arpinnurmela
Head-Fier
Verum One in 3 sentences:
The Verum One offers a very distinct sonic signature from most headphones on the market that sounds more like a speaker than a headphone. The Verum One is easy to drive on most any device, but you won't know what you're missing until you put it onto an amp with real driving power at 8 ohms. These headphones scale well and noticeably with everything in the gear chain.Why did I purchase the Verum One?
Last year I purchased a Schiit Hel for my 1996 Grado SR60. The Hel totally transformed my impression of the SR60. But alas, the HelSR60 just didn't compare to any of my hifi systems. No issues with the Hel that I could tell, but clear limitations on the SR60. So I spent probably 6 months researching headphone options. I was looking for something special, unique, and most importantly with SQ above its price point. I spent a lot of time looking at the ~$200 price bracket, but nothing was jumping out at me as a headphone that could dance on par with my main hifi gear.And then I stumbled onto a Verum One review from Currawong (now deleted - don't ask). Eventually I came across one of the original threads of announcement and first reviews of the Verum One. Massive thread with lots of controversy. But there was a post by the maker himself in which he said that he designed the Verum One using the speaker outs of an Exposure speaker amp and that he was aiming for more of a speaker sound rather than a headphone sound. My main system is an all Exposure system, that I love and never intend on replacing. So that was that. I had to own these. They were above my price point, but nothing else shy of ~$500 was interesting to me.
The purchasing experience:
Okay, it's a bit sketchy? Sort of... The Verum website is a bit barren and the buy button takes you to a transaction company (WayForPay) I'm not familiar with that handles currency exchange from dollars to I guess hyrvnia? I got a verification of transaction but still had to wait for it to be approved? Weird...Then the waiting begins. But because I had read basically every single forum post on every forum about the Verum One experience I knew that this was going to be par for the course. Shut up and wait. Deal with it. Don't complain. They ship when they ship. Multiple years of development and feedback, and hand built. Forget all of your big and pro company expectations in exchange for a very unique headphone. And please don't even begin to talk about the shipping box and packaging. It is what it is and extremely well documented on the forums and review videos. It arrives in an unmarked box wrapped in some packing stuff. This is not a piece of Schiit or Apple product with ingeniously clever box design. This is a hand built headphone by a guy in the Ukraine who figured he might be able to do something special in the planar magnetic market space. Of course, none of this would be even remotely acceptable in the mainstream consumer headphone space if these didn't sound like they do.
Initial Impressions (week 0 - 6):
When I received these, they had been well burned in as I had these shipped to my brother first who had them for about a month and himself did a burn in process.Given the physical size of these headphones I was shocked by how light they were in hand and on head. Once you get your fit correct, they can be worn multiple hours in a row without significant fatigue. The headband must be adjusted by unscrewing and then rescrewing a post on each side. If this headphone is going to be single use only then this should cause no issues unless your head measurably expands and contracts throughout the week. The stock cable felt unnecessarily stiff (to me) and had quite an odd twist that caused the split below my neck to rise up even closer to me. This was mildly annoying, probably mostly psychologically, because the twisting and proximity never actually interrupted my long-term comfort. This wasn't at Grado annoyance at all but I felt it necessary to highlight this stock cable experience. The ear pads are delicious and neither cause sweating nor odd temperature differences. Superb fit and comfort. If fit and comfort are your thing, then these are pure winners. Looks... well, I think they have a totally cool look and I love the look. A little bit of funk and class. Personal taste. I like the gold and Boobinga wood combination on mine. I'd happily have any of the others as well.
The initial sound is surprising and takes at least a few hours to adjust to. They do not have your typical headphone sound. The Verum One has a very even handed way of dealing with the frequency spectrum that just doesn't single out any part for exaggeration. It's surprisingly smooth sounding, especially on the stock cable. And, on the stock cable, it has quite a bit of detail, but doesn't scream out and say that it's the last word in resolution (more on this in a later post). I think you'll hear more resolution than say what you would hear on a 58X. They've got a beautiful presentation to them almost as revealing and light touch as a Stax, but then they know how to get loud and dynamic. Distortion wise I found these to be very clean right away and 5 months in I haven't heard a convincing and reproducible case of the headphone itself distorting. I do listen loud, louder than what many would consider acceptable.
