[hikaru12]

Not much happening on this thread. Sadly, the Ori is no longer being sold.

No matter--I'm sitting here with the ormosia henryi Ori on my head, and have the same silly "I can't believe how good this sounds" smile on my face that I had 5+ years ago, when I got this new from ZMF. I love the sound of this headphