When I purchased this DAC (except Black) I decided to stop there at least for the foreseeable future. I have it connected to my Roon Nucleus and Denafrips Iris DDC then my different amps. It is really good with my Bryston BHA-1 and my Quicksilver amp. Hope you like it as well.
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I finally picked up a ZMF Verite Open after many years of curiosity. It’s always been my favorite looking design from ZMF. After owning several Verite Closed models over the years, I ended up preferring my Auteur. Because of this, I held off ever seriously considering a Verite Open, thinking they’d be very similar since they share the same driver.
Then a beautiful Camphor Burl VO popped up on Head-Fi, and my willpower was no match. I made an impulse purchase out of fear that someone would snatch them up very quickly if I didn’t act fast.
Luckily for me, the VO has quickly become my favorite pair of ZMF headphones, after owning/trying most of them. I have an Aegis amp now with an assortment of excellent vintage tubes to experiment with, so I’m sure that is helping to bring out the best of these headphones.
I’m currently experimenting with pads, but I’m finding very little to complain about using the stock Universe Lambskins. The Verite Opem doesn’t get discussed too much anymore since it’s been out for so long, but their driver speed mixed with their laidback tuning really is something special. I think it holds up with other current flagships, at least amongst the models I’ve tried from ZMF (Caldera Open, Caldera Closed, Atrium Open, Atrium Closed) and my Meze Elite.
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It’s been a while but I figured why not drop in. Recently sold off some amps that i had laying around and settled on a GS-X mini. DACT n’ all.
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@Go-Kart You’re my hero. You’re newly married and still have a parade of gear arriving at your house.
When I was first married (a hundred years ago), my wife and I argued about whether to buy a surround sound system or a new couch.
Wife: Why do we need surround sound? The TV sounds fine as it is. Wait, you want to buy those 5 foot tall speakers? I like those tiny Bose cubes better. No, I don’t understand what a sub is.
Me: Why do we need a new couch? We already have one. Yes, I do understand that I am the only person in the world who was stupid enough to buy a white couch, and there are stains on it, but it’s still comfy. And also, there weren’t any stains until you started eating on the couch. (No, I didn’t actually say that last sentence).
We ended up buying both. She loves the home theater. And the first thing her cats did when the new couch arrived was start ripping it up with their claws LOL.
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lol, I think I get away with it in part because I put my old HE-500 on her head played Bold As Love and made her cry when we first met. She gets it. She knows I’m responsible and spend within my means. Plus, I never give her a hard time about the endless deliveries of clothes and shoes that she orders!
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HEDD D1
Binary EP321
I’ve actually had the D1 for a bit now, and it’s made itself home in my current headphone rotation. I’m using a Mirage MM-6 6.5" subwoofer that I purchased a while back for ~$30 (along with some passive radiators I don’t really use) in conjunction with it. Chef’s kiss. Honestly the sub has been one of my favorite purchases, since it’s improved my listening experience across all headphones.
The EP321 is “alright” in most respects, but the treble produced by the MEMS driver does have me wondering if the whole summit space will be even worth it come a few years once they really dial everything in. Waiting for a baby FUGAKU.
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Very interested in your impressions.
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I don’t have too much to say right now, but I like them a lot right out of the box. I got some complaints and some compliments already.
Biggest complaint for me is the headphone connector. I got both my DHC molecule cable and my viking weave bitfrost cable and I can’t use them because of the weird fit the Yamaha headphones have. I already contacted Peter on making me a DCA to 3.5mm converter that will work with Yamaha so I can at least use my Prion4 on them. A little disappointed on bass resolution and extension. I think the bass impact is awsome on these, kinda reminds me of the YH-1 bass for physical impact. The bass is probably really good, but I’m probably too used to DCA Stealth bass. I’ll probably A/B to the Tungsten bass.
Compliments. I think the vocals and acoustic sound really good. Probably the biggest highlight for me on this headphone. A lot of people hate the midrange on this headphone and I can see why. It reminds my of Audio Technica tuning on midrange. On the right setup and track, its probably one of the most musical thing I ever heard. Buuuuuuut, on the wrong track and setup, it can sound weird and honky. So far, on Valencia with Supratek 45 pre and Allnic HPA-5000XL, they sound tonally correct. What really amazes me on vocals and acoustic with the YH-5000SE is this airy echoy sound the YH-5000SE does with vocals that a lot of my headphones in my collection can’t really do as well as the YH-5000SE. It makes live music sound really magical that I don’t really got the words to describe it.
