Empire Ears Odin - Official Thread

[jrockwell]

@Tchoupitoulas

I find myself failing to take note of what I’m hearing. Instead, I keep getting distracted, absorbed in listening to the music

That is the sign of true greatness in an IEM

[prfallon69]

Excellent Impressions @Tchoupitoulas. The Odin’s have become one of my favourite iem’s. I do also like to bring in the EE Hero’s too as they are a more “fun” listen. Though they can’t keep up with the Daddy of iem’s that is the Odin. As ever only my personal view, and tastes will always play a major part in your choices.

[PForPho]

Thanks to headphones.com for giving me the opportunity to demo the Odin!

Empire Ears Odin - Final Impressions

I’ll preface by saying I don’t have extensive experience with IEMs aside from my trusty Galaxy Buds and Tin T4, both of which I enjoy especially the Galaxy Buds.

Source: Asgard 3 + Modius.

Spotify + FLAC

Tips used are Sedna XELASTECs

Comfort

Not great after an hour, but that’s been for every universal fit IEM I’ve tried so not surprising. However, on the third day I could tolerate them a lot more so… maybe I just have to break my ears in more to wear IEMs without problems. I put a lot of weight into comfort (heh) and if something sounds great, but I’m unable to wear it for extended periods of time… what’s the point right? It seems that for most who are into IEMs find that the comfort on the Odin is great, so YMMV. My ears don’t seem to like the feel of IEMs in them.

Sound

Tonally to me, these are very nice and balanced sounding, no particular region really overshadows each other. This makes for a very enjoyable listening session for extended periods.

The bass is excellent. I love my bass and these are able to effortlessly give you just that without any bleeding into the upper frequencies. Very well controlled. I was actually worried that the bass would be too much before hearing them because of “Dual W9+ Subwoofers”. However, it was really enjoyable without being overpowering.

For the midrange… I adore the forward midrange of the 6XX and Focal Clears, but on the Odin it sounds more neutral to my ears. Allows the bass and treble to do their thing without the midrange losing presence.

The treble is smooth, very smooth actually… but it’s not lacking detail… however at times I feel like it lacks sparkle? Especially for some brass and woodwind instruments that benefit from that sparkle. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been dailying the Focal Clears for a good while now which can get that last bit of air in the high frequencies. Oh no… am I secretly a treble head now?

Anyways… for that reason, listening to orchestral tracks felt lacking. However, this could also be attributed to the nature of IEMs and their limitation in soundstage. I couldn’t get that “concert hall” experience with these and probably shouldn’t expect it knowing that. Again I don’t have much experience with IEMs and am very much used to open-back headphones, so on that note other users more experienced with IEMs might find it different. I can’t really speak on that.

In summary

Very easy listen and I really, really enjoyed the Odin. That bass is so addicting! I’m glad I’ve been able to finally listen to a TOTL IEM since I’ve always been curious what a high-end IEM is like. Just wish I could wear IEMs without discomfort. I wonder if it’s just a matter of getting used to it… if anyone has any recommendations on what CIEMs I should look into please let me know! If anything though… using the Odin for a few days has allowed me to comfortably use my Galaxy Buds without any issues… Maybe the Galaxy Buds are my endgame for IEMs.

After spending some time with both the Odin and Hero, I still strongly prefer over ear headphones overall. However, if I ever need isolation and decide to dive deeper into IEMs, I would definitely look into getting a CIEM. My search for a decent sounding closed back is still on-going… but I’m very interested in the Focal Celestee and would love to hear it one day especially to compare with my Clears.

[Tchoupitoulas]

These are great impressions, thanks! I was going to avoid reading your take on the Odin so as not to influence my own but curiosity got the better of me.

My impressions line up with yours and I agree about the lack of top-end treble extension. There isn’t the sparkle of the OG Andromeda (or the Clear), nor the air, either. I use Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet as one of my classical music test tracks, and the ability to make out the flute above the wider orchestra is a decent sign of a transducer extending well. Other examples are cymbals lacking a bit of zing and trumpets not being piercing. A real trumpet, for me, can be a bit wince-inducing, and I had no problem with Miles Davis’s L’Ascenseur pour L’Echafaud out of the Odin.

