Reviews
“The Empyrean is a beautiful looking headphone with an endearing tuning quality that I think will appeal to both the hardcore and casual alike… Mighty oaks from little acorns grow as they say.”
“If you’re in the market for a top-flight pair of headphones that sound BIG and clean for many hours at a time, I strongly recommend you give the Meze Empyrean a strong audition…you will not be disappointed!”
“In addition to looking and feeling incredible, the Meze Audio Empyrean
has engineering details I’ve not seen before it.”
“Having thoroughly enjoyed my time with the original Meze 99 Classic I was quite excited to hear of Meze’s latest endeavor to make a flagship planar magnetic headphone. After a good hard look… I’m more excited than ever.”
“In a very real sense, the two-year process of developing the Empyrean was as much art project as it was a journey into proprietary technology. By extension, owners will acquire not just a headphone but a wearable piece of art.”
“The Empyrean can without exaggeration be called a work of industrial art; it is extremely comfortable, well made, and lovely to behold.”
“We’re pretty spoiled when it comes to good gear and good headphones, but this is one is extra special… What a masterpiece. Double thumbs up. A new King is born. This is a headphone everyone will still be talking about in 20 years.”
“In particular Meze has done a terrific job in creating a headphone with superlative image placement and supremely musical […] Empyrean ranks among the most satisfying cans money can buy.”
“Are the Meze Empyrean the world’s best headphone? The Romanian company make a strong case in the affirmative… The Empyrean deliver a double shot of detail and dynamics but with a sense of audible refinement that shows compromise the door.”
A TIMELESS STATEMENT OF HI-FI
“Empyrean was born from passion, curiosity and innovation. As a business, we have allowed ourselves the freedom to experiment and take risks in search of the perfect sound. To generate something truly remarkable, one must dare to explore, and that’s what we did with Empyrean. We pushed and refined industry’ standards and achieved a true game changer for audiophiles.”
Antonio Meze, Lead designer and Founder Meze Audio
Empyrean is the product of two passionate companies coming together to explore what is possible beyond their individual capabilities. The result is a no-compromise headphone embodying Meze’s daring aesthetic and user-centered design approach and Rinaro’s experience in research and development within the field of planar magnetics.
Rinaro, a progressive audio company, has at the heart of its technology an R&D team that has been at the forefront of planar magnetic development since the 1980’s. What originally started as a state-funded initiative with a focus on innovation has now entered into a new chapter of audio progression with the opening of a cutting-edge industrial facility in Ukraine.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE ISODYNAMIC® HYBRID ARRAY DRIVER
FRAME
Fiberglass infused ABS
RINARO ISOPLANAR® DIAPHRAGM
Weighing only 0.16 g while
having 4650 mm² of active area.
HYBRID MAGNET ARRAY
Symmetrically placed on each side of the diaphragm, our neodymium magnets are specifically arranged into a Hybrid Array to create efficient Isodynamic magnetic field required for a uniform activation across the whole diaphragm surface.
HYBRID ARRAY DRIVER ADVANTAGES
Combines two independently shaped voice coils within the same diaphragm delivering more selective acoustic performance to the various areas within the structure of the ear.
ACCURATE REPRODUCTION
Total harmonic distortion (THD) measures under 0.1% in the whole frequency range
LIGHTWEIGHT
Reduced driver weight designed to create a headphone that offers prolonged listening sessions
ERGONOMIC SHAPE
Ergonomically shaped driver structure with an increased active area
ULTRA-HIGH-RESOLUTION AUDIO
Upper-frequency limit of audio reproduction is 110,000 Hz
ULTRA EFFICIENT
100db@1mw/1kHz High performance without needing amplification
PATENT PENDING ISODYNAMIC HYBRID ARRAY DRIVER
World’s first in planar magnetic headphones
Over 30 years of research and development have led to the creation of the first Isodynamic Hybrid Array driver. Meze Audio have collaborated with Rinaro to create a new standard in planar magnetic audio, the resulting technology being one of the lightest and most advanced planar magnetic drivers on the market.
The Empyrean Driver combines individual switchback and spiral-shaped voice coils, their unique shapes allowing sound to be targeted with more accuracy around the natural form of the ear. This unique combination generates an increased exposure of direct sound wave frequencies over the 10kHz range and improves imaging and localization by decreasing the impact of shortwave time delays caused by diffused field reflections.
AUDIBLE BENEFITS OF A DUAL DRIVEN SYSTEM
One of the problems with conventional planar magnetic arrays is coming from reflected signals entering the ear canal with different time delays, thereby worsening the focus of 3D sound imaging.
Combining different voice coil configurations makes it possible to create a better sound intensity distribution across the sound wavefront at high frequencies when directed at the auricle and ear canal.
ISOPLANAR® DIAPHRAGM MATERIAL
The diaphragm is manufactured from a custom developed isotropic thermally stabilized polymer with a conductive layer. Through unique processing methods, an ultralight yet rigid diaphragm has been achieved.
