Empyrean II

Empyrean 2 is not only worth it, it is the best headphone in the world imo. I bought it after trying all the kilobuck headphones back to back in a hifi shop. Bought it for 3000. 2000 is a steal even if that is hard to imagine

Krk kns84. The sound signature is still nostalgic though I have an empyrean 2 now

Laughs in empyrean 2.

It is subjective in the end. I was lucky enough to have a hifistore near me that has all the famous kilobuck headphones to test. I went there after already having had a 15 year audiophile journey. They were all amazing except for utopia which sounded genuinely mediocre to me. Then the meze empyrean 2 literally made me cry in the store and made me suddenly realize I have been listening for 45 minutes. It is by a legitimate margin the best headphone I have ever heard. That being said I would obviously enjoy switching up if I had the money to spare. They are all worth it except for Focal utopia which I would pay 400 bucks for max.

Oh, and it looks like you might not be distinguishing between the OG Meze Empyrean and the Empyrean II? Both great headphones but diffferent tunes.

At $1000 I’m buying the Focal Clear, and at $2,000 the Meze Empyrean II. Both are examples of the rare headphones where I put them on and said “oh. That’s why they cost this much. I get it now.” I listen to a pretty eclectic mix; really everything except most modern country and that’s starting to shift, even. Probably more sad dad music than anything, but also a lot of R&B/jazz-inflected hip-hop and “classic” rock.

Of course! To be clear, at that price point the Empys are probably used, but so. Damn. Worth it.

I describe the Meze 109 Pro as warm buttery magic and the Empy II is ... that but more so? I have had very few oh shit moments in headfi, but the Empy II was one of them. Warm, full bass, clean and natural timbre in the mids, and clear and resolving treble. Detailed without being harsh, wide soundstaging with good layer seperation but not to the point of being distracting, etc. I wouldn't recommend most people drop that kind of cash on a pair of headphones, but I have exactly zero regrets about that choice. (full disclosure, they were my endgame goal for a couple of years so I am 1000% biased and totally subject to placebo but I also do a lot of critical listening as part of reviewing headphones and I like to think I'm pretty good at owning and adjusting for that.)

I waffled a bit on that; I've said for a year that the 109 Pro is my favorite headphone but the Empy II flat out beats them and the Clear is ... close. The one knock on the 109 Pro is that on some heads (but not mine) they have a little bit of a treble spike, so I'd probably point most people to the Clear at this point if they can't try them out in person. Mostly though I was thinking about this from a "I can buy one headphone in each price category" and the Empy fills the same niche as the 109 Pro, while the Clear offers a different tuning/profile. If I had to sell my entire collection except for one under $1000, I'm absolutely keeping the 109 Pro and it ain't close, as much as I love the Bokeh Closed, Clear, LCD-2.2 (pre-fazor), etc.

Meze Empyrean IIs are my go to for relaxing. I love the smooth treble and the bouncy bass

It's currently a tossup between my HE1000 Stealth and Empyrean II. Love them both for very different reasons

Hey wait a minute, I've got an Empyrean II and HE1000 too! No focal though, just a humble LCD-X. Such a well rounded collection! I support this amazing collection

Right now, I'm using Meze Empyrean IIs for 2022 COD MWII. Depending on the month and mood, I may be using my HE1000, LCD-X, Moondrop Dusk, or Letshuoer Z12. I have specific EQ settings for all of them so that I can boost my ability to hear footsteps. In the past, I used a set of Meze Liric 1s and they were my favorite FPS headphone. With my EQ, the sound stage would close in and texture would disappear (idk why it happens on the Liric bc it never happens on my other headphones). This made footsteps really really easy to find. I want another pair in my life but I can't justify having a headphone just for fps gaming atm. Planning to play BF6 in the future. The audio sounds really good from all the streams I've seen.

Ok so I have them and theyre great, but I also have the HD800s and for competitive shooters the 800s is still king. For immersion its a little complicated and subjective. Sound wise the Emp2 wins in this department, but the 800s is like a cloud you put over your head and you forget about them in seconds. 800s is more immersive in the meaning you forget youre wearing headphone and they dont trouble you with comfort, atleast me personally.

