So it’s been a while, but we’re going to break in this shiny new blogging platform with a double feature on the Valkyrie and the Wraith, two of the latest IEMS from the US based Empire Ears. The headline feature is that both of these IEMs are some of the first on the market to use miniaturised electrostatic drivers that do not need a specialised amplifier, unlike earlier earphones like the Shure KSE1500. The Valkyrie is from the Empire’s party loving (ie: bassy) X-series of products, and features a hybrid design with 1 electrostatic, 1 dynamic and 1 balanced armature driver. Meanwhile the Wraith comes out of Empire’s EP series of professional (ie: balanced) in-ear monitors, with a whopping 4 e-stat and 7 balanced armature drivers per ear. Both models come with Empire’s wizadry, like the synX crossover network technology and the A.R.C mass dampening coating applied to every internal component of the earphones. The Valkyrie is available as either a custom or universal, while currently the Wraith is only offered as a universal.
Design & Fit
With this generation of earphones, Empire Ears have decided to make the faceplates for the universal versions of these IEMs a little more visually exciting. So we have what Empire Ears calls ‘Dragonhide’ for the Valkyrie, and Amethyst Infused Carbon Fibre for the Wraith. Handcrafted in the USA, each faceplate is one-of-a-kind. I personally find the Dragonhide finish particularly mesmerising. The pattern in the acrylic has actual depth and the pearlescence makes for a vibrant display under light .
Along with these very fancy faceplates are some very fancy Effect Audio cables: the Valkyrie comes with an Eros hybrid copper silver cable, while the Wraith comes with a Cleopatra pure silver cable. It is good to see these kinds of premium cables offered with these earphones, as they are flexible, visually attractive and should allow for improved electrical conductance. While personally I am not usually a big believer in cables making significant differences in the sound of an earphone, given the terrifically low impedance of both the Valkyrie (3 ohms @ 1kHz) and the Wraith (4 ohms @ 1kHz), small differences in the cable conductance may end up making a bigger difference to the final sound than you would expect. Since I have not seen the impedance plot for either of these earphones, this is speculation on my part - but given my experience when trying different sources with the Wraith and Valkyrie they do seem to be quite sensitive to the impedance of the output path (more on that later).
Also worth highlighting is that despite the complexity of the driver arrays in these earphones, Empire has improved the already good ergonomics of this new generation of products. The Wraith is lighter and more comfortable than you would expect for a product with 11 drivers per ear, and the Valkyrie in particular is one of the most lightweight and comfortable IEMs we have seen in this price range. A not insignificant portion of my favourable impression of the Valkyrie is due to this excellent fit!
One thing we should mention is that the Valkyrie exhibits significant driver flex when inserted and removed from the ear. This kind of crinkling seems typical of all of Empire Ear’s earphones that include a dynamic driver, and it results from changes in pressure acting on the dynamic driver diaphragm in a fully sealed earpiece. Here at Minidisc we haven’t seen any issues arise from this beyond the noise itself, but of course we always recommend that with any earphone, driver flex or no, care should be taken not to insert or remove the earpieces violently as the sudden change in pressure can cause the driver to be permanently displaced.
Sound - Valkyrie
In terms of sound, I think of the Valkyrie as a wild child. The Valkyrie has a bombastic, intense V-shaped sound with significant peaky energy in the upper midrange, along with a heavy mid-bass and bass emphasis. This makes the Valkyrie sound fun but also quite aggressive depending on the production of the music you feed it. On acoustic tracks, the Valkyrie is vibrant and expressive, while on harsher electronic or hip hop tracks the sound can get raw and abrasive. Compared to the flagship Legend X from Empire Ears, the Valkyrie isn’t as smooth, with more energy in the 4-8k region where sibilants may cause an issue with some listeners. While the Legend X has a strong emphasis in both the sub-bass and mid-bass frequencies, the Valkyrie’s bass hump is more concentrated around the mid-bass. This gives a kind of thick weight to bass notes that makes them sound a little slower than they actually are, but I still find this bass thump quite fun and addictive.