The flip side is that the Odin weren’t the least bit fatiguing, for me, so there are compensating pleasures.

I guess, as with over-ear headphones, there may not be any single, do-all transducer, one that works its magic for all genres (I have my HD 800 SDR for orchestral music). But the Odin gets pretty close, I found it very versatile with different genres.

[PForPho]

Yea honestly these IEMs are great. I tried to pick out flaws and that lack of sparkle was the only thing I could nitpick. That’s saying a lot.

[Tchoupitoulas]

I gave a quick moment’s thought to writing some jokey, unorthodox impressions - by focusing solely on the Odin’s shortcomings. It’d make for an overly brief write-up, though.

[pennstac]

Nice impressions. Good photo. They’re very pretty, but with those colors, I’d expect to see them on The Gem Channel. Lightning Ridge Opal earbuds. Do they make them for pierced ears?

[Tom_Ato]

Since I wanted to update my Odin review with some better pictures, but somehow can’t edit anymore, here’s the pictures anyway:

[Titienne]

Disclaimer
This IEM is a demo unit sent by headphones.com as part of their HEADPHONE Community Preview Program. I would like to thank @TylersEclectic and everyone at headphones.com for giving me this opportunity. Enjoy the small review !

Music used (on Spotify and Tidal)
The bands I listened to while evaluating the Odin are as follows : Chevelle, Soen, Trivium, Dream Theater, Haken, Tool, Genesis, Porcupine Tree. As you can tell, I tend to listen to rock, progressive rock and metal.

Source / Eartips used
Lotoo Paw S1, Apple Dongle, Woo Audio WA8 Eclipse, with Azla sedna light eartips.

Note : I could not detect noise with any of these sources, so I assume the Odin is fairly forgiving in that regard.

Power requirement
The Empire Ears Odin is very easy to drive, reaching sufficient volume with the Apple Dongle for example. Still, to reach its full potential, a better source is recommended. The separation and detail retrieval are improved quite a bit.

Sound
In the following section, I will try to give brief impressions of different aspects of the frequency spectrum, so you can get an overview of the sound signature.

Tuning is more on the “audiophile” side of things. Surprisingly, there’s enough sub bass and slam to sound realistic (for an IEM). I get a feeling that the lower mids are a bit distant / subdued, so instruments lose a bit of weight. There’s also quite a bit of energy in the upper mids and lower treble, but it doesn’t reach a point where it’s too much for me. Treble has decent extension, but it’s quite smooth, surprisingly. With the majority of IEMs using EST drivers that I’ve tried, I always felt fatigued after 30 minutes or so, but that’s not the case here. I like that the treble is as forgiving as it is.

Excellent detail retrieval and resolution. Can render complex passages flawlessly and without missing a beat. Imaging is quite good, but it’s not as “sharp” and precise as what I’d expect.

Sound stage is impressive for an IEM. There’s a bit of width and depth, so you don’t get the “in your head” feeling as much.

Overall, I think the Empire Ears Odin somewhat doesn’t sound as engaging as some other IEMs I’ve tried. While I wouldn’t call it “boring”, I wouldn’t call it “fun” or “musical” either. It is indeed very good at dissecting everything in the music, but it doesn’t get my head moving or my toes tapping.

Other comments
Like most Empire Ears IEMs, driver flex is real. Everytime you insert the Odin or move it a little, you can hear a small “click” or “pop” sound. This can be worrisome considering the price of the IEMs, but it is usually harmless.

Stock cable is a bit “meh”, not sure what they were trying to achieve with it. It feels soft, but it tangles quite easily. It would be great if they could offer a version of this IEM without the stock cable, for a reduced price. The carrying case is very nice, and offers plenty of protection for the IEMs.

Fit isn’t half bad considering how big the IEMs are, but you can definitely feel the size after a few hours. I cannot deep fit it even though I have larger ears. Tip rolling is very important to get a good seal and fit, so don’t hesitate to experiment a little when you get new IEMs. It can also be useful to tweak the sound !

Alternatives
In this section, I will comment on a few IEMs I like that share a similar or slightly different sound signature

Andromeda 2020
More musical and engaging. Dynamics are clearly worse, but imaging is better. Fit is much more manageable. A lot less expensive. Hits a nice sweet spot for the price, where diminishing returns start to kick in.

