ZMF Auteur - An open back ZMF

Did not find yet any posts on front damping Auteurs, as Hands hinted at, to mitigate some of the treble emphasis. The treble is a bit too accentuated for my taste also.

Here my very amauterish experiences of some of the often used tweaks, hopefully useful.

Would be great if others, esp. the more experienced Friends with with measurement setups have any experiences they could share.

Chain: Auralic Aries - AES - YggA - RCA - Ragnarok/Magni 3 -1/4" - Auteurs, Teak ,with Auteur pads (the ones that came with the headphones).

(I know RCA and 1/4" are gimping the chain, however the XLR output of YggA is feeding Freya and speakers and I was too lazy to switch, and I was comparing several single-ended amps at the same time).

Do not have a measurement setup, just compared by listening to
- Another Brick in the Wall pt 2., The Wall, Pink Floyd, 1985 CD rip
- Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, Roger Waters, ?year CD rip
- Time, The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, 199? Collectors edition CD rip
- Enter Sandman, Black Album, Metallica, 199? CD rip

Materials tested
- 3 layers of 3 layer toilet paper
- 2 layers of 3 layer toilet paper (.i.e strip one layer away from the above material)
- 1 layer of 3 layer toilet paper (ie. strip one layer fromm the first material)
- 2 layers of 2 layer local kleenex equivalent (quite dense)
- 1 layer of 2 layer local kleenex equivalent
- MrSpeakers doggy treat black foam disks
- (~2mm) rug liner, sort of cross between the two middle ones in Spoony's picture: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/akg-k7xx-modding.233/page-4#post-15679

With layer I probably mean "ply" but my English fails me with these technical audiophile terms.

I cut pieces a bit larger than the pad opening of each material and just put them on top of the Auter pad cloth and slightly under the pads to keep them in place.

Results
- 3 layers of toilet paper, 1 or 2 layers of kleenex equivalent, doggy treats and rug liner somehow reduce the bass impact or dynamics too much for my taste. The sound is somehow dead. Is this what overdamped sounds like?
- any combination of materials in various orders also kills the bass/dynamics
- kleenex kills details and treble
- 3 layers toilet paper kills details and treble
- 1 layer of toilet paper dampens the treble a smidgen, but not quite enough for me. Bass/dynamics not at all or only minimally impacted. Possibly good for those who like a bit more treble.
- 2 layers of toilet papers seems to be the sweet spot for me so far. Treble (cymbals) still clearly audible, bass/dynamics a bit reduced but not too much. I think. Need to continue listening for longer period to be sure.

Got Creatology foam incoming, will test that also. Hell of a job trying to source it in Europe, as I do not know anything about crafts and crafts shops that might provide a simiilar European equivalent material. Any hints along those lines would be greatly appreciated.

 

@PTS seemed to be content just using the Loki to address the treble on the Teaks, when I still had them.

 

Thanks, that would be one comparatively simple solution!

 

I also find the Auteur’s treble with Auteur pads to be slightly overemphasized for my tastes. I however don’t think it’s significant enough to require modding like the HD800 does. The Auteur is very close to neutral and switching to a warmer amp can do the trick if you don’t want to use Eikon pads.

I have the EC ZDS and DNA Stratus, both connected to Yggdrasil A1. I feel the Stratus is the better pairing with the Auteur as it’s slightly warmer. The treble is smoothed out without sacrificing detail. The ZDS has more treble energy and I prefer it with the HD 650 and ZMF Atticus.

 

I know it's a bit off-topic, but having owned both ZDS and Stratus myself, I could never understand why people say Stratus is a warmer amp than ZDS. For pairing with bright phones (e.g. Utopia, HD800), I always felt the ZDS was warmer and more colored (in a tastefully done way) than Stratus. The ZDS also threw a wider and even deeper soundstage, whereas the Stratus was more intimate. The Stratus was neutral and a bit more resolving, i.e. superior in terms of technicalities, and did a better job with reasonably efficient planars.

The only plausible reason I can think of is that my Stratus was the latest revision (2017) which, according to Donald North, has better technicalities at a slight tradeoff of warmth compared to previous revisions (somewhat in the direction of Stellaris).

 

The Stratus, at least my second revision did have a tendency to be warm/romantic with all the S plates I've tried. The 6N1P tubes are thicker than the most 6BQ7A which are lighter sounding. Mono and dual flat plates are much more neutral sounding with the right rectifier and input tube.

 

I have the most recent revision which was updated by Donald around 3 months ago. Stock tubes for the Stratus, and everything stock on the ZDS except a Sophia Electric 6SL7. I prefer the low output setting on the Stratus, and high gain on ZDS. It's interesting that you've had a different experience with the two amps. I may go back and do more comparisons.

