ZMF Atrium Headphone Review and Measurements

Oh yes if you mention the @purr1n mesh it will be added to the order, but the order will ship with stock mesh (perforated but less so) on the headphone, and you can change out if desired (with the included Marv mesh).

 

I perhaps should of asked this earlier but the perforated titan mesh listed in your DIY section, is that the more open or the middle ground stock atrium mesh?

 

That's the more open one that Marv prefers. The one that comes on the headphone isn't available in that section yet.

 

This seems to be one of the Atrium's selling points (dynamics and bass). Tho, I was surprised to hear a reviewer mention that his VC & VO were more "punchy" than the Atrium. Would those who have heard both agree or disagree with this sentiment?

Either way, I'm about to find out for myself. Ordered an aged cherry within the couple minutes it went live lol.

 

As far as an overall sound when I compared them, I thought the opposite. I felt the Atrium to be rawer than the refined sound of the Verite Open. Not to say the Verite Open can't be punchy, but I heard the opposite of what that reviewer mentioned.

 

Probably comes down to adjective use I guess? There was a verite owner who told us he wanted more "slam" and after getting him warmer pads/Eikon pads we realized he wanted his ears closer to the driver because he said the headphones sounded best with no pads on them. So we got him verite pads and he loved them.

I think "raw" though is a good term for atrium vs vs "refined" for verite at least in terms timbre, not diving into FR or anything etc.

 

Made me picture someone sitting down, listening to their ZMF with literally no pads, just living their best life and not giving a damn.

Seriously tho, the difficulties of a direct-to-consumer business (having to be interpret situations you probably couldn't have predicted). On the flip side, it's always gratifying to see customers love your products.

 

Sweet! I ordered that one along side my Atrium so ill have both to listen to.

 

It's all relative imo.

Superlative aside, I do think that they are mostly comparable in terms of punch. The verite is a snappier headphone perhaps owing to it's beryllium driver and that speed does create a very 'punchy' sound. A big part of why I bought the verite was it's bass snap and texture.

Not wanting to come to any conclusions just yet but so far from what I'm hearing from the atrium that aspect seem to be bumped up a notch. The hits aren't as refine but is noticeably harder and more pronounced while sounding just a notch slower than the verite. The verite also seem to dig a bit deeper into the sub but again it's relative. Taking these into consideration, it depends on the individual's preference.

 

FYI, a bit early to talk about, but Atrium Closed in the works. Possibly late 2022 or early 2023.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/zmf-atrium-new-open-back-co-flagship.962609/post-16894497


And a quick peek of the prototype at around 36:54

 

Brief comparison against Verite. Note this is all relative and differences aren't dramatically huge.

Hearing them side by side one can easily tell that both are from the same family of sound but it doesn't take much time to start noticing a difference between the 2 headphones. Listening to Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd, when the solo starts around the 3.15 mark, the Verite has noticeably more presence in the treble and places the high hats more forward than the guitar. The Atrium on the other hand places more emphasis on the guitar riffs with the high hats sounding taking a backseat. It still retains similar level of extension as far as my ears could hear but exhibiting noticeably less sparkle and energy in comparison. The Verite can sound a bit peaky at times and the Atrium is smoother.

The midrange dip on the Verite becomes especially obvious when placed along side the Atrium and it presents the mids in a very different manner. Guitar riffs in particular from the Verite loses a bit of grunt cause by that fall off in upper mids and vocal doesn't sound as full range in comparison. The mids on the Atrium is very even. There isn't any dips and perhaps most notably there isn't an over emphasis on upper mid-range. This is one area where I prefer the Atrium over Verite. The midrange dip never really bother me that much as I seldom listen to female vocal centric tracks but guitar sounded more natural and is more to my liking and that is huge for rock.