In terms of soundstage and imaging, the Valkyrie is clear and articulate but the sound is quite intimate and ‘in the head’ compared to more spacious sounding earphones like the Sony IER-Z1R. Because of the emphasis of both the bass and treble on the Valkyrie, note separation becomes very obvious. If there is a bass line in the track, you will hear it.
One thing that is very critical with the Valkyrie in terms of controlling its potentially harsh character: the output impedance of the source. We found that in general the more output impedance the source has, the harsher the Valkyrie would sound. Again, we have not seen an impedance curve for the Valkyrie, but it does seem like the curve might be quite complex. Given this, we would expect any changes to source output impedance to have an impact on final frequency response that is more extreme than usual. This was bourne out in testing: I found the Valkyrie’s high frequency peaks to be uncontrolled and sometimes painful on the Sony NW-ZX300 (2.5 ohms), while the sound was smoother on the balanced output of the Astell & Kern SP2000, Chord Mojo and even the iPhone dongle, which all hover around 1 ohms or less of output impedance. Depending on your tolerance or desire for high frequencies, you can spice things up with the Valkyrie by changing out the source. Personally I found the best enjoyable combination was the Valkyrie on the dedicated IEM output of the RME ADI-2 DAC which has an extremely low output impedance of 0.1 ohms - on this output I found all my complaints about the harshness of the Valkyrie were resolved. So to avoid issues with noise, impedance interactions and even potential clipping, we recommend the Valkyrie be paired with a high quality, low impedance source. It is one of the most picky earphones I have ever encountered.
Even with the right source, we would still only recommend the Valkyrie to people who are after a fun, aggressive sound with boosted bass and upper-midrange. Personally I really enjoy the engaging sound of the Valkyrie, but you for those after a smoother experience with the same level of bass impact, the Legend X remains the better candidate.
Sound - Wraith
The Wraith is another matter entirely, coming out of Empire’s professional monitor lineup. Where the Valkyrie is raw, the Wraith is smooth, dense and clean. We find that the Wraith has more of a typical stage monitor sound, with a really pronounced thickness in the lower mids where it tends to emphasise the chesty resonance of male vocalists. Highs are overall recessed in comparison, but there are a few peaks here and there that give things a slight texture or shimmer in the very high 6kHz+ frequencies.
That isn’t to say the Wraith sounds slow or sludgy - similar to the Phantom, Empire Ears’ previous flagship monitor, the Wraith sounds fast and articulate. It also sounds clearer than the Phantom, which I found to be too veiled in the upper midrange / treble for my tastes. But the sound of the Wraith has a density and weight to the lower midrange that is impossible to ignore, and compared to the bright, expressive upper midrange sound that I usually prefer, the Wraith sounds a bit dull. I think the Wraith has fantastic technical performance and in particular, note articulation and the intelligibility of vocals is excellent, but the actual balance of the sound is not my cup of tea. If you are sensitive to high frequencies or you prefer this kind of thickness (but still want fast, clean bass) it may be ideal.
We also found that the Wraith to be picky about sources. Of course it does not seem to be as prone to harshness as the Valkyrie on difference sources, but it remains a very sensitive earphone that can easily pick up the noise floor from different sources very easily, even picking up the underlying hiss of the Chord Mojo’s output. The RME ADI-2 DAC and SP2000 are clean as a whistle though.
Conclusion
We can say that both the Valkyrie and the Wraith are unique earphones, both in physical appearance and also sound signature. It’s clear that Empire Ears is not going for a middle of the road approach with their products. For more balanced options at these price points, we would point you towards the 64 Audio U12t and U18t. But uniquely specialised products have their own place. To that end, we think the Valkyrie is an excellent, fun earphone for people who are prepared to match it with the right source and want bass and excitement from their sound. The Wraith is more sobre, and while it’s not to my liking, I do think it has its own niche too. We definitely encourage anyone who is curious to give these a listen, as both these earphones do sound very different from everything else at their price points. Let us know what you think!
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