I definitely agree though about the ZDS soundstage. It's the most noticeable difference when comparing the two amps and is one of the reasons I feel it has great synergy with the HD650

 

A short mini review / comparison after spending more time with the ZMF Auteur during it's loaner tour. I had a shoot out between the Auteur and a bunch of other headphones that I currently own (see below). I wrote in a stream-of-consciousness while listening, so apologies in advance for this being a loose and fast collection of thoughts. I listened to a lot of music, but the one that best defined the differences between headphones was 'Cecilia' by Thomas Dybdahl. It's a dynamic and very well recorded folk / rock song.

Denon AH-D7000
- Forward acoustic guitar with lots of detail and spank, slightly bloated and muddy bass with some mid bass bleed, vocals a little lower in mix but present enough, drums somewhat pushed back in the mix. Admittedly not the best song to show off the D7000, electronic music in generally where it shines.

HiFiMan / Massdrop 4XX
- Softer sounding acoustic guitar with less zing, less bloat and bleed but still a little mud in bass, vocals and drums a little more forward in the mix. Possibly the best balanced pair of headphones overall, but not overly inspiring.

ZMF Auteur
- Acoustic guitar lower in the mix but has lots of percussive thump and texture, bass is clear and well separated from the rest of the frequency range, cymbals have lots of sparkle, vocals a little lower in the mix, drums higher in mix and very clear. Impressive separation overall.

Audeze LCD-2 F
- Soft sounding acoustic guitar but with more bite and texture than 4XX, bass is clear and distinct but softer than the Auteurs, vocals high in mix but slightly veiled, everything feels very forward.

The Auteurs were my favorite headphones of the group, with one caveat - they're a little on the heavy side. Definitely lighter and more comfortable than the LCD-2 F, but not quite as head-friendly as the 4XX. Nothing beats the D7000 for comfort and weight, plus they are closed back so are suitable for things like airplane travel. As I wear headphones for hours when working, comfort is equality as important as sound quality. It's also hard to beat the D7000 for top end clarity (almost on a par with the HD800) but the Auteurs get close. I'd say if you're looking for something in-between a D7000 and LCD-2 F, the Auteurs are for you. The Auteur has similar bass to the LCD-2 F, although the former is better balanced and richer in texture. It's really insane how good the bass texture is. If the volume creeps up to anything approaching moderately loud on the D7000, the bass bloat becomes too much. If I'm nit-picking, I find the Auteurs have slightly weird sucked out / hollow mid range thing going on with some recordings, which could possibly mean they're more V shaped than the D7000? Nothing that a little EQing couldn't fix.

All in all, a big thumbs up for the ZMF Auteurs!

Edit: It's also worth mentioning that I was using a HiFiMan EF5 headamp, which is very flattering to peaky treble headphones such as the D7000 and Auteur. I didn't have any issues with them being bright or sibilant, although YMMV through different headamps.

 

I'm assuming you used the RME ADI-2 Pro as your DAC? Any de-crapifiers or anything?

Thanks for the impressions!

 

RME ADI-2 Pro > tube preamp tape-out on VK-3000SE > HiFiMan EF5 > headphones.

Nothing fancy in the chain, no EQ tweaks.

 

Wow, I was feeling guilty about not getting some impressions in. I just read @PTS comments above. They pretty much cover mine, including the occasional sucked out mids. It freaked me out a bit at first. The phenomenon is definitely track dependent. I owned the D7000’s a few years ago, and the description is pretty much as I remember them, so I suspect the comparison there is accurate.

To add, in a completely subjective way, I found the auteur to have a very engaging tonality that really kept me listening. Much more romantic and involving than my Ether C non-flows. I’m very interested in owning a pair. If the clothes dryer hadn’t blown up, I probably would have a pair right now. They seem to be a reference level can with balls. Ok, I’m getting very subjective, and heading into testosterone analogies. Read @PTS comments. He heard them essentially as I did.

Edit to add my rig: RPi with a digipro and volumio to Gungnir Multibit A1 into a Freya with no tubes, passive to a Liquid Crimson. Music runs the gamut from jazz to old metal, lots of Diana Krahl, Dire Straights, old Ozzie, Pink Floyd, Chris Stapleton.....

 

Prior to receiving the loaner, I've limited my reading of other impressions to have minimal expectation bias, and that I wanted to love these so much since I love the biocellulose driver with wooden cups combo in the Fostex TH-X00.

Most of my listening impressions were done on my JRMC on PC through HDMI -> NAD C510 -> EC Aficionado no feedback with WE396A driver and swapping between EH and EML Mesh 2A3 tubes, as well as auxiliary impressions on my friend's Modi 3 + Mjolnir 2 w/Siemens E88CC A-frame tubes setup. I used Auteur pads first and longest, with some Eikon pad usage later.

