ZMF EIKON & ZMF ATTICUS

As a thought to those of you who own these, make sure that you've got the gimbals adjust correctly, my pair when they arrived to me where off a little, I believe @zach915m in the video he posted, encourages a 30degree angle between the slider and the curved metal rod that holds the housing.

A boxy sound stage for me was more evident when I had the angle of the cups/pads un matched. Once you match them to that roughly 30degree mark, the bass actually increases a little more in quanity, while keep it's quality and tautness in check, but the sound stage is a little less boxy and the highs sparkle a little more.

I hate to say it, but these have a sweet spot, spend a little extra time to match the angle of each cup/gimbal as it makes a difference. Not a HUGE one, but a noticeable improvement

With regards to these lacking a $1200 sound, I can't really speak for that. I wasn't impressed with the Elear, and would only buy it used. I wasn't also impressed with the Utopia... at THAT price I expected more [can't say what lol but I expected more], so price wise I guess I have no idea what to expect at the $1000 mark. Frankly, I spent an ENTIRE day with a set of Magi 1.7s [with and without bass panel] on a pretty nice tube feed by my HM 901 and they... didn't leave me super impressed. That set up was around $3-4k They reminded me of a warmer version of my HE 4... but without the linear sub bass. I have no desire for IEMs sadly, and I've yet to hear a $1000+ headphone that impressed me as much as the Eikon did. Maybe if/when I get around to hearing the competition I'll change my mind. But after modding and upgrade my mid range cans upwards of $1000 these really grabbed my attention.

But here's the problem with ME is I more or less built a system around the Eikon. I bought my Ember II right after I found out I was going to get to review these, so also spent about two weeks rolling tubes to see what worked best. I've also got 3-4 different cables as well, since I already use the mini 4 pin XLRs on a few of my headphones, so I rolled cables till I found what worked best, I even purchased one from Zach to see if that would help, ultimately my coldest and clearest cable is the one I listened with for my review. That said, the tube I choose for the Eikon carries the same benefits to the rest of what I own.

So for the money, I have no idea what sounds better... but after spending around $2000 modding and buying modded headphones over the last 3 years, these really took the cake for me!

Though I will agree, 100%, that I do find my self turning these up from time to time, depending on the genre. Especially when somethings lacking, but after purchasing an SPL meter, I can verify that I typically listen to Metal at around 87.1dBs sometimes, about 2dBs quiter than my Cell phone was measuring, though that is an average figure I took while listening to Metallica's The Shortest Straw, min values for the track were 82.3 and max was 91.9, but I never need to listen any louder than at an average of 89dBs... I guess that's conditioning on my part, but for quite'r and more relaxing genres like orchestral sound tracks I average 70.2 dBs

So at no point do I ever feel the need to push these beyond what I felt or believed was the "reference" listening level. Speaking of that, I always thought it was 90, apparently some believe it's 85 dB, and I'm sure there's other numbers out there as well. But for better or worse, I've yet to need to push them any louder than what's safe

 

@Kattefjaes what was your setup with the Eikon?

 

The Eikon was supplied with XLR termination and an XLR to 1/4in SE jack tail.

I tried Icon HP8 Mk.2, Jotunheim, Vali 2, and an old Edirol UA-25 (which was on my desk when they arrived, normally for driving cheesy ANC headphones in the office). I also tried a Sony WM1A via a Pentaconn to XLR balanced adaptor. Nothing sounded particularly bad- even the Jot didn't sound too glarey on bright music (I quite liked the combo, esp balanced).

As for DACs, I was using a Gungnir Multibit, and obviously the WM1A was its own DAC too.

 

Ugh I'm jelly, I wish I could have had a Gungnir Multibit to throw in my rig at the time. What tubes were you running btw? I found that sadly the cheaper 6SN7s didn't play well in my hybrid. An I had to really hunt for a good Sylvania... got a couple with poorer matching that didn't impress me

 

D'oh. After dropping a good chunk of change and waiting 3 months, I received my Atticus today only to find a 1mm x 1mm chip of black-coated aluminum gone from the piece above my right earcup straight out of the box. Sorry for the potato quality ... I've already reached out to Zach for assistance.

