[ThanatosVI]

Just for extra information I listen solely to classical music , all shorts of it and still find the Empyrean the better headphone.
Can't handle the timbre when it is off.
Listen for example to some blazing natural trumpets with both headphones and let me know about tonality!
Don't care for detail , soundstage or anything else if the headphone is out of tone.
I have been listening to classical concerts all my life plus playing the clarinet so I can easily detect the plastic taste of headphone or a speaker.
But as @bagwell359 has pointed out it's all about preferences.

In contrast to Ichos I listen to a Broad spectrum of music, and the Empyrean is the only headphone that makes every Genre Sound "right" to my ears.

Enough body for EDM, enough detail retrieval for classic.
Also due to the fact that it doesn't focus on a "detail in your face" presentation it's also very enjoyable with lower quality material like youtube.

 

[Slim1970]

In contrast to Ichos I listen to a Broad spectrum of music, and the Empyrean is the only headphone that makes every Genre Sound "right" to my ears.

Enough body for EDM, enough detail retrieval for classic.
Also due to the fact that it doesn't focus on a "detail in your face" presentation it's also very enjoyable with lower quality material like youtube.

The Empyrean’s are a very good all around headphone. It’s one of the best I’ve heard at making anything I listen to enjoyable. They don’t overload you with details but they give you enough of everything that makes music a joy to listen to through them. For that, it’s hard to knock what they do and the way they portray music. Are they the last word? That’s completely up to the listener.

 

[Yoram Diamand]

Meze from today my headphones

 

[ThanatosVI]

The Empyrean’s are a very good all around headphone. It’s one of the best I’ve heard at making anything I listen to enjoyable. They don’t overload you with details but they give you enough of everything that makes music a joy to listen to through them. For that, it’s hard to knock what they do and the way they portray music. Are they the last word? That’s completely up to the listener.

For me the definitely are, but I understand if this is different for others. HiFi is a very subjective hobby.

Meze from today my headphones

Welcome to the club and enjoy!

 

[kumar402]

Meze from today my headphones

Nice, what Amp is that btw

 

[JM1979]

If anyone has classical / orchestra recordings that they particularly like on the Empyrean, I’d love to have some recommendations. I’ve always enjoyed classical music but do not have a deep knowledge base in that genre.

I did listen to a wide range of classical stuff via Qobuz last night and loved the Empy presentation of it.

 

[Yoram Diamand]

Nice, what Amp is that btw

Feliks Audio Euforia with weird tubes

 

[kumar402]

Feliks Audio Euforia with weird tubes

Well Euforia and Empyrean is a perfect match

 

[JamieMcC]

Out of interest what does the rest of your chain look like?

 

[Yoram Diamand]

Out of interest what does the rest of your chain look like?

QB-9 Ayre aucoustics Dac, will have the Twenty upgrade. And a normal PC will be fanless, with Ifi USB cleanup tool

 

[JamieMcC]

Just for extra information I listen solely to classical music , all shorts of it and still find the Empyrean the better headphone.
Can't handle the timbre when it is off.
Listen for example to some blazing natural trumpets with both headphones and let me know about tonality!
Don't care for detail , soundstage or anything else if the headphone is out of tone.
I have been listening to classical concerts all my life plus playing the clarinet so I can easily detect the plastic taste of headphone or a speaker.
But as @bagwell359 has pointed out it's all about preferences.

Out of interest what does the rest of your chain look like?

 

[Ichos]

Out of interest what does the rest of your chain look like?

Resident gear is Cambridge Audio 851N , Feliks Audio Euforia , iFi ZEN CAN , FiiO M11Pro.
But I have listened to them with various other stuff like Denafrips Pontus , Vioelectric V280 , FiiO Q5 , Pro-Ject Head Box RS , Keces S3 , etc etc.

 

[BlakeT]

To be clear, I owned and sold Empy, and upgraded from HEKv2 to HEKse which are in my troika (plus 1) of favorites (Utopia, HEKse, Auteur, Hedd).

That said, I would answer that question with a very qualified ‘yes, sorta, it depends’.

If your most important criteria are clean, detailed highs and an big, open, airy headstage, then sure, HEK wins. And I hear HEKse’s bass as cleaner/more linear and (perhaps) more extended. But Empy has other characteristics which a listener might value more — warmth, ‘fullness’, and a lush, enveloping headstage.

I have Empy, HD800S, HD800 and my new HE1000SE just arrived. I have been cycling through all these cans all day trying to figure out which ones to keep. I would like to get down to one headphone.

I would agree with the above comments as well as the impressions of others that the Empy is certainly detailed and not deficient in that regard, the details are just less overt. Having said that, I think HE1000SE is a step above the others in detail retrieval.

 

[Bonddam]

Found best Synergy with cable and amp and dac. Verite Silver 4 Woo audio WA33 with Takasuki 274b EML 300b 2.5 and EH gold pins and DAC Hugo TT2. Once the cable was added in the detail and highs increased. NEVER had a cable do this.

 

[Bonddam]

Here a pic of the cable ZMF came out with new premium connectors. Cable looks like diamonds under light and through the silver strands I can see copper.