ZMF Atrium vs Meze Empyrean

[hristo]

From what I've heard these are two similarly priced amazing top tier headphones.

Which one of the two has a wider soundstage, is more comfortable and fun to listen to?

I understand that it all comes down to personal preference and I am looking for subjective opinions.

Has anyone of you had the chance to audition both?

Which one would you choose if you had to keep only one and why?

ZMF would probably have a higher resale value as I see Empys sell for under 2k nowadays but let that be out of the equation; let's assume you'd never sell your pick.

 

[Monsterzero]

Two very different headphones. It mainly boils down to what the rest of your chain consists of. If you like to listen on the go out of a DAP or a phone then the Empy will be what you want. Similarly, if you have an entry level desktop solid state amp the empy will still be the one to have.

Now if you are farther along in the hobby and have a full sized tube amp, then thats where the Atrium will pull away from the Meze.

And yes, ZMFs hold their value better.

 

[kumar402]

I agree with @Monsterzero
At one point I had ZMF Verite and Empyrean. Now I have ZMF
Out of good quality amp with higher output impedance, ZMF pulls ahead.
For DAP/ THX amp etc go with Empy.

 

[monkey4054]

I've heard both and preferred the Empyrean personally. Really subjective though. It depends on the sort of music you listen to and how you like it presented.

 

[monkey4054]

From what I've heard these are two similarly priced amazing top tier headphones.

Which one of the two has a wider soundstage, is more comfortable and fun to listen to?

I understand that it all comes down to personal preference and I am looking for subjective opinions.

Has anyone of you had the chance to audition both?

Which one would you choose if you had to keep only one and why?

ZMF would probably have a higher resale value as I see Empys sell for under 2k nowadays but let that be out of the equation; let's assume you'd never sell your pick.

Wider soundstage... probably Atrium
More comfortable.. both very comfortable, Empyrean is lighter.
I've tried both and own Empyrean now.
I listen to metal and rock, mostly modern stuff. Empyrean clearly better suited to those genres.
If you like vocal heavy, acoustic, softer, more mellow stuff... Atrium is the better pick.

 

[Wladimir]

Really no contest, at least with the Atrium Closed. But you gotta feed the Empys with proper gear and especially headphone cable.

 

[tjzurlaaa]

Atrium all day

 

[NexGen]

Really no contest, at least with the Atrium Closed. But you gotta feed the Empys with proper gear and especially headphone cable.

You mean Empyreans are better than ZMF AC for you ? I have Empyreans mark I and do love also musicality pair of ZMF Auteur OG but in technical aspects Meze are better no doubt. I wonder if Atrium Open will be a significant upgrade over Meze Empy in any meaning ? I have no way to try AO other than by purchasing it.

 

[Wladimir]

You mean Empyreans are better than ZMF AC for you ?

The thing about Empyreans is that they're scaling extremely well with the gear. You could search this literal formulation on this forum, how many members (with some high/ultra-fi systems) have said this or something similar.

The myth that they're easy to drive comes perhaps from the fact that they can get loud easily and they never sound straight up bad. But speaking from my experience with ZMF AC, they sounded dull/closed/suffocated/boring compared to my Empys (running stock leather pads). But it takes one hell of a system for them to really shine. I mean, not only thoroughly cleaned up power delivery, but also resonance management of each analog and digital component and its power supply, up to the power filter and modem/router.

Invest rather in your chain to get most of your Empys, for low investments you could achieve big result, especially in the resonance management. Don't forget that each system sound as good as its weakest link, so don't skip on quality cabling as well - AC, DC and also ethernet play a huge role. Then if possible, try to implement Diretta in your chain before your DDC. Or even better - build your own Diretta Endpoint instead of that DDC. I can give you some guidance and tutorial how to do it, this would transform your experience to another level.

 

[NexGen]

The thing about Empyreans is that they're scaling extremely well with the gear.

I can confirm it too. xDuoo XD05 Pro is great combo but much better as alone DAC. When I paired it with Aune S17 Pro I was impressed how much Empyreans rised. They scale very good with better (and propably more powerful) amp. My desktop setup is endgame for me so I do not plan to change/add anything in future but thank you for you kind proposition.

Also thank you for description of comparision AC to Empys. Open version should sound more open, airy and engaging but if there are no much technical or timbre advantages so I'll probably skip buying them.

