ZMF New Headphones: Vérité and Aeolus

The drivers are more similar than not, and the Atticus is tuned for maximum dynamics, so that's ... not super surprising? Though, I never feel like I'm missing out on micro when I switch to Auteur.

 

It's the micro-stuff that I'm most curious about. Thanks for the impression! If it's better or on par in that regard to Auteur and/or Atticus, at $1000, Aeolus sounds like a great deal.

 

Its still a thousand freedom rubles though, if you wait a week or two zach is about to ship out a bunch of cans and there'll be more ears on them, then you can ask someone on the elder council about that to be sure

 

Another one bites the dust. Used the Verite over the past couple of days with the goal of including them in my roster.
Chain: Lynx AES16(lps)->Pavane->Ember/Peak/Teton/Stellaris, wywired and PS P12.

Build and comfort:


Like: beautifully crafted and meticulous attention to detail, a real eye pleaser, wood work is to notch.
With the ticker pads comfort is excellent, clamping a bit more than my preference but stay securely in place.
Dislike: height adjustment system is too fickle. I can't do any adjustments while wearing them, if the yokes have the smallest angle they won't budge up or down.
With the slimmer pads my ears touch the inside, not a big issue as I dislike those pads anyway.
Replacing the earpads is not the easiest task.
Stock cables are a real disappointment, the connectors feel DIY without heathshrink even for aesthetics.
Worst of all they sound like ass and make a great headphone sound gimped with less extension and dynamics than they're capable of. I've built my own cable that resulted in a massive improvement, akin to replacing the stock tube on a tube amp with a quality nos.



Bass
Like: goes deep well into sub 60hz, has above average control with plenty of mid bass without bleed into the mids. More quantity than most planars, warm and inviting.
Dislike: while attack and control is better than my HD650 is falls behind HD800/HD580. Also there's too much of it most of the time and doesn't sound balanced because of it. I wouldn't have minded the amount if all of it was superbly controlled but it gets gooey regardless of amp.
Mids
Like: smooth as can be, reaching HD650 on TOTL amp levels
Dislike: warm, too warm, warmer than stock HD650 with a hollowness to them, I'd be curious to see measurements as I feel there's a dip and plateau in them so I never get a sense of realism.
Highs
Like: might be the only headphone immune to harshness and sibilance while still retaining detail, exceptionally smooth, grain free.
Dislike: way to dark for my liking, HD650 has noticeable more sparkle. Doesn't feel balanced with bass and mids.

Soundstage is all good, great actually, wider than average with great placement of all instruments. Has proper depth which can't be taken for granted these days. 3Dness is fantastic as long as you have a decent cable.

Sounds mighty fine on lesser amps such as the Ember, does scale a bit with increased technicalities but nothing out of the ordinary. I prefer HD580/HD650/HD800 on the Stellaris/Teton but Verite/mid-fi amp is better value.

Conclusion: I really wanted to keep them but the tuning just isn't to my liking, too warm and dark and the great-ish bass and smoothness don't make up for it.

 

Out of curiousity, did you try both pads?

 

Yes, strong preference for the angled thicker pads.

 

^^^ just a quick note - the final cables shipped with the Verite will be the OFC cable and not the stock cable that was sent with the pre-production Verite from Acorn Audio mentioned above.

 

Would you say they're lcd2c dark? Or nighthawk dark.

 

Well I certainly hope it's lcd2c dark or brighter. To me the hd650 is just the right amount of dark, I wouldn't go much beyond that. Maybe the verite pads and silver cable will help.

 

Haven't heard either properly. I find the eikon just a tad darker than I like and the Verite is even more so but technically it's above the eikon in every way.

 

What @jexby said. The LCD-2C is darker. Verite is brighter than the Eikon (but smoother, the Eikon treble is a little rough in spots, especially that mid treble peak) as well, especially with the Verite pads (which I didn't like, made them too bright for my preferences).

I had a strong preference for the Universe pads which brings the treble down to just a little more in overall quantity compared to the Auteur, but smoother.

 

Nice pic of the driver. Isn't the driver is supposed to be angled? On some review blog it's mentioned that the driver is angled 30 degree. This flooks flat to me.

 

I'm still waking up but are these two opinions opposite or am I still sleeping?

 

Interesting, so I found the Verite high end to extend further, a significant increase in detail speed and clarity. The eikon had a brighter tone but not bright per say, flatter, less detailed and rolled off by comparisons, you can say is was closer to neutral still. That's what I heard anyway on a quick AB.

 

It looks angled in the photo to me. The bottom of the picture the grill is flush with the wood and the top of the picture it is recessed.

 

Tested the Eikon/Atticus a long while ago, and the Verite/Auteur recently. To my memory, from brightest to least: Auteur, Eikon, Atticus, Verite.

Coming from the Auteur, the Verite did sound noticeably warmer.

 

Today at Upscale we're expecting a shipment from ZMF with Aeolus and Verite.

I've spent a good bit of time with Auteur, Atticus, and Eikon as well.

I'll be comparing all 5 models and do one of those comparison graphics.