SWITCHBACK COIL
The switchback coil is more efficient at reproducing lower frequencies and is positioned in the upper part of the driver.
SPIRAL COIL
The spiral coil is more efficient at reproducing middle-high frequencies and is positioned directly over the ear canal enabling more direct sound waves to enter the ear without any time delays.
AN ERGONOMIC APPROACH LEADS TO A NEW WAY OF THINKING
Anatomically designed ovate earcups
Anthropometric earpad design
To create an audiophile headphone that is powerful yet light the driver needed to maximize power output while reducing weight as much as possible.
Weight was minimized by optimizing a magnet structure around an ovoid shape that fits the ear more closely. Power output was increased through the use of a completely bespoke coil and magnet array design that optimized the active usable area of the driver within its ovoid shape.
ISOMAGNETIC® EARCUP TO EARPAD COUPLING TECHNOLOGY
An innovative feature is the Isomagnetic® ear cup attachment which utilizes the demagnetizing field generated by the driver to hold the ear cup in place whilst also redirecting the magnetic field back into the driver and improving driver efficiency.
Magnetic field shielding
The ferromagnetic ear pads decrease the magnetic stray field affecting the listeners head.
Increase in driver efficiency
Patented ferromagnetic plates channel the magnetic field back into the driver, increasing output.
Invisible locking system
Innovative use of the magnetic field of the drivers to fix the earcups in place.
STRAY FIELD REDUCTION FROM ISOMAGNETIC® PLATE COUPLING
Patented ferromagnetic plates channel the demagnetizing field back into the driver increasing efficiency by 1db or 12% and deflect 95% of stray fields away from the head.
ISODYNAMIC DRIVER MANUFACTURED BY RINARO
Each driver has been hand assembled and tested in an industrial facility in Ukraine.
DESIGN DETAILS
“In a world of minimalism, Empyrean is a tribute to sophistication and art nouveau. It’s the courage to go against the stream.”
Paul Șteț, Product Development
PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION WINGS
Suspension wings increase the leather headrest’s contact surface area with your head and relieve uncomfortable pressure points.
LIGHTWEIGHT CARBON / ALUMINIUM SKELETON
CARBON FIBER HEADBAND
LEATHER HEADREST
SCULPTED ALUMINIUM SKELETON
CNC milling time: ≈20 hours.
High precision CNC sculpted chassis,
milled from a single piece of
solid aluminum. Weight: ≈ 430 g
AIRFLOW CONTROL
CNC MILLED ALUMINUM GRILL
ensures a natural sound transparency
and is a work of art in its own right.
DESIGNED AND ENGINEERED
IN BAIA MARE, ROMANIA
For the audiophiles who want to hear how 30 years of progression sound like, Empyrean pairs the advances in audio reproduction with a headphone chassis that delivers extended hours of listening pleasure.
HAND ASSEMBLED
We carefully hand assemble each headphone in our facilities in Baia Mare, Romania.
FULLY SERVICEABLE
A core belief of Meze is to create products that last. The Empyrean is no different: from the replaceable earpads to the high-performance materials used, every part on the headphone chassis is available to be serviced and disassembled by our skilled team.
ACCESSORIES
• Case: High-strength aluminum suitcase with foam inserts
• Two sets of earpads included: one real leather, one Alcantara
• Cable options:
– 2.5m OFC cable, 4pin mini XLR plugs ending with 6.3 jack connector
or
– 1.2m OFC cable, 4pin mini XLR plugs ending with 3.5 jack connector
or
– 2.5m OFC cable, 4pin mini XLR plugs ending with 4 pin XLR connector
*Vegan option available upon request.
EMPYREAN TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Driver Type
- Rinaro Isodynamic Hybrid Array
- Operating Principle
- Open
- Ear Coupling
- Circumaural
- Frequency Response
- 4 – 110,000 Hz
- Impedance
- 31,6 Ω
- Nominal SPL
- 100 dB (1 mW / 1 kHz)
- Maximum SPL
- > 130 dB
- Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)
- < 0.1%
- Weight
- ~ 430 g
MZ3 DRIVER SPECIFICATIONS
• PHYSICAL •
- Geometrical Shape
- Ovoid
- Size
- 102 mm x 73 mm
- Weight
- 82 g
- Casing
- Fiberglass Infused ABS
• DIAPHRAGM •
- Type
- Rinaro ISOPLANAR®
- Active Area
- 4650 mm2
- Weight
- 0.16 g
- Acoustic Mass
- 10.7 kg/m4
- Lower Frequency Limit
- 4 Hz
- Upper-Frequency Limit
- 110.000 Hz
• MAGNET ARRAY •
- Type
- Isodynamic
- Size
- 75 mm x 49 mm
- Magnetic Flux
- 0.35 T
WARRANTY PERIOD: 2 YEARS
