[Icenine2]

I've got maybe 20+ hours on them. Getting better. The detail I hear on some songs is just crazy great. Some things I've never heard from songs I've listened to 100's of times.

 

[Roasty]

I've got maybe 20+ hours on them. Getting better. The detail I hear on some songs is just crazy great. Some things I've never heard from songs I've listened to 100's of times.

They're amazing headphones. My experience is, roughly 200 hrs or so and they suddenly just sound even better. Just around that mark, I started to hear some crinkle when wearing/taking them off. Perhaps that's a sign they are fully broken in?

I never understood why some people think they are "veiled". The amount of detail they offer up top is superb.

Enjoy! What colour did u get?

 

[mixman]

They're amazing headphones. My experience is, roughly 200 hrs or so and they suddenly just sound even better. Just around that mark, I started to hear some crinkle when wearing/taking them off. Perhaps that's a sign they are fully broken in?

I never understood why some people think they are "veiled". The amount of detail they offer up top is superb.

Enjoy! What colour did u get?

Like you, I enjoy my Empy too. I don’t think they are veiled either. Nice tonal balance too.

 

[Icenine2]

They're amazing headphones. My experience is, roughly 200 hrs or so and they suddenly just sound even better. Just around that mark, I started to hear some crinkle when wearing/taking them off. Perhaps that's a sign they are fully broken in?

I never understood why some people think they are "veiled". The amount of detail they offer up top is superb.

Enjoy! What colour did u get?

Gunmetal. Veiled. Really!? Someone chirping back what they read somewhere else. Listening to Yes Fragile (Steven Wilson remix). Spectacular.

 

[Icenine2]

They're amazing headphones. My experience is, roughly 200 hrs or so and they suddenly just sound even better. Just around that mark, I started to hear some crinkle when wearing/taking them off. Perhaps that's a sign they are fully broken in?

I never understood why some people think they are "veiled". The amount of detail they offer up top is superb.

Enjoy! What colour did u get?

What color did you get?

 

[Hoegaardener70]

unfair to compare to the abyss TC because it is probably the best headphone available today IMHO

Hi! I want to chime in on the Empy vs Abyss TC discussion, or HEDD. I own both, and they are hard to compare. But in a nutshell, the Empy's main charm is that you can drive it anywhere with anything, really. And while doing so, you can play even the crappiest mp3 file and they will still sound good. The abyss is really hard to drive, and is heavy. Same goes for the HEDD which is in addition to the weight uncomfortable (the ab-1266 is not). So, if you use high-end amps and dacs with the Empy, it will still sounds great of course, but you don't benefit from its main advantage - portability (sounds great with a DAP) and versatility (sounds great with anything, including my oldest low-res files. Add super comfort, and you end up having a real winner for most live situations. Well, until last month at least. NYC sucks at the moment

 

[Roasty]

What color did you get?

I also have the gunmetal. Am glad I got it, before they stopped producing it in that colour.

 

[Mike C]

About to place an order; sanity check first!

I'll use these with high end CD gear; Pro-ject RS2-t transport, ANK DAC 4.1x (close to the top Audionote dac, valve of course); and a very good valve amp.
Note that the amp isn't over 'lush', it is fast, clean, with good tonality (12SN7 valves), and it has output transformers for 32 ohm phones.

Currently using Audio Zenith PMx2 (tweaked Oppo PM2) and I love the tonality of this combination. This transport and dac give me (for my tastes, YMMV) the absolute best digital sound I have ever heard (and that includes SACD and high res via a good dac with usb).

I have owned AKG K812 which were fabulous on demo and I liked the air, space and transparency; but ultimately I tired of the 'monitor like' sound and wasn't sure I enjoyed them that much; the midrange perhaps lacked a little bit of quantity and quality (well that's my impression, YMMV). A friend brought round his AKG K712 and I preferred them as I found the midrange better. (Am I cloth eared? Anyway it gives a clue as to my likes/dislikes).