Verite seem to dug a bit deeper into the sub whereas the Atrium have more of a midbass lift. It’s mild but the Verite extend lower into sub and faster but the Atrium has more heft and feels more dynamic. The Atrium in particular hits hard. Like real hard and it is especially noticeably with drum heavy tracks. Chilli Pepper's Blood Sugar is probably best album I've tested so far to exhibit this nature of Atrium with plenty of bassline and drum heavy tracks like Mellowship Slinky in B Major, Give it Away, Sir Psycho Sexy and it's title track. The Verite does reach lower and is a bit more precise and faster but loses out in overall weight. I'd recommend this album for anyone looking to hear just how dynamic the Atrium can sound.

Timbre is especially hard for me to describe as it is not something I'd normally look out for unless it is outright off like an unmodded hd800 for example. But the Atrium sound quite noticeably different from the Verite in direct comparison. There is an underlying richness throughout the entire mid band frequency that the Verite doesn't have. Probably due to the difference in driver used for both headphones. I do seem to prefer this sort of sound when listening to strings, drums and wind instruments etc but felt indifferent when it comes to hiphop or electronic music.

The Atrium sound a bit airier and more open but otherwise soundstage seem very similar in width and depth to my ears. Nothing noteworthy. Technicalities are very similar with the Verite having a slight edge in resolving finer details, overall separation and having better extensions on both ends but not a deal breaker. If you want technicalities get the Utopia.

Overall I'm liking Atrium. The dynamics alone are simply astonishing and is what got me hooked on first listening. Might be too early to tell which I'd prefer in the long run as I've only had it for 3 days but the more I listen to it the more the more I'm leaning towards this. As I'm starting to explore wider range of genre in my library with the Atrium, the gap only seem to widen for the Verite. I've not owned any biocell drivers besides the Atrium and I must say this is fantastic and a great addition to ZMF's lineup. Verite has been my main headphone of choice for the past few years but I can see myself listening to nothing but Atrium for the coming months.

 

Making me even more excited than I already was...

Look at that cherry's wood grain. Your pair is simply gorgeous.

 

Follow up after listening more to Atrium with the "Marv mesh".

TLDR summary - It's still the same headphone, and I still want to buy it. The "character" of the headphone changed a lot between the completely closed mesh vs the "Marv mesh". Marv mesh sounds like much less ZMF sauce and less of the original very euphoric, full, rich, and organic sound. Still great macro-dynamics, especially in the bass and still very energetic. However, the energy is now more in the individual notes and less so in the "PRaT or flow and swings" of the song. It also sounds less warm now overall but there is actually a little more bass and the quality of the bass seems to have improved slightly as well.

Also, between the different amps I heard this time, there was a very noticeable impact between the power output of the amp and being able to really "grip and control" the driver.
-----------------------------

Context:
I originally expected this to be a brief 4-5 sentence follow up but this is actually going to be a lot longer than I originally expected. I will explain in more detail below but in short, more changed than I originally expected. I think this is because this headphone is actually much more amp picky and maybe even tube picky than I originally thought. I suspect best results will be on an amp that can deliver a lot of power to really grip and control the drivers or an overall chain that can really play up on the strengths of the headphone.

Setup:
All listening was with the "Marv mesh" except for where briefly went back to the "closed mesh" to confirm the differences and the Autuer lambskin perf pads except where I mention otherwise. Note that out of an abundance of caution @ChaChaRealSmooth gave permission to roll the mesh but also explicit instructions about how to not mess up the driver and the mount, the mesh, and headphone itself. I would completely understand if this was not an option for the loaner tour or eventually the end consumer given a low enough but still non-trivial risk of damage.

Chain - Yggdrasil A2 / Holo Spring 2 (NOS mode) --> DNA Stellaris swapping between Acme 2A3 and the Elrog (thank you @dncnexus for the Elrog loaner) rectifier OR vintage RCA 2A3 black plate (not spring top though) and the KR rectifier, and a special input tube --> Atrium with pad rolling and the stock ZMF black cloth covered cable, the included OFC cable, and my own ZMF copper/silver hybrid cable as well. I do not have a silver only ZMF compatible cable to try with.


