I know m0n likes the ATH-AWKT (which I /fucking loved/ for pre-80ās-era music, but didnāt like as much as an all-rounder). Other than that, yeah, it seems like the main contenders are ZMF VC, DCA Stealth, and Focal Stellia, out of which Iāve easily heard the most love for the VC.
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The Utopia is very different from the Verite, so I see them as complementary. Thatās why I alternated between a Verite and a Stellia for the longest time, depending on mood and music. I also found that switching to the BE2 pads made the Verite sound a little more engaging.
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I generally agree, specifically with anything treble related with it. VC always felt too polite with the treble, and I know that many, many people had problems with pad rolling and zmf in terms of it actually kinda messing up the sound and I expected that too but using the Eikon Suede pads has been such a game changer that Iām honestly open now to pads either making or breaking a zmf headphone for me lol. I like what Iāve been hearing so much that I ended up emailing zmf to ask for opinions and I was told that looking into the Balanced Pad Suede (solid) might be worth and so I ended up buying it. Iāll be posting thoughts on it whenever it arrives.
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I find technically, the Utopia is a significant step up from the Verite, which youād expect given retail pricing, but used they are more or less the same price. However, the Verite will sound good on almost anything, and the Utopia requires a compatible source to get the best from them.
FWIW I absolutely hated the BE2 pads. I could have gone either way on Universe vs Auteur pads, though generally preferred the latter.
But many people do feel differently on those points, and some people love the relaxed sound, donāt get me started on how overrated I think the Aeolus is, but again there is a group of people who love them.
And like everything I post itās just my experience.
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Also stuff like this is always super important to note. Just like you mentioned, I also had a Fostex headphone and it was nothing of not awesome and better than the VC in most ways but it just didnāt meet the criteria of well rounded that the VC does for me. Thereās just certain things that not everyone appreciates similarly in gear and I think people who generally throw words like this headphone is just technically better in every way so I prefer it forget that there might be something real small that others appreciate alot about it
I think I might fall on this camp, even when I have a headache and shouldnāt be listening to gear I do LOL. Thatās why I need stuff like a lcd, Andromeda or VC that are chill but engaging enough at times.
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Haha, if we all liked the same thing, the world would be a lot more boring. I get where youāre coming from.
I actually disliked my Aeolus for the longest time, until I figured out that I was trying to make it sound like a ānormalā headphone using the suede universe pads, which were hyped up as the super duper Aeolus pads at the time. Then I tried the stock Aeolus pads (which Zach doesnāt make any more), and instantly loved then, because they pushed the Aeolus to an extreme warm & relaxed sound thatās just right for certain moods and certain types of music.
I actually think Rosson perfected the ZMF sound, because to my ears, the RAD-0 sounds like an engaging ZMF.
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New earmam portable amp on the horizon
https://www.instagram.com/p/CddXKNGMj6h/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
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Apart from the fact that you always use other headphones as a comparison, the Zmf doesnāt come off well.
It must also be said that they are probably one of the most versatile headphones on the market and sound good with any amplifier right from the start.
And that their true potential unfortunately lies in tube headphone amplifiers.
And sometimes you can read from the posts that people who use tube amps are much happier than those who go to SS amps and maybe spend their money on pads to get the best out of them.
Nothing against the Utopia headphones, but they are supposed to be good only if the rest of the chain is right, so a lot of spending if you want to get to the top end.
I wonāt be getting an Atrium any time soon, but I will get an Auteur that was built before the announcement and itās my first Zmf headphone in this class.
And Iām looking forward to whatās in store for me.
To get back to the topic,I think the Burmese wood is very nice for the VƩritƩ.
I donāt know yet if I will own one someday.
It wouldnāt be impossible, but I would like to hear it and compare it with the Auteur and the Atrium.
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Maybe not the same pricewise but LCD-XC 2021 rev is praised, and the Focal Radiance is a favorite of mine.
Iād love to try the XC but know thereās no way Iād keep it just because of the weight. As for the Focal - only one Iām interested trying is the Utopia. Never really liked the Clear MG I had (both sound and comfort wise) but everybody says the Utopia are a must try.
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The radiance is not like the clear imho. I think i put a review in the focal thread but also DMS and others had great youtube reviews.
New mass kobo dropping soon
2,200,000 JPY (~16k usd)
Its basicaly just 406 with se input alongside the bal. Tbh he bumped the price less than i expected
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I would buy one of these immediately if there werenāt only 9 that can be made, personally prefer to get things that arenāt made in this small of quantity (and it werenāt such a hassle to deal with shipping from Japan)
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Speaking with them it sounded more like it was 9 in the first batch, not just 9 total. I think they just need to order more parts to make more amps meaning a much longer wait outside of yhe first 9. I may br wrong here though as thete is clearly at least a decent language barrier
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There is something so appealing to the look of that unit that I cannot put my finger on.
Ill take the green lights but man that generic script font kills me.
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Itās looks similar to commercial a/v gear. I like it too.
He also does a very subtle Special Edition version with some small decorations designed to draw your eye away from the font.
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*did
He only made 2
There was a joke on my hockey team that whenever anyone got new gear on order we would talk about how cool its going to be and how it will have this killer feature. The feature was always a pink dragon going along whatever we got. This actually has that dragon.
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