Update - As expected, Zach to the rescue!!

 

I'm sure Zach will take care of you. Aluminum is actually pretty easy to chip. Did you look for the little piece in the box?

 

I finally received my Eikons and after a few days of listening, I'm quite smitten with them. These are huge and heavy compared to HD650/HD800, but comfortable so far.

I don't have much to add to what everyone else has been saying except I feel that I feel that I'm hearing new details not because it necessarily out-resolves anything else I've been using, but because of the isolation from street noise and my window AC (Brooklyn living). I forgot how important that can be.

It has a beautiful slightly downward-sloping signature, but I'd love to tilt it a tad leaner so they're closer to my more neutral Philharmonic BMR 2-channel setup. Maybe I'll contact Sonarworks to see if they can give me a perfectly flat calibration profile so I can make use of their tilt feature for a primitive adjustment.



UPDATE: I got a reply from someone at Sonarworks and they sent me a flat.swhp profile (thanks!). It might be useful for people that have Sonarworks but are using an unsupported headphone and want to use the bass boost and tilt features. PM me if interested.

 

Keep those Eikons in sunlight for darkening


I am letting go some big fav cans of mine, (Eikon Pauduk & HD800 soon).
Just giving heads up for members here.
Reasons are my needs changed in new home and new wify keeping me from hoarding headphones lol.

 

I keep reading that the Eikon has a larger soundstage than the Atticus. To my ears they are actually very different in soundstage with the Atticus casting a much bigger one. Could be my gear revealing such or how they responded to tube amps.

 

Personally, the Atticus had a more width to my ears, but the Eikon is deeper and has better imaging. I've actually updated that graph even further, sound stage is a poor term, I've since changed it to Imaging, as the Atticus does have a wider or bigger image, but it's occasionally not as accurate nor as deep. There for it doesn't image as well imo, but to say the Eikon has MORE sound stage doesn't make much sense, as you've commented on your self



Also worthwhile, I've managed to find an LCD XC to demo! So at some point I'll be comparing my Eikon to another closed back totl,

 

Follow up to my previous post after having Eikon for a while and recently getting the Dragon Inspire IHA-1. In short - I was pretty wrong, I now want to throw my Mjolnir 2 away, and you should figure out it you really need a closed headphone before purchasing.

Over the last few months I found that I actually didn't use Eikon much. I didn't need the isolation at home. It didn't help the Eikon that I got an HE-6 not long afterwards. Using the Mjolnir 2, I found that detail and separation was actually kind of low, bass wasn't quite as clean as I originally mentioned, and the treble felt a bit off in a way that was hard for me to pinpoint. It was by no means bad, but it just didn't have a purpose.

It turns out a number of my complaints were really with the Mjolnir 2. I guess that's what people mean when they say Eikon is very revealing of your chain. With the Dragon Inspire IHA-1 - bass is noticeably cleaner and more textured, microdynamics are significantly better, and I can now actually follow complex, layered passages. It doesn't quite slam as hard, but that is a more than acceptable trade-off for me. The Eikon was never the punchiest headphone (compared to something like the TH-X00) anyway.

That said, comparisons to other (open) headphones still reveals deficiencies. It is no HD800 in terms of technicalities (leaving FR aside). I'm not sure how much better it is than HD650 other than bass quantity and isolation. You could literally buy both of those for the price of an Eikon. I think Eikon does have a niche (primarily people who need closed), I still really do like mine, and I'm going to be keeping an eye on what Zach is doing for sure.

 

I feel like the Eikon stumbles a bit in very layered/busy passages, compared to my HD650M or HD800 (SDR and rug liner modded). It's a tiny bit "congested", without being actually slow- when things aren't busy, twangy transients are nice and crisp. Maybe this all goes back to the cup resonances, which can clutter things a bit.