50/50 between the 2 DACs on different tracks (normally I prefer Holo Spring 2 80% of the time on Stellaris), Acme + Elrog combo, and the OFC cable by a small amount. Note that rolling tubes also yielded a bigger difference than normal with the Atrium. Also note that for my Utopia, I prefer the Acme + KR and for Auteur, it's ACME + either rectifier.

Pads - I tried again with Autuer, Universe, and BE2 pads (all perf lambskin) and still prefer the Auteur pads regardless of whatever else. However, with my own universe hybrid pads vs perf lambskin universe - they seemed to even out the little dips and peaks that I perceived in the highs of the FR a bit but at the cost of a tiny bit of plasticity in the mids and treble timbre. Will probably end up with variants of the Auteur pad when I (eventually) order this headphone.

Amplifier Power Output and Driver Control:
This has not confirmed by anyone yet and I did not perform any kind of detailed technical analysis or harmonics, decay, transients, or other measurements off of the different amps, but there was a very noticeable difference that I was not expecting with this driver when I went from chacha's Starlett (440mW output at 50ohm) to 3 other amps that are all capable of delivering 2-10+ times more power.

Long version:

Spoiler

First, I listened again with chacha's DNA Starlett. It sounded about the same as last time minus mesh differences. I then listened on his one off EC Ultralinear (idk the exact power rating, but much more power output) and this amp completely woke the driver up so to say. Although the resolution of the 2 amps are approximately on par with each other using most other headphones including other ZMFs, the Atrium drivers sounded much better controlled with the EC UL and I really preferred the UL with the Atrium as there was a similar "grip the drivers" thing talked about here for other higher powered amps. My complaints above were lessened (beyond the mesh swap). There was "less looseness" in the sound (that I absolutely didn't hear before) and more + better texture, especially in the bass. Transients were cleaner. Sound was more lively and visceral.

When I listened later with my Stellaris, I immediately realized initial my extrapolation of how the headphone would sound based on the Starlett listening was wrong (and no EC UL that day to help me realize this sooner) and my original post has been edited to reflect this. Although the Stellaris does not "just sound like a more resolving Starlett", usually they're similar enough that I know what to expect between the amps. But the same thing happened - the extra power output of the Stellaris (2W into 50ohm) vs the Starlett (440mW into 50ohm) controlled the driver much better. Just not to the same degree as the EC UL. Same thing about my initial complaints too, noticibly less. This happened regardless of tubes so I don't think it was just because the ACME 2A3 has more harmonics covering up the issue.

Lastly, I tried with my Cavalli LC (5W into 50ohm) and although it's noticibly behind the Stellaris in technicalities with just about any capable headphone, it exhibited better driver control with the additional power, although not as much as I expected or as much as the UL (I speculate this has to do with the circuits used). While I don't know the power output of the EC UL, I think based on this, I can safely say that while you can definitely enjoy this headphone on a lower power output amp, it benefits from higher power much more than I initially expected.

Sound:
- Overall sound with "Marv mesh":
They're noticibly different with the new mesh. Again, it mostly fixed the initial complaints. Like the complaints are still there and audible if I listen for them, but it's not like before where it was enough that the issues inadvertently jumped out at me. The changes described above by Marv and approximately characterized the measurements match what I'm hearing. Key differences in TLDR summary above. Overall, there is less of the signature ZMF and Atrium sound and a little more of a "more like other headphones while still being ZMF sound".

On the flip side, there seems to be a lot more wood and a little more pad interaction now (there seemed to be less wood interaction before, but I may be wrong). There also seems to be a tiny bit of a 5 or 5.5k peak now (sensitive spot in my own hearing) and the entire region above 5.5k seems to have been boosted up or tilted up a tiny bit. I think this definitely contributed towards reducing my initial complaints. Even better, I can still listen as long as I want unlike the Utopia where I eventually have to stop after about 2 hours (and before my current setup, it was more like 2 minutes).

- Tiny bit of stridency but not annoying at all, actually makes some stuff from the 70's and 80's more enjoyable to me. Mild sibilance with specific test tracks, but it wasn't enough to annoy me or come up in regular listening.

