lol i dont think weâre too far off on our opinions on empy. I think itâs very hard to remove cost and worth from a product though unless itâs literally the only product available. There will always be something you can compare it to which is why we would avoid one and go to the other. Everyone does have to make their own decisions even if someone tells you to avoid it. I donât know if just because a product has people who love it makes it a valuable product.
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Yep pretty similar lol, just really lacking a lot of the fundamental technical chops to justify itâs price point for me, but itâs inoffensive enough outside of price and itâs build and comfort are praise worthy for me
Thatâs fair
Which is really where impressions get the most useful since comparisons give context, and thatâs personally why I focus on them so strongly, since I feel that comparisons and context are the most important part of the process
Doesnât make it valuable or worthwhile, but it does show that there is a market, we just donât really fit into or understand that market lol, and I donât think itâs fair to holistically dismiss that market entirely. I have seen a few people demo or even own imo a lot better headphones on proper source chains still end up liking the empy more. Does it baffle me to some extent? Yes, but itâs all preference in the end, and if they enjoy it, good for them, and I donât think itâs fair to entirely dismiss that positive feedback
Just saying stuff like âavoid this at all costsâ sometimes discourages people from even trying stuff at little risk if they have the opportunity, and imo itâs always worthwhile to try something out if you can (as long as itâs at little potential risk or loss to you), even if feedback is generally negative or you think it wonât be a good fit. Itâs valuable to do so either way, you either confirm what you are thinking for yourself, or it might change your perspective on the whole thing, so being overly dismissive toward stuff I think itâs a bit of a slippery slope in terms of hobby progression sometimes. Of course this wonât always hold true, but itâs still something worthwhile bringing up imo
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With limited time and resources, Iâm ok telling people to avoid something depending on their journey. If theyâre at the beginning and hasnât decided the sound they prefer, then sure, try everything you can if you have the opportunity. If I donât try the next hottest headphone at this point in my journey, I donât think Iâm really missing out on too much 
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Yeah have to agree there, not really interested in anything new coming out whatsoever lol (outside of a âthatâs neat, anywaysâ)
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Iâm a little late to this thread, but just wanted to say, as others have above, that a potential problem with a thread like this is that it tends to be based on preferences or an experience that might have been an outlier, i.e. an item wasnât necessarily bad, but perhaps the poster just didnât like it, or had a bad experience with the company.
On the other hand, this would be a useful thread if people can articulate why they didnât like something, because it might be something that the reader either doesnât care about, or maybe their preferences are the opposite, e.g. your overabundance of bass might be my sonic nirvana, your lack of technicality might be my listening heaven.
Just to add to the Empyrean discussion, I wouldnât recommend blind-buying one because I was on the same tour as @driftingbunnies and found it to be very fussy when it came to amp synergy. I liked it on a couple of amps, didnât like it on a couple of others.
I was also shocked to find that the supplied stock cable bloated the bass and added a slight veil to the highs - and this was in comparison not just to custom cables like my DHC Molecule Elite, but I even tried 2 sets of ZMF stock cables to confirm my findings. If people on that tour only used the provided cable, then Iâm not surprised that it was so universally hated. And if the provided cable wasnât damaged, and was actually representative of the stock cable that would come with a new Empyrean, then I would recommend getting a new cable, even something cheap from Hart (which I also preferred to the Meze cable).
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