64audio U12t
A better all rounder overall in my opinion. Excellent cohesiveness and much easier to listen for extended periods due to the Apex technology and smoother upper mids. Bass isn’t as good as the Odin, but it still is excellent for a full BA IEM. The cheaper price makes it easier to recommend, and you’re not paying as much extra money for the bells and whistles of the Odin (fancy cable, tribrid design with cutting edge technologies

Conclusion
Very good IEM overall, but that’s not that surprising considering the price. I probably wouldn’t recommend it to most people, just because the price is hard to swallow and a high-end headphone would probably do better than this for less money. Still, it’s not a bad choice if that’s the kind of performance and convenience you’re looking for.

[antdroid]

Nice review sir.

Yea the driver flex is a little annoying on it.

[madjoman]

hello TORQ
I have the odin aevc aksp2000, but I wanted to add a tube amp. that advise me you between woo wa8 associates with my ak sp200 or cayin n8. I like streaming or what other tube amp advise you

[dandawhite]

Empire Ears Odin & HERO Tour

Impressions on Odin

Disclaimer -

The units were graciously put on tour by Tyler and passed onto me from Titienne. I have a pretty solid grasp of several totl iem’s which I’ve personally owned or heard extensively, and will incorporate some in comparison to Odin especially as I find this method a very user-friendly way of understanding the expected sound of a product.

Configuration -

Iphone 12 Pro Max / Lotoo Paw S1 and Tennmak (wide bore) M sized eartips.

First minutes -

Let me first get this out of the way - upon first song playback on these, they were nothing quite like I was expecting, and in a good way. I was fully expecting an analytical tuning with sharp upper mids and highs, but that is actually not what I hear.

Tuning -

For me, it is evident these are a somewhat strong V shape tuning, with an L shape tendency. More musical and fun than a reference sound, no doubt. However, the driver implementation is extremely coherent and transparent. Every frequency range is completely revealing and void of any glaring flaws or veil. It just sounds effortless, controlled and dynamics punch you right in the gut. So yes, truly audiophile performance, but not a typical audiophile voicing at all; these are fun, colored and very “real life” sounding.

They’re essentially a super EE Legend X, with less of a bass shelf, and much more articulate in the treble, despite upper treble still being on the smooth side. It’s a real American sound - in your face, punchy and euphoric, with detail in spades but presented without too much forwardness or coarseness.

The voicing reminds me of vintage McIntosh tube amps. Classic American tuning with taught whomping bass, sweetened mids and treble.

I was curious to see measurements after hearing, and was surprised by the way it graphs. The seemingly aggressive upper mids hump is actually done as such to offset the generous bass elevation (in my opinion). I actually have no issue with the upper mids, vocals sound life-like and never thin or sibilant. The only critique I have to give on the tuning is the lack of air, and the graphs confirm what I was hearing.

Bass -

It’s the best I’ve heard in an iem. It’s punchy, fast, textured with just a slightly generous boosted presence. My previous benchmark for bass is the IER-Z1R, which I comparatively find too bloated with some musical pairings. Z1R only wins in harmonics of bass guitar notes, but that’s really more due to the lack of extended decay on the Odin. Percussions sound life-like - especially with the initial strikes and fundamentals of notes. Not the biggest metal listener, but metal and hard rock is insane with this iem.

Z1R is still incredible, but I’d pick the Odin any day if given the choice for rock, EDM or any upbeat music requiring speed and precision.

Midrange -

As with the bass, midrange is world class, and yes, a bit more on the forward side but very well done nonetheless. Vocals, male or female, are super accurate and timbre of the midrange is one of its forces. Electric guitars have just the right amount of bite to it, it’s super energetic and addictive. The aggressive upper mids I keep reading about is not really an issue to me.

Treble -

This is one department where I think EE plays it safe, or plays to their house sound signature. Personally, it’s too tame for me in the upper treble - there is not enough air or spaciousness and harmonics of certain instruments are lacking. This is extreme nit-picking however, as it’s really just apparent when comparing to other iem’s directly (KSE, Z1R, MEST, Elysium). This is just not in-line with tuning preferences, but the treble is more impressive than Z1R or MEST from an objective standpoint.

