color scheme and metal finishing.

All three versions of Empyrean shared the same frame in terms of design, structure and materiel. The frame of the new Black Copper and Jet Black are identical, they are black in color, sand blasted and then anodized, They are different from the original Gun Metal frame which was gray color and with a different finishing.

The supply chain and production process of Empyrean is probably more difficult then most headphone users can anticipate. Some early users probably remember that when we debut the Empyrean at CanJam NYC 2018, the Empyrean was a limited production item. We solved a lot of problems to make it a "regular" product, but it is still the most difficult headphone to produce in our line up.

We have introduced the Black Copper version briefly last year, and we had a difficult time to keep two color schemes in production efficiently. We had to maintain two different production queues and dealers had to handle customer orders according to their preferred color separately. Inevitably this has slowed us down in production, increase the complexity of dealers' inventory and order assignment, and occasionally lead to unhappy customers. We have exhausted our options in 2019 and we still can't built enough Empyrean for our customers. We must improved our efficiency and therefore narrow down to a shared Empyrean frame across two different color options.

We have compared the Gun Metal, Black Copper and Jet black versions carefully and can confirmed that they sound, and measured, identically. Hopefully the new arrangement will solve some of our problem and shorten then waiting list in next few months.

 

[ls13coco]

Yes, we have discontinued the Gun Metal Empyrean. We are not doing this because of the inconsistency issue. The whole story is, we have not only change the grill color of the Empyrean but changed the complete color scheme and metal finishing.

All three versions of Empyrean shared the same frame in terms of design, structure and materiel. The frame of the new Black Copper and Jet Black are identical, they are black in color, sand blasted and then anodized, They are different from the original Gun Metal frame which was gray color and with a different finishing.

The supply chain and production process of Empyrean is probably more difficult then most headphone users can anticipate. Some early users probably remember that when we debut the Empyrean at CanJam NYC 2018, the Empyrean was a limited production item. We solved a lot of problems to make it a "regular" product, but it is still the most difficult headphone to produce in our line up.

We have introduced the Black Copper version briefly last year, and we had a difficult time to keep two color schemes in production efficiently. We had to maintain two different production queues and dealers had to handle customer orders according to their preferred color separately. Inevitably this has slowed us down in production, increase the complexity of dealers' inventory and order assignment, and occasionally lead to unhappy customers. We have exhausted our options in 2019 and we still can't built enough Empyrean for our customers. We must improved our efficiency and therefore narrow down to a shared Empyrean frame across two different color options.

We have compared the Gun Metal, Black Copper and Jet black versions carefully and can confirmed that they sound, and measured, identically. Hopefully the new arrangement will solve some of our problem and shorten then waiting list in next few months.

Thanks for clearing that up!
The Jet Black is very easy on the eyes, look forward to having a pair.