Bass is a bit overblown, but still safely within the realms of taste rather than pathology; to be crude, it's Nicki Minaj- which may divide opinion. It manages to be thick without being too obviously distorted, though, which is fairly impressive. It's also not one-note bass, thank Bob. You can hear what the bassist is doing, that there are individual notes rather than just pulses.

After living with the Eikons for a week, my initial impressions still stand. Maybe the highs are a bit too rolled-off, and it still sounds a bit "boxy". The stage is tiny. However, for a close-backed can it's pretty decent, you can dial yourself in after a few minutes.

I do like the tuning and tonality, these shortcomings aside. They're very much headphones for putting your favourite album on and kicking back, rather than peeping at technicalities. Would-be marine biologists should look elsewhere for excessive plankton, though.

They are quite unwieldy, and because of the mass and width, you get a weird angular momentum effect when turning your head. They do press on your cheekbones a bit, though at least the pads are super-roomy with lots of ear space. You can get used to wearing them, though they can be a bit much in hot weather, compared to light open-backed cans or IEMs. They're very nicely-built, mind you.

They're interesting, and very pleasant to listen to. The tuning is deft, and feels like it has been the subject of a lot of care. There's a lot to like. They're still never going to sound better than the best open-backed options. They're also relatively expensive- while I would have a use case for a pair, I am fairly sure I don't have $1200 of use case.

A really interesting and well-made pair of headphones, well worth a listen if you they might scratch an itch, though. I'm going to pack this loaner up now, ready to send it onto the next lucky victim.

 

Happy to hear you got better detail moving to another amp, I didn't need closed backs until I got married, the wife doesn't like to hear my HE 4 on blast every night so for me the combination of detail and smoothness is a real winner. For busier passages I'd recommend getting drier cables and tubes for your amp, my Sylvania 6sn7 is know for it's "lack" or "really transparent" bass, some say it lacks bass but others admit that maybe it's just not adding bass like a lot of tubes do, either way having less low end helps with busier passages on the eikon, the same can be said for cable. If you need a closed back I found a upocc Copper wire cable does much better than OFC, I ironically use the lovely OFC I got from zach with my HE 4 [which really needed a little extra body]

still it's not an open back, but after spending 700-800 on modded Dennons and Audio Technica's this was a CLEAR step above what I'd owned in the past! I'm waiting to try the LCD XC to see how it compares there as well,

 

^^^ I absolutely, positively, emphatically suggest you do not waste your time with the LCD-XC!!!!

At least don't spend money for the experience. Audeze took everything they did well with the LCD-X and ruined it. Its the heaviest headphone in existance, which means short listening only, if you can tolerate the sonics long enough for it to be an issue...

 

I didn't think they were that heavy or uncomfortable, after a minute or two of adjustments. I wouldn't ever want to listen to them again either...

 

Also, there is a new wood option for the A&E - Camphor.

 

Well the only money I'm wasting is shipping, but I'd like to hear it for my self just for the sake of consistency.

And yea I saw the Camphor option it's gorgeous!! I'm curious to read how it differs in sound from Cherry an Paduk, from what I understand it's not as heavy as Paduk but has tighter pores than Cherry, so hopefully it'll sit as the in between for the two,

 

Oh man, that Camphor is really pretty. I wish that had been an option when I ordered my Eikons, I may have gone for that.

Anyways, I'm very happy with how my Eikons turned out. I ordered it in cherry with charcoal gimbals. As far as I know, its the only copy with this combo. Zach sent some pics yesterday. I will bring these to the Socal SBAF meet next Saturday if anyone in attendance wants to hear them.

 

There is a place for wood like cherry that is very uniform in tone and color, but I tend to admire the more colorful and varied grain of other woods. Canarywood, monkey pod, Ziricote, flame\birdseye\quilted maple, mahogany, cocobolo, sapele, etc. (Especially Ziricote - such a beautiful wood.)

I'm glad Camphor is another option, I think it is a very interesting wood.

 

There is an one-off purpleheart Atticus that has been for sale for a while.

https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/ic-zmf-atticus-purpleheart.852959/