I doubt you’d notice the 30gr, that less that 10% of any of the ZMF’s weight, my Ironwood VC had it, and the weight of the wood is still the dominant factor.
There are other things to consider the aluminum components are anodized, and the magnesium ones painted I believe, so the finish is far more easily damaged.
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Yeah i figured so. My car’s key fob is ~50g and that weight is barely felt. I was thinking maybe better distribution, feel etc etc but it seems to be all negligable.
After owning both, I definitely prefer the aluminum chassis. The weight savings are not enough to make that noticeable of a difference. I imagine the new Crescent Band makes it even less of an issue.
I didn’t enjoy babying my VC with the mag chassis. I always thought I was going to chip the paint. It’s much more relaxing for someone OCD like me to have the anodized aluminum.
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Nabbed a ZMF shirt and a Bubinga Atrium. This should hold me over until the Redwood Burl LTDs since that is one of my favorite woods.
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LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO Im super looking forward to hearing ur thoughts on them. They seem super interesting
Are these ready to ship or is there a wait?
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From what I’ve seen Zach say, he had about 25 sets ready to ship, but otherwise there will be a wait. I think the wait is expected to be less than it has been in the recent past though.
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What i gathered from Zach’s posts on other forums.
All 40 LTD Bubinga’s are in QC or shipping this weekend.
~100 of the standard cherry options were ready yo go for launch.
~25 pairs were shipped today, one guy has tracking saying it will arrive for him April 3rd.
Zach also noted that orders are not going out in the order they came in. The reason being each order is semi custom with cable terminations and ear pad selection. I apparently did not order the golden ship asap configuration.
Speaking of configurations…
It seems ZMF is cutting down on options for the grills and hardware. While that may upset some i think its smart as they are prioritizing streamlining production. And ill be honest here, the preset ZMF configurations are real winners. They all have real nice design continuity.
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Hello,
Does anyone know what colour the rods and grills were in before the Auteur was discontinued?
It looks like I was able to get hold of one before it was announced that it would no longer be available in this form.
The dealer said he was in the process of building it and could still configure it, but he hadn’t been sure himself and would try.
With the Verite he knew for sure that you could choose it, but not with the Auteur.
However, it is certain that it will be the Ambrosia maple. no Ldt, my wish would be grills and rods in copper.
Let’s see if it will happen or not.
Congratulations to those who bought an Atrium or Aelous as a Ldt.
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So as I am holding up in my room keeping myself seperate from those in the house with Covid, I decided to pull a @Littledrummerboy and hype myself and this thread up a bit…
… BUT AS I AM WRITING THIS I GOT TRACKING INFO FROM ZMF LETS GO!
I was going to talk about how cool bubinga is but now I have that real in the mail hype!
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LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I am SO LOOKING FORWARD TO UR IMPRESSIONS ON IT
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Last week I was able to order the auteur through a dealer.
Last WEEK, do you know how long that seems like?
It’s like I ordered it 4 weeks ago, and the dealer said it would arrive at the end of April.
Do you know how long that is for me?
Every day goes by in slow motion, which normally goes by in a flash.
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:looks over at the hd800s pads: oh dont worry. I know how you feel. Its all ok until you get that random thought that reminds you how long the wait is.
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Checked shipping today and it looks like it is sitting in the fedex facility in La Grange, IL and another day was added to tracking, so I will not get it on my off day… Fuuuuuu
Maybe depending on where it is in the chain i can pick it up from the fedex facility since their big distro center is down the block from my office.
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LOL I actually live in La Grange, and it’s tempting to know that I can sneak into the back of my local Fedex and “borrow” an Atrium to try out.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. I don’t need another pair of headphones, especially as I already have a Verite and Aeolus, but given that I already like the ZMF house sound, I may as well take advantage of that $200 discount.
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Youre a little late, its now in a place called Pine TWP. Which i think may be a made up town.
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Oh well, I’ll just have to buy my own then.
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Alright wood nerds and nerdets, I want to do a wooden rundown as lately I have been seeing a ton of talk regarding wood selection and it’s affect on sound. While ZMF is the premium wooden headphone at the moment, this is meant to apply to other offerings in the audio world, and it is based off an instrument building background.
