[Louisiana]

I also regret to say Face brand new Empyrean The sound is terrible
Need to give him time 1 year minimum

One year burn - in?
Wow!


All i can say is:
I really liked my Empys from the first moment, but right now, after ~50 hours playtime, these cans are breathtaking!
This is my absolute Endgame Headphone, i am so in love with my Empys, they gave me all i ever looking for, since my Headphone experience started

Also build quality is the best from all the cans i had in my hands!

 

[Louisiana]

@ThanatosVI
One day, this Cayin Ha-6a displayed in your avatar will be mine!
For me, this is the most beautiful Tube Amp i ever see!
Right now, my listen place is way to small, but someday...

 

[ThanatosVI]

@ThanatosVI
One day, this Cayin Ha-6a displayed in your avatar will be mine!
For me, this is the most beautiful Tube Amp i ever see!
Right now, my listen place is way to small, but someday...

Well all I can say is, that it is an amazing amp for the Empyrean. No matter which genre you want to hear, both the amp and the Empyrean are so flexible, that it always feels right.
You are from germany as well, so a hint from me. The amp is ~1100€ cheaper in france. Not sure how this affects warranty, but cayin amps are built like tanks anyways.

 

[k3kz]

Well that is perfectly understandable as preferences are absolutely respected.

But because someone is used to a bright headphone with boosted detail he can't call the Empyrean as lacking details or transparency.
The Empyrean can resolve as good as the Utopia for example.

See that is precisely what I meant when I noted there might be variances in the sound
To my ears, Empyrean is not the most transparent headphone out there. It sure is transparent and detailed enough, but that is not its biggest strength. I can't speak for Utopia, but I would confidently say that my LCDi4 for example is a noticeable bit more transparent. As in, not just that I have to concentrate more with the Empy, but that bits of information just blend on a micro-detail level and some gets lost.
Again, either your Empy just resolves better - or we are down to hearing and listening preferences...

I do prefer Empy's tonality though, so it's a tie overall

 

[Zhang Enyuan]

One year burn - in?
Wow!


All i can say is:
I really liked my Empys from the first moment, but right now, after ~50 hours playtime, these cans are breathtaking!
This is my absolute Endgame Headphone, i am so in love with my Empys, they gave me all i ever looking for, since my Headphone experience started

Also build quality is the best from all the cans i had in my hands!

2019/04 ~2020/12 RUN

 

[Razza1974]

Yeah, auditioned them and liked what i heard so ordered the copper ones with stand and silver meze cables and the kann alpha. Curious how they sound with the alpha, cant wait to try them out

 

[incredulousity]

See that is precisely what I meant when I noted there might be variances in the sound
To my ears, Empyrean is not the most transparent headphone out there. It sure is transparent and detailed enough, but that is not its biggest strength. I can't speak for Utopia, but I would confidently say that my LCDi4 for example is a noticeable bit more transparent. As in, not just that I have to concentrate more with the Empy, but that bits of information just blend on a micro-detail level and some gets lost.
Again, either your Empy just resolves better - or we are down to hearing and listening preferences...

I do prefer Empy's tonality though, so it's a tie overall

Empys become very transparent, with proper amp, decent cables, and some appropriate EQ. I use variants of the AutoEQ recommended settings, modified, with FabFilter Pro Q 3. Made changes last night that made it look like a new headphone, and much more competitive with my VO.

 

[joshUKUSA]

Hey so im looking for some help to decide between these or the abyss diana v2

I listen to all kinds of music so would ideally be looking for headphones that can well represent every genre, out of my current/past headphones I love listening to classical/acoustic on my sundaras but find that rock and metal is really lacking in body and impact for my preference. Conversely I actually find the fidelio x2 a pretty fun listen for those more energetic and busy genres but of course its very lacking in detail

Also previously tried the lcd-2cs but apart from the outstanding vocals I didn't really like those at all due to the presentation being too laid back/dark for my liking.

Would love to hear any insights or recommendations when comparing those two

 

[k3kz]

Empys become very transparent, with proper amp, decent cables, and some appropriate EQ. I use variants of the AutoEQ recommended settings, modified, with FabFilter Pro Q 3. Made changes last night that made it look like a new headphone, and much more competitive with my VO.

Maybe, but other headphones seem better in technicalities out of the box and don't need a lot of adjusting to get there. I am not worried about my amp and wiring (I have a TT2 and Lavricables Grand). I did play around with EQ a bit, and I found that it did not do me a world of good (can you maybe share your settings so I can adapt them for Equalizer APO?).
EQ is not a permanent option for me as I have multiple headphones and also use the TT2 as a preamp for a speaker system depending on situation, so I would need to switch all the time depending on what I do.

And as a bottom line, I just wanted to say that to me, there are headphones out there that are better in purely technical/analytical aspects. That isn't/never was the intended main strong point of the Empyrean, I believe. So I just won't pretend that Empyreans beat out headphones that are specifically geared towards transparency and detail - I think that the main virtue is tonality, richness, lushness, laid-back sound, and that is what they do exceptionally well.


