Meze Empyrean 2 Review | Is the Sequel Better than the Original?

Meze has finally released its successor to its very well regarded flagship headphone, the Meze Empyrean. Is the Meze Empyrean II the proper follow up for Meze, or a mere side grade with marginal differences?
Intro 0:00
Skip Intro: 0:30
Build and Design: 3:22
Sound/Comparison: 6:27
Final Thoughts: 15:38
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[@joshuakarp2586]

The videos you guys do ROCK!

[@carminedesanto6746]

Great and honest
review, THANK YOU 👍
I’ve come from Sen’s 650 to LCDX 2021 …and I think Emperyen (original) may be in my future…but my question is coming from the AUDEZE ecosystem..( without EQ) is does the OG sound better ( female / male voice) and still have that great bass that I’m digging in my current headphones 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@larswikstrom9090]

Silver cable xlr 4-pin, elite ear pads and one houndred hours burn in to Empyrean 1 has done it for me. BIG change from new! I used an equalizer to them when they were new, not now.

[@nitraM321]

this channel is the only one, of around 10 that i viewed that doesn't say that the Emp2 is by far the best Meze, they all agree it's better than the Elite

[@jaybrodnax]

I want the original copper color, is it coming?

[@jamestorres5582]

That's awesome . I can't afford them but I do love the 109 pro . That's more attainable for me and they compete with a lot of higher prices cans

[@Stephenwongdirectimaging]

I love my 109 pro amazing with a right cable better value over elite

[@jamestorres5582]

@@Stephenwongdirectimaging Suh-wheeet . I heard the same thing about the cable

[@joshuakarp2586]

The man behind the curtain came out?

[@jaybrodnax]

I wonder how much benefit is due to the pads themselves, say, on the original Empyrean

[@BloomAudio]

So we ran all three with all 5 pad varieties (OG Empyrean, OG Alcantara, Elite, Angled Alcantara, and Duo) with Elite, Empyrean, and Empyrean II. There's definitely a strong element of the pads to the sound, but as one example Empyrean II still sounds a little cleaner and more natural in the mids than the OG, and while the Alcantara pads move the OG Empy closer to Elite, it still can't capture detail in the same fashion.
That said, if you're 99% happy with the OG Empyrean, getting your hands on a set of Duo pads, might be enough to fill in the missing 1%.

[@MrDjillest303]

These and my ie900 and I'm done buying headphones

[@stevenrubin6702]

is this better than the elite for rock and roll? bass and impact? Is it more "physical" than the Elite?

[@BloomAudio]

I'd take Empyrean II over Elite for Rock - particularly the further back you go. I find you need that little bit of Empyrean warmth to fill in a lot of recordings going back into the 60s and 50s.

[@hemispherecompensation]

Emp 2 isn't really a "physical" headphone. More airy, light, separation from what I demo-ed.

[@erickcuenca8040]

Stay with the Elite’s.

[@a_tad_rad]

Heads up, the links in the description are not working.

[@BloomAudio]

Thanks for the heads up! We forgot to update those once the actual pages were live. Fixed now.

[@muhamadsyazwan5170]

which one is more comfortable..E3 or Meze Empy 2

[@BloomAudio]

E3 is probably slightly more comfortable on account of it not needing any sort of manual adjustment.

[@muhamadsyazwan5170]

thanks @@BloomAudio

[@nicholaskahoun9563]

Andrew representing the Kelce brother sans Taylor Swift!! 😂

[@BloomAudio]

the BEST Kelce brother

[@fastguitars4380]

Meze sends out the gear to the Reviers, and a month later starts shipping. But what if, they had the headphones ready to sell, as soon as the talking heads started hyping them off the chain? Would like to see this just once, as these Headphone companies never have the product ready to go. NEVER.

[@life_in_solace]

Wow zeos review was the complete opposite of yours. He called the elite more relaxed and the 2 more detail focused. Interesting

[@tibormichalcik9381]

Oh man, do not listen to that guy anymore ... LOL

[@bv3bv334]

Saw that too. What we really need is blind listening, from everyone out there. The results would surely be different.

[@life_in_solace]

@bv3bv334 I talked go zeos yesterday and he found out the empy2 he was using had bad wiring hence the off review. He has a new unit coming in Thursday

[@efrainsandoval3883]

Empyrean2 not much of an upgrade over the empyrean 1? This not what I’ve been hearing from other reviewers

[@BloomAudio]

It's funny - we've had a number of in person demos to A/B test them and it seems to be a pretty even split between "Yeah, these are better, but not blowing my mind." and "These are a MASSIVE improvement over the original!" So there may be some specific characteristics that really stand out for some, but not others.

[@efrainsandoval3883]

I haven't had the chance to listen to the first gen Emp, but I found that I preferred the Emp 2 over my Elites. That being said, I wonder if there is a big unit variation with the Emp 2. Zeos set was straight up broken on arrival lol. @@BloomAudio

[@provisionalhypothesis]

Meze is not getting another three grand from me for a triple dipped headphone. they should have honestly gotten it right the first time. or at least offer people driver upgrades like HiFiman.