One observation of particular note is how the EST treble is amongst the least coarse or grainy I’ve ever heard, whilst being one of the more detailed out there (only the KSE/ Ely beats it from what I’ve heard).

Lower treble is energetic, giving them a snappy and in your face nature, gobs of detail and simply tons of energy.

Imaging & Soundstage -

Imaging is world class. It’s up there with U12T and Elysium in presenting great nuances of depth and left to right placement of instruments. There is this sense of tactility where music is not on a flat plane but actually layered. Sounds come at you from a black background out of nothingness and you can pick at them seperately. The texture and tactility components specifically are superior to the aforementioned iem’s.

Soundstage is where things are just above average however. Left - right and depth perspectives are greatly defined, but there is a lack of height to the sound, which make these sound very much in your head. The slightly rolled off upper treble is most likely the cause of this, so despite it being very holographic, there is a lack of spaciousness.

Comparisons -

Of all high end iem’s out there, I’d consider the Odin a strong blend of U12T (M15) smooth- neutral voicing with a sprinkle of Z1R low freq and texture and VE8 low treble attack.

Z1R: The treble is more accurate on Z1R, and that in turn makes it the more holographic experience. The use of the super tweeter gives off one of the more natural sounding high frequencies I’ve ever heard in an iem, and it’s really due to the decay characteristics and texture of the treble. The Odin has a more responsive and higher resolving treble, but it is voiced a bit too smooth in the top end.

U12T: Odin is so similar to U12T, but with a veil throughout the spectrum removed. I’ve always found the U12T a bit smoother than neutral, slight U shape but with a notable driver roll off in the deep bass as well as struggles in the top end of the treble (strong midbass but meh sub bass / great treble, but abrasive and uncontrolled above 10khz). Odin lacks the air of U12T, but it doesn’t really matter because it wipes it in tonality. U12T remains the master of imaging and positial cues and placement of elements.

MEST: I really love this iem, it’s my Z1R compliment but truthfully… likely my preferred of the two. Its tuning isn’t as mature, but it just works with almost anything you throw at it. The MEST is all about the fireworks and sense of immensity. The over-exaggerated holography works insanely well for well recorded music, or anything instrumental, but also sounds off with some busier passages of music or vocals often times. Transparency and detail is superior to U12T or Z1R, and in the highs especially; but compared to the Odin, MEST even sounds a bit fluffy. Odin actually has midbass weight where MEST is lacking. Midrange is immensely more clear, and dynamics (micro & macro) are better. MEST outdoes Odin with treble extension and detail, but it’s not as clean or resolved.

Shortcomings -

Odin is truly an incredible iem, but it’s just too pricy. As a do-it-all iem, it’s probably the best I’ve heard yet, but at the same time, I prefer the MEST and Z1R as a combo to it, and still I save some $. At its price point, it doesn’t break any new barriers, or have an X-factor that blows me away like, say, Shure KSE’s lifelike resolution. The staging is more closed in than several of its competitors, and the sense of space and air is objectively lacking. The cable looks and feels cheap when handled and inspected more closely as well. Driver flex is present, for some this is an issue, but nothing that concerns me personally.

Conclusion -

I came in expecting perhaps a bit more than what I got, but putting in a few hours with this makes you realize just how complete of a package this iem is, and you would hope so at such an exorbitant price. Yes it has shortcomings, but it’s one of the iem’s I’ve heard with the least amount of issues to its sound. It’s evident that calibration and usage of drivers was done very carefully as the sound is extremely coherent, realistic and effortless. Perceived nuances to music is closer to U12T/ VE8/Z1R territory, than Elysium/A8000/KSE - but it’s easily tied for 3rd most detailed in-ear I’ve ever heard.

[prfallon69]

Excellent review and comparison piece @dandawhite. You’ve certainly heard your fair share of TOTL iem’s. Nice to have you with us.