 

[Wladimir]

The thing that many head-fiers don't really understand is that they're not listening just to the headphones, but to their whole system (beginning with electrical grid and in case of streaming also the internet connection). So when they're constantly changing headphones in pursuit of something better, they're just listening to how different headphones react to everything that is in the chain before the signal hits the amp.

After so much experimenting (essentially fulltime for the last 3 years) I'm of an opinion that headphones must be first and foremost comfortable and be able to scale with better gear. And in both of these attributes, Empyreans just shine like only few does (I would guess their name isn't any coincidence...).

 

[Kevintj604]

In an A/B comparison I can’t see a world in which someone would choose an Empyrean over an Atrium. I’ve owned the Empy twice with two very different places in source equipment and honestly would never recommend it to anyone. On top of that they are in totally different price ranges so there really isn’t any competition.

If you’re comparing the Empy 2 or Elite that’s a completely different story.

Empyrean competes in the Arya/LCDX territory and personally I’d choose both of those before an Empy.

In my experience I didn’t hear anywhere near the scalability with better source gear that others have suggested. Empy can be powered totally fine with very basic and modest source equipment. No matter the source I’ve never heard the Empy have even half decent resolving capabilities and it’s always muddy and boomy.

 

[hristo]

OP here. Since I got an email notification, I decided to update you.

Ever since I got the Meze Elite 2 years ago, I haven't looked back. I had the chance to audition both Empy 1 and Empy 2, and I didn't like the FR of either. Empy 1 is too dark. Empy 2 is brighter than I'd like it to be. The Elites sound the most balanced of the 3 with a sweet midrange (not as sweet as the HD600 though.)

I'm still curious about how Atrium sounds and I wish I could have one but I don't think it'd replace the Elites for comfort.

Here's my old post yapping about my experience with other headphones.

Based on it you could tell the other 2 headphones which impressed me / I'd consider owning one day were:
- HiFiMan Shangri La Junior
- HiFiMan Edition XS

However, that's way too much money to spend on sidegrades so I've put it off for now. I've been very happy with what I currently have.

 

[Wladimir]

No matter the source I’ve never heard the Empy have even half decent resolving capabilities and it’s always muddy and boomy.

Hm, before I comment on that, which source are you talking about? What was the network architecture, their power supplies, resonance management, dc & ethernet cables, power filtering, digital cable from the source, DAC and its pads and power cord, etc ?

 

[Kevintj604]

Hm, before I comment on that, which source are you talking about? What was the network architecture, their power supplies, resonance management, dc & ethernet cables, power filtering, digital cable from the source, DAC and its pads and power cord, etc ?

Wow. Lot's of snake oil to unpack here. To be honest 99.9% of audiophiles in this hobby and certainly the ones who are considering buying either of these headphones are just looking for a good overall sonic experience. I'm sure you can run down the gauntlet of telling me that all of your source chain matters and makes a big difference but to the vast majority of listeners they are just looking for a headphone with good build quality, comfort and sound quality.

The problem with Empyrean is it's Rinaro driver (at least the early iteration) doesn't have anywhere near the performance capabilities that the Empyrean price point suggests. Antonio has learned and grown Meze as a company with the Elite and Empyrean II and made huge strides forward with both of those headphones to get the price to performance to line up with the competitors in their respective price points.

With all of that being said my first source chain was very basic when I owned Empyrean the first time. I owned a Felix Echo MKII, Questyle CMA 400i as the DAC or Amp depending if I wanted solid state or tubes. I also owned a KANN for portable use.

The second time I owned it I had a Questyle CMA Fifteen, Cayin HA-3A. Stock pads, Meze PCUHD balanced cable. This is more than most Empy owners would have to drive them. They don't need anywhere near this level of gear to sound decent. In both instances they sounded identical.

I've also heard them on much higher Summit level chains and they're identical.

I know i'm speaking in generalities and if all of your gear makes you happy I'm not knocking it but most people who own Empy aren't trying to make it better by adding wifi bridges and power supplies. All of the gear that you mentioned is the very last part of a chain and most people couldn't tell any difference between any of that stuff in a blind test. The majority of listeners can't tell any differences in DAC's let alone ethernet cables.

Half the people that i've talked about owning Empyrean are running them off iPhone dongles while listening to poorly recorded Hip-Hop mp3's.