https://empireears.com/
I can say with confidence, that the majority of portable gear/CIEM loving Head-Fiers have been eagerly following the new impressions of Empire Ear's new Phantom CIEM. There has been a flood of new Phantom owners out there and an impressive amount of positive impressions from these new owners. The conversation has traditionally been about the Zeus as the king of the hill - but the Phantom being the new kid on the block has been "killing it" making me wonder if it was supposed to replace the Zeus. Don't know about you (or maybe I do), but when this kind of buzz hits Head-Fi, I have to know what it is all about.
On further inspection, I found that the Legend X which again has a good deal of buzz was the more expensive of the two new CIEMs by $500. I also found that the Zeus was only $100 more than the X. The X also turns out to be a hybrid - turns out that sometimes I really am the last to know. So Empire Ears now has two promoted lines the X Series with the Legend X and the EP series with the Phantom and finally the Legacy series - that can only be found in the index at the bottom of the page - that contains the Zeus. SPOILER ALERT (cover your wallet's ears): turns out they are all incredible stand out performers with different tunings - worth having all three.
So finally, I got my chance to sit down with Jack and hear what all the commotion is all about at RMAF 2018 three weeks back and wow, they were all fantastic. The Zeus was as good as I remember going for more of an audiophile tuning very much like my HD800. The X on the other hand was more of a fun tuning with gobs of thick detail and huge bass without ever sounding congested - fun audiophile. The Phantom turned out to be somewhere in the middle with a little thicker note and bigger bottom, but not much. So if you loved the Zeus, but wished that it had more bass, you got your wish.
On to the challenge, after listening to both the Phantom and the X - I loved them both but loved the X more. That is going against the common theme and I think I know why. The X required about 85 percent of my iPhone volume while the Phantom was happy with a little over 40 percent. The Phantom sounded terrific with my iPhone and sounded just as good with the available Hugo 2 while the X sounded great with my iPhone, but out of this world with the Hugo 2. I think the Phantom scales down better for general use and usability, but the X likes to be pampered a little more with the good stuff. I am going to test this theory..... first with the universal version in the tour kit, then with my custom version once it arrives. Yes, I liked it that much. It has always been my opinion, YMMV, that the customs offer more isolation and better reach both directions allowing them to scale further.
But I want to hear from you - which do you like better?
US TOTL CIEM Tour, Featuring
I can say with confidence, that the majority of portable gear/CIEM loving Head-Fiers have been eagerly following the new impressions of Empire Ear's new Phantom CIEM. There has been a flood of new Phantom owners out there and an impressive amount of positive impressions from these new owners. The conversation has traditionally been about the Zeus as the king of the hill - but the Phantom being the new kid on the block has been "killing it" making me wonder if it was supposed to replace the Zeus. Don't know about you (or maybe I do), but when this kind of buzz hits Head-Fi, I have to know what it is all about.
On further inspection, I found that the Legend X which again has a good deal of buzz was the more expensive of the two new CIEMs by $500. I also found that the Zeus was only $100 more than the X. The X also turns out to be a hybrid - turns out that sometimes I really am the last to know. So Empire Ears now has two promoted lines the X Series with the Legend X and the EP series with the Phantom and finally the Legacy series - that can only be found in the index at the bottom of the page - that contains the Zeus. SPOILER ALERT (cover your wallet's ears): turns out they are all incredible stand out performers with different tunings - worth having all three.
So finally, I got my chance to sit down with Jack and hear what all the commotion is all about at RMAF 2018 three weeks back and wow, they were all fantastic. The Zeus was as good as I remember going for more of an audiophile tuning very much like my HD800. The X on the other hand was more of a fun tuning with gobs of thick detail and huge bass without ever sounding congested - fun audiophile. The Phantom turned out to be somewhere in the middle with a little thicker note and bigger bottom, but not much. So if you loved the Zeus, but wished that it had more bass, you got your wish.
On to the challenge, after listening to both the Phantom and the X - I loved them both but loved the X more. That is going against the common theme and I think I know why. The X required about 85 percent of my iPhone volume while the Phantom was happy with a little over 40 percent. The Phantom sounded terrific with my iPhone and sounded just as good with the available Hugo 2 while the X sounded great with my iPhone, but out of this world with the Hugo 2. I think the Phantom scales down better for general use and usability, but the X likes to be pampered a little more with the good stuff. I am going to test this theory..... first with the universal version in the tour kit, then with my custom version once it arrives. Yes, I liked it that much. It has always been my opinion, YMMV, that the customs offer more isolation and better reach both directions allowing them to scale further.
But I want to hear from you - which do you like better?
US TOTL CIEM Tour, Featuring
- Legend X: with UPOCC 26AWG Handcrafted Cable by Effect Audio ($2,299.00)
7 Proprietary Drivers, Hybrid Design, 2 W9 Subwoofers, 2 Mid, 1 Mid-High, 1 High, 1 Super High,
10-Way synX Crossover System, A.R.C. Resonance Mitigation Technology, Impedance: 14 ohms @ 1kHz,
Frequency Response: 5 Hz - 40kHz, Sensitivity: 102dB @ 1kHz, 1mW
https://empireears.com/collections/x-line/products/legend-x-custom-in-ear-monitor - Phantom: with UPOCC 26AWG Handcrafted Cable by Effect Audio ($1,799.00)
5 Proprietary Empire Balanced Armature Drivers, 2 Low, 1 Mid, 1 High, 1 Super High, 5-Way synX Crossover Network, A.R.C. Resonance Mitigation Technology, Impedance: 10 ohms @ 1kHz, Frequency Response: 10 Hz - 40kHz, Sensitivity 117dB @ 1kHz, 1mW
https://empireears.com/collections/ep-series/products/phantom-custom-in-ears
- 2.5mm balanced female to 3.5mm male ($TBD)
- 2.5mm balanced female to 4.4mm balanced male ($TBD)
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