Music: acoustic of many types; accessible jazz, classical, folk, some popular; not electronic, dance or over produced popular. Special liking for female vocals. Examples: Embraceable Lisa; Haley Loren; Sarah McKenzie; Laurie Allyn (superbly sung and recorded, look her up if you like female vocals); Applewood Road. Love of Mozart - I've heard Emma Johnson playing the clarinet concerto, on two occasions. I regularly attend classical concerts so I have an idea of sound.

There is nothing, but nothing, wrong with my current setup. But I think I might be able to get more of the same from the Empyrean. And I'm sure I'll love them. I think they'll sound fabulous with my equipment.
So I've approached a dealer here in the UK …. and just wondering whether to try for a home demo, or just buy them! I'm tending towards the latter; am I crazy?

I've read all the reviews (I never trust mag reviews 100%), all this thread, and seen most reports on YouTube (thanks guys). The negative comments don't concern me much as I didn't like the K812 which has the extra detail that some folks complain the Empy lacks. My gut feel is that Empy in my system will be both awesome, and very much to my own taste.

Any comments welcomed.

 

[Roasty]

About to place an order; sanity check first!

I'll use these with high end CD gear; Pro-ject RS2-t transport, ANK DAC 4.1x (close to the top Audionote dac, valve of course); and a very good valve amp.
Note that the amp isn't over 'lush', it is fast, clean, with good tonality (12SN7 valves), and it has output transformers for 32 ohm phones.

Currently using Audio Zenith PMx2 (tweaked Oppo PM2) and I love the tonality of this combination. This transport and dac give me (for my tastes, YMMV) the absolute best digital sound I have ever heard (and that includes SACD and high res via a good dac with usb).

I have owned AKG K812 which were fabulous on demo and I liked the air, space and transparency; but ultimately I tired of the 'monitor like' sound and wasn't sure I enjoyed them that much; the midrange perhaps lacked a little bit of quantity and quality (well that's my impression, YMMV). A friend brought round his AKG K712 and I preferred them as I found the midrange better. (Am I cloth eared? Anyway it gives a clue as to my likes/dislikes).

Music: acoustic of many types; accessible jazz, classical, folk, some popular; not electronic, dance or over produced popular. Special liking for female vocals. Examples: Embraceable Lisa; Haley Loren; Sarah McKenzie; Laurie Allyn (superbly sung and recorded, look her up if you like female vocals); Applewood Road. Love of Mozart - I've heard Emma Johnson playing the clarinet concerto, on two occasions. I regularly attend classical concerts so I have an idea of sound.

There is nothing, but nothing, wrong with my current setup. But I think I might be able to get more of the same from the Empyrean. And I'm sure I'll love them. I think they'll sound fabulous with my equipment.
So I've approached a dealer here in the UK …. and just wondering whether to try for a home demo, or just buy them! I'm tending towards the latter; am I crazy?

I've read all the reviews (I never trust mag reviews 100%), all this thread, and seen most reports on YouTube (thanks guys). The negative comments don't concern me much as I didn't like the K812 which has the extra detail that some folks complain the Empy lacks. My gut feel is that Empy in my system will be both awesome, and very much to my own taste.

Any comments welcomed.

I think you won't be disappointed. They sounded good out of the box, but better after some decent play time.

I have some other good cans like the abyss Utopia VC and the Empy is just as good (and sometimes I feel it is the best overall!).

 

[Paul at Z-axis]

About to place an order; sanity check first!

I'll use these with high end CD gear; Pro-ject RS2-t transport, ANK DAC 4.1x (close to the top Audionote dac, valve of course); and a very good valve amp.
Note that the amp isn't over 'lush', it is fast, clean, with good tonality (12SN7 valves), and it has output transformers for 32 ohm phones.

Currently using Audio Zenith PMx2 (tweaked Oppo PM2) and I love the tonality of this combination. This transport and dac give me (for my tastes, YMMV) the absolute best digital sound I have ever heard (and that includes SACD and high res via a good dac with usb).

