One thing I’d add, just a anecdotal note, but in the end it does say a lot. I find myself skipping less songs.
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very true! thats the real gear test, iif you find yourself just wanting to play everything and keep on playing lol.
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I picked up the new ZMF crescent strap, which arrived yesterday, and which I attached to my Eikon just this afternoon, so I’ve only had a very short time with it, but thought I’d mention it.
My initial impression is that the headphone immediately feels “lighter” than I remember. The strap is both wider than my old strap and it feels like it has some foam or something on the underside to give it some squish. I might end up needing to bend the metal a little, since I’m also getting a smidge less clamp force than I was before, but I’m going to try keeping it like this for a little bit first.
Anyway, first impressions are really good! I can check back in in a few days with any updated impressions, but for the moment, I’d recommend the new strap. 
(Additional notes: My Eikon is Marblewood, so not as light as stock, but also not as heavy as Blackwood or whatnot. Installation was pretty easy, Zach uses a power tool in the video, but I just used the included hex wrench and it was totally fine.)
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I have it on my Verite Closed and it is very comfortable. Looking at it I thought it would start to gather material in one or two regions but it distributes the load nicely across my head.
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Which earpads are you using on the Eikons?
(I’ve tried solid lambskin versions of Eikon/Auteur/Universe pads and I like them all in different ways, though I’ve mostly settled on the Universe pads.)
I have the Lambskin Eikon Pads on them. I’ve not tried anything else (yet…)
What difference do you here with the universe pads?
It’s taken me over a week of regular listening to “understand” the Eikons. At first I really didn’t care for them.
First they are heavy. That usually doesn’t bother me, but these really felt heavy. It took a lot of adjustments to get them to sit evenly on my pointy head and not create hot spots. And getting the pads comfortably centered on my ears. Now that it’s set correctly, no issue at all. With lambskin pads they are super soft and comfy. Still heavy (never skip neck day at the gym).
Lately I’ve become a bit of a “spatial presentation hoar”, width, depth, imaging, separation are important to me. And these really have their own take on spatial presentation, kind of like how Focal has it’s own unique signature. The Eikons are NOT Focal at all, but I don’t know what I would even compare them to. Maybe kinda like HD6xx on a good tube amp? Not intimate, but not wide either. And not wall of sound like the Audeze LCD-2 can be, but maybe similar width. They do layer well within the sound stage, maybe that’s a little more Focal like. One thing they do that I’ve never heard before is verticality. Some sounds are obviously higher and lower than each other. I suspect this is an artifact of how the cups are tuned, bouncing sound around. But it is a really fun experience, making songs sound interestingly different on these. As you can tell, I’ve really struggled to put these in a category. They are their own animal.
One aspect to the spatial presentation that finally sold me on them was movie watching. Not even considering the V-shaped sound (which I generally prefer for movies), they are continuous in their sound stage, able to layer, and able to place sounds high and low. They are very engulfing in their sound. It’s easy to feel in the middle of the movie, with some sounds feeling behind me. I watched a couple of the Resident Evil movies last night. I know these movies, nothing really surprising after watching them many times. But there were scenes that genuinely made me jump. I felt caught up in the middle of the action.
Sounds wise these are V Shaped. Not overly aggressive, but good bass boost, and some artificial detail retrieval happening thanks to some treble boost. But given my 40 year old shit hearing, I like a little treble boost to recover some of what I’ve lost. Tamber sounds reasonably accurate to me. I’m not usually a great judge if tamber, but these sound as good as anything I’ve heard in this price range for tamber. The impact (punch, slam) is Focal-esk. Which to me makes drums, piano, string plucking (anything that is impact based) sound more natural to me.
Lastly, these do seem to respond to signal chain. On my dac2542+V280 I made most of the above observations. Moving to the BF2+SA-1 the same character was there, but diminished. I think the V280 is a big part of that, an excellent pairing. The SA-1 is just a more narrow/confined amplifier. The BF2 impact still comes through, which sounds EXCELLENT on the Eikons!
Okay, wow, that is much longer than I thought it would be. Happy to get feedback on my observations - I’m curious if others have similar observations.
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So for what it’s worth, I have no disagreements with the sound descriptions on ZMFs website, but for a really quick explanation of what I’m hearing, I find the Universe pads to be the most neutral and technical, reminds me of a more “studio-ish” sound. Anyway, I feel like the Universe pads are best at letting me hear my chain.
The Eikon pads are the ones with the most sub-bass, and are the warmest overall, while the Auteur pads have a little less warmth and sub-bass, but they push the space further back and feel bigger, which sounds like something maybe you’d really like!
