Verum 2 Review and Measurements

I’ll be sharing review / impressions ‘stream of consciousness’ style, multiple posts.

I’ve mentioned that I’m recovering from surgery (burst appendix), so my earlier post mentioned how V2 did with FV with the impedance multiplier on. While it did better than expected, my plans were to test with my DIY Aegis - and I needed to wait till this weekend to shuffle around my gear (weight lifting restrictions) so Aegis was available at my recovery / listening chair.

This chain is Roon > Ambre > I2S > Custom DAC based on Pavane > DIY Aegis with Tribute Autoformer > Forza hybrid cable > Verum 2 (black kit). As mentioned before, I’m using the more shallow ported, hybrid pads, as they have a more natural and organic tonality which is essential to me.

For Aegis, I’m running a Mullard GZ34 f32 brown base rectifier, ‘42 7F7s for input, and Tesla 4654’s for output.

SIDE NOTE: The Aegis circuit is ridiculous for tube rolling; rectifier through output can be tuned to EQ and adjust for aspects of a headphone you’d like to balance out or accentuate. The above tube complement pulls midrange back a bit, give me a healthy bass / sub-bass kick, and increases the soundstage (width / height) a bit, while preserving the treble.

I’ll dive into sonics more in future installments with more listening, but I will say this; for $400 / $500 - the fit, finish, comfort and performance of this headphone for the price (or anywhere close to it) cannot be beat. I’ve owned many of the TOTL headphones out there, and I’m having serious struggles justifying the price differential.

@Garuspik - what you’ve pulled off here is astounding. Quality, performance, comfort for this cost, while dealing with the realities of war… mad respect.

 

@MisterRogers glad to hear such impressions!

 

Hello everyone!

Got my pair or yellow V2 today, haven't yet had the time to try them other than with my laptop, nor tried the second pair of pads. I have a question regarding amplification: Steve Deckert from Decware informed me that because of the low impedance, customers have reported Verum headphones (presumably referring to V1, possibly both) are a great match with his 2.3 Watt amplifiers connecting them to the speaker outputs, and that all I'd need to try this is a headphone cable to speaker post adapter, and that since the amplifier model I have can be bridged, it means the two channels have common ground, so no possible damage to the amplifier. I got the V2 set with both balanced and unbalanced cables, which would be preferable and why? My hunch is that if the amplifier uses common ground, it makes no difference? Speaking of which, I'm tempted to not use an adapter but use a longer headphone cable with speaker connectors, e.g. banana plugs. Any recommendations on the choice of cable and perhaps other suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

 

Hello David. Yes, Verums can be hooked to speaker amp (but PLEASE! be attentive with volume pot). If you have unbalanced amp with common ground - then sure SE (3.5mm ) cable is your choice.
However now we have so many inexpensive and superb headphone amps that it is simply not worth it.
For example - Schiit Midgard for 219$.

Will be waiting for further impressions!
Thanks again for support and sorry for a long wait.

 

Thanks! No worries about the wait, hope you're well!

All true, but any amp I'd buy costs more than one I already own, and reports by other Decware owners appear to be positive.

I understand the production V2 is 9Ω now (versus 12Ω), correct? Was wondering if the Midgard would drive such a load as it certainly looks fairly priced for a balanced headphone amp.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

 

Yes, you're correct.
My Galaxy s10 can drive to adequate volume Verum 2 without distortion via 3.5mm output.
So yes, Midgard will drive with plenty of headroom.

 

So basically, I can take any aftermarket headphone cable with 3.5mm mono plugs, cut off the SE or balanced headphone plug on the amp side, and connect either the raw wires to the output of the speaker amp terminals, preferably solder e.g. banana plugs to the raw wires? Standard pinout, i.e. tip on each channel 2.5mm plug is (+), shaft is (-)? Thanks again!

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

P.S.
Noticing there are two mono 3.5mm plugs on the balanced cable I got from you when everyone else is using stereo 3.5mm plugs…

 

@David from Switzerland Yes, you're correct.
About mono plugs - sometimes I use mono, sometimes stereo. Whatever I have right now. It doesn't matter cause I use 2 wires per plug anyway. 3rd pin is in the air.

 

That means Hifiman headphone cables work with V2 and vice versa? Thanks!

Greetings from Switzerland, David.