Empire Ears Odin Review

Build Quality, Comfort and Isolation:

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The design features an all black shell, like all of Empire’s universals. The Odin will come with a new variation of the Dragonhide face plate, which Empire calls Bifröst. One thing that is unique to Odin though, is the new logo on the left side. Some might notice the Valknut logo, which has been used in Norse mythology as one of Odin’s symbols.

When you look at Odin’s shells you will see three holes in them. These are to relieve the pressure built up by the Weapon IX+ dynamic drivers. It’s a common practice when using dynamic drivers. Due to these holes, the Odin has a less than optimal isolation. I noticed this especially in Vienna’s subways. Outside noise came through easier than on other fully closed IEMs or CIEMs.

A crucial part of the Odin’s performance is seal. If you can’t get a proper seal you won’t get to Odin’s full potential. This is mostly audible in the bass, which just does not possess the power and impact it should have. With the Final tips I could get good seal, as they supply five different sizes. Which is great for me, as my left ear-canal is slightly narrower than my right one.

Comfort wise I also can’t complain. The Odin sits in my ears relatively snug and well. However, I usually don’t have an issues with comfort at all. My ears can take anything, except for the former satellite sized IEMs of Jerry Harvey.

When you insert the Odin, you’ll notice pops from each side. That’s the Weapon IX+ drivers flexing and getting back to their normal form. That is something pretty much every dynamic driver out there does. To my knowledge it is not harmful to the drivers themselves. Empire Ears even warrants any damages to the drivers caused by driver flex for the existence of the monitors as far as I know.

Personally, I prefer universal IEMs made out of aluminum due to their higher durability. With acrylic monitors you always have to be extra careful not to break them.

Empire Ears Odin

Package:

I received the Odin’s packaging just a couple of weeks ago. It came in a white box with golden embossed logos. Inside the package you’ll of course find the Odin. There is also a special version of the PW Audio 1960s (2-wire) version, which EE calls the Stormbreaker. The cable comes with special Empire Ears hardware, most noticeable of course is the Valknut Y-split.

Also supplied is a cleaning cloth, Final Audio Type E ear-tips, silver stickers, a metal carrying case and a short instructions manual.

The presentation of the Odin is typical Empire Ears. Once you open the package you’ll be greeted by the IEMs and a Thank You card. In a bottom drawer you’ll find all accessories.

Then there is the founder’s edition. Which comes with additional accessories, like a team-signed photo of Dean, personalized serial numbers and personalized warranty cards. The shells are signed by Dean himself as well. But please note, these founder’s editions are only available for a very short time and might already be sold out when you read this.

Sound:

As previously mentioned, a perfect seal is mandatory for Odin to sound its best. So make sure that you can accomplish that on both sides. It’s especially the bass, that doesn’t live up to its potential if you can’t get a good seal. It would sound weak and hollow.

I have used the Hugo₂ as my main source for Odin’s sound description. As this is what Empire Ears uses to tune their products. The Hugo₂’s immensely low output impedance of 0.025 Ohms is a perfect match for Odin’s 3 Ohms impedance. We’ll check a little later how the Odin handles other impedance values. Since the output impedance can have a direct effect on the signature of an IEM or headphone, this is important to check. Another thing to note here, is that I picked up very faint hissing from the Hugo2 with Odin. But it was only a very mild one. Other sources like the Lotoo PAW Gold Touch, PAW6000, AK SP1000M, AK SP2000 or Plenue L stayed in the clear.

The overall signature of Odin can be put down in a couple of words. It has a more or less balanced to U shaped sound with impact-full lows, slightly recessed mids and clear but inoffensive treble. It should be noted, that the dynamic drivers need at least 100 hours on them to start settling. I recommend to give them 200 though to fully achieve their final form.

Odin’s lows are something special to me. They are full, energetic and have very good impact. Bass sounds natural, but with a boost in the sub-bass areas. Empire Ears doesn’t call their W9+ drivers sub-woofers for nothing. The texture the Odin brings out in its bass is something absolutely remarkable to me. This coupled with its high resolution and air makes up for one of the nicest low-ends I have heard in an In Ear to this day.

When I was listening to Brandt Brauer Frick’s Bop on their Mr. Machine album, I could hear the strings vibrating on the Cello. Other monitors mesh that up into one consistent sound, but Odin picks up the minute details and serves them on a silver platter.

Empire Ears Odin

On top of the high resolution and impressive texture, Odin also delivers a certain punch and authority that makes listening to bass overloaded electronica a real pleasure. If you’re into a certain synthetic bass and like it with low-end grunt I think you’d be in good hands with the Odin. Music like Kraftwerk, Modeselektor, Richie Hawtin, LFO, Jeff Mills, Aphex Twin or Siriusmo all come with drive, speed, impact, thunder and punch. The bass however always is controlled. It doesn’t bloat into the mids and never sounds boomy or wobbly. I think you can tell, I am a fan of Odin’s bass.

The mids sound slightly recessed, but not to a distant nature. Lower mids sound full and dense, in a way that makes deep male vocals in the likes of Leonard Cohen, Frank Zappa or Berry White appear vibrant and dark. Take Leonard Cohen’s You Want it Darker for example. Cohen’s voice comes across as dense and heavy, but not so much, that it sounds held back. His vocals come through with a big and full body, appearing right in front of you.

Instruments sound full and realistic with the Odin. They are not over-sized or artificial. The texture in the mids is nice, but doesn’t reach the level of the lows to me. There is a certain smoothness in the mids, that makes them appear a bit softer and less resolved as the bass. However, there is still good levels of resolution and clarity in the midrange. Guitars, keys, strings and wind instruments all sound natural to me. The upper midrange frequencies sound nicely rich and full. Female vocals seem a bit more forward and come with better vocal clarity to my ears than their male counterparts.

Instrumental separation is good with the Odin, although I think there is room for improvement. The background could be darker and separation a bit sharper. To me there is some faint noise between the instruments, which a slight gray background instead of black. Odin creates a nicely big and tall sound stage, where width dominates depth to me. It places instruments carefully in the room, but as previously mentioned, could do with sharper separation. What I like in particular, is how open the Odin sounds. I never got the feeling of a congested or closed in space. Also, it keeps the musicians more in front of you, which makes them appear in a more holographic manner.

Odin’s treble does extend well into the highest of registers. It’s a treble that is clear but one that does not get offensive. Brighter pitched string instruments and cymbals sound well defined and clean, but they don’t pierce my ears. In Frank Zappa’s Cruisin’ For Burgers (live in New York) Terry Bozzio crashes cymbals like crazy in the back. But none of them comes out smashing my eardrums with sharpness. There is nice energy and sparkle in them. I would not call the highs soft though, for that they miss a portion of richness.

Many IEMs have problems with varying output impedances. Often a higher output impedance can skew the sound away from the intended signature. With Odin I also feel like it doesn’t like just any source. With the Lotoo PAW6000 or the A&K SP1000M for example the Odin doesn’t sound as open and controlled as with the Hugo2. Bass becomes bigger and mids get pushed back noticeably.

Some male vocals, like Brian Molko’s (Placebo) can sound a bit distant. In Song to Say Goodbye or Meds on their MTV Unplugged album I feel that they are missing some clarity to me. For this reason I often found myself lifting the 1kHz region by two to three dB. Which pushed them more forward again. The treble also didn’t perform at its best to me. Missing out on clarity, shimmer and energy.

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