[madjoman]

hello TORQ
I have the odin aevc ak sp2000, but I wanted to add a tube amp. that advise me you between woo wa8 associates with my ak sp2000 or cayin n8. I like streaming or what other tube amp advise you

[Tchoupitoulas]

Review of the Empire Ears Odin

Introduction
I’d like to thank @andrew, @taronlissimore, and @TylersEclectic for making the loaner tour possible and for kindly letting me participate in it. It was a particular treat to hear the Odin. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these IEMs and they made for a great escape from the mid-winter blues. I’m unlikely to be able to buy a pair anytime soon, so this was doubly a treat (I’ve still got a long way to go in digging that tunnel under the bank vault before I can buy a pair).

I was keen to hear the Odin because I’ve wanted to find out what the best sound quality of an IEM might be - at least for my preferences - and where the point of diminishing returns might kick in if I were to upgrade from my Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020. What does a flagship IEM at a “summit-fi” tier offer? And how much of a difference is there between, say, the Andro and an IEM that costs three times as much? I’ll come back to these questions in a later post because they’re entirely subjective. For the time being, I’d prefer to offer some impressions of the Odin on its own terms, albeit with some comparisons to other IEMs.

First Impressions Count

My sense of the Odin hasn’t changed much since I posted my first impressions above. These impressions, essentially, were that these IEMs are tuned nicely, well-balanced, and that in the absence of any great, outstanding characteristic of the frequency response, the technicalities were the Odin’s strong suit. After more time spent listening to the Odin, I’ve come to find that my views haven’t changed much; I’ll qualify a few points and add a few other observations, but my original verdict still stands: these really are quite remarkable IEMs.

Preferences and Caveats

• I usually favor neutral/bright tunings; the HD 800 SDR and Clear are my go-to over-ear headphones. The Andromeda 2020’s darker sound, however, is something I love. In part this is because its signature offers a contrasting and yet nicely detailed sound; I’m also less likely to listen to classical music and jazz when using IEMs.
• speed, resolution, and macro-dynamics are appealing to me, as is a wide, open and airy soundstage (such as it can be with headphones or IEMs).
• bass isn’t ordinarily a priority, nor are vocals, although I care for both of these enough that they can be deal-breakers if done poorly.
• I find congestion and excessive warmth to be particularly bothersome.

Source pairings and some subjective stuff

As one might expect, the Odin exposes limitations of lower quality sources. My audition was done only with portable devices:

• Sony NW-ZX2: this flagship DAP, or what passed for a flagship DAP in the distant, dusty archaeological past of half a dozen years ago, made for my best pairing with the Odin.

• Astell and Kern Jr.: this DAP imparted a nice, slightly warmer sound although the bass was less prominent. Imaging wasn’t as tight, either; it was a bit fuzzier, and the DAP wasn’t as resolving. Macrodynamics were too soft.

• Lotoo Paw S1: this dongle offered even less resolution, alas; its macrodynamics were likewise too soft. It was also slightly hazy when compared against the ZX2, and it suffers from quite a bit of digitus, which is to say some edginess and graininess in the treble. (I should add that I’m fond of the S1; it pairs exceptionally well with the Andromeda; the superior resolution of the Odin exposes its limitations, though - but let’s not forget that the S1 costs 5% of the Odin and is a great device when paired with the right IEMs)

• tip rolling: I found it reasonably easy to get a decent seal with the Odin; its insertion depth is medium, not shallow or deep, and I ended up favoring the Azla Sedna Earfit tips, both the Regular and Light ones (the Final Audio E tips also worked well)

• The shells are comfortable and don’t rub against my ears (unlike, say, the Dunu SA6); the IEMs aren’t the smallest or lightest, given the number of drivers inside them, so they never really “disappear.”

Sound signature
Beyond the Odin’s tonality being incredibly well balanced, my first sense was that these IEMs are fairly neutral. Over time, though, I’ve come to think of the Odin as being slightly on the warm side, if only because the bass is elevated somewhat. There may also be something of a corresponding, slight degree of treble emphasis, although the top-end is, in the end, rolled off. If the tuning is v-shaped, then, it’s still quite mild, and while the bass is stronger than the treble, an important thing, for my preferences, is that the mids aren’t too recessed. Ultimately, Empire Ears has settled on a tuning that should attract as many customers as possible. I can’t imagine many finding them objectionable unlike, say, the Wraith.