Also just a reminder, emp2 are much better for music, its imo literally just HD800s, but better and a little more flavourful (still tame for Meze though).

there are few things and Empyrean II fails at one of them and that is well defined cutoff in soundstage what you want is a very round and well defined soundstage, being able to tell in what direction sound is and being able to tell how far something is, you need to nail all three for it to be good for gaming in general there are games that are exception to this tho, for example Counter Strike and Valorant don't rly are about soundstage being round because there is not vast open space where enemy can come from, it's one way or the other so you just need to be able to tell how far someone is rly

Banger review! You’re spot on IMO. I think what blows my mind with this headphone is the soundstage. I don’t understand it, but for me, this headphone hits 800s levels of soundstage. There are times I listen to nicely recorded jazz and I’m sitting there legit feel like the instruments are 360 around me

I guess one more review to this world will never hurt anyone. I spiced it up with song examples, which I hope are more useful than pros/cons and list of adjectives. Hence a really long review. See also my update 30hrs later: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/s/gyhJI1T6KV Pros: * You get amazing high-end hifi sound with mere 3k instead of 100k speaker setup. * You won't realize how good they actually are until you swap right away to something in 1-2k price range * Clarity, soundstage, bass/mid/treble balance, bass quality and quantity, it's a solid package with all areas ticked on the excellent box. Despite bright tuning, the sound stays away from extremes and doesn't cause immediate repulsion * There's very little to complain sound wise, and the end result will always be more on the record than the headphone * Epic build quality. Though almost totally black, really cool looking * You'll end up listening more music all night along * Works on low'ish volumes. Works on high'ish volumes. The volume will alter the emphasize, crank it up for stronger bass and more low highs. If you like it loud, then you'll probably find fatigue over longer time. * Works on all kinds of music, which is rare on high-end gear (except with the very extreme of mastering FU's but those won't work on anything) * There's something macigal to be able to hear the slightest rasps, distortions, string imperfections etc on well made records. With these even a noob like me can separate basic violin from Stradivari. In betweens: • The treble/brigthness is there on surface like on most high level gear. It's high quality and doesn't annoy or cause fatigue, but it's likely something darker tonality fans won't enjoy. I have been darker tonality fan, but the implementation of brightness on Empyrean 2 revealed to me that it has been simply due bad implementations. I like this brigthness 99% of time, and the 1% goes for albums with FU'd mastering Cons: * There's bit extra energy on certain highs that can in some rare instances have a bit too much zzsssh sibilance. Not annoying but attention drawing when it hits the spot. Those who like EQing, this is probably only thing to try fix * So amazing level of clarity that it can reveal stuff from recordings that the mixers and masters of the record do not even know about. From 100 or so songs, I have found two that have something definitely unintentional that they simply didn't hear while making the record * The storage box doesn't allow storing them with the cable attached * I'd prefer single pads and lower price. The duos are my choice, but I'd rather buy second set of them instead of paying for unnecessary sound altering pads. Highly recommended and at least for me a unique headphone and hifi gear experience worth the money. You buy excellent sound headphones with 500 EUR/USD, above that and you better get an experience like no other. Empyrean 2 delivers that to the highest degrees. Genre based notes with song examples: EDM/electronic: Hard to believe on paper, but this is probably The Genre for Empyrean 2. The bass is correctly plentiful, precise and feels even at moderate volumes. The highs are precise and natural. The sound is fast to a degree that sometimes it feels like the song is too slow. Cj Bolland - Electro Power: the song starts with wide spread electric hihats together with strong centralized bass which slowly build nice modulation. The song is not easiest, and can cause fatigue. But on Empyrean 2 the soundstage takes the fatigueing elements around you making it pleasent, exhiliarating experience. An addictive track. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy. A bass extension test track. The song starts with sub 20 Hz reaching thumbs and Empyrean 2 brings them in full width and sensation of deep tumbh. The rest of the song is so well made it will work on all gear and Empy2 is no exception. The brightness gives occasional ear piercing sibilance on vocals, but that's how it should be. I get to used to it during the song, but be warned, it's not to everybody's taste. Sin Cos Tan - Trust: very pleasant presentation. The bass has good strength, the details sound correct and the vocals are superb. One of those songs that just gets better the higher the volume is. Röyksopp - Feel it: now we hit the brigthness test tracks. If something will annoy you, it will be this song. It's fatigueing on all gear I have, Empys no exception. But I feel the wide