Audiophilepure

Empire Ears Odin – A Transparency and Sound-Staging Champion!

The Odin’s midrange, like its bass, is very transparent, which feeds detail, positioning cues, and texture. However, its midrange is closer still to the neutral zone than either the bass or the treble. So that wisp of wetness or warmth is further diminished, which translates to less density and thus a less palpable image. Joan Shelly’s “We’d Be Home” (Joan Shelly, No Quarter) is rendered with outstanding clarity and detail, and yet her overall presence fades into the mix, is rather lean, and less intimate. On the track “Wild Indifference” there is a spatial cue—a tambourine in the background—at the one minute and forty-five second point that is far into the room. With the Odin the tambourine is, possibly, the farthest in the room, to date, incredibly well detailed and possibly the best to date of an IEM. A dynamic driver for the midrange, perhaps?