Bass
While I’m easily pleased when it comes to bass response, I’d suggest that the Odin’s low-end presentation is pretty outstanding. It’s probably the best I’ve heard from a pair of IEMs. After hearing the Hero first, and having seen EE’s marketing of its W-9 subwoofer drivers, I’d expected there to be a more pronounced, hefty and overly strong bass presentation. Instead, the Odin’s is more refined and versatile than that. There’s plenty of heft, to be sure, but the bass quality wins out over its quantity.

My test tracks follow a sequence from classical music and jazz to various kinds of acoustic music and then on to rock and electronic music. What I find most striking about the Odin’s bass is that its response adapts to and suits each of these genres quite nicely. There’s a bit of extra bass emphasis to some orchestral pieces, with low-end brass instruments having a bit more oomph than I’m used to hearing. Aficionados of classical music might find this troublesome. By contrast, with electronic music, the Odin’s bass was gloriously rich and weighty. It also extended especially well into the sub-bass region (especially on tracks by Trentemøller or Nicholar Jaar, as with his Space is Only Noise If You Can See). The Odin’s bass presentation, then, has something of a chameleon-like quality to it: it adapts well to suit different types of music: with acoustic instruments, the bass tuning can be surprisingly restrained and unobtrusive, and yet it has all the strength and extension you might crave for hip hop or electronic music.

Overall, I’d suggest that Odin’s bass isn’t particularly fast. At the same time, though, it isn’t as slow as some dynamic driver IEMs. The bass is also pretty tight and agile; by no means is it loose or flabby, nor does it bleed into the mids, which I hear is a problem with the Legend X. While the Odin’s bass doesn’t hit particularly hard - alas, macrodynamics generally aren’t the best with the Odin - what it does do especially well is to render different bass textures and tones in realistic and convincing ways. (In this, and from memory, the Odin’s bass drivers surpass those in the CA Solaris or Dorado 2020, I’d suggest).

In songs with simultaneous low notes on different instruments, as with the piano and double bass in Elvis’s It’s Now or Never, you can pick out both instruments clearly. The same can be said for more complex brass arrangements, in which you can distinguish readily between tubas and trombones (as on Bob Dylan’s Rainy Day Women) and the low notes of saxophones (for darker brass instruments together, I listened to Charles Mingus’s magnificent The Black Saint and Sinner Lady). The Odin even does a good job of conveying the resonant qualities of bass voices. There’s a wonderful recording, Basso Profundo from Old Russia, which the Odin conveyed beautifully: you can almost hear the vast depths of the bass singers’ chest cavities! Double basses also sound wonderful, as do bass guitars. The electric bass has the right amount of metallic clang to its strings when they’re plucked hard, and it also has plenty of growl and rumble. The bass response of the Odin, then, does a great job of reflecting the timbre of instruments.

Mids
I can’t say I’m experienced enough to be able to comment authoritatively about the midrange presentation of transducers. My sense is that the mids are one of the Odin’s strong suits notwithstanding the bass and treble emphasis. I’m not conscious of any particular recession, nor does anything sound particularly prominent. Again, I should note that vocals aren’t a priority for me, but for what it’s worth, voices sound right, as do pianos and string instruments. Strings, in particular, sound decent: they resonate fairly well in string quartets, as with Shostakovich’s 8th, and in larger orchestral passages they don’t end up being smoothed over or overly clean. You can maintain a sense of there being many instruments playing simultaneously, not a simplified, single sound. Brass instruments, in particular, are lovely and rich, having the right amount of bite and blare and crackle. Electric guitars don’t have quite as much bite as they might, but they have decent crunch and growl (as on the Stooges’ I Wanna Be Your Dog). Booming power chords are awesome.