Things I liked about the Auteur:

• Layering is fantastic, it really doesn't struggle at all with complicated mixes, around the level of 800S.
• Timbre is pretty great, instruments feel like instruments
• Clarity on the Auteur pads is much better than either of my Senns (800S/modded 6xx) and was rather refreshing. However, Eikon pads seems to lessen this somewhat.
• Bass is extremely clean and tight and the subbass extension is quite nice.
• Pads are extremely comfortable for leather and breathe well, and the Auteur is generally comfortable headphone from clamping and weight perspective.
• Pads do a pretty good job of changing the flavor, the Auteur pads have a more HD600-like feel and the Eikon pads have more X00-like feel.

Things I disliked:

• There's too much energy somewhere in the treble and is really fatiguing to my ears after long listening sessions. This also has the effect of having a bunch of macrodetail. Eikon pads seem to remedy this somewhat as well.
• I really wished the midbass was a little emphasized to match the subbass, as is, I hear the fundamental of a kick drum but missing out on the harmonics that makes the beat felt better. Switching to the Eikon pads helps blend the midbass into the subbass better, but I like how my modded 6xx does this region better.
• Eikon pads seem to affect how well it handles layering.
• Like I get they're open back headphones, but the isolation is hilariously bad there's no shelving effect you usually get with most open headphones.

Things I thought were ok:

• Headstage size seems somewhere around the 6xx, maybe a little bigger but not much.
• U-shaped FR response, and only really seems to tip up at the extreme edges on the Auteur pads, but Eikon pads makes it a bit more X00-like i.e. the sides of the bathtub are a little wider but still wish it was less tipped up in the treble.
• Mids feel somewhat recessed, somewhat apparent on the Auteur pads but definitely more noticeable with the Eikon pads.
• Transients could be better, particularly leading edge but decay is pretty nice.
• Modded 6xx does plankton a little better and the 800S still outresolves the Auteur only by a small amount though.

In conclusion, as I hinted in an earlier profile post, the Auteur has me interested in the other ZMF offerings. There are hints of a house sound that I do like as well as how effortlessly it renders complicated mixes; however, the tuning of the Auteur, specifically the treble, isn't for me and I'm hoping that perhaps Atticus, Aeolus or Verite would be more to my liking.

 

Have you heard the Eikon? Just wondering why that's not on the list.

 

I'm assuming it sounds like a closed version of the Auteur with the Eikon pads. I'll audition any that I can get my hands onto, but I'm wishing for more midbass and a bit less treble heat, and at least from what I've seen, this would most likely be the shortlist.

 

I would say no, but yes...

The Eikon would satisfy your wish for a less hot treble, but I'm not sure about the desire for an increased midbass. I think the Eikon has more midbass than the Atticus, but relative to itself, it also has more sub-bass than mid-bass. Imagine you printed the Atticus FR plot on a piece of paper. Now tilt the page to the right about 10-15° (more bass, less treble). That seems about right.

 

Yeah I figured as such, I think there's no way of getting around the U-shaped response but with a different shape of U. I just love the way the 6xx does kick drums and mids too much /shrug.

 

Verite might fit the bill...

 

Uh, no one laugh but I kinda made this for myself as a reference when the Verite measurements came out. It's only FR so no info on ringing or distortion or anything, but here's SPL-matched (I think) Auteur (red/green) v. a rotation of Atticus, Eikon, Verite, and HP-3 (purple/cyan), in that order. Might come in handy.

 

Measurements posted: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...ions-and-measurements.5338/page-2#post-233151



I am starting to consider getting Auteur for myself. But will wait until Verite and Aeolus are available. Love these handcrafted wooden cups.



Atmos cable is really good. Very flexible and having nearly zero microphonics. It seems to cost an extra $150, but worth considering if one is getting his/her end-game headphones.



The loaner unit of Auteur Teak weighs 467g (16.5 oz) without cable. A bit heavier than Elex (438g or 15.5 oz), but I feel auteur is lighter on head because of the aid of suspension headband.

If I have to say nitpicks, a little more clamping may help to distribute total weight into horizontal and vertical head pressure. Zach's headphones commonly have too loose clamping. To me LCD2C clamping was just to my liking.

Anyway Kirk's auteur has been packed and is waiting to ship to the next person tomorrow morning. I will miss these headphones a lot.

 

It seems to correlate that the Auteur is more suitable to people who would prefer an HD600 over an HD650. Especially with the Auteur pads it exhibits the same neutral midbass and tipped up treble.