Empire Ears Legend Evo Review

Package

3,099 USD is a lot of cash, for me at least. I think it’s only fair to expect quite a bit in return for this kind of money.

What do I get for my money?

I actually didn’t get the full retail package. But I am a previous customer of Empire Ears and I guess their package should be similar to what I got for my custom Odin.

In the box you’ll get the monitors (duh) bundled with a PW Audio Genesis cable, which is a special design for Empire Ears as far as I know. You will also get a set of five silicone ear-tips made by Final Audio. The cable is terminated to a 4.4mm plug by standard. You cannot change termination, so you will either need a suitable audio player which has this output, or you will have to use adapters. For me that meant I could only use the Legend Evo with my Lotoo PGT, but my trusted AK120ii had to stay put.

Empire Ears Legend Evo

You will also get a cleaning cloth, carrying bag, a metal carrying box and two stickers alongside your monitors. One thing that’s new with the Legend Evo is a dual compartment pouch to protect your IEMs from scratches.

Now for something a little different. The first 400 units sold of the Legend Evo will come with a fancy hand-made round leather case. On pictures this looks very nice, so if you’re one of the first 400 – you lucky bastard!

Build Quality

The Legend Evo is, like all of EE’s models, 3D printed. It’s a fairly large monitor, so it is guaranteed that it will stick out of your ears. The Evo is held in a very simple and elegant black shell with golden logos on top. The right side features EE’s wing logo, while on the left you’ll see the specific “EVO” logo. Personally I am all down for simple looks, and for my taste it’s perfect. I don’t need any fancy design, sure they are nice to look at, but you’ll have these IEMs in your ears, far out of your viewing angle.

In the shells of the Legend Evo you will find a total of six holes, which are for pressure relief for the built-in Weapon drivers. It’s a common technique used by many manufacturers.

One thing I want to note about the build quality is, that while a 3D printing process gives the manufacturer a lot of flexibility about the physical specifics, the material used for that is not the most durable. I prefer aluminum shells for their strength and robustness. Should I ever drop the Legend Evo, I am sure to have a heart-attack fearing to break or just crack the shells. It has happened to me before with a CIEM of mine.

Sound

Let’s get to the thing why you are here today. What does the Legend Evo sound like?
From my custom Odin I knew that I needed to let the Weapon IX+ drivers get some serious play-time before the bass really settles. So I let these burn in for a couple of days (at least 100hrs) before I took serious listening sessions.

That doesn’t mean, that I didn’t give them a quick listen before they reached this time though. From start the bass was quite overwhelming and a little boomy, but after the burn in was complete, the drivers settled in and lows became tighter and faster. So definitely don’t judge these after they have reached their full performance.

Bass has a very important place in the sound signature of the Legend Evo. But it’s not that the Legend Evo is a bass only earphone, definitely not. The lows have spectacular quality, they reach very deep into the sub-bass with high resolution and precision. Overall bass is seated in a more forward position when you’re looking at the entire frequency response. Making it the center of most attention when you take your first listening sessions with it. There is excellent pump and drive in the lows, which makes listening to genres like Hip Hop or electronic a lot of fun.

The energy the Legend Evo has in its lows is very unique. It is exciting and powerful, which is something you definitely want when you have The Roots, Cypress Hill or DJ Hell in your ears. Bass is superbly controlled and comes with wonderful texture. Evo’s lows come with good weight, punch and impact.

Empire Ears Legend Evo

The midrange has a naturally neutral tonality with a good open sound. The lower mids and center mids are positioned slightly behind the upper mids, which have a boost for clarity. Instruments sound organic and natural to me, there is decent richness in them, but they don’t sound overly wet, nor dry for that matter. As I mentioned before, the upper midrange is coming across as a bit forward, but with the more prominent bass, they still don’t cross the threshold for becoming shouty or too much in your face.

Highs have good, almost linear extension. Treble has a clean sound, that’s free of harshness to me. I can’t detect any peakyness or sibilance. I find the Legend Evo’s top to be very natural sounding. It doesn’t push too much in the upper highs, nor the lower treble. In terms of richness it is also quite neutral.

Generally speaking the Legend Evo has a bass forward signature, where lower mids and center mids take a slight step back before the upper mids rise and transition into a linear top. A point of critique would be that the bass can be too present for music that doesn’t need it. Genres like Soul or Jazz for example. But in my opinion, the Legend Evo wasn’t made for these musical styles.

Somewhere on the internet I read a comment, that the Legend Evo has a speaker-like sound. Let’s be realistic, that’s impossible. No headphone or IEM will ever sound like a speaker. It’s a whole different presentation. The Legend Evo sounds bloody fantastic, but not like a speaker.

On a technical level, the Legend Evo is a top performer. It has superb resolution, instrumental placement and comes with a wide and deep sound stage. What I really like about the Legend Evo is how well it paints instruments and musicians. I get a feeling that I can clearly see every part of the group in front of me. That’s something that comes into play especially when you know how the musicians look like.

Comparisons on the next page!

Intro to the brand and Legend Evo – Page 1
Package, Build and Sound – Page 2
Comparisons and Conclusion – Page 3