If anything, my sense is that the Odin have a lovely midrange evenness. The mids aren’t particularly lush or especially forward and emphasized. The overall presentation is nicely engaging. I frequently found myself being absorbed in the music. Even when I just wanted to relax and let the music wash over me, I ended up listening critically, pleasantly surprised as I was to hear such detail, richness, and timbral realism in the music. The guitar solo in Led Zep’s Dazed and Confused, for instance, is as compelling as I’ve ever heard it, which brings us to the treble…

Treble
The treble presentation is fine without being exceptional. There’s enough elevation to avoid the IEMs sounding dark, given the prominent bass, but these IEMs are rolled off. There just isn’t that top-end air or sparkle. Cymbals don’t always sound convincing - this was notable in Duke Ellington’s Such Sweet Thunder and, to a lesser extent, in the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s Take 5. This can be a good thing at times, of course. Harmonicas and tambourines avoided being too annoying (as on Dylan’s Rainy Day Women). Trumpets aren’t as piercing as they can be in real life (Miles Davis’s Ascenseur pour L’Échafaud offers an example here). I didn’t hear any sibilance with the Odin, nor were pieces of music with potentially painful treble all that problematic, as with Biosphere’s Wyll and Purpose (off his haunting album Departed Glories).

The Odin, then, may not be ideal for those listening to jazz or classical music; the slightly emphasized bass and rolled off treble could, conceivably, make for too great a deviation from neutral to be perfectly suitable for those genres, although, again, the mids are excellent and go some way to compensating for this. I should add that, in orchestral pieces, brass instruments don’t suffer from any glare, and in Karajan’s interpretation of Holst’s Planets I couldn’t hear the glare in the treble that can be a problem with some brighter transducers.

One last observation about tuning:
Unlike many high-end transducers that can be unforgiving of poorly recorded or mastered music, the Odin make for an easy and pleasant listen with alternative rock and modern popular music (which is surprising, given that the Odin reveals the limitations of sources pretty quickly). The Odin even proved to be merciful with my stress-test test-tracks. The Pixies’ Doolittle has a wince-inducing snare drum in it. It wasn’t too vicious on the Odin. There are some exceptions: Massive Attack’s Angel has lovely bass rumble but the synthesized equivalent of a snare was too strong. Screaming, squealing, distorted electric guitars in Sonic Youth’s Tunic (Song for Karen) and in Mogwai’s tracks aren’t too brutally piercing. In fact, harsh tracks like Mogwai’s Superheroes of BMX, which could be used to extract confessions of guilt out of the pure and innocent, end up sounding surprisingly pleasant.

All this is to say that you should be able to use your Odin to listen to a wide range of musical genres and to music of varying qualities. These aren’t fatiguing IEMs.

Coherence and technicalities
I don’t have the best ears for this but I suspect these “tribrid” IEMs are very coherent. I’m not aware of awkward or disjointed transitions between the bass to the mids or from the mids to the treble frequencies. Nor do the different kinds of driver—subwoofer, BA, or electrostatic—seem to work at odds with one another. I’ve heard hybrid IEMs that combine a fairly sluggish dynamic driver bass response with a fast BA sound, which can produce strange effects, like the sonic equivalent of the bendy time and space dimensions of Christopher Nolan movies. Again, with the Odin everything sounds well balanced and even.

If the Odin’s coherence and the mids contribute to its sound being so appealing and engrossing, what really elevates these IEMs to the top tier are the technical qualities. These are incredibly resolving IEMs. This is the first time I’ve been clearly aware of the limitations of my Andromedas when it comes to detail retrieval via IEMs. Stepping down from the Odin to the Andromeda made for a depressingly significant difference. (My Andromedas will barely look me in the eye now). The Odin are also pretty fast, clean, and clear even if they have quite a weighty sound to them. Microdynamics, which is to say subtle variations in volume, are also a strong point. I should also add that in complex passages, as with Mingus’s Black Saint and Sinner Lady (or Radiohead’s The National Anthem) individual instruments don’t collapse into a single, smeary mess of sound; instead they remain clear and distinct.

The Odin also excel at layering and imaging. Instruments occupy distinct places even as they’re also distinct and precisely independent of one another. There wasn’t all that much space around the instruments, though. It was as though the music filled the entire soundstage rather than having plenty of space around each instrument.

Taken together, all these qualities made for an incredibly vivid and engaging presentation of music. There’s an immediacy and complexity to the sound that drew me into the music. I’ll defer to others with more a sophisticated appreciation for the subtleties of sound but I’d hazard a guess that the Odin would be satisfying IEMs for those who can identify and describe such qualities as PRaT and the like. In other words, these IEMs go beyond my ability to understand, let alone discern or explain, some of the more subtle qualities of audio reproduction.

