General Headphone Help/Discussion Thread

Uh… i dont think any zmf sounds all that similar to 909 or focal tbh. Maybe atrium is the closest to focal clears in terms of stage placement (not size though) but thats still a massive stretch

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Are they more comparable to say a hd650 then? Im thinking auteur/eikon

Those still pack a punch

I retired myself from fosters cause of build quality but sometimes the staging and the massive punch are missed

Honestly I havent heard any cans that I would say are super comparable to any ZMF model. Depending on the things you like about each of those cans ZMF may be an easy choice, but it could also be an awful one.

I heard the Atticus can have a wide stage and lots of mid bass punch, couple that with your BHC you mentioned in a different thread and maybe you have a winner.
The Auteur Classic & OG are “ZMF neutral” according to Zach, you probably won’t find a lot of punch there.

There’s a little Audeze and ZMF overlap, the Eikon and LCD2 as an example.

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you know, good call. I was just trying to think about dynamic drivers and coming up blank, but yah, there are a fair few audezes with similar sound.

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I’ve never heard the Auteur but when I asked Zach years ago, he said if you really enjoy the senns then go with the Auteur. Maybe others here can give more info on that.

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Noticed the Auteur questions and thought this might be helpful.

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I can say only from the memory but I had Eikons and all fostex.

Eikon could definitely hit hard and the bass had nice texture. Fostex bass in general to me is faster and more precise. I would pick eikon for songs with natural instruments and vocals and fostex for all edm and fast rock and even jazz.

There was something in mids probably upper mids that felt off with Eikons especially when directly compared to fostex or focal clear og for example. It just sounded like it plays through blanket.

Treble for me did not had enough energy. I originally really liked Eikon after trying another headphone I picked fostex sb edition as the best all around closed backs for.

To be honest I would now pick probably focal clear og over Eikon and fostex as the best pick. All considering the right chain for each.

I did not hear auteur that could be interesting

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Yep, now my eyes are definitively turning on the auteur for its midrange timbre, and the ZMF pride of ownerships :melting_face:

I just hope the fostex had better build, already went that route and the clear og as well which I ended not keeping. Found some nice audio technicas to replace

I can see that being the case however I was not very lucky with audio technica as awkt was not good match for me and my chain at that time.

But with that said the adx-5000 is the one I want to add to my collection at some point after hearing it.

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Definitively one of the most unique flagships, and still holds up

Auteur, Exogal Comet+, decent amp, decent source and a decent cable is one combo I personally consider sweet spot for general purpose HP use with a wide variety of musical genres :+1:. That’s just me, but an easy combo to recommend for any average user. :hugs: Happy listening

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In reality im just a big fan of zmf pads and im looking for something to use with my bottlehead crack cause its been feeling alone lately

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Has anybody here tried any of the headphones from ETA?

Did a search on here, but nothing came up. Not high end, but interesting to me.

Try searching on Head-fi and SBAF, all over the place there.

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Yes, I know. I was just checking here.

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I own an ETA O2, which I use as a travel headphone because it’s easy to drive, easily fits into my backpack and sounds great IMO.

Prior to that, the ETA Semi-Closed was my travel headphone but I preferred the O2, so I gave the S-C to my son. I prefer forward mids and the S-C has slightly recessed mids in comparison to the O2, which I fixed using EQ, but I was happier not to need EQ with the O2. The mids thing is preference-related, and other people who have tried the S-C have confirmed that vocals sound slightly distant but aren’t as bothered by it as I am. Plus it was easily fixed with the XBass switch on my iFi Gryphon.

I think both headphones are outstanding value for money and are a logical next step from something like a 6XX. If I was on a budget of 1K or less, I would have no problem with the O2 or S-C being my only headphone. I’m fortunate enough not to be constrained by that budget, so I have other headphones that I prefer to use for desk listening.

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Thanks for the reply. I was looking at several pairs, but narrowed it down to two, these and the 109 Pro’s, used. I ended up buy the 109’s yesterday.

Hopefully they are a good addition to the collection.

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Testing Modhouse Tungsten Double Sided at home for the next couple of weeks…

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