/e: turns out i was using autoeq settings already! dont too much like them, i feel like it thins out the sound massively and defeats what i like most about this headphone. Although what i do like is that it eliminates that midbass elevation which has been my main gripe with these from the start.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Maybe, but other headphones seem better in technicalities out of the box and don't need a lot of adjusting to get there. I am not worried about my amp and wiring (I have a TT2 and Lavricables Grand). I did play around with EQ a bit, and I found that it did not do me a world of good (can you maybe share your settings so I can adapt them for Equalizer APO?).
EQ is not a permanent option for me as I have multiple headphones and also use the TT2 as a preamp for a speaker system depending on situation, so I would need to switch all the time depending on what I do.

And as a bottom line, I just wanted to say that to me, there are headphones out there that are better in purely technical/analytical aspects. That isn't/never was the intended main strong point of the Empyrean, I believe. So I just won't pretend that Empyreans beat out headphones that are specifically geared towards transparency and detail - I think that the main virtue is tonality, richness, lushness, laid-back sound, and that is what they do exceptionally well.

This Covers it nicely.

I wouldn't say the Empyrean Lacks detail, to me it is all there.
However if hearing detail and micro detail is your jam, then there sure are better headphones out there for the task (i.e. Susvara)

And as you described, if you want a full bodied, rich tonality with laid back presentation, to just sink in and enjoy the music, then the Empyrean is about as perfect as it gets.

 

[godmax]

...the Empyreans finally entered the hive!

Great first impression so far with every track and genere sounding just so enjoyable and coherent! One of the few headphones out there that combine build, comfort and sound into one unit without any major drawbacks.

 

[Razza1974]

Got the empyreans and quite happy with them, beautifully made, nice fit. Bit surprised because compared with the utopias there is a small but noticable difference: bass is more defined and tight on utopia, more impactfull, details are a lot easier to hear on utopia. Not to say empy is not great sounding, it is but i did not expect this difference. Vocals are more "centered" and elaborate on the empy.
This is with the stock balanced cables. I will test my 4.4 balanced silver meze cable when the kann alpha arrives. Wonder how the will sound then.
Again happy but a bit surprised especially regarding the bass

Cheers

 

[Ichos]

How many hours do you have at the Empyrean?

 

[incredulousity]

Maybe, but other headphones seem better in technicalities out of the box and don't need a lot of adjusting to get there. I am not worried about my amp and wiring (I have a TT2 and Lavricables Grand). I did play around with EQ a bit, and I found that it did not do me a world of good (can you maybe share your settings so I can adapt them for Equalizer APO?).
EQ is not a permanent option for me as I have multiple headphones and also use the TT2 as a preamp for a speaker system depending on situation, so I would need to switch all the time depending on what I do.

And as a bottom line, I just wanted to say that to me, there are headphones out there that are better in purely technical/analytical aspects. That isn't/never was the intended main strong point of the Empyrean, I believe. So I just won't pretend that Empyreans beat out headphones that are specifically geared towards transparency and detail - I think that the main virtue is tonality, richness, lushness, laid-back sound, and that is what they do exceptionally well.


/e: turns out i was using autoeq settings already! dont too much like them, i feel like it thins out the sound massively and defeats what i like most about this headphone. Although what i do like is that it eliminates that midbass elevation which has been my main gripe with these from the start.

Yeah, auditioned them and liked what i heard so ordered the copper ones with stand and silver meze cables and the kann alpha. Curious how they sound with the alpha, cant wait to try them out

I agree, the default AutoEQ settings do bad things to Empyrean. My modifications are very heavy to these, created with dragging the AutoEQ points mostly up and down, to decrease the degree of effect of those settings. I’ve managed to make a set that brings up detail a bit, makes bass a bit more clean and punchy, and seems to increase instrument separation and soundstage a bit. Timbre on plucked and bowed strings is much improved. Overhot classical recordings don’t sound like fingernails on chalkboard, which AutoEQ settings do.It’s superb for every genre I’ve tested so far. Downside is that it makes poor recording details more evident, but that’s part of the fun.

I absolutely have no interest in obtaining any other planar headphones at this point. With the EQ, they are well-mannered detail monsters, and defeating it with a click, I have the warm bath with rose petals and a glass of wine that is the stock Empyrean.

 

[Razza1974]

How many hours do you have at the Empyrean?

Not a lot, now 3 hours
When listening to neon pattern drum by jon hopkins the difference is huge i am afraid. The empyreans sound thinner also with regards to the bass. Actually they sound great but when i put on the same track and then the utopia the difference is huge. It is a very punishing recording and especially the sound from 50 seconds to 1.45 is worlds apart...really bummed because i bought them to get a fuller sound, more bass rich sound, they struggle with that part, if you listen to that same part with utopias (and same arche) the depth and fullness of sound is a lot richer on utopia, there really is depth to the sound, a 3 dimensionality thats not there with empy.
I thought empys did not need break in? Anyways not unhappy at all, still great sounding and i would not have known if you listen to the same song back to back on different phones, still thought my experience would be the other way around