Meze Audio Empyrean II Headphone Review

Meze Audio

Empyrean II Headphones

£2,749 RRP

This firm hasn’t even reached its twelfth yr of existence, but has established a popularity for uncompromising engineering that stands out even within the rarefied market during which it competes. Within the time that Meze Audio has been working, founder Antonio Meze has constantly demonstrated what a stressed and forward-thinking particular person he’s. And now, his new Empyrean v2 open-back planar magnetic over-ear headphones have arrived a full 5 years after the launch of the StereoNET Applause Award-winning product they’re changing. They’re actually not cheap, but they’re nonetheless not the most costly design within the Meze Audio catalogue – for that, it is advisable try the aptly named Elite.

UP CLOSE

The best way these good-looking headphones look just isn’t as exceptional as how they’re specified. It is likely to be laborious to consider, nevertheless it’s true. Every Empyrean II earcup has a housing for a four-pin mini-XLR connection, however the producer presents a complete of 5 cables (three of 1.3m size, ending in both 2.5mm, 3.5mm or 4.4mm terminations, and two of two.5m size terminated with both a 6.3mm jack or four-pin XLR). These are available a selection of both copper or silver-plated wiring; you get to pick this when inserting your order.

Regardless of the way you join them, these telephones make use of some of the distinctive driver preparations round. Meze Audio has, for some time now, labored in shut collaboration with Ukraine’s Rinaro Isodynamics, and these telephones are fitted with a refinement of the MZ3 ‘isodynamic hybrid array’ driver that Rinaro initially developed for the primary Empyrean mannequin. In the back of every driver is a hybrid magnet array organized to create uniform activation throughout the entire floor of the diaphragm. On the entrance, there is a fibreglass-reinforced ABS body. In between is Rinaro’s ‘isoplanar’ diaphragm, which by some means manages to mix an lively space of 4,650mm2 with a complete weight of simply 0.16g. That is made potential by a particular manufacturing course of that includes heating and stretching the isotropic polymer in transverse instructions. The result’s nice structural energy, stiffness and stability regardless of the vanishingly low mass, the corporate says.

Rinaro’s experience is much more obvious within the diaphragm’s dual-coil association. On the diaphragm’s higher part, there is a ‘switchback’ coil to cope with decrease frequencies, with a spiral coil beneath it. The latter is extra environment friendly at producing frequencies within the midrange and above, and its place means it is more-or-less instantly going through the listener’s ear canal. Meze says that this lets soundwaves enter the ear with out time delay and overcomes the tendency for the soundfield to develop into hazy when the wavelength is shorter than the bodily depth of the within of the ear cushion. It reckons this association is nice for a jaw-dropping frequency response of 8Hz to 110kHz.

As regards to ear cushions, the Empyrean v2 comes provided with a few pairs. The primary is the ‘duo’, a mix of leather-based on the base and Alcantara in every single place else – right here, the intention is to facilitate a ‘harmonious’ tonal steadiness. The ‘angled’ various, in the meantime, is totally Alcantara-covered with a positive mesh over the grille; it is designed to ship a “detailed, ethereal and correct listening expertise for the basic audiophile”, whomsoever he, she, or they could be.

The earpads connect to the earcups utilizing Rinaro’s ‘isomagnetic’ coupling know-how. It enhances effectivity through the use of the demagnetising subject generated by the driving force to safe the earpads whereas redirecting the magnetic subject again to the driving force on the identical time. Each pairs of earpads, together with headphones themselves, journey in a big, sq., sturdily fastening journey case that for some cause jogs my memory of the briefcase containing Marcellus Wallace‘s soul in Pulp Fiction.

So far as the design that accommodates all this spectacular engineering is worried, Meze Audio is rarely knowingly understated. The aluminium earcup body, for instance, is CMC-milled and pointedly three-dimensional the place it joins the sliding headband adjuster. The open-backed grille inside is perforated with a repeating, artwork deco-inspired sample that provides greater than a bit of visible curiosity. And there is nothing as pedestrian as a ‘hanger association’ right here. As a substitute, Meze Audio makes use of a patent-pending system of ‘suspension wings’ with a skinny, broad leather-based headband. This implies the contact level between headband and head is maximised, whereas weight and strain are minimised; there are not any two methods about it, these telephones do not feel their full 385g even after hours carrying them.

