Wonder how the Euforia compares to the MZ3… New Record Day reviewed the Empyrean with the MZ3 and really enjoyed the Empyrean. Hmmmm…
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Hedds are still very, very good…its just the Empys just have some magic that makes the overall presentation, wide open, realistic and enthralling to listen to things…
A friend Jsim who has these sent me a play list and one song was Tin Can Alley with Stevie Ray Vaughn…and in that cd is one of the overall “best” sound I have ever heard on anything,…to date…
Extremely convincing presentation on how music should sound with headphones…
It was one of those rare moments that made me stand up and listen this tune several times.
A 11 out of a 10 experience…with a Schiit Bifrost 2 and a Schiit Jotenheim…
Alex
The CD is "Couldnt Stand the Weather:…go get this CD!
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Great review @lost33 !!!
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That song never gets old, and it’s been one of my favorites for years. 
And you’re right, it sounds great in that chain. 
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Thanks lost33 for the tip on the Album, I’m listening to it now! 
After a few months with the Empyreans I have to agree with every word of your review. I’m also driving with BF2 but with Lyr3 as the amp. I only have Klipsch HP3’s as a comparison. They are V shaped which I liked, but after hearing the the Empyreans I don’t think I’ll ever go back. I don’t even feel compelled to search for comparisons any more, I’m just enjoying listening.
BTW completely different type of music but if you’re at all into Billie Eilish any of her music sounds fantastic on the them! It’s warm and bassy and will make you smile.
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Thanks @stshields91 Scott…for sharing!
The Empys in a few reviews got a negative reviews in that they were compared to other high dollar cans. Which is fair, but the opinions of those often do not meet our own expereince. It doesnt invalidate those not so positive reviews…
But it shows that we all hear differently, and charts, specs, eq stuff etc are all fine, but it still comes down to what YOU like and HEAR.
I would never bought these based on reviews alone…but a friend that actually has these that I respect convinced me to try them…and I am glad I did.
Last night I got lost in the music and I was supposed to be testing different amps…and I just stopped and listened to some live performances of Simon and Garfunkle!! OMG. it was such a wonderful experience…
For me having listened to many TOTL cans, the Empys are really great headphones for sure.
Enjoy them! and Enjoy the Music!!
Alex
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Alex, I really enjoyed your down to earth review. You took care of the Focal Clear, I always wanted to know how the Empyrean compared to a ZMF Verite and a Dan Clark Either 2.
Enjoyed your review as your music choices mix with mine. Another song I use, ( like Tin Pan Alley) is Dire Straits ‘Fade To Black’ ( On Every Street)
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Hey Thanks!!
Love Dire Straits as well!!!
Try this:
A friend just sent this to me…its simple bass violin, and guitar…a very very good recording that will shine with any great headphone, and with the Empys I just fall in love with the sound!
Alex
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Found cable from ZMF that brings the Empyrean to a whole other level. It’s the Verite silver 4. The upper end sounds so more alive. Now I’m using summit fi equipment but with Norne Draug 3sc or Moon Audio Black Dragon never reached this level. Now for sound quality this is in 2nd place behind my 1266 TC.
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Silver cables really make a difference with the right transducers.
Glad you’re enjoying them. 
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The Norne Ihave is silver and copper but no SQ increase plus the Norne has more conductors.
I hope you are happy with it this time because it looks amazing with that cable too. I have thoroughly been enjoying my Meze Empyreans since I got them a few months back…then my girlfriend started enjoying them too much 
. so as the nice guy that I am , I surprised her with with a matching pair! She was so excited and blah blah blah hasn’t worn them once. Instea she got herself some Utopias so we can trade off (lol, yeah right.). I will be posting mine for sale soon, lol
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How would these compare to Focal Utopia or perhaps the Stellia in terms of sound quality and soundstage? I’ll be using them with a M-Scaler/TT2 combo.
From what I’ve heard they are not on same level(Utopia is ahead). For me it’s perfect for edm and pop music. It’s strength is bass and midrange. The treble plays more in background. For some reason on my setup the Verite hybrid 4 cable brought the highs more upfront but keeping the bass and lush midrange. It’s been perfect with both my tube amps the Euphoria and WA33. Both amps using TT2. My listening is all done through Apple Music so no high resolution files.
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This completely depends on what “sound quality” means to you, and what kind of soundstage you’re looking for. It’s not as simple as better/worse, narrower/wider. Especially when comparing the Empyrean against the Utopia, they compete in the same league but are completely different in their delivery.
So the key question is; what are you looking for; Hearing everything in a recording, or experiencing music?
In case of the former, the Utopia clearly pulls ahead. It will give you everything that can be extracted from a recording, the good, the bad, the ugly, Utopia delivers it all with force and extreme dynamism, ensuring you’re not missing anything. The Empyrean, it has a similar level of detail, but nothing is forced. Details are placed within the projected soundstage, and it allows you to decide for yourself what to listen for. But you may need to concentrate more to find those micro-level details. You could kinda see it as the Utopia being a monitor with its brightness set to 100%, and the Empyrean being a monitor with its brightness set to a more comfortable 20%. It’s all there, just less in-your-face.
The soundstage is kind of a similar story. The Utopia’s soundstage throws itself at you. It’s quite spacious, superlative image placement and separation, but your ears are the focal (punintended) point of each individual sound and everything revolves around ensuring you hear it all. With the Empyrean, the stage is more like “music being played right in front of you”. The stage doesn’t throw itself at you, the music just happens and you either sit back and enjoy the show or you lose attention.
For me, the key difference is that the Empyrean just allows the music to draw my attention, and with the Utopia it’s the headphones constantly pulling my attention to all the sounds within the music. The Utopia very much reminds me that there is a pair of transducers pushing music into my ears, but with the Empyrean I’m just hearing music being played. If you A/B it against a Utopia, in the direct contrast the Utopia will appear to present way more detail, but when you just sit down and let the Empyrean do its thing you might find that you’re not missing anything at all. But as with anything, YMMV, this is just my subjective experience.
What I’ve noticed in the reports from people who aren’t a fan of the Empyrean, is consistent mentions of the Empyrean sounding “subdued”, “smoothed over”, “lacking detail”, “too bass-focused”, etc. And I can see where they’re coming from. I just don’t agree with those statements personally, because this laid-back type of delivery just sounds exactly right to me. I did personally find it a bit too much on the mellow side when driven straight from a TT2 + M Scaler, imo they flourish with a nice tube amp, in my case a Feliks Audio Euforia. I’d still consider them my personal favorite headphones when driven on a TT2 + M Scaler though, it’s just not optimal imo.
Anyways, this post might be a bit of an exaggeration to the reality, so take this reply with a grain of salt. And of course, these are my personal favorite headphones, so I’m absolutely biased in favor of the Empyrean here. But again, this is just my subjective take on why these are my favorites, and your experience may just be different.
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I could not have said it any better…Coming from Focal Clears and HEDD Headphones, the Emperyeans have become my favorite when I just want to listen to music and relax.
I love these headphones with Schiit Jotenheim on balanced mode. Superb.
Alex
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I could not have said it better than @Jsim either. A damn fine answer! 
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Thanks for the detailed response @Jsim.
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I go back and forth with my Emperyeans , HEDD’s and Focal Clears…all great cans!
WIth the the HEDDS and Clears i often say where is the bass?? Its that simple.
The Empys give you the bottom end is such a nice way that is realistic to what you might feel when u listen at a concert…
They really are TOTL cans!
Alex
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