soundstage makes it easier to tolerate than my warmer gear with worse soundstage. Rock/stoner/proge: Another The Genre, especially when the record is well made. You can throw songs from High on Fire to Genesis and get enjoyable presentation. Sometimes you may encounter extra energy at highs, but you can always resolve it with adjusting volume - turn it down to tame highs, or turn it up to lift everything else to surround them. High on Fire - Bastard Samurai: rough hard hitting guitar riff that penetrates from left to right. It's beautiful experience how guitars are mixed on this song. Excellent, enganging sound. It's hard to imagine this sort of music to be used on hifi tests, but I think this one of the best test songs. Empyrean 2 deserves high appraisal on how precisely it presents the drums and drum and guitar solo while keeping the rough continuous riff to the sides. Me like. Pure Reason Revolution - Ghost and Typhoons: a track again with high energy test. The intro part has one of the most fatigueing male vocals. I am fine, someone else may struggle with the intro part. But once you get to the drum driven shift for the 2nd part, you'll be sold the fast paced drive that the song takes you to with Empyrean 2. Indukti - Ninth wave: my absolute favorite test track. This is do or die for the gear. If this song doesn't work, the gear simply fails on my book. Needless to say Empyrean 2 has no difficulties. The way it manages to present even the slight double edge hits on those fast drum pieces is superb, while keeping the song pleasant even the hard part in first minutes where (artificial?) wind instruments present ear piercing mess. If you think tuning is causing listening fatigue, try this track with Empyrean 2 against some warm and lush headphones and you'll understand that it's more on the soundstage and ability separate sound sources than the tuning. Empyrean 2 has been the only set ever that manages to pull through all the details from the fastest and most filled sections in this song. Stoned Jesus - I'm the mountain: the opposite in material to previous tracks. A vocal and instrumental jam that builds to 16min long experience. Empys give you all the details of the guitar strings and their slight distortions in a way that you really learn to appreaciate detail digging gear. Some say such details are not important for the music, but I disagree in sense that the details bring that touch of living feel to music that's been played and recorded from real instruments. There's also interesting effect in this song where drums and vocals are mixed in the middle, but vocalist seems to be higher. This is my first gear to notice such up/down soundstage separation. I probably need to check this with my speakers too. Kadavar - Die Baby Die: a not so well made record but super fast delivery. I use this to see that does the gear fail with no high quality records. No problems here, infact Empyrean 2 actually works great when the track is not exceptionally well made as long as there's no serious flaws like Metallica Death Magnetic. Empy2 manages to blow some extra energy and living feel to this song. Definitely one of the aspects that sold Empy2 to me.. I guess it's the "more fun" aspect. Jazz/acoustical/classics Once again a genre that Empyrean 2 simply works on. Expect to get those smallest string details, vocal distortions etc given you on a plate. Knower - Overtime: we step to the fatigueing songs from get-go. The vocals and the mix has deliberate high hard hitting energy that I would say is customary to anything Louis Cole does. Empy2s deal it well. I do not feel fatigued even though some of those hits penetrate to a nerve. It's weird sensation as usually I would throw headphones out of my head at that point but not with Empy2s. No. In fact I want more of it! Weird, but I think it's all about the ability to separate everything to packets my brains are able to process without overwhelming. Manu Katche - November 99: this is songs that all gear will do well, but great gear will make you find nuances that make it an experience. No surpises here, works like a charm. I especially like how excellent the hihats work on this song and how you can almost see the drum sticks hitting the diagram. Lizz Wright - Coming Home: a beautiful vocals test. I'd say Empyrean 2 does better with male vocals than female, or I have heard better female vocal rendering systems. But that said, Empyrean 2 does really good both, which is rare. I usually find that vocals do not work, or that either male/female work. But here we have top notch males and great females. I wonder if Elites or old Empys would do both? Lizz Wright voice is deep for a female, which makes this song extraordinary in female vocals on Empyrean 2. Again, an experience to have listen this song with Empyrean 2. Kari Bremnes - Kanskje: a second female vocal track to compliment with epic bass sections. I may have heard better take on the bass, but by not large margin. Mainly some best bass machines have stronger lowest end that will elevate this track a bit more. But then Empyrean 2 highlights its bass quality and tightness to compensate - quality over quantity. Metal/industrial/heavy Probably the hardest genre for Empyrean 2, but in my experience so it is for all high tier hifi. Empyrean 2 does good, and even the worst records can still be listened. Ministry Hero is an example of songs that is hard for most high tier gear, but Empyrean 2 mananges to make it enjoyable. It's not necessarily a good side, but