ZMF Auteur - An open back ZMF

Once you get to know it better, it will grow on you...

 

I always have a hard time explaining wood density and the importance it will equal in subjective perceived timbre shift. Some people seem to hear it more than others as well so it's hard for me to quantify. One thing that is for sure African Blackwood is the hardest wood we've used and does sound different than just about any other wood.

 

Blackwood Aeolus with Auteur suede perf pads... Yummy.

 

I've developed a preference for the high janka woods myself; too drunk to explain in detail but it makes fast music sound so much more exciting. That's why I jumped on the chance to get the Ziricote Verite over the Pheasantwood. The only thing that would ever make me give up my current pair is if you released a Blackwood Verite, which isn't a thing, right? ... Right?

 

I heard african blackwood became rarer and pricier (let alone endangered ebony). So verite blackwood is not very likely -- but still possible? lol
Instead cocobolo verite is quite likely because Zach has a good amount of cocobolo lumbers in the factory.

 

Oof I literally just received a pair of teak Auteurs and saw a pair of blackwoods come up for sale... It's all I can do to keep myself from scooping them up...

 

Just for fun (and some curiosity) I happened to plug African Blackwood (ABW) auteur to dx3pro and fulla 2 (both as dacamp)

• Sounded familiar with my memory of teak auteur loaner (fed from rme adi-2 and ec bw). More so with dx3pro. Of course no EC benefits haha.
• ABW still seems to have better transients -- possibly or partly attributed to dx3pro (or 4493) though -- faster initial decay but longer sustain at lower level. Everything sounded livelier but speedier as well. Lower mid was more noticeable to my ears.
• Teak had sweeter midrange tonality and more romantic connection to the music. with abw, things tend to sound crispier and clearer. Both micro and macro dynamics are heard more easily with abw. My bet is that the same amount of planktons and small info is resolved by auteur's drivers but different woods present them differently.
• Anyway by listening with this setup, I could rule out the effects of better upstream. While my perception of abw didn't change much from yesterday, I found my feeling was super amplified by 3f (and x26). Put differently, abw auteur scaled that well.

I am also testing universal suede (US) pads on abw auteur.

• Very bright. This is the brightest zmf combination I've ever heard. And regardless, surprisingly not annoying (I typically disliked brighter sounding pads on any zmf headphones)
• I don't like such an expression as "super hd600". But sadly that's a pretty good way to put. Quite similar tonality. Not as smooth as 600 in high mids but equally cohesive. Substantially better bass (in every aspect), senn veil fully lifted. Much better transients, too. Elex does these but abw auteur has a higher level of refinement in treble and better-nuanced bass.
• Needless to say, this is also the most neutral zmf setup I've tried to date.
• Compared to eikon perforated (EP), metallic overtones (snare, hi hats, cymbals) are improved a lot. Nearly spot on.
• I am not sure which one I like better between EP and US pads. Track and mood dependent.

 

This all has me convinced that 50% of tuning headphones is in the ear pads.

 

Headphone pads are to headphones what the room is to speakers.

 

Just Me?

 

On a whim, measurements taken quickly



No wonder I thought of super hd600.

Detailed measurements to be posted later.

 

Below is vs elex.

 

I'm going to have to take another trip down to Salisbury to pick up some universal suede pads. Maybe I could also compare the harder woods to the maple, now that I'm more familiar.

 

Could anyone perhaps give their impressions of how the Auteurs pair with the ZMF Pendant? I have a bottlehead mainline and, while I really like it, I find it to be a little too polite and unromantic at times. By the sounds of it the Pendant might be a good option instead, but I've heard the auteur/pendant sound sig described as languid which isn't quite what I want.

I'd greatly appreciate any input anyone could give me!

 

Feel free to skewer me if this is right under my nose (I've searched), but is there a compendium of ZMF pads with corresponding photos? I'd love to roll a few on my Auteur, but I already have two whose identity is unclear and adding others to the mix would probably explode the noggin.

 

I don't know of one, but this is a great idea. I'd be happy to help create one next time I drive to get more suede pads.

 

Creating a compendium of pads sounds quite interesting.

So far I've evaluated and measured the followings (some not posted yet):

• Universe Lambskin - on Verite (henceforth Pheasantwood) and Aeolus (henceforth Ziricote)
• Verite Lambskin - on Verite and Aeolus
• Auteur Lambskin - on Auteur (Teak and Blackwood)
• Eikon Lambskin - on Auteur (Teak and Blackwood)
• Aeolus Lambskin - on Aeolus
• Universe Suede - on Verite, Aeolus, and Auteur (Blackwood only)

(all perforated)

On top, I will be getting auteur suede and eikon suede to review. Be2 pads will come with my verite pair, too.

So, per headphone

• Verite (Pheasantwood) - Verite lambskin, Universe lambskin, Universe suede
• Auteur (Teak) - Auteur lambskin, Eikon lambskin
• Auteur (African Blackwood) - Auteur lambskin, Eikon lambskin, Universe suede, Auteur suede (planned), Eikon suede (planned)
• Aeolus (Ziricote) - Verite lambskin, Universe lambskin, Aeolus lambskin, Universe suede
• Verite (Ziricote) and Be2 pads will be added in the mix, too

Among these various combinations, here are my top 4 favorites

• Verite pw + Universe suede
• Auteur abw + Universe suede
• Auteur abw + Eikon lambskin
• Aeolus zc + Universe suede

 

If we only count Universe pads, the earpads named after each headphone (Auteur, Aeolus, Verite, Eikon), and the BE2 pads, then we get 6 pad types. That leaves out the Oval, ZMF Suede, and Ori pads.

Of those, we have up to 3 covering types each (leather, lambskin, suede) that can be either perforated or non-perforated, for a total of 6 coverings possible for each. In reality, not all of the pads have all of those options, and some have more, so let's just say each pad has 4 covering options.

This gives us 24 possible type+coverings number of pads. There are 5 dynamic driver ZMF headphones. If you measured all 24 pads on one of the headphones, then did the same to the next, etc... you would end up doing 120 measurements.

So uhhh... @Vtory, can you team up with @zach915m to get us some graphs? =)

I would do it, but I have to... uhhh... wash my hair. And I have a headache. Yeah, that's it.

Thanks guys!

 

Zach^

 

Ha - I will list on our pads page the recommended pads for each headphone soon, really I feel as if there's 2 or maybe 3 types of pads for each headphone but you can definitely go nuts with it of you please haha.