Foreword
To add some qualification to my words, here is a little bit of my background. I worked on guitars and other stringed instruments for a number of years. While mostly doing set-up and adjustment work, I did get to build a pair of pretty sweet guitars, and more importantly I was able to learn from a friend and master luthier. This luthier focused on jazz box guitars being the #1 guy for restorations and repairs on D’Angelico, D’Aquisto, and Gibson guitars while also pioneering the trap door guitar. His work was even featured in the MET. One thing I learned is every piece of wood is different. Same region, same wood, same tree, same tempering and drying, brings things real close but any given cut can stray from the generalizations. I will also be using a bunch of guitar terminology but I do think it will translate easily.
One of the biggest things I hear and read is that a wood has X janka hardness rating (it is a hardness rating, NOT density) so it will sound like blehhhh. ::Sigh:: This rating system was really made for building purposes. An oak hardwood floor will last much longer than pine. For audio, think of this like an FR chart of sorts, it will give you parts of the picture but never all of it. What janka can most closely indicate is attack, decay and bite. In general, the higher the janka rating the quicker the attack and decay and more perceived bite.
Next I want to touch on density, namely because you always see people incorrectly stating the janka is a density rating. This goes back to the generalization of hard = dense, soft = not dense. But if my soft but dense gut is any indication there are always outliers. Physically this attributes to weight.
Both hardness and density help shape sustain and resonance characteristics. I wouldnt say that these determine if a piece has good sustain and resonance but instead how it comes across. For example do you have a long linear sustain, is it more of a bell like chime, does it keep on sustaining for a while? There is one thing to note here, heavy dense examples within a specific species normally are more dead. Old growth, non-kiln dried, older pieces usually have more sustain and are more resonant. Comparing the mahogony that has made up gibson les pauls kind of shows this. Old late 50s examples were lighter weight and on average are better than the new production models which, even with chambering, are a few lbs heavier and mostly come out sounding dead and dark.
Grain and pore structure. Tight straight vs loose wavy grain, open pores vs closed, figured, knotted, burled, etc all changes sound. These attributes all have a decent affect on frequency emphasis. Tight closed grain woods tend to emphasize the high end, wider open grains tend to be more mid centric. Bass is more from instrument volume.
So here are some common tone woods that follow the norm:
Maple and Ebony: tight grained, closed pored, higher on the janka scale, decently dense. Both are used commonly for bridges and fingerboards as they take wear very well and their closed nature resists dirt and grime buildup. These emphasis the upper ranges with ebony being near chimey. Theyre stiffer nature also transfers vibration well and keeps it sharp and articulate.
Mahogony: soft, open pored, decently dense. This is the wood that gave les pauls the nickname the “velvet hammer”. Big smooth mid focus, less definition and more about the entire blend.
Spruce & Cedar: tight grained, soft softwoods. These are normally very light and very resonant. These are the go to tops for dreadnought and classical acoustic guitars. This is what creates the volume and sound.
Some woods that break the mold:
Brazilian Rosewood: With a darn high janka rating you would think this would emphasize the higher up ranges, but this really presents complex, rich mids as chocolately as the gorgeous grain applies. This is also a forbidden wood and can no longer be harvested and all cuts need legal papers. This is a prized wood as it also has good extension and articulation compared to other rosewood species.
Bamboo: light and relatively low to average janka rating. This gives a bright and high volume sound. Its use as brass instrument reeds should outline all you need to know.
Its important to note here that these arent like video game sliders either where 1 attribute only affects one thing. These things all meld together and compose the total picture.
In acoustic instruments its about getting the materials that sound the way you like, to make that sound easily and freely for as long as possible, all while having a physically viable and sturdy form. And really its about the combination of it all even down to the glue. Most commonly softer resonant woods are combined with hard precise articulate woods to give them a leading edge and definition. Backs and sides create structure and influence the sound. Bracing is necessary to keep it all together but the smaller and lighter the bracing the better. You really want to get as close to “unstable” as you can so the top/sound board can release all those good vibes.
