ZMF Blackwood

Firstly cross off the alpha prime lol.
Then,
Blackwood if you want a more neutral, clean, completely closed headphone with Dat sub bass but can be a bit heavy and

the omni (cherry) if you want massive soundstage while having decent isolation, a more lush sound signature and Dat sexy as hell omni look. Talk to Zach to get an idea of what you might like more.

Edit: take my impressions with a heap of salt because they are really not my impressions.

 

i was under the impression that the blackwood omni had more bass than the blackwood, is that not true?

 

Not sure I completely agree with Vanheim. You heard these? Omni does have more bass and sub bass, doesn't have ability to tune low end or much if any isolation. Soundstage was different, but found the tuning to be pretty similar. Maybe it was the amp I heard them on, but Omni had a bit more detail, it was just hard to hear on the much bass heavy omni. Again, same driver in each, just different cans and tuning. I think the omni costs more as it is more work, not necessarily better. I once heard Zach say people that listen to low volume prefer the omni, while people that like to turn it up prefer the blackwood. I am a moderate volume guy and found blackwood to fit my preferences.

 

Yea scratch off the Primes. Overpriced to death. I would throw the Enigmas into the mix if you can find them on market since they usually go for $500-$600ish, while a new one is $900 I think. They were my favorite closed headphones.

 

I must say, I haven't heard them myself, just repeating what I've come to learn about them. I didn't mention the omni (blackwood) I only talked about the Blackwood (African blackwood) and Omni (cherry). What wood version of the Omni did you hear? Also my comparisons thus should be taken with heaps of salt. Not grains lol.

 

Yes, that is true. But the blackwood omni is insanely heavy (570g), think about that, would you be able to bear the weight? And the blackwoods omni have a bit of a recession going on in the mid range.

The cherry omni (433g-ish can't remember exact weight), as far as I can tell, doesn't.

The Blackwood (African blackwood) has a more neutral sound signature with deep sub bass (not necessarily deeper than blackwood omni). It has very 3d soundstage but omni soundstage is still larger.

 

Thank you very much for your recommendation. I will definitely look out for Enigmas.

 

@Decomo If looking at closed backs in that range I would urge you to check you lff paradox and slant as well.

 

Thank you for the suggestion.
so many choices.....

 

Second the recommendations for lff paradox, lff paradox slants and lff enigmas. Wonderful phones.

 

Decided to join the club. So far enjoying more than the Vibros I had. More neutral with better sub bass presence.

 

That black finish schiit Valhalla looks amazing I must say.

 

anything the vibro did "better"? i've considered upgrading to the blackwood or a bw omni

 

Vibro is a bit softer all around and especially on the low end than blackwood, which may be preferable to some. Because the sub bass is also less present it also sounds like mids aren't pushed as far back. I preferred the blackwoods as I thought they had smoother transitions between bass and mids, the bass was tighter, aforementioned sub bass and a bit wider stage.