ZMF New Headphones: Vérité and Aeolus

@Miracle1980 From the brief listen I had
the write up remains applicable, it’s a little clearer and slam increases.

@msommers They’re the most affordable power conditioners I could find. Look in my sig for the Mjolnir 2 write up for specifics.

@zach915m It was a joy, they’re quite an accomplishment. The unmarked pads had the lightest filling, the pads marked U the most firm and dense filling, with the B marked ones half of each.

Hugo 2 indeed. Coming up through headphones I was ignorant of dynamics, so my guess is many who followed a similar path may be too.

If I can ever get my hands on a big boy tube amp in my neck of the woods I will keep in mind that the ZMFs very much require another listen to.

 

Could very well be I marked them wrong.

It was late at night and there was a well-aged bottle of Oban involved.

 

The Universe is by far the "tallest" pad and the only one with "thickish" Sheepskin. The other two pads have lambskin which is thinner and slightly stiffer foam.

 

@Hands Where does the Aeolus fit in your TV analogy?

 

Hands must be tripping balls. He is hearing colors.

Bro - Do the walls breathe?

 

Which ZMF cans have G-Sync or are at least G-Sync Compatible? I don't need 240Hz, but I can't handle screen tearing.

 

The Universal Pads also smell great, well if you’re into leather that is

 

Pads Palaver
Firstly I was incorrect regarding their filling. All three have two different layers of foam inside.

The unmarked pads use a thicker leather and the parts that go in front of and behind the ear are of a similar width (if looking toward the side of one’s head). The U and Be marked pads use a thinner leather and the part that goes behind the ear is wider than what would go in front.

Which would mean the unmarked pads are actually the Universe pads, not the Verite! Which leaves the other two, the only difference being that one is firmer than the other. @zach915m Which is which?

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Where Impedance & Dynamics Meet
@purr1n @Aeron @Phantaminum
After everyone’s feedback re. amping and output impedance I have done some further listening in various combinations to get to the bottom of it, and I have. They are technically more dynamically capable than I originally believed, but it almost doesn’t matter.

To start with I went back and forth between my Mjolnir 2 and the Hi and Lo impedance outputs on the Night Blues Mini. What I initialy found was broadly in line with prior assessment in that the least dynamic was the Mjolnir 2, the Lo was a degree better, and the Hi better still. This was also true of the Utopia even though it is an 80ohm headphone. What I’d forgotten was how much difference there was between Hi and Lo on the HD650, and what I missed was that the difference was larger still on the Verite.

The problem is that due to its subdued tonality you just don’t get to hear much if it. Which leaves it not a great deal better off than before. Unless of course you invite the boogie man in and start EQing. At which point it really is a night and day difference, or more accurately an under water and above water difference. Because that’s what it feels like, like you can breathe again. This was achieved by a quick broad hump around 3khz, though from what I recall from measurements this wouldn’t quite be an appropriate EQ and may have accentuated things.

So with the Hi Z output and EQ it stands that it is probably approaching HD650 (which I had probably rated a little too highly as it’s image size presents them better), and notably behind Utopia. But it would likely be with them or much closer to them at least if not for the barrel like presentation and other limitations caused by the cups. It seems restrained, without the separation and openness the other two have to effortlessly soar.

As for the Hi Z. I think these headphones were probably tuned from one and that is most certainly how they sound best. Fuller, bolder, warmer, and more dynamic. I used the Lo Z out to all three headphones thinking they would be on a level playing field, and because it’s clearer. In retrospect that was a mistake. Caused by my inexperience with these sorts of amplifiers, and how they interact with high impedance dynamics.

Be all that as it may I would not change much from my write up aside from some clarification, as without EQ the improvement in dynamics is almost moot due to the subdued tonal nature and the effects of a semi closed design. Even so a TOTL tube amp may bring them closer to the others.

Despite these criticisms there is some good unique stuff going on with these headphones, and I really hope to see a fully open back design with a more balanced tonal response from ZMF one day.

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Cyberpunk Synaesthesia
@Hands I love the analogies, I agree with most of it. But I think the HD650 is more like 1080p, but renders chroma and colour more accurately and with more definition. At least from the amps I’ve heard it from. On account of it’s lesser treble definition vs the others, and some of the effects of the front foams.

What word would you use in referring to the difference between 480p, 720p, 1080p, 4k etc in audio terms? One way I’m thinking of it is as information density.

The Verite is a seriously paradoxical headphone, it has positive traits one wouldn’t expect to see together. I think this is its real strength in having a more natural presentation whilst also pulling off high end performance. But hearing these things causes some perceptual conflict when listening.

I used the phrase blur when writing about them, but really that has quite a negative connotation. As it isn’t inherently a negative, depending on what one is after. I could also describe it as a strong smoothness whilst also being very clean, which is another way in which it’s a paradox, and perhaps why I used the term blur. A much more accurate way to describe its presentation here would be: a touch of bokeh, tastefully done.

 

Well, the 'B' pads were in a box marked Be 2 by zach and I never removed them before marking so that's what they are and if they're not it's due to whatever zach was imbibing, the Oban is blameless.

 

I think I bite off more than I wanted. But in a nutshell, it's a bit more saturated, and slightly faster HD650? Timbre for me on the 650 is perfect and something that I've had a really hard time finding to be able to do just as good in so many headphones.

Aeolus amping synergy would then jive well with 650 chains as well?

 

I’ve found that to be so, the same chain I use for the 650, the Hugo2/Vinshine Reference >WA5, is superior to the Liquid Platinum/Spark (as it should be).

 

While I enjoyed your review, I have no idea what you're talking about here.

I compared the Utopia to the Verite side by side (no HD650 atm), and I had completely the opposite experience. Specifically, vocals soar, guitars have gusto and crunch, and orchestral highs give goosebumps (although they do that on the Utopia too).


The Utopia is one of my absolute favourite headphones, and in these qualities specifically, the Verite outshines it.

I also don't quite know what you mean by slam if you rate the Verite lower than the other two in that department. If anything, the Verite slams the hardest by quite a margin to me. Maybe I'm confused about how you're using the terms?

For reference, I'm running them balanced from an IHA-6

 

Read the follow up above re. dynamics. Some improvement was found but the tonality is so subdued that they effectively remain greatly diminished in that area, from my equipment, which could still be holding them back

The Verite extend more, and have a more tactile presentation, but out of the Lo Z output on the NBM they do not punch with as much weight down low. If you EQ a low end roll off to mimic the Utopia’s frequency response you’ll see what I mean.

 

Yeah I read that, but I'm still a bit confused. I'm using mine from low Z out (<1 ohm) and they hit way harder down low than the Utopia. To that effect, when I EQ'd up the Utopia to get closer to flat extension, it also didn't hit as hard. like it's not even close. Also I'm using Verite pads over Universe pads, I find the latter doesn't sound quite as well controlled.

 

The pads were incorrectly marked, what I said were Universe were actually Verite.

Lo or Hi your amp, if I recall correctly, looks like it may have a lot more power in reserve than the Night Blues Mini.

It doesn’t work that way. You can’t EQ in slam, only quantity. The Utopia slams harder but there’s a cut off for where that slam is still present, even if the frequency response extends just as low. In fact what I suggested wouldn’t work because one would have to find the exact frequency at which slam in the Utopia fades away and then shelf them both off at that point to compare.