- Resolution and overall technical performance:
After more listening, I would say Atrium has better technical performance than the Auteur. One thing to note though about this better performance - When compared to the Utopia, chacha mentions that Utopia and Atrium have similar levels of resolution and "other technical performance" on his Starlett with the Utopia being only slightly ahead and I completely agree. Similar story with my Vali2+ and Liquid Crimson and my own Utopia vs Atrium (i.e. it's not just the power thing above). However, on the Stellaris, it's immediately obvious that the Utopia has better resolution and other technical performance. Fine with me as I personally am buying for the overall sound signature I really like combined with the fact that it happens to have great "enough" technical performance for the price. For reference, IMO Utopia and SR1a still have the best technical performance of all headphones I've ever heard including various electrostatics and planars, but both come with their own significant issues with my own preferences. The Atrium with new mesh only comes with a few minor issues.

- Timbre: Overall, much better with Marv mesh regardless of pads used but still better with Auteur pads to me.

- Macrodynamics are still equally if not slightly stronger. Micro improved a bit.

- Transients: Still the same as initial impression minus the congestion issue in the bass below.

- Bass: Also has a more evened out AND full slam in the bass which I like without just "adding a lot more bass". However, the only one downside with this Marv mesh to me was with the bass - the extra cup interaction made the bass a bit muddy in the transients (not in mids or highs at all) and bass got about 4/10 congested with busy music (was not congested with closed mesh). This may just be personal preference though - I had to get harder wood on my Autuers for the some of the same reasons but I don't seem to see a lot of pics of ZMFs in harder woods.

- Mids: About the same impressions as before.

- Highs: Cleaner and to me better in every way than before, even if the 5.5k peak is boosted a bit.

- Staging: About the same, slightly more defined, no more weirdness with cymbals or other instruments with a lot of energy in the higher frequencies.

Lastly, here is a very crude diagram to show I guess how full the bass, mids, and highs with the solid vs the marv mesh. Note that I use a relatively flat line only b/c I'm deliberately trying to NOT draw a FR curve, but rather just show how full or thick the sound felt. I also use a yellow circle to show which regions had the most of the euphoric sound I describe, fatter above b/c it was more euphoric before. The small bits of yellow line with the solid mesh means there was a little bit scattered here and there that would occasionally come through but it wasn't as constant.
Do NOT interpret any one section as boosted or minimized or good/bad/whatever based on this crude diagram, see not crude previous measurements for that.



Thank you again SBAF and @ChaChaRealSmooth for making good loaners possible, @zach915m and the ZMF team for generously allowing us to evaluate these, and @dncnexus for the tube loaner.

 

So the "Marv mesh" are actually the open vented on the DYI shop?
So totally there should be 3 mesh types:
1) solid/full (auteur default and previous Aeolus model default), orderable
2) vented (aeolus latest default), orderable = Marv mesh
3) "less vented" (default for Atrium) --> different pattern than 2) . Not orderable. This matches also with what said previously about a middle ground between solid/full and perf meshes (I mean, 1 and 2 )

Is this right? I too ordered the Atrium (from italian dealer) and just made him ask for both 1 and 2. So if this is not true, I have somehow to make him correct the order

Thanks!

 

So, I think you're mostly correct.... except for the details on the Aeolus. The Aeolus originally used the Bopp mesh made from steel (no longer for sale), and it was solid (no vents/perforations). Then, it was replaced with the Titan Mesh (radial vented) ~6 months ago (head-fi link where zach gave details about it).

And, I believe they began using the Titan mesh (solid) for the Auteur ~6 months ago as well.

 

I just did it for the HD800, for curiosity but i actually forgot to ask if this can be sold to members in the EU or if its just a US kind of thing. Anyway i don't seem to find anywhere that as the Atrium, for now, and i can imagine that you no one is considering a EU loaner?!

 

I would but things being what they are and me living with my octagenarian grandmother I'd rather avoid unnecessary risks of any kind.

 

I wonder if replacing the inside dust protectors on the HD800 series with titan mesh could tame some treble peaks, or if it wouldnt do anything at all.