Totally agree.

I swear I'm gonna start using that term to describe literally everything that I'm not listening to regularly lmao. Yeah but it'll get really high marks if its resolution and stage keep up with the price just like this thing did so that should definitely be the case

I'm definitely not experienced in judging headphones but I loved the Verite. It was my favorite headphone at RMAF.

metal571 did you ever get a chance to review/listen to the verite?

@@rhodey2952 Still haven't

metal571 yeah, I ended up picking it up. No regrets haha.

My room is so bad for that sort of thing unfortunately, need a properly treated studio

The Verite comes with a wood case option actually, and there's a couple different wood stands you can buy as well called the ZMF Salire. Maybe we should tell Zach to offer a glass case next

@@metal571 Do you know whether this specific headphone is for sale, even though its demo? Are you sending it back to Zach or is it going to go around the KZfaq reviewer circuit.

@@bconngem6005 I'm sending it back to Zach so it's not currently on tour from one reviewer to the next directly, at least. It is a minor B stock that was repaired and is now brand new at the time I received it with new drivers, so it's possible this exact unit may be available for sale in the future, but I don't know for sure

The R10 and TH900mk2 come to mind but I guess those technically aren't full open backs. Maybe you remember some more open back biocel stuff that I can't think of right now... I guess the HP3 and TH909 exist but I know for a fact the former is pretty terrible by comparison

Only Sony’s MDR-CD2000, which came out around 2001 and was both full-sized AND on-ear, yet supremely comfortable. But no way that headphone stacks up against the Auteur, so I think you’re right!

I think it is up there with TH-900. I have both and I am happy!

I want more intimate vocals too but have been having a hard time finding a flagship that does it for $2k. Did you end up finding something you liked?

good for metal?:)

Anything times zero is still zero :P

@@DonnyZofChaos but when u divide anyhting by 0 equals infinite

I did some extensive googling before pronouncing ambrosia, Auteur, and Aeolus so hopefully what I found in multiple examples online were right after all lol

Definitely not my cup of tea anymore but the 250 ohm version in particular remains amazingly capable in detail and soundstage for being a closed back. Glad you found something you like, that's the point of this channel

@@metal571 yeah. I got the 80ohm edition and the subs are perfect

Mids are definitely more aggressive here at the usual 3-4k spot than the Koss but the Koss has that odd 1.5k stat peak that Stax do as well, just not as forward

I won't consider returning, but if I get a chance to hear one somehow I'll probably end up on Andrew's Q/A again

I think that it a dynamic version of the LCD4 existed then that might be what I'd choose as the daily. Some planars have slightly off sounding timbre regardless of the detail and stats like the L700 have this overly weightless sound that's a different flavor. I'm mainly pointing out the differences in timbre here though, considering the LCD2F is my daily at home I'm not as concerned about fine grained decay and exacting timbre as some listeners I talk to

What's funny is that, the people who continuously criticize planars and especially Stax in timbre (like some people on sbaf) don't seem to realize that the most detailed and capable dynamics like hd800 and utopia for eg also have pretty off timbre and not necessarily more natural than super clean estats like l700,007 and 009.

Yeah I definitely wouldn't group Utopia and HD 800 into the "great timbre" group. There's clearly exceptions among each technology, ZMF is one of the best along with the 6x0s in capturing great dynamic timbre, LCD4 is ultra clean sounding but still has great bass slam, the 007 was a big departure from what the L700 is today, etc.

@@metal571 Most people I trust describe Sennheiser he60 as having similar tonality and timbre to hd600 and similar technicalities to 007/009, that's kind of mind boggling tbh. I don't know why Sennheiser just doesn't release a he60 successor or even re-release the same 20yr old headphone. Even, Stax is planning to re-release their most acclaimed headphone, the original SR omega.

@@akshat3516 HE-1 is a bit ridiculous and seems over engineered. Perhaps that is part of the reason for its price. I'd like to hear the SR-007 and LCD 4 but only the latter can be auditioned here, and the store is hundreds of kms away. The 007 with an energizer is about the same price as the LCD 4 or less here.

Yeah there's a chance, a local audio store carries one

Crap I might have forgotten to mention that, yeah this is a little more direct of a 6x0 upgrade than the Aeolus

Yeah you can usually schedule a listening session at their HQ I believe, just contact Zach through his website

It does

Yeah a lot of people have been asking for this so I'm going to start doing that in the middle of these

Yep those two are great choices but the 2F has the larger stage for even more fun with electronic stuff.

Not yet but it's on the list

metal571 awesome, can’t wait!!!

Yeah that's the tough one I thought about after this. Haven't heard the Clear at home yet but it is supposed to be like the Elex which would make it more tilted towards having that metallic mid treble flavor where the Auteur is a lot closer to the direct 600 upgrade

I know this is way too late but I just tested the Clears and Radiance yesterday. Build quality was not as good as I expected. And I surprisingly walked away concluding that I unexpectedly preferred the sound of the Radiance. The Clears began clipping easily at slightly louder volumes for tracks with prominent lower frequencies. I know ZMF build quality will be superior plus a much longer warranty vs Focal's 2 years. However, I will be going again this week to test them out further and try the Stellia and Utopia as well. For context, I am coming from a HD660s and an Ananda and running everything off an iFi micro idsd Signature. So that would be point of reference as I just got into this hobby. What did you end up getting?

