[toranku]

Brand Overview: Empire Ears

Oh, my sweet little Empire. I wasn't a fan of their previous lineup bar Valkyrie mk1. The house tuning tends to have a bass shelf starting from 1khz which often results in a lot of bloat or smear. This time they've turned the tables around a little with their updated flagships and mk2 lineup.

EVR mk2
8 August 2020
This is so colored and far from what I'd call a vocal reference monitor. Tone is ugh. ESR mk2 has a better midrange. They've butchered the tuning of the previous EVR mk1. Really, really odd midrange.

ESR mk2
8 August 2020
A slightly warm, perhaps mid-centric monitor. Really nice and clear, forward vocal range. Bass and lower mids has that typical CI woofer type of midbass hump, showing some signs of bloat and wooliness. Treble is a little dark and does roll off in the top end (>10khz). While my comments may sound pretty unattractive, it shines when everything is put together with the midrange as its anchor. Decent monitor.

Bravado mk2
8 August 2020
Mud

Hero
8 August 2020
Here we see the typical v-shaped Empire house tuning the most with their new lineup. Shrill vocal range with powerful, forward bass. Lots of rumble and it does carry bloat but I would not describe the Hero as muddy. Works with pop genres but I cant help but feel its too unbalanced with many of my other genres.

Odin
8 August 2020
Okay, this is really good. Very well tuned and untypical of Empire Ears since their house sound often leans towards 1khz bass shelves. This one has a much much cleaner bass shelf but still retains lots of subbass. Somewhat like my own v4 target. Due to the lack of bloat (okay, a SMIDGEN of bloat; non-issue), it already sounds cleaner, much more articulate and accurate with the midrange than any Empire out there. Treble is also very even and extends decently. It really does do every genre of mine well with great technical ability. Tuning is seriously solid as a bass boosted neutral IEM. Bass has good tact, though a little too much for my own preferences but it is well balanced out with clean midbass. Midrange and treble I honestly don't have much to critique other than that it sounds normal and natural. High praise.

Easily one of the very best IEMs I've come across so far. Jack & Dean, if you are reading this, keep tuning IEMs like this.

 

[toranku]

@toranku when is that EE Odin review coming up? This is the only IEM I’ve considered paying full retail price for.

Haha, I was writing it when you commented. Odin is REALLY good and fits right into my preferences as a bass boosted neutral monitor. None of that typical Empire bloat.

Also I was too tired to try out the Valkyrie mk2. I'll do an update of the above post soon enough.

 

[kdphan]

Brand Overview: Empire Ears

Oh, my sweet little Empire. I wasn't a fan of their previous lineup bar Valkyrie mk1. The house tuning tends to have a bass shelf starting from 1khz which often results in a lot of bloat or smear. This time they've turned the tables around a little with their updated flagships and mk2 lineup.

EVR mk2
20 August 2020
This is so colored and far from what I'd call a vocal reference monitor. Tone is ugh. ESR mk2 has a better midrange. They've butchered the tuning of the previous EVR mk1. Really, really odd midrange.

ESR mk2
20 August 2020
A slightly warm, perhaps mid-centric monitor. Really nice and clear, forward vocal range. Bass and lower mids has that typical CI woofer type of midbass hump, showing some signs of bloat and wooliness. Treble is a little dark and does roll off in the top end (>10khz). While my comments may sound pretty unattractive, it shines when everything is put together with the midrange as its anchor. Decent monitor.

Bravado mk2
20 August 2020
Mud

Hero
20 August 2020
Here we see the typical v-shaped Empire house tuning the most with their new lineup. Shrill vocal range with powerful, forward bass. Lots of rumble and it does carry bloat but I would not describe the Hero as muddy. Works with pop genres but I cant help but feel its too unbalanced with many of my other genres.

Odin
20 August 2020
Okay, this is really good. Very well tuned and untypical of Empire Ears since their house sound often leans towards 1khz bass shelves. This one has a much much cleaner bass shelf but still retains lots of subbass. Somewhat like my own v4 target. Due to the lack of bloat (okay, a SMIDGEN of bloat; non-issue), it already sounds cleaner, much more articulate and accurate with the midrange than any Empire out there. Treble is also very even and extends decently. It really does do every genre of mine well with great technical ability. Tuning is seriously solid as a bass boosted neutral IEM. Bass has good tact, though a little too much for my own preferences but it is well balanced out with clean midbass. Midrange and treble I honestly don't have much to critique other than that it sounds normal and natural. High praise.

Easily one of the very best IEMs I've come across so far. Jack & Dean, if you are reading this, keep tuning IEMs like this.

