ZMF New Headphones: Vérité and Aeolus

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by purr1n, Oct 3, 2018.

  1. lagadu

    lagadu Facebook Friend

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    I found that the mj2 provides a much more "look at me" listening experience with everything. For me the pads made a big difference: I prefer the universe pads with the mj2 but the verite pads with the Starlett; the reason is that I feel that the bass sounds better delineated with verite pads and that the Starlett compensates nicely for the tradeoffs from using them.
     
  2. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    I never thought I'd consider the HD650 a "boring" headphone, but having shipped Verite back to its rightful owner, I'm having withdrawl.

    And it's become clear that while the 650 is a world class headphone that scales like mad, it doesn't do anything exceptionally well. It's more about what it DOESN'T do than than what it does. I realize now that I'm moving into a phase of this hobby where I'm far more interested in headphones that have "character", that have ambition, that shoot for the moon... and the Verite certainly has that.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2020
  3. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    That's why the 650/6xx is such a useful standard though.

    Mine lives in its box and almost never comes out, but you need to have that one Corolla in your garage of crazy niche cars.
     
  4. I_want_all_the_tacos

    I_want_all_the_tacos Friend

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    Before I had ever heard HD650 I remember asking @cskippy what made that headphone so special and he told me it is like an old, well worn, favorite pair of shoes. That always stuck with me. It doesn't have the wow factor, it doesn't standout in any particular thing, but it is old reliable that is just comfortable and you feel attached to. I also mostly leave my pair boxed up in a closet (where my old pairs of shoes are), but every once in a while it is nice to bring it out and remember how great it is.
     
  5. mscott58

    mscott58 Friend

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    Had no idea there were so many of us that can’t ever sell our 650, even if we rarely use them. Maybe start some type of support group?

    And the Corolla analogy is fabulous. Well played @Taverius!
     
  6. Pharmaboy

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    I am definitely in this group. My JAR650 (HD650 extensively modded by Jupiter Audio Research) is many things, but sexy & attention-getting aren't among them. I tend to forget how good it sounds when I'm seduced by larger, more striking headphones.

    But every now & then I put them on and appreciate once all over again how coherent the sound is. True, it drops off a bit at top & bottom, and the soundstaging is intimate rather than expansive. But the slightly warm, musical tonality and excellent midrange always come through.
     
  7. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    New Aeolus is finally in the house.

    YES!!
     
  8. The Killer Piglet

    The Killer Piglet New

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    A set of 'new to me' Aeolus were delivered a few minutes ago and I share your joy.

    KP
     
  9. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    Nice!

    Also nice is the screen name, "The Killer Piglet" (insert emoji for "senseless admiration")
     
  10. Claud

    Claud Living the ORFAS dream

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    Verite' with Norne S3 8 wire cable. CBDB5C36-B76B-4B67-9EC8-4605F7C469FC_1_201_a.jpeg
     
  11. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    That wood is lovely, whatever it is; and I admire that firehose cable!

    Speaking of cables, since you have this Norne endgame cable in the system, do you have any comments on the good & the bad things silver cables bring to a high-resolution (yet musical) HP like the VO?

    I've stuck with good quality copper cables because I've read so many comments about silver cables & interconnects being bright. Then again, I've heard from more than one source that Norne silver cables sound terrific (silver done right).
     
  12. Claud

    Claud Living the ORFAS dream

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    Silver done right is what Norne is all about. A Norne silver cable just gives you more of everything . Bass tightens up with a bit more slam. Soundstage improves by being more distinct and wider. Better resolution and smoother airy treble.
    Trevor is starting to offer mixed silver and copper cables. He has a good one listed on the website, the Draug SC. He also has a cheaper one coming out soon and is so excited about it that he is sending me a demo for Senn HD 6xx headphones. I will report here.
    The negative about silver Norne cables is that it seems to take forever.. It takes patience to buy from Norne. His prices are better than many others. It took from October until January for me to get my S3 8wire. I usually don't bother him for a month, then a nice Email every two weeks to let him know that you are serious. You pay by PayPal up front, but he does not take your money until he ships.
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2020
  13. Pharmaboy

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    Thanks for a most informative reply. I keep meaning to try one of his copper+silver or pure silver cables, despite the 2 very good pure-copper cables I already have & like a lot (ForzaAudioWorks HCP Noir; Danacables Lazuli). I realize this outs me as a cable-fool & audio madman (true!).