Empyrean 2 makes you search for these kinda gems where it lifts the medicore or bad recording quality to new kinda level. Special mention on male vocals on metal music - Empy2 does something amazing to them. Metal causes most easily listening fatigue, but it's the same with every gear for me. Swallow the Sun - Through Her Silvery Body: a fantastic song with bad mixing and mastering that can rule gear out of question for me. On most gear this sounds terrible as it feels like they cut everything below 100 Hz away. Empyrean 2 does semi ok, which I considered a plus. Audeze MM-500 was unusable for this song. Meze Poet did ok, but Empyrean 2 a bit better as it separates the highs better. Also, Empyrean 2 presents the roaring vocals so that it creeps your spine in a good way. Man, if only this song would be remastered. If you like to play such metal at loud volumes, don't buy Empyrean 2 without trying (well you never should buy without trying). Ministry - Hero: as said, hard song for high end, but Empyrean 2 make this interesting and enjoyable. The clarity and the super speed make up the song, a bit harsh on vocals. The sudden silent pauses at the end can be felt physically. Sabaton - Primo Victoria: works very well, although there's funky distorted gazoo like sounding mixing/mastering error on choruses that Empyrean 2 highlights to front. It feels bit funny and requires getting used to it. My other gear is not able to separate to this degree, which shows the good/bad side of extreme separation capabilities. But otherwise extremely enjoyable. Amon Amaranth - Raise Your Horns: better made metal song. You'll raise your horns while listening this with Empyrean 2 for sure! The vocals, man, I can't describe them, they simply sound so good for male metal vocals. I think this is the reason for metal heads to give Empyrean 2 a shot. Pop/Indie: Not my genres and the songs I tested play by rules like everything else - energy at highs and with poor mixing/mastering won't do best with Empyrean 2s. But majority of music will stay enjoyable, one just needs to get customed to new sound. The Black Keys - Tighten Up: probably the best bass presentation from Empyrean 2 that I have heard. This is not my typcical test songs, I remember considering this a bit fatigueing song, in that regard Empyrean 2 is borderline - with tired ears and brains it will feel so. Mando Diao - Dance with Somebody: again the details poured on compared yo typical cheaper hifi is mesmerizing. Once you get customed to how songs sound on Empyrean 2 it will be hard to go back to those less detailed, sluggish, darker views. There's a lot of energy on tamburines, which may take a second to get used to. And that's probably the reason why Empyrean 2 may be "hard to take" headphone after warmer older Mezes - one needs to recalibrate ears and brains to listen the higher registers again. Calexico - Black Heart: definitely not an easy song to listen on any gear. Empyrean 2 continues here as usual, aka top notch. The highs will be present but with clear separation. The soundstage is amazing, and paints the song right across your face. The song has way more new details, new tantalizing experiences to have. I have heard this song on various systems, and Empyrean 2 is the most detailed and top 2 in beauty ranks as well. A song to sell these headphones to me. Rap/hiphop: These genres will heavily depend on what the background is - EDM works, jazz works. I said in general Empyrean 2 are great gear for rap with asterix that some songs won't work that great. But then some will feel like new songs. A Tribe Called Quest - Check the Rhime: the hard hitting percussion is here a bit for distraction. But it's interesting as one cannot even separate them with bad gear. Otherwise plesant presentation, nothing to write home about in good nor bad. Wu-tang Clan - Tearz: I know this song like my pockets. It sounds totally new with Empyrean 2. First I wasn't sure about it, but I think I like the way Empy2s present this. I haven't mentioned it before but Empyrean 2 as super fast has really dark/empty pauses - I mean if there's a only percussion, the Empy 2 doesn't add anything to it, the intermittens are dead silent. It's super apparent on this song. I like this. Xzibit - LAX: distortion bass. Man, I know this song too very well, and it sounds completely new. The bass distortions are more clear than ever, Empys keep them tight. I super like this, addictive presentation. 2Pac - It's me against the world: the percussions hits hard. I guess it was the way songs were mixed in early 90s as mostly songs were played over FM radio or from casette/LP, and those did mushy stuff from percussions. It's not bad though, it's not annoying but may limit volume levels for the most sensistive. Otherwise beautiful rendering. The vocals are epic If you got this far and read all my toughts, kudos. I did this review for myself more than anyone else to justify my investment to myself. So it's obviously far from objective take. I compared them to Audeze LCD-2, MM-500, and Meze Poet. I ruled out immediately Liric2 and Stax. I have AKG K712 Pro and B&W Px7 2e as my dailys. My speaker setups have been in 5-10k region since 2010. I run Naim Atom Uniti Headphone Edition as source

Thanks! The soundstage is definitely immersive and big part of their high tier performance. That said, I can see why some may not like them with their brighter tuning. But at this very moment I have listened them 5 hours in a row, and I have no fatigue whatsoever.