I ended up with an equalized lcd2 actually

@@metal571 Nice! Those are literally the only ones on my list that I have yet to try, although amazon had the lcd1's available for 1-day shipping a few weeks ago. I had decided to try them but the left driver was dead on arrival. My question to you is which of the two do you prefer between Aeolus and Eikon in terms of the balance between smooth (not harsh or bright mids and highs, also no sibilance - as these were the issues I had with the HD660s and Ananda's) and bass response?

Definitely Aeolus for less fatigue

Atticus or the Aeolus for sure. Those two don't have overly forward mids so the electric guitars won't obliterate your ears

I'm always using the (now discontinued) Sennheiser HD 380 Pro as a live monitoring headphone so I can listen to the Rode NT1 I'm also using as I record

metal571 thank you :)

Which one do you prefer? I'm thinking about buying Empyrean, but I can't demo them sadly.

I reviewed Aeolus as well which should help

I'm looking at making a video attempting to describe how I use audiophile terms but since I haven't done that yet, soundstage is the size of the space the instruments play within, it can be wide or very small like a small room. Imaging is where the instruments appear to be coming from within the room and how well they can be pinpointed

DMS has a video explaining it: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l9unZNeQyZa0noE.html

Why because Z hyped it lol, I'd put more trust in a Verum One than that thing if I had to guess

@@metal571 Everyone hyped it. All the more reason to "crash the party" (which you wont because they are amazing when you get rid of the super magnetic covers).

@@thelastrhino2581 The only trash here are people that say thing bad without even trying it .

@@metal571 that's why I asked you because I trust your reviews

@@enjoshi-godrez8775 do you got them I have checked their FR and they are not that good the bass roll off after 100 hz that's way earlier for a huge planar and it shows it's a lil bit bright which it's absolutely not my style

You should probably see my Nighthawk review lol

Only briefly at CanJam. As far as I can tell they give the Stellia a serious run for the money. It's very hard to get ZMFs in for review or impressions. That company has really exploded I think in the last few years

Auteur

@@metal571 oh that surprises me but thank you for still replying even though this video is old.

@@Jordonater yeah I hope I said in this review that this is closer to sounding like an HD 600 because it has more upfront mids and treble than Aeolus, which is more akin to a dynamic LCD2 with better tuning but worse resolution and stage. And 598 is more aggressive in the mids than even HD 600 so definitely Auteur for you

@@metal571 I also noticed you said you listen to some electronic music and thats like 90% of my collection so would you maybe say i might still prefer aeolus?

EDM is why I prefer the LCD2 I own. But you have to EQ it

Not any time soon, my ears are not calibrated for IEM value at certain price points like they are for full size stuff

It's still not great in dynamics and you have to be into this sort of genre but one of the first things I try on most headphones is Dying Fetus - Subjected to a Beating. Very liquidy and well recorded sounding metal guitar tone there and excellent drum detail going on. Also perhaps even more importantly I've heard this damn thing on like 50 different headphones so I'm familiar with it

The albums of Tool are pretty well engineered.

Almost forgot they were back on Spotify, true. I think Slipknot's very first full self titled album (not MFKR) also suffers significantly less from the loudness war than their later stuff (my god vol 3 was some seriously bad production)

@@metal571 It is interesting that by sheer DR numbers the 10000 Days should suffer heavily from compression, but boy does it sound punchy! This is what I call great mastering.

Lol yeah it's not really related to that signature, take a look at my empyrean measurements. A lot less upper mids on the empy and the low mids bleed a lot more in from the upper bass on it

@@metal571 Right. From the measurements they actually look more peaky in the treble than these, yet everyone says they are "ultra-smooth". Damn, and I thought we'd finally get a tamer high-end headphone

@@thanossapiens the EARS is only so accurate especially from the upper mids and above. Treble is pretty relaxed on the Empyrean, I'd say the Auteur is a touch more aggressive. Aeolus is the warmer thicker more LCD2-like sound of the ZMFs

@@metal571 which would you say are the most treble relaxed cans in the $1500-3000 price range?

Empyrean is similar to night hawk and beats in tonal balance imho. In terms of sound I would put autuer above it, empyrean is pretty compressed in dynamics and the timbre is very off. They are close in detail retrieval.

I would take the 58x over those but that headphone doesn't do soundstage well

Do creative aurvana live or akg k553, or go straight to hd6xx, hd58X is in a weird place regarding price.

Sennheiser hd599 doesn't have have impactful or clean bass and beyer dt770 has killer treble peak and also unclear treble, both are bad options.

Geralt Of Rivia if you add in $100 for amp needed to drive 6xx then 58x might look better!

@@joefilter2923 Hd6xx can work with smartphone or pc, obviously you won't get the best of it but even without an amp it's still superior compared to hd58x imho.

Auteur easily, but not a fair comparison as it's twice the price

Truth have you listened to both? In what areas is the Auteur better? Resolution, sound stage?

Pretty damn true lol

What don't you like?

It is for me, mids end at about 5k just depends on how you define it

@@metal571 usually it is understood that the mids stops at 2khz,it's treble after that,but I can admit 2-4khz as high mids. But like you say,it depends and varies so..

@@vainxler yeah upper mids, exactly. I mainly call it that because the ear's main resonance is centered right around that area and that guitars are a midrange instrument and live there as well, that's all