I have owned AKG K812 which were fabulous on demo and I liked the air, space and transparency; but ultimately I tired of the 'monitor like' sound and wasn't sure I enjoyed them that much; the midrange perhaps lacked a little bit of quantity and quality (well that's my impression, YMMV). A friend brought round his AKG K712 and I preferred them as I found the midrange better. (Am I cloth eared? Anyway it gives a clue as to my likes/dislikes).

Music: acoustic of many types; accessible jazz, classical, folk, some popular; not electronic, dance or over produced popular. Special liking for female vocals. Examples: Embraceable Lisa; Haley Loren; Sarah McKenzie; Laurie Allyn (superbly sung and recorded, look her up if you like female vocals); Applewood Road. Love of Mozart - I've heard Emma Johnson playing the clarinet concerto, on two occasions. I regularly attend classical concerts so I have an idea of sound.

There is nothing, but nothing, wrong with my current setup. But I think I might be able to get more of the same from the Empyrean. And I'm sure I'll love them. I think they'll sound fabulous with my equipment.
So I've approached a dealer here in the UK …. and just wondering whether to try for a home demo, or just buy them! I'm tending towards the latter; am I crazy?

I've read all the reviews (I never trust mag reviews 100%), all this thread, and seen most reports on YouTube (thanks guys). The negative comments don't concern me much as I didn't like the K812 which has the extra detail that some folks complain the Empy lacks. My gut feel is that Empy in my system will be both awesome, and very much to my own taste.

Any comments welcomed.

I also think you'll be delighted, but do give them at least 100hrs before you get what they can do. Out of the box is so so, but do just use them and they gradually get better and better. They are very balanced, and your music taste is similar to mine, and well suited to the Empyrean. We did have some thought's of adding some Utopia's for classical listening as the Empyrean lacked a little sparkle, but replacing the cable and another 40 hrs or so have eradicated that thought so much so that the Meze plays classical really beautifully with a great sense of scale and detail..

 

[Mike C]

Thanks to both Paul and Roastie, it confirms my thoughts.

I know all about things running in! One valve amp I built sounded pretty poor and was still poor after a couple of weeks (50 hours?). Well I reckoned, can't win them all, I'll strip it for parts. Thank goodness I didn't, as a month later it was *singing* and became my best amp for several years.

Another time, I was tuning a speaker crossover. Two values of one inductor had been tried several times, and next I put in a new inductor of a value in between. Same make, same type, air cored, nothing but wire.
The sound was 'off', just didn't sound right. I could not be bothered with all the effort to swap back, I just listened a few times … and after a while it was OK. The *only* explanation I have is that a piece of wire needs to run in.
As an engineer I can't explain it and I can understand anyone who doubts it; but I *know* what I heard.

 

[Paul at Z-axis]

Thanks to both Paul and Roastie, it confirms my thoughts.

I know all about things running in! One valve amp I built sounded pretty poor and was still poor after a couple of weeks (50 hours?). Well I reckoned, can't win them all, I'll strip it for parts. Thank goodness I didn't, as a month later it was *singing* and became my best amp for several years.

Another time, I was tuning a speaker crossover. Two values of one inductor had been tried several times, and next I put in a new inductor of a value in between. Same make, same type, air cored, nothing but wire.
The sound was 'off', just didn't sound right. I could not be bothered with all the effort to swap back, I just listened a few times … and after a while it was OK. The *only* explanation I have is that a piece of wire needs to run in.
As an engineer I can't explain it and I can understand anyone who doubts it; but I *know* what I heard.

Absolutely, we may be quite quite clever but we can't explain everything!

 

[Focux]

Arya and Empy comparisons anyone?

 

[ls13coco]

Arya and Empy comparisons anyone?

+/- 2 weeks til my Empy gets here, there will be a an initial impressions comparison after some time with it.

 

[Icenine2]

I've asked this before but Hugo TT2 owners. Hi or Lo setting w/these? Lo still seems to knock it out.