I actually didn’t use that. Instead I asked the ZMF support team.
A more neutral VC. I ended up attaining that with the tube swap on my WA8 but I still tried the pads for the fun of it and they ruined all the fun qualities such as the general slam/depth and even stage width. Presentation got bland too.
I felt the same way when I tried the Eikon Leather pads on the Auteur. I can only imagine how much worse the BE2 pads are.
The only headphone that the BE2 pads sound decent on are my Hifiman HE-500, believe it or not (though I still prefer the Hifiman Focus Pads).
That’s pretty interesting, I guess since hifiman pads are super flat it kinda makes sense eh
100%
:me sitting here sipping my drink: Man I am glad i didnt go with the Be2 pads with the Atrium.
Also @Littledrummerboy i would be interested in that book on anger if you want to slip it into my DMs.
Yes, I know that only too well.
That’s what happened to me with the Fostex headphones.
Somehow you have the hope and the expectation that the pads are what you are looking for and make everything better.
And then boom in your face, your jaw drops.
I understand the reaction, you can always work on the articulation hehe.
But the book sounds interesting, what’s it called?
Sometimes I also have uncontrolled things that need to come out and most of the time it rarely hits those who deserve it.
I tried the Eikon pads today and didn’t think they were necessarily wrong on the Auteur.
I already have an idea which tube I could use to get to the Auteur pads.
Let me clarify my statement as I misspoke :theface: I read it something in a section of a book. But the book itself isn’t about anger lol. I’ll pm u tho
I guess I’m the only person on this forum who likes BE2 pads.
For me, the BE2 helped to even out the dip in the mids that the Verite Open has, which had started to annoy me after a year. I’d stopped using the Verite in favor of my RAD-0, and decided to try some pad rolling to see if that would rekindle our romance, and the BE2 was that missing spark for me.
Other than fixing the mids, they just sounded better to me than the stock pads for the music that I like (mainly rock & alternative) on my chain. Maybe the BE2 pads have a different impact on the VC. Or perhaps we just have different preferences, in tuning and/or music.
Both strong possibilities, also I guess there’s always our source gear. Glad to hear that at least there is evidently an audience here for them even if I personally am not the biggest fan lol
I use BE2 Hybrids on Lawton modded Fostex. :the_face:
:theface:
Well if anyone needs an extra set for cheap hit me up. :theface:
It always depends a bit on the hybrid or suede pads.
With the Fostex, they are sometimes suitable when there is a relatively high amount of treble energy.
But that can also be subjective for some people.
When I converted my Tr X 00 to Ebony back then, I couldn’t cope with closed pads.
The Yaxi pads, part suede, part leather, were somehow better but somehow not.
I didn’t even think about perforated pads.
But that’s the way it is.
I find the Zmf headphones very different from a Fostex, less sensitive, much better comfort, much better sealing of the driver and much more that can make a big difference.
Then such a pad change can go in a completely different direction where you don’t want it to.
I have always considered such things as learning money and then still reached the desired goal, sometimes not.
I have regretted the Fostex conversion to Ebony to this day, even though it was better than the mahogany cups, I could never tune it properly.
But now I am happy that it contributed to the financing of the auteur and I could still sell it for a good price.
It’s always good to have a strong reaction, whether good or bad. I’ve found apathy is the worst reaction because it’s not quite bad enough to get rid of.
@orrman I know youve had the Atrium for almost as long as me. Any impressions so far?
I’ve been traveling for the past two weeks so won’t do it justice to write from pure memory… I’m returning this weekend and after a few hours with them I will write down my impressions. Fond memories as far as I remember. They’re not perfect by any means but really enjoyed my first few weeks with them. They were also enough for me to bite the bullet on getting a VC (Atrium was my first ZMF).
Same here!
I got Auteur pads for the Atrium, and Be2 pads for my VO when I got it. So I have some to try (with VO), but now I’m scared to! 
Seriously though, I’m a) lazy, and b) I really want to get to “know” a headphone before I start pad rolling. Hence I still have the Universe perf lambskin on both. It’ll be interesting to try out the other ones now…
@Littledrummerboy
Nice Vc you have there.
What kind of wood is it?
It goes well with your Wa 8, which I’m sure must also be amazingly good.
@Souldriver nice report of the atrium you wrote.
Will you update it again when you have spent more hours on it or will you leave it?
My auteur is becoming a beast.
I listened to some advice and gave him a few more hours than the usual 200 h burn in.
And seems to be slowly getting into its final phase where it will be good.
At the Feliks Euforia I listened to it with 7236 Tungsol tubes at the beginning where there was a bit of listening fatigue with the Brimar 6sn7 Gty but I will repeat this.
I then exchanged them for Fotons where it got better.
Currently I have the 6080 Mullard in it and 6sn7 Brimar gty so fully designed for British sound and it is just a dream to listen to it.
Even the bass has benefited from it, which is amazingly good.
The midrange and treble are a godsend and melt in my mouth, I found it really hard to take a break.
All this with the Auteur pads without having paid attention to the Eikon pads.
Everything is wonderfully relaxed, nothing is annoying, no listening fatigue, everything is rich and powerful enough.
And great voice range powerful and smooth enough.
For fun and experiment I disconnected the Singxer Sda Dac and used the Little Dot dac 1 over the Singxer Su 2 coax.
Purely as a pairing it seems to work very well, although the dac is older it does a very good job.
So the Auteur definitely needs a minimum of 200 hours to get it where it needs to be, but it tends to take a bit more hours to really get there.
You can really forget everything else as a listening impression before that.
Until then I found it like a rollercoaster ride plagued by listening fatigue, thin bass range, sometimes shrill midrange or treble range, although everything is still within the laws of physics.
And still audible but not really pleasant.
There are no doubts about the burn-in process.
But you do notice certain changes.
I assume that similar times should be given to the other Zmf headphones until you really judge them definitively.
I could still imagine it with the Atrium.
I will be updating my impressions but that article is “final”. I am sure i will reread it and see a typo or get hit with better wording and do a minor update. but it is staying as is.
All other impressions and updates i will put in this thread.
@ValentineLuke i do intend to swap out the mesh.
Right now for me the order of operations is:
I also intend to write some notes on the break in while doing some more listening.
Very cool. Looking forward to it. 
Its just stock Monkeypod but I really love the way this pair in particular looks lol. Alot of cool patterns on it!
One day I have to hear the Auteur, it seems like it would be really up my alley. Although want to hear it mostly out of curiosity now.
Also yeah I’ve heard about that with ZMFs veeery interesting. Out of curiosity done any pad swap?