    I do look forward to your comments on the cheaper/new Norne cable model.

    I did business w/Trevor last year: ordered a pair of 2.5mm (Hifiman style) to mini-XLR female adapters (100% silver, as it happens) to let me use these 2 Audeze/ZMF-style copper cables w/my HEX v2. It took months, so long that I started to think I would never get the cables. But Trevor finally came through & despite the long delay, was a pleasure to deal with--friendly & informative.
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2020
  14. ader

    ader Friend

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    Hello old frens (I was driver 8 on head-fi, if anyone remembers, whereas I had this alias on changstar).

    I mostly stopped buying this kinda shit since 2014, as I was NEET, ran out of money, but felt pretty much "done" anyways, having capable rigs for my TH900's, HD800's, dBel modded LCD-3's, SR009's, and Paradox, with a few flagship IEM's for on-the-go. I actually didn't use my more advanced rigs for a couple years for convenience reasons, but moving to a better place and setting up all my stuff again rekindled that interest.

    Lately I've found myself wanting another tube-friendly dynamic for my EC Balancing Act (KR PX4), and binge watching Z-Reviews like a retard had me thinking those might be the Neumann NDH20's, and then I was kinda thinking about the Aeolus, but then I lurked in this thread for awhile and y'all beat the sense into me to purchase pure5152's Verite instead :D .

    Pure said they had around 300hrs of burn-in already, so I'll give impressions from that perspective once they arrive.

    USB-> Auralic Vega -> Balancing Act -> Verite, will be the main attraction, but I have a few solid state amps as well as a Vali v.1 I will try too.

    ECBA -> TH900's is still one of my absolute favorite pairings, so seeing the Verite described as a step up in "Japanese sound" has got me excited.
     
  15. pure5152

    pure5152 Friend

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    Hey!! I didn't know you had an SBAF account too. This guy bought my verite open :). Looking forward to hearing your impressions when they arrive, especially with that eddie current balancing act.

    edit: even though it looks like you're an old friend from changstar, might be good to post a re-introduction so newer people (like myself) can get a feel for who you are and what your tastes/experiences are like.
     
  16. ader

    ader Friend

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    Yeah, I actually first found your ad here lol, but I couldn't remember my password and all my positive seller feedback is on head-fi, so I went there from your link.
     
  17. ader

    ader Friend

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    Extremely early impressions: the universe pads recess the treble a bit much for my liking. I can kind of understand the Z Review if they were the only pair he tried with them, but then again it still comes off as though he had a predisposition against them based on price, as he'll go on a pad swapping odyssey with anything else. I like the verite pads much more, but they're sibilant in tracks where I don't recall hearing such with my other headphones.

    Thankfully pure was kind enough to give me 4 pairs of pads total, but I think I'm going to keep the verite pads on for the rest of the night to get a baseline impression going and see whether the sibilance I'm hearing is universal or just the Katamari Damacy tracks I'm listening to on youtube atm.

    The combination of punchiness and resolution going on is really something. And, sans sibilance, I love how vocals are rendered, specifically the solid presence they have relative to anything else I can think of atm.

    Iuno, this is based off less than an hour of listening so far.

    -Edit-

    The Two Genders
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2020
  18. pure5152

    pure5152 Friend

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    Yeah I also found the verite pads too bright personally for my liking, which is why I usually used the universe pads, which were darker but had more euphonic mids for me. But lots of people here seem to prefer the verite pads, probably for tighter imaging/more linearity or something, so ymmv. :) Using verite pads for the baseline seems like a good idea.

    Do try the auteur pads sometime, would love to hear what you think. I thought they sounded pretty balanced and impressive initially, but found them more fatiguing and just preferred the universe mids haha. At the time my chain was THX 789 -> Pheasantwood verite (universe), though, so that may be why I preferred the universe. Really do wonder what the pheasantwood verite would've sounded like with the 3F, but no big regrets here with how things turned out haha.