THE LISTENING

You do not spend this a lot on a pair of headphones to connect them on to your crappy previous laptop computer, do you? In fact not. So, to seek out out precisely what these telephones are able to, I duly connected the provided cable (a 6.3mm unbalanced quantity) to an iFi iDSD Diablo headphone amplifier, connected the ‘duo’ earpads (they’re by some means extra comfy), and cued up a spread of music…

A 24-bit/96kHz file of Grapevine by Weyes Blood sourced from an Apple MacBook Professional operating Colibri software program exhibits the calibre of those headphones. Their poise and tonal steadiness are what instantly impress. There’s an unforced naturalness, a way of full correctness, about the way in which the Empyrean II delivers the recording that’s fully convincing. From the deep, substantial and managed backside finish to the assured, vibrant and open prime, the tonality is superbly judged, and element ranges are beneficiant. Essentially the most fleeting and marginal occasions are recognized and contextualised, given the suitable weighting and built-in into the general presentation with nice precision. The management of the assault and decay of particular person sounds is such that the rhythm is expressed with absolute positivity, the rolling tempo has acceptable momentum, and the unity of the association is unerring.

Higher even than this, nevertheless, is the way in which that these headphones talk by the midrange. Sure, element ranges stay excessive and perception is forensic. Sure, the steadiness struck between ‘substance’ and ‘vitality’ is immaculate. But it surely’s the eloquence of the vocal line, the character and angle and emotion that’s so exceptional. Natalie Mering is an completed singer, sounding like an implausible mixture of Karen Carpenter and Harry Nilssonhowever through these headphones she’s solely and solely herself. Her method and her approach are explicitly revealed – and all in probably the most unshowy, matter-of-fact manner.

These telephones glide from the underside of the frequency vary to the highest in a singular and unbroken line, with no space given undue prominence and no space understated. They’ve the kind of broad dynamic efficiency to place a major distance between diminuendo and crescendo, and the alertness to make apparent the tiny harmonic variations obvious from one snare-stroke or string-pluck to the following. The soundstage is spacious, correctly outlined and three-dimensional, however not in a pressured ‘spatial audio’ sort of manner. Slightly, they make it easy to determine a person ingredient of a recording from its ‘left/proper’ and ‘entrance/again’ place relative to the opposite contributors.

Switching to a lo-fi MP3 file of Automotive Seat Headrest‘s Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales permits these telephones to elucidate their angle simply as totally. They don’t seem to be about to tart up poverty-spec content material like this, however neither do they sneer at it. Naturally, there are across-the-board drop-offs – element ranges undergo, the soundstage loses a few of its certainty, and rhythmic positivity is undermined considerably too. However, nonetheless, the dynamic variations are given loads of expression, retaining the character of Will Toledo’s vocal prowess alongside together with his undoubted dedication.

There is a dedication to recreating the music’s leisure worth obvious in these headphones which is certainly not a given, even at this value. The dedication to constancy that any variety of competing designs display can usually be on the expense of vitality, pleasure and all the opposite stuff that some so-called audiophile headphones dismiss as a bit beneath them. However though the Empyrean v2s have unarguably high-end credentials, there’s nothing po-faced about them. As a substitute, they provide each impression of having fun with music for its personal sake, fairly than aspiring to be a instrument of research. That is most obvious from a hearken to I Know The place Syd Barrett Lives by Tv Personalities. Though a CD-quality file through TIDAL, this ramshackle recording is palpably beneath nearly all of dear, well-specified, hard-wired over-ear headphones – but these telephones have interaction with it enthusiastically.

THE VERDICT

General then, the Meze Audio Empyrean II headphones could also be very costly, however they’re decidedly particular. This can be a significantly well-designed and completely executed product which provides a fully top-tier rendition of recorded music, no matter how good or unhealthy it could be. As such, when you’re available in the market for a dream headphone design, these are nicely price auditioning.

Go to Meze Audio for extra info