Verum One are full range headphones. Sure lots of headphones are also full range. These will do full range in a way that doesn't perceivably alter how you might hear live music. They will present very close to the recording and you'll have the opportunity to hear that recording more closely to how it was mastered. On the stock cable and on most amplifiers (that don't play well at 8ohms) bass is quick and meaningful. As these first 6 weeks went on, however, I kept feeling like I wanted more bass in play. This eventually led me on an amazing DIY journey. Mid-bass and mids are I think superb on the Verum One. Voices and instruments that perform in these bands have a very accurate and gorgeous tone. I feel comfortable saying that the mid-bass and mids are the real highlight of the Verum One. As you get into treble, it feels like there could be a slight rise in frequency response, but the top end has a smooth as butter quality. On stock cable, and very dependent on upstream gear, detail and air are good but not last word. But Verum One is a headphone that scales. And as you place better and better gear upstream, the Verum One pass that information through. They do not bottleneck what is sent to them.
Verum One (stock cable and mid-tier amp) of course can do left and right no problem. And they are open back, so combined with their even handed frequency response, they have a good field of sound, but I want to be careful about saying they have soundstage. Music feels open, airy, and has an almost gentle presentation without missing any of the key elements of the music you are listening to. Great recordings sound killer. Good recordings sound better than good. And bad recordings sound somewhat flat and anemic. But who cares about bad recordings (masterings)? Well... I later learned that the Verum One have the capacity to turn crap into gold. But I did need to use some silver to make this happen. And I'm not talking about silver plated OCC.
Musical genres on Verum One on stock cable and with mid-tier amplifier:
- Classical music is endlessly enjoyable with the Verum One. You'll fall in love with your collection all over again with this setup. When the sections of the orchestra start up and close down, you hear it. When the organ or piano is played as accompaniment rather than concerto form, you hear them stand out much like you would in a symphony hall. Orchestras are no longer a blur of sound, but instead a composition. In stock form, classical music really hits it out of the park.
- Jazz music has an inherit liveliness to it that feels infectious. If you've got some Pat Methany or Keith Jarrett, just buckle up for the ride. Instruments are going to sound excellent, timing - excellent, timbre on the level of stand alone speakers. I like jazz for sure, but these headphones are an extra special treat for jazz music.
- Electronic music has a fantastic even response, but on the stock cables and mid-tier amp, I kept wanting more bass, more bass, more bass. Sure, it is true that I'm the type of guy who went to raves and had a sealed 12" in my car for 20 years. So, sure, I am looking for a bit of hit, but I'm also the type of guy who refuses to integrate a sub into my main system, and have zero intention of doing so in the future. So it's not like I don't understand low frequency. In stock form, I just wanted more hit from the Verum One.
- Popular music was a mixed bag. I largely enjoyed listening to my rock/pop/hip-hop/rap collection. But the final mastering quality really seemed to affect the final output on the Verum One. Great recordings sounded excellent, mid to poor quality recordings however, were not enjoyable in stock form. And it was in this mixed bag of "popular" music that I came to believe there could even be something wrong with the headphone cable. I noticed lots of smooth detail, but the detail was "too" smooth. Like I wasn't getting something, even on the really good recordings. Nothing was particularly bad, but I was familiar with how good these albums could sound, and sometimes felt they didn't live up to my expectations on Verum One playback. Maybe there was a way to get more.
However, the Journey Continues:
Around the 5 week mark, something began creeping into my mind. Could the headphone cable be holding back my experience with this headphone? What was the gauge of the cable? How pure was the copper inside the cable? What if I had a cable that went straight to 6.3mm instead of 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapter? Hmmm. I knew that the creator of Verum One did much of his designing on an Exposure amp speaker outs. Yeah, that is strange, but it is Ukraine (not USA culture) after all. What if I played these directly on my Exposure speaker outs. Would it be worth it to have someone make a custom cable to do this or should I have a custom cable made by Anti-Cables? Yeah??? So I contacted Anti-Cables to make this happen, but very fortunately for me, they didn't even respond to me. So I decided to take matters into my own hands.Since this point in time, I've been on an incredible audiophile journey that has completely uprooted much of my lifetime's experience in audiophilia. I'll be posting continuations to this post to share each step along the way and how it has completely changed how the Verum One perform. What I feel comfortable saying now is that I have no doubt that my Verum One headphone is now sounding absolutely incredible. They are at endgame levels of satisfaction for me and I look forward to enjoying my Verum One for the rest of my life. If they were destroyed in a natural disaster, I'd buy them again without thinking.