Soundstage
I’ve mentioned imaging and layering as being some of the qualities of the Odin. Unfortunately, some of the Odin’s weaknesses lie in the other areas of staging. The sense of separation and space could be better. There is none of the holographic or 3D sound of the Solaris. Nor is there the openness of the Andromeda. The Odin aren’t exactly closed-in or claustrophobic but they’re quite intimate. Thanks to the solid imaging this isn’t too great a problem (much as it isn’t with the Focal headphones). Besides fairly narrow width, there’s also little depth to the sound, and rather than perceiving music to be coming from a stage located a few rows in front of me, it feels as though instruments are surrounding me. The sound, then, I suppose, is a bit “in your head.” And on a few very tracks, the staging is altogether off: Mogwai’s New Paths to Helicon, pt. 1, has that gloriously huge, expansive sound when the guitars kick in around the halfway mark of the track. Instead of the sound of guitars seeming to wash over and fill a vast, cavernous room, with the Odin the music comes across as being on a low, horizontal plane, one that’s weirdly below the level of my ears. It’s pretty disconcerting. I should hasten to add, though, that such strange staging as this is very rare.

Conclusion
What the Odin offers us, beyond other high-priced IEMs, are two main things: an appealing, coherent, and well-balanced tuning, and outstanding technicalities.

This first quality makes for a versatile, well-rounded pair of IEMs. The Odin works as well with high-quality recordings as it does with lo-fi garage rock. If you’re interested in investing in a single pair of IEMs that will cater to all your needs, as opposed to having a few IEMs that specialize in certain things, then the Odin are for you, if you can spring for them.

The second quality, the outstanding technicalities, make for a listening experience that is the best I’ve heard yet with IEMs. (I should add that I’ve not heard a good many of the high-end IEMs, as with the 64 Audio tia Trio or Fourté or the Vision Ears VE8 or Elysium). This conclusion might sound obvious, given the price, but quite a few high-end IEMs have their idiosyncrasies or tuning issues, at least for me: the Empire Ears Wraith had an odd, wonky tuning; the Final Audio A8000 is too brittle and bright; the Campfire Audio Solaris 2020 is too aggressive and bright (again, for me), to give a few examples.

I realize that there are necessarily trade-offs in the way IEMs are tuned. For the Odin, Empire Ears has played it safe. This safe tuning does mean that there’s not quite the top end sparkle or air that some might like, and those favoring analytical and highly technical presentations may be disappointed. Still, the Odin does make for a decent experience when it comes to some of the technicalities, in spite of the treble roll off, thanks in large part to the exceptional resolving strengths of the IEMs. And, in the end, the Odin works well for easy-going listening sessions and when you just want to mellow out.

I found the Odin to be highly compelling to listen to: they pulled me into the music, drew attention to details, and inspired me to listen more carefully than I might have with other IEMs. At times I found them to be very exciting; highly energetic electronic music, as with the Chemical Brothers’ We’ve Got To Try are great fun because the energy is maintained even as the brighter sound is tamed.

I’ll end on a note of uncertainty, though. I can’t say that the Odin are quite as musical as my Andromeda. I don’t find them to be as foot-tappingly engaging as I’d expected when doing A/B comparisons. I assume this is largely a matter of personal preference; I’d be keen, though, to read what others have to say about this.

[Torq]

The only “tube” output I’ve tried with the ODIN is the NuTube output on the Cayin N8, so I can’t give you a comparison to anything else.

I would probably go with the Cayin C9 over the Woo WA8, provided you don’t need to charge both DAP and amp at the same time as each other, while you’re playing music.

Never really saw the WA8 as something I’d want to use with IEMs.

[perogie]

A most excellently thorough write up, my friend!

Given my listening preferences seem rather similar to yours I do not think these would be on my most wanted list. However, Id given em a listen all the same.

Good work! Im glad to see some information coming out from these tours. I know that these are ongoing but a lot of folks havent posted anything so Im glad you contributed.

[madjoman]

thank you
i will try the cayin c9 to see if it works better with odin. alo audio continental mono is no longer in production, I wanted it for the balanced 2.5 mm jack output

[bpcarb]

Excellently written and laid out review of the Odin, including the photos and video!

[Tom_Ato]

Wonderful and comprehensive review. Thank you very much!