So the Odin is an improved LX?
the LX was awesome for pop, but had too much unneeded bass for other genres. Hoping the Odin improved on that aspect.

 

[toranku]

So the Odin is an improved LX?

I would not even describe it to be close to the LX. The LX's character is essentially heavy subbass and midbass that unfortunately dirties the midrange adding lots of unnecessary bloat. I am not a fan of the LX but have a soft spot for the Valkyrie mk1.

The Odin is closer to my v4 target or something like the "broken" Monarch or Dawn. A little elevated midbass but lots of subbass fun.

 

[papa_mia]

@toranku when is that EE Odin review coming up? This is the only IEM I’ve considered paying full retail price for.

Bruh, don't.

 

[Precogvision]

This is the only IEM I’ve considered paying full retail price for.

You know who to sell it to if you decide it’s not your cup of tea! Although I’d have to sell my whole IEM collection and even then it wouldn’t be enough. Hopefully I’ll get the demo unit in sometime soon, suppper-duper excited for this one too.

 

[kdphan]

You know who to sell it to if you decide it’s not your cup of tea! Although I’d have to sell my whole IEM collection and even then it wouldn’t be enough. Hopefully I’ll get the demo unit in sometime soon, suppper-duper excited for this one too.

If you want to listen to an iem with a similar driver setup (DD + BA + Estat), you can come pick up the Jomo Trinity brass from me.

 

[kdphan]

Bruh, don't.

This is the first IEM to be sold with a nice cable, even though I’m not a cable believer.

the price is actually decent compared to other manufactures

 

[toranku]

This is the first IEM to be sold with a nice cable, even though I’m not a cable believer.

the price is actually decent compared to other manufactures

In the grand scheme of things its still really expensive. Or maybe I'm just broke. Anyway, I've quickly learnt not to tell people whether to buy or not buy anything. I document my thoughts in this thread - anyone is free to choose how he/she wants to interpret it and make their own purchase decisions

 

[Rockwell75]

Odin
20 August 2020
Okay, this is really good. Very well tuned and untypical of Empire Ears since their house sound often leans towards 1khz bass shelves. This one has a much much cleaner bass shelf but still retains lots of subbass. Somewhat like my own v4 target. Due to the lack of bloat (okay, a SMIDGEN of bloat; non-issue), it already sounds cleaner, much more articulate and accurate with the midrange than any Empire out there. Treble is also very even and extends decently. It really does do every genre of mine well with great technical ability. Tuning is seriously solid as a bass boosted neutral IEM. Bass has good tact, though a little too much for my own preferences but it is well balanced out with clean midbass. Midrange and treble I honestly don't have much to critique other than that it sounds normal and natural. High praise.

Easily one of the very best IEMs I've come across so far. Jack & Dean, if you are reading this, keep tuning IEMs like this.

High praise, but I guess at nearly $5000 CAD it better be. Unattainable for me but I know a few who will be taking the plunge.

 

[dhruvmeena96]

Not to pile-on, but just to clarify: As a response to something that was not intended as a humorous observation/joke, the implication of ROFL is that what was said is something so stupid that it caused you to lose all bodily self-control and fall to the floor. AFAIK in most discourse, drawing attention to this in such a manner would generally be considered a personal attack.

Dammm

I guess I didnt thought so far
But now I read my post

Does make me sound bad
I am really really sorry

Let's stop spoiling a gem of a thread
And keep discussion intact.



And did I hear the price correct

5000$ cad for Odin

Dafuqq, here goes my wallet in flames of hell

 

[papa_mia]

This is the first IEM to be sold with a nice cable, even though I’m not a cable believer.

the price is actually decent compared to other manufactures

Ok I didn't realize Tork had sent an EE overview with high praise for the Odin, I just replied to your comment immediately when I read it, thought you were gonna jump on the tri-brid bandwagon (still need to try it first if you haven't already my man).

 

[Tristy]

I would not even describe it to be close to the LX. The LX's character is essentially heavy subbass and midbass that unfortunately dirties the midrange adding lots of unnecessary bloat. I am not a fan of the LX but have a soft spot for the Valkyrie mk1.

The Odin is closer to my v4 target or something like the "broken" Monarch or Dawn. A little elevated midbass but lots of subbass fun.

How would you say Hero compares to Valkyrie (mk1) in terms of technicalities?

 

[proedros]

So the Odin is an improved LX?

more like an improved Zeus XR.....

 

[james444]

Dammm

I guess I didnt thought so far
But now I read my post

Does make me sound bad
I am really really sorry

Don't worry, I was a bit dumbfounded, but didn't take it all that seriously anyway. As I said, your posts are generally well-informed and valuable, so let's move on.