    Also just wanted to say super happy to see the verite arrived at your place alright and you're listening to it. It's so gratifying to see loved gear stay in the community to another friend. Enjoy it man!
     
  19. ader

    ader Friend

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    I probably came off more harsh wrt the universe pads there than I meant to. To be fair, I listened to 2 tracks with them when I first opened everything, just to make sure UPS didn't break anything when they put it over my backyard fence for no damn reason whatsoever (people home {pure opted for the heavy duty case}).

    I initially intended on trying the verite pads first, but the treble recession with my brief try of the universe stood out enough to me that I wanted to say something. I gave myself a 3-day weekend to play with these, so maybe I'll have more positive to say when I go back to them. Their soundstage may not have been as striking to me as they would be to others upon first listen, well, for one the tracks I pulled up, but also my having HD800's and SR009's for years. Not that there wasn't a stage with my initial universe hearing, but it didn't shock me, is all.

    -Edit- (is "double posting" unattractive here?)



    Oh my

    I've never felt this track like this before... Like, specifically, the separation coupled with the texture granted to each individual thing. I had a hunch these would be great for satiating my autistic want to delve into this kinda vidya music. In this instance I also appreciate how wooden these actually sound relative my other cans with such.

    Also, while these sound more technically impressive than the TH900's, I wonder if I might still offer ECBA -> TH900 to someone uninitiated who's just like, "...you have all this for headphones?" Simply because the Fostex are more forgiving while having a guaranteed woowie kazoorie factor, if that makes sense. I'm thinking about this specific scenario because I let my mother listen to ECBA -> TH900 the other day, and I told her that ECBA -> Verite might even far surpass that.




    The TH900's can't slam as hard as the Verite while doing everything else going on here so effortlessly, and with so much authority (goes much more so for the track below as well). I listened to this on loop with the Fostex while reading not too long ago, and the Vertie's complete superiority in rendering everything is immediately apparent. Maybe I would just give a newbie these to try first.

    Like, these f'ing griiiiiiiiiiiiiiip, but sound large too!


    yyyeeeeeeeeeessssssss oh my f'ing god the vocals

    And most of what I've heard thus far hasn't been sibilant -- it was just bad in like 2 tracks thus far, and again, only with the verite pads. I'm not really worried about that being an issue now, especially since the 2 tracks weren't great quality either.

    I understand why the Resolve Reviews guy said these have the best vocals he's ever heard. I haven't heard better either! (listening to familiar Talking Heads tracks I've often used for evaluation in the past). Although there are some more expensive cans I've only heard at noisy meets, tbf.


    JOYOUS!

    I also looped this for some time while doing things on ECBA -> TH900 recently and holy f'ing hell is there just MORE here now with the Verite! It's shocking. No hyperbole, I swear.


    I'm sobbing. Sorry for all the poorly-mastered vidya music, but my point is that the Verite makes this a damn experience in a manner previously unknown via anything else I have on hand.

    Of my 3 "detail headphones" (Verite, HD800, SR009) these are the ones I'd listen to the least for that faculty alone, and I mean that fully as a compliment since every other aspect is also incredibly engrossing, negating the need for any such particular justification. Though bear in mind that I've been out of the hobby for a long time and really just have experience with my present stable of gear.

    To reiterate the setup: USB-> Auralic Vega -XLR-> Eddie Current Balancing Act w/ KR PX4 -stock 4-pin XLR(feels quality)-> Verite (Verite pads for all impressions in this post)

    All I've been doing for 4 hours now is listening to these and editing this post. I've been awake for almost 24 hours now, but it doesn't matter because everything I listen to on these demands attention.

    So long as there's nothing really sibilant in the track, I really have no issue with the highs from the Verite pads at all. I will get to the others soon, though, and try the universe again.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2020
  20. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    That was my reaction too when I got the VO and VC, too much suckout!

    Then immediately went too much treble! on the VO, but not the VC.

    :drunk:

    But brain burn-in is so real, back to universe on VC and Be2 on VO.

    I think I'd hand the Be2 VO to people though, full fat might be too coloured for a first impression.

    P. S. Half of my "listening to gear instead of music" playlist is vidja. Snobs can get fucked :p
     

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