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Just am throwing my experience out there…take it for what it’s worth. But I haven’t heard a ZMF headphone yet (have heard them all but the Verite Open and Closed) where rolling other pads has improved things. The stock pads have always sounded best in my experience. I also hate suede and velour pads as they will almost always ruin bass, and muffle things and bring in the soundstage width, at the expense of slightly improving the imaging and openness…is just not worth it IMO. There are too many tradeoffs that take the sound signature in the negative direction with only few improvements.
A great example is the Auteur. When I tried the Eikon Perforated Lambskin pads on them (1st recommendation Zach makes after the stock perf Auteur lambskin pads) it improved the bass, but it ruined the soundstage width and it demolished the depth and 3D soundscape and shape. Your mileage may vary or course, but in my experience pad rolling was ineffective at improving the sound as a whole.
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That’s really been my experience as well, the pads made for them are really what sounded the best. For the auteur it was the auteur pads, for the eikon it was the eikon pads, for the verite open it was the verite pads, etc. I also generally found that just the sheepskin and protein ended up sounding the best vs cowhide or the suede options for me. And perf was very hit or miss depending on the can (for an eikon I wouldn’t)
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I agree and have had the same exact experience myself. I think what makes that situation easier to deal with is that all of ZMF’s pads are extremely comfortable, so I didn’t feel swayed to use a certain pair of pads due to comfort reasons.
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ZMF makes great pads, but I personally think it’s not worthwhile to go out and try all of them for a singular headphone and just stick to one or two pairs, I see some getting way too caught up with pads and actually caring more about the pads than headphones lol
And yes I’ve never felt any of their pads were uncomfortable
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The pad guide on their site is pretty accurate. You can move things a little, but trying to move them a lot with pads is not the best idea. If you need to move something that much then you’re probably not happy with the headphone in the first place.
In my limited experience, with the ZMF VC and Eikon variants, pads have had more of an impact on headphones than cables. That’s not necessarily a good thing as has been pointed out. lol
However everything in the hobby is to taste and people like what they like.
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I’ve found pads to be a great way to fine-tune ZMF headphones that last little bit. Like it’s been mentioned, changing pads is not going to make you like a headphone you don’t already enjoy.
I can’t say the stock pads are always the best choice. It really all comes down to the individual. I always preferred the stock Auteur Lambskin pads with my Verite Closed. On the Aeolus, I definitely prefer the Universe Suedes. On my two Auteurs, I have been switching between Auteur Hybrids and Eikon Suedes. I think Zach offers plenty of choices for each of his headphones so you can find the best sound for your preferences.
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So over the years ive been hot and cold on zmf from really wanting one to deciding the nice wood is just too much and nothing seemingly hitting my preferences enough to take the plunge.
With the Atrium I think I am going to try to snag one of the bubinga sets. And TBH i dont usually go for anything new both unreviewed/vetted over time and price wise, but the use of tone woods he has used recently (koa is gorgeous! Bubinga is after my love of red wood) has really tapped into my old guitar days. Dont get me started on Zach’s write ups and reflections on acoustic guitar bracing and how it worked it’s way into the Atrium.
For someone i have not met yet, i always took Zach as very down to earth and that seems to be rare not in just audio but most industries. And I would like to own a product and support that type of practice. Ill be keeping my ear to the ground on any info on these until release and i am crossing my fingers on a bubinga. If not, you guys all saw my feelings on cherry and truoil in the rumors thread.
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YOOOOOOOOOOO I’ll be super curious to hear ur thoughts on it! Honestly seems like a very promising headphone, loved the Verite Closed and I feel like the Atrium could fix some things like possibly have better treble and also due to what zack said about the driver distance I would expect alot of the soundstage. And yeah I agree 100% with what you said, about owning a product and support someone who you believe in/respect or like.
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Honestly, I’m kinda curious if we’ll see an “Atrium Closed” and “Eikon Classic” from ZMF in another year or two. I think the Verite and the VC were released a year apart if I recall correctly.
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For me the discounted Atrium seems pretty sweet. I like the cherry more than the red bubinga and price-wise it seems a good deal. Taking import charges and discount into account its almost like buying a used Vérité in EU which seem to hold value pretty good (for now).
Waiting for the Auteur Classic and maybe pickup an original Auteur after that might be another opportunity coming out of this…
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As an FYI, i believe the ltd wood after the bubinga is Koa. Koa is nice and lightweight. In tonewood instrument making it provides full mids that get richer and sweeter as the wood opens up, but has a top end sparkle that mid centric woods like mahogony cannot really reach.
Anyone here retrofit their ZMFs with the magnesium chassis? I feel the 30 something grams of weight saving is at a real premium for what they’re asking.