You found the Clear to be bass light @lost33 ?
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Hey! Good Morning!
Both the Clears and Hedds have good bass…
But in comparison to the Empys which have a “fulller” sounding bass (IMO, YMMV and all that gorp)…the illusion is the bass with the Empys fits in with all of the other musical content as it was recorded.
Its like being at a love jazz club where the sound is alive, and not necessairly well balanced due to the bar or dive the bad is playing in, and the bass is well “overwhelming” at times.
So after listening to the Empys for hours and putting on the Clears, yes they sound “thin and with less body and soul” …
After awhile your brain becomes accustomed to the “sound profile” and you realize their is bass here, when is hard hitting, drum whacks etc it there, nice and dynamic and acccurate…but their is a musical fullness that is missing to me…
One better than the other? Thats for each of us to decide. I own both and like both…
This is all very subjective to me…and love having all this stuff here to compare, but more importantly to enjoy!
Alex
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Ok that makes sense! I feel the same way bouncing between some headphones and the Rad-0. The bass is there on other headphones but the Rad-0 just does it so much better. I thought the bass was pretty enjoyable on the clear too.
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Yup the Clears still are one of my favorites…and the bass the way it is with the Clears is very good as well, just different in its presenatation!!
So many great choices out here! No real absolutes…Just different flavors of goodness…
Alex
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After sitting listening to the Empyreans for 3 solid hours I feel compelled to surface another point I’ve read elsewhere about them. It really does seem the longer you listen to them the better they seem to sound. The comfort has already been covered as the disappear on your head. After 3 straight hours, at low volume I’m amazed at how they seem to just sound better and better the longer you listen. The opposite of fatiguing.
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@BondDaBoom from reading your posts you seem to have a lot of experience with some excellent tube amps driving the Empyreans. I currently have a Birost2 -> Lyr3 driving them but my interest is perked for a possible high end tube amp.
In you experience if you could land on one amp to drive the Empyreans which one would you choose and why?
The Ultra Sonic Studios Custom Citadel(cheapest to tube maintain), Euforia AE(tube dependent) or WA33(must expensive to tube maintain Very). These amps are all good with different qualities. The Citadel is a Hybrid but done the correct way. The must warm is the Euforia AE. The WA33 is romantic neutral sounding very holographic. The Citadel I have to put through it’s paces. The Citadel is transparent and strong. This is my 1st impression of the amp.
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Overall, which would you rate higher of LCD-4 and Empyrean?
For technical performance it’s not close at all. The LCD4 is far better than the Empyrean for that. When it comes to the tuning/FR, however, I actually think Empyrean is better. Now personally I wouldn’t use either without EQ, but the LCD4 needs it more than the Empyrean does.
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Ok, even “far better”? Tell me more, if you have the chance. But I also sense you still seem to prefer the Empyreans; is that a correct impression?
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Ha! “Far better” for an audiophile may mean inaudible to the regular old consumer!
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Well it depends. I find the LCD4 unbearably heavy, while the empyrean is one of the most comfortable headphones out there. But as far as sound quality goes, the LCD4 is far more impressive.
So as far as usable headphones goes, yeah I like the empyrean better - I’d definitely use it more regularly. But it’s not really in the same league as far as technical performance goes. In my opinion the Empyrean competes more closely with headphones like the LCD2 for technical performance.
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I’d suggest to just find an opportunity to demo them alongside some alternative options. The Empyrean was at the very bottom of my list before I started auditioning because of technical performance concerns, yet it ended up being the pair I took home after I heard it for myself. 6 months of die-hard research and in the end I still had it all backwards. You just can’t know what to expect.
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I have had both LCD’s, demo’d the 4’s and they are indeed monsters and heavy, but IMO I wear HEDDS all day long and have no issues…
I just bought the Emperyeans a month now and did not audition them. I did in the past read some of the negative reviews and never thought I would even consider them at all…the darkness, recessed mids etc and all that gorp.
Yes other cans might be clearer in some aspects and I have Focal Clears and HEDDS and others. I know what bright is and what clear and transparent is like.
The Emperyeans were quite a surprise to me. I bought them after I had several conversations with owners that indicated that some of these reviews just got it wrong…
Charts, graphs and eq’ing doesnt tell the whole “subjective” story with the Emperyeans, and I am a pretty objective guy.
Jsim has great recommendations…go listen for “yourself”…I was prepared to return these headphones…but after a few hours I could not stop smiling and listened with them for hours on end.
They Emperyeans have a wonderfully wide soundstage, the treble unlike many cans is not that bright for sure, and with other cans when a sibilant female voice is present or a bright real lifelike brass section comes on line…i grab to turn down the volume before my ears bleed!
Not so with the Emperyeans here…its so well balanced and natural…the bass is not boomy and has texture…bass violins sound so natural and life like…
Live performances that are well mic’d and recorded are absolutley lifelike…Eva Cassidys Live At Bluse Alley is 10/10…Like your there, front row watching her sing…not a sibilant issue here at all. And the bass that you feel in a live venue like this is very real and accurate. WIth My Hedds and Clears I often find myself saying where did the bass or bottom end go?? Then back to the Empys…Home again!
If you take a reviewers comments on these, you just might be missing out on a really great experience that you might be looking for…
Do your homework and listen for yourself!
All the best
Alex
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Awesome album , what a talent.
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This is very true and why it really helps to know the ears of a reviewer and their preferences. Barring that, read as much as you can, watch YT reviews if thats your thing, or look at a bunch of measurement to see what the tonality trend is.
Empys have always been in the back of my mind as an addition to the family, just not sure I got the right amp for it at the moment.
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What amp do u have or use?
Alex
You know she died way before her time at the young age of 33 of Melonoma…
So sad…
Alex
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DNA Starlett. SET, full tube amp.