For my setup, I don’t know what I prefer. Leaning a little bit toward the Allnic HPA-5000XL because it really enhances what I really like about the YH-5000SE on this airy echoy stage and it really fleshes out the soundstage really well. Not sure yet, probably going to spend more time on both setup to see what I like more. Also its brand new, so it probably needs more time to burn in.
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Oh wow, hopefully you end up enjoying them!
Will be curious on your cable pairing thoughts.
Any reason why you went with yh5k over yh4k?
Just curious on your thought process.
And yes, burn those suckers in!!
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I was just listening to the YH-1 sometime this month and it reminded me how I wanted to try the YH-5000SE. So I just bought one and that’s about it.
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Meanwhile im looking for a used one without success…. Might just go new… cant forget the sound.
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$1k off (scratch & dent)…
Yamaha YH-5000SE Open-back wired Orthodynamic® headphones at Crutchfield https://share.google/KvX6OkHj0I23MYQm9
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Recently picked up the D1. Solid headphone, tho still trying to see what works best as for synergy. I lean towards my diy aegis amp atm. Still haven’t tried the mojo 2 or woo tube mini.
So I might be in the minority here…lol. I don’t care for the ear pads that much. Feel a little small and not as soft as I hoped for. I don’t mind the headband pad, though it could be a little softer. But I was thinking about different ear pads. I recently picked up a pair of Soulwit cooling pads for the HD650 (based on DMS recommendation). And they’re amazing for an aftermarket senn pad. Very close to stock sound. Anyways it got me thinking about the D1 so I started messing around. The pads come off easily. You can remove the rings and slide on your pad of choice. I have some ZMF pads laying around so I threw on the universe (I believe that’s what these are) hybrid pads. And I think these are very close to stock tuning, maybe a tad warmer (which is fine to me). Need more time to A/B but not bad. And definitely more comfortable to me.
Edit: the additional padding slack that you see at the bottom can be avoided if you know you want to keep this pad on. Just cut little slits where the clips are on the rings and it’ll be like stock.
For you guys who love to mod, have at it! Let me know what you think!
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Got the elekit tu8200 as a christmas gift from my partner so I could try the brand before going for the higher end elekit that I want
Its a massive success, even with stock power tubes its sounds amazing, and it included the amazing 12au7 mullard IEC for driver tubes which are a massive upgrade over stock new production tung sols
Im almost ceirtanly sticking with this brand as my next purchase for when I upgrade my speakers, its too good.
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Picked this up about a week ago, and kind of tempted to start looking for a Utopia OG now. Clear OG is sounding great!
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Super nice, been looking if a friend got the nitsch to get some more personalized impressions! Ill expect them when theyre ready, every review online talks wonders about this beautiful amp but I wouldnt know how it would fit my colection since it seems to share synergies with my pass labs or maybe id rather go for a mass kobo 433
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So far, it sounds great with the Clear OG. I tried the AO for a couple of days, and it was good, but it won’t be my first choice of amp. I think this amp really fits a dedicated role, especially with Focal headphones. I do not have any other headphones on hand to test it with, but from what I have read, it seems to be a more specific amp that works best with certain headphones. It also seems to do well with some easy to drive planars. I have not heard the HPA1 yet, but it sounds like a serious amp and it is still high on my demo list. I also read that the MK433 is more headphone friendly than this amp, with a similar tonality. The MK433 is still on my list to try too, lol.
As for the sound, it feels like it cleans up and smooths out the Clear. It reminds me of how MON described current amplifiers with the HD800s. It sounds full and engaging. Background details are more forward compared to the other two amps, but they are presented in a natural way. A few things to note, compared to my other amps, the soundstage is smaller but deeper. It is not as dynamic as the MJ3 or the V222, but I think that could change depending on the DAC. With Focals, this works well since they are already very dynamic. For example, I am not sure why, but the MJ3 on high gain with the Clear OG sounds aggressive, in a good way.
I would like to test more DACs to better understand this amp. I do feel it is somewhat limited by headphone matching and DAC pairing as well. For example, Nitsch does not recommend the Laiv Harmony DAC because of its high output impedance, which is a shame since I really wanted to try that DAC with this amp. In the end, it delivers a very smooth and enjoyable listening experience, which is exactly what I was looking for.
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So in short this is quite the specialized amp, thats precisely what draws me to it, how different it could be from everything else, and yeah as you said the amps I mentioned can allround quite a bit better.
Id also like to hear your further testing with more amps, good luck have fun.
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