ZMF New Headphones: Vérité and Aeolus

I listen to every set out of an RNHP before I send them out - I really don't love how it sounds because of the super low impedance out on the amp - but I know a few ZMF owners who love the amp with Verite and other headphones. Really part of the reason I struggle to say our headphones need on thing or the other, it's really hard to account for subjective preferences sometimes.

I use the RNHP mostly because I am used to its duller sound with our stuff, and I know this particular amp is perfectly channel matched and I marked the 0 gain spot on it etc etc.

When I listen for fun it's usually on a tube amp, GSX or Wells Milo.

Thanks for the write up @Vtory !

 

I’ve listened to them out Jotunheim with balanced cables and the bass and speed was extraordinary. On the other hand, I didn’t enjoy the tonality and timbre much compared to tube amps. I’d love to get Glenn’s OTL to Vtory for him to hear how fantastic the pairing is but moving that amp reminds me lugging around my 21” CRT monitor to LAN parties in the early 2000s. Much too unwieldy.

Thanks for the review @Vtory

 

Verite sounds damn fine driven by my 3F (v1, pre-transformer rolling - damn you @jexby for having ANYTHING that I don't have).

 

When I had your 3F on loan, I mostly listened with the Auteur, but the Verite did get head time too. Can confirm - it does sound damn fine, although I did like it a touch better with the Universe pads when pairing with the 3F. Can't wait until my 3F arrives!

 

Hmmm, haven't tried the Universe pads yet - I'll give them a spin.

 

Did every verite owner get suede pads already?

If not, you guys SHOULD. I'm not joking.

Completely free lunch no. Low-cost high-value lunch yes.

Will post detailed impressions and measurements tonight. Indeed, my time to work on them is invaded by recreational listening with this combination. Holy shit home run great.

 

Which suede pads are these? (Universe, Eikon, Auteur/whatever else?)

 

Forgot saying. Universe suede.

 

Those look bloody sumptuous. Zach said he would be getting my review headphones (s?) out in a week or two (I hope!) Can't wait.

 

They sound phenomenal out of my WA5, though the Vinshine R2R had to go, in favor of the Hugo2, it was a bit too much of a good thing. I also had to replace the 300b’s for a pair of Gold Lion PXs, the added emphasis on dynamics have proven to be an excellent match!

 

Hmmm, I happen to have the Universal Suede Pads for my Aeolus, I’ll have to try that combo (right after the Warriors finish off the Clippers).

 

Quick impressions for Universe suede pads (aliased as S-pad) with verite

I got these today. Nice timing because I have to return this verite to the owner tomorrow. Haha.
So, thoughts were kinda hastily collected. Be aware of any kind of biases introduced by this situation -- including new-toy happy time.

This is the second time I play with these pads. Last time with aeolus, and this time with verite. I am amazed by how spot-on these pads are with each headphone. Almost magically.

To me v-pad smoothed mid-high responses and lifted upper registers, which sounded more neutral but at a cost of less fun and borderline harshness. This tonality, combined with “shorter” z-axis, got rid of brilliance and vitality of verite’s holographic-ness quite a bit. As a result, verite was turned into too normal sounding and a little treble-peaky transducer, which I couldn’t like that much. S-pad basically does very similar things, but to the extent that verite kept its unique presentations enough.

The tuning worked for me this time. Now electric guitars and and clicks of kick drums sound clearer. Attacks of piano are also noticeably improved. Strings and female vocals have more presence. All these come with properly increased sharpness. By comparison v-pad was too much. Listening to “Chuck E’s in Love” from Rickie Lee Jones (1979), I was just amazed how these small changes could be synthesized to one big emotional delta. Verite with u-pad wasn’t bad by any means in playing this track. But crispness added by suede pads easily faked me as if I was enjoying greater level of details. What a happy moment as an audio enthusiast.

Downside is that things now sound closer and clearer than before.I said I was sitting in row 18 with u-pad. Now my seat has moved to row 9-11. Up-front presentation can work for some, but I still prefer what verite with u-pad conveyed. Also, increased presence with closer virtual distance made “convert-2 like” headstage more evident. Annoyance depended on tracks -- specifically regarding how each recording was focused. For example, “Analytical Symmetry” in Live in Zurich (2018) has lots of spatial cues obsessively recorded, which dramatically contrast u-pad and s-pad. With s-pad, this track sounded like too overly wrapped around or dimensionality reduced. Maybe it’s not verite or pad’s fault. My bet is dacs with inherently superior staging, such as cranesong solaris or yggdrasil 2, can mitigate it. On the contrary, For loosely boosted 3d-ishness, something like “Bad Romance” in the Fame Monster (2009), it’s nearly non-issue.

I’d also like to point out that already great texture and nuance gained more articulation. “Takarajima” in T-Square plays THE SQUARE (2010) can be a great example to demonstrate how s-pad verite could superbly render textures of ewi’s. Love it so badly.

Speaking of transience, I am hearing less rounded attack and slightly faster decay. While it’s still verite, but difference was easily recognizable. As a result overall sound got a bit more dried. I am not sure whether I regard this as bad or good. U-pad vs S-pad reminded me working on acoustic room tuning, such as diffusor-driven vs absorber-driven.

Taken together, I like suede pads a lot. If I order my verite some day (likely happen), Will definitely request suede pads included!

Measurements coming. Need to grab something to eat..

 

Interesting. I just ordered the Auteur Suede and Universe Suede pads to try on the Verite.

I wonder if the Auteur pads with the larger ear opening might give better staging. It might just sound like crap. Might mess with the treble too. Might be amazing. Either way, I'm fix'n to find out.

 

Measurements of suede pads posted: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...f-verite-measurements.7043/page-3#post-254717

 

How do they do straight out of the Hugo 2 vs your chain? It would be a useful datapoint.

 

I own two ZMF headphones and have 7 different sets of earpads.

The life of a ZMF owner.

 

Enjoying last-minute pleasure with verite.

I forgot mentioning improvements in sub-bass with suede pads on verite. Guessing this came from better seal and smart foam (or anything stuffed inside) choice.

Previously I said verite showed weakness in reproducing 20-30hz notes often found in wobble bass in dub-steps. Indeed it's not verite's weakness, but fundamental limitation of dynamic drivers below resonance frequencies (f0), no matter whether or not totl. It's physics that matter. Verite rather performed really well among dynamic headphones -- partly because Zach made use of semi-open-ish structure (verite is the most open among zmf open family though). This is evident when compared to those with very (physically) open structures and long driver excursion (yes, I mean utopia and its families). Well-designed planar is the king in this criteria. Estats can do equivalently, only conditioned by "perfect" seal (by "perfect", I mean no glasses, no hairs, very certain curvature of skull, etc.)

Anyway, with s-pad, my small nitpicking complaint almost disappeared. Still ether 2 and arya did it better but verite outperformed the others (in my collection) by a healthy margin -- including hd800 and hd600. Absolute difference (between s-pad and u-pad) is quite minimal.. mild at best, as shown in my measurement. But perceptual satisfaction delta was big. Interesting. Note that I am arguing only about very low bass notes not overall bass quality, where hd800 can do similarly well.

Damn. I need to pack this verite now.. how sad.

 

...and a breath.

I would hate to see what a long impression looks like. Trying to fill Torq's shoes is not going to happen.

 

You have one more than I do, it really is a cool option to change the sound so significantly at a reasonable price.

 

Not bad at all, if I’m moving about the House I listen to the Hugo 2 frequently, I use the “green” filter and PhD setting.