By this time you must be thinking “Sheesh, this is a lot of wood talk with little payout. And how does it even relate to my headphones?” Well, surprise, a lot of it doesnt! The driver is the main sound generating source and not the wood so that diminishes it’s roll greatly. So really what is left? That would be mostly shaping to the attack, decay, bite and a little FR influence.
To a varying degree, moreso with closed than open backs and being very design dependant, the wood helps dictate those reverberation attributes. And that should make sense as these parts, wood or not, are basically only being used for that surface interaction. To take a bit from the lawton thread, a lot of people remarked that the ebony felt like it had the smallest stage. This makes sense as the more immediate nature of ebony makes for a very quick short reflection, and its tendencies to keep more treble frequencies also most likely gives it a forward leaning feel. I would also predict the ebony has probably the quickest cleanest bass of the lawton wood cups.
To bring this full circle i want to make some observations and predictions regarding the Atrium, which hopefully will be fun to look back at.
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Zach stated the wood choice on the Atrium has much less difference on sound than on previous ZMF. I think that is most likely true. The Atrium has the biggest side hole and has a myraid of ports. That is literally less wood, and less surface area to reflect.
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The construction and dampening system’s role. I am not sure how the headphones are constructed outside some quick videos. To me it looks like the cups are seperate from the inner construction and dampening. I think that the inner dampening and driver baffle may be a set wood, no matter what your cups are. The baffle can have pretty decent influence on the sound and can help keep a verite sounding like a verite no matter the cups. To my eye it looks like most baffles are a mahogony or sapele, which can explain why many say ZMFs are usually smoother and never hit sibilance.
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That foam. I know the Atrium has the foam as a part of it’s dampening. This feels reminiscent of people filling speaker boxes with foam or that fiberous stuffing. The idea is that it makes the driver “see” more volume than the box actually provides and it can result in a bigger sound and more bass. I do wonder if that is a big contributor to the big bass people are reporting. Or if that along with the titan mesh can help tune the bass and treble sided.
TLDR: Some of this may be obvious but I find it worth spending half the in office work day typing out. I think people do get wild on this stuff when it doesnt need to be that complicated, or they make assumptions that can be misleading. While we want to see how wood selection affects our sound, remember that people are doing the opposite and using unpretty, unsophisticated, multi ply birch boards as it is darn acoustically dead.
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Hello,
Thank you for your impressions.
I am not an instrument maker and have relatively little experience with wood.
Also, thanks for saying that it’s not always attached to the Janka heard thing.
Other aspects play a role.
I had never thought of it that way.
I always thought that the hardness of the wood was important.
It was very informative.
I share all your impressions and agree with them based on my experience with the Fostex.
It has to be said that Zmf has completely re-created the Fostex and this is the final result.
The Fostex has been perfected in its own way, roughly speaking.
I am looking forward to the Auteur and to further headphones from Zmf that will probably expand the collection.
With the Fostex it’s just that it reacts very strongly to the wood and pads.
With Zmf it’s simply a strong driver, the wood gives it the footnote and the variation comes via the pads.
And also the isolation with comfort is very well done and solved.
With the Atrium, I also think he’s been very clever in his approach. it won’t be a catapult, but it’s certainly a good way to go.
I’m looking forward to the Auteur.
Even when you’re busy all day, the day passes slowly.
In the evening you wonder how much longer it will take?
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It still is important, but I think people take it too much as a straight lab reading of X means that it has to be Y. But it’s really how these attributes all come together and influence each other.
I had an acoustic that i didnt like the cheap rosewood bridge on. My friend had a scrap of ebony leftover so we made a replica of the original bridge except we didn’t round the corners so much. This completely changed and absolutely made the guitar. It better translated the string vibration and carried it where it needed to go. The 1 square inch of extra material woke up the top and sound board, and the ebony made mushy notes articulate. It was more balanced and it had much more sustain and you could feel it while playing it. That extra sustain and reverberation got everything moving more which more quickly broke in and loosened up the rest of the guitar (instrument break in and the broken neck theory is a whole other write up!). The sound from that guitar from the top of the hour to the bottom was so much more complex, and full, and i think the blacks were blacker.
Audiophiles spend thousands on isolation pads, concert cello and bassists spend thousands on the metal kickstand spike. It all contributes.
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