I was personally drawn to this set specifically because the contrasting colors reminds me of the natural wood roots plus ZMF “magic.”
That’s probably my favorite feature–I never expected a closed back could sound so big and open.
Once upon a time, when I used to work with a bunch of people in an office, closed backs were essential to avoid disturbing my coworkers. Stellias were my favorite headphones for a long time because I could enjoy stunning detail and fun bass all day long at work. But their staging is pretty intimate. The big open sound of VCs won me over fairly instantly–especially on Pendant.
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My VCs are currently “co-favorites” with Susvara. Both offer different experiences. I have a couple favorite images I like to use to describe the different ideals each headphone represents to me:
Susvara on a solid state chain has wonderfully natural timbre, dynamics, detail, and presence. Its overall presentation reminds me of a bright, clear day–every blade of grass clearly rendered, and the whole scene illuminated in natural sunlight.
VC conjures up a different image–one where strict realism isn’t the objective, but rather a captivating, even entrancing musical tuning that brings music to life. I cannot get enough of the giant canopy of music surrounding rich, sultry mids.
Perhaps another way to state it: Susvara satisfies listening with my head, because I can hear exactly how all the pieces fit together to make a song, and I can track everything in space in a very believable way. Meanwhile, VC satisfies listening with my heart, because it presents things in a way where a perfect marriage of technicalities and tuning makes it easy to get swept away in the music.
Actually the stabilized sets you can pretty much sell for the same price you bought them for no loss, since they are so limited and people are chomping at the bit to get one every time they go up its probably the most safe buy you can make atm.
After getting an opportunity to try the VC first hand ( thank you @Towa ) I have decided these are the next HP for me.
I really enjoy the signature of my Eikons but I often found myself wanting that little more oomph in the detail dept. I the heft of the ZMF cans, unlike other folks I really don’t mind wearing heavy headphones like the LCD2 etc. Maybe being accustomed to wearing a helmet or whatever but I can wear the ZMF cans all day without issue.
Another interesting happenstance of life, cities are loud and closed cans allow me to hear more music than open. That being said, I’m confident that spending cash on these is good especially since I can recoup some cash from selling my Eikons.
That being said, I’m curious of good chains for them.
Currently I have a Yggy A2 which I enjoy but I really need something much smaller in size. I’m also very much enjoying the Burson Conductor 3XR but I know I can do better sonically from an amp standpoint. The question is if it’s good enough (similar level) to the VC from a pairing standpoint. I also am enjoying the signature and it reminds me a bit a Liquid Platinum but a much more capable LP. The thing with the amp is that the built in DAC is just not up the the quality upper mid tier standalone DACs out there.
So enough of the back ground and hopefully it’s enough to get some good small chassis DAC for the chain recommendations.
The VC is in every way better than the Eikon except in the level of bass slam. The timbre is more natural to me, the detail is a notch above, the micro dynamics are considerably better (I think this may be the biggest difference) and the staging is better, as good at the staging is on the Eikons. The VC just feels for spacious, there’s also a bit more depth to the sound and when voices are close, it feels more intimate at the same time. The VC pads also provide more stage width. But I enjoyed the sound of the Universe pads more, because it helps to recapture some of the bass, albeit at the expense of some stage contraction but I find it’s a fair trade off and it makes the VC a little more fun overall.
EDIT: I will be trying out the Pendant amp thans to @NickMimi however size it going to be precious and I know the Pendant has a huge footprint. Is the Allnic HPA3000 much smaller by comparison and how would that pair?
I’m actually not a big fan of the Soloist/VC pairing. I found it to be too thick sounding for my taste. If you don’t mind that though I think it’s still a decent pairing and will be enough until you’re able to get something better imo. Also, if you opamp roll to something more even-sounding and dryer, I can see that as being a good match.
Recently got the ZMF Verite Closed! I finally got some two hours in it and figured i should post my impressions as @Veritas asked! So here i go, been playing (trying to play a variety of music) a fair bit of different stuff that i like, my specific chain atm is the Liquid Plat, Bifrost 2 using a phone as the source and it’s been really awesome so far. At first the thing that stood out most was the staging that felt super holographic, but as i get more time with it what really stands out is more just how organic and sweet sounding it is. It feels like it really gets all of the best qualities from the 6xx and the LCD2PF. When i listened to the 6xx that was on loan to me, i couldn’t help but feel like it would be nice having just a little bit more. A little bit more detail, more separation of instruments, better timbre accros the board that separates electric guitars from violins more. The Verite Closed absolutely does that while still prioritizing the musical aspect of the sound and most importantly not inching back even a little bit in it’s mids. Retaining the beautiful mids of the 6xx and actually even improving on em. An extremely organic headphone, altho just like don said, i can’t help but feel like a more neutral amp would showcase the best of these headphones since the LP can be a tad bit too warm when paired with the bifrost plus the VC.
In the current chain it focuses alot on organicness where honestly i can’t see myself really taking time to listen to much kpop on it lol. Even on a more neutral chain i don’t know if i see myself really listening to kpop with it that much, but it for sure excells in organic music and im absolutely loving it!! I put on some Devita (드비타),Stella Jang (스텔라장) (see THIS song, it really felt like the Verite was made for this song and entire album, reaaally just sounded so sweet!!!) and some other nice mid focused tracks. This headphone to me is MID city! Lovely lovely lovely.
Guess i should talk about other aspects, separation is great, staging is great (awesome even) subbass it could go deeper, but it’s not necessarily missing anything, treble is great and actually fairly neutral with some sparkle. Imaging seemed decent altho i haven’t really put any particular track with great imaging to really test it out. Speed was definetly good altho not as fast as something like the LSA for example. Everything was just really good. Really reminds me of a super 6xx, just meant for sitting down and not thinking. Enjoying the ride!
Nice initial impressions. A little less hype than you normally showcase lol. Lots of good takeaways here. Curious are you using the Auteur lambskin pads (they were the ones on the headphones when I shipped them)?
Probably because I’ve only gotten two hours within 2 days of total listening time lol. Haven’t made much time to listen to em as I’ve been busy with some other stuff atm. Really looking forward to the weekend to get more time with these babies! And also, I have a gut feeling that like the focal alphas it will be something I grow to appreciate more and more and more with time. Certain stuff like Andros, ksc75 are immediate but others take time!
BTW made some time this morning, currently listening to em before I go into work. And even kpop is actually BLISS on these. Just mid city man. Whether it’s kpop, rap or ballads vocals all the time are my priority
That’s been my observation with them… they are very forgiving while still being technically more capable than the Eikon. (my DD cans which I love but also was looking for “more” from)
The reason I came to the ZMF line was to look for a signature that was similar to the LCD2 so I’m not surprised you mentioning that they’ve got qualities of it.
Word! When I first got the Eikon on loan from Towa I was sorely disappointed because I was expecting warm gooey and rich sounding. But to be fair as others have mentioned, my source gear wasn’t the best at the time lol. Either way the Verite C is totally awesome since it’s exactly what I expected and hoped from zmf. Feels like what the eikons should have been!
Also word about then being surprisingly forgiving btw. I’ve been so accustomed to other gear that dosent butter anything up for a while that it’s great having this change of pace.
Though interestingly, none of them are really striking me in the way that they did with the last batch of stabilized VCs when I wrote this and I was waffling over buying one:
Also, it’s interesting to hear thoughts from others who’ve previously owned Eikons in the past, since that’s the same place I’d be coming from if I bought a VC. Out of curiosity, did anyone here pad-roll the Eikons much?
I was originally all about the Auteur pads on my Eikon, but now that I have the Allnic amp, I’m pretty sure the Universe pads are my favorite now. (All lambskin, btw.)
I prefer the Eikon lambs on the Eikon. Tried others but it’s the only pad I really recall liking. I found VC more versatile in this regard.
The VC has a much deeper stage and generally a more unique stage whereas Eikon is very wide and has a more ordinary stage without much depth or surrounding presentation.
Eikon has more bass and really extended highs and generally has a funner signature than VC which is pretty close to what I’d call neutral.
VC is much more detailed and more natural sounding. Eikon is good here as well though. Price gap and all. I just think the fr and decay of the VC lends itself to sounding more natural to my ears. Timbre is excellent on both though at their price points.
I think we’re hearing similar things when comparing the VC and Eikon. I will say that the VC moves a lot closer to the Eikon when you use the Universe pads. They’ve been my favorite ZMF pad so far on the Eikon and so I tried it on the VC and there’s a bit of slam restored IMO to the VC as it related to your comparison.
I may try experiment with the Universe pads in a suede or hybrid configuration to see what I get. For the time being the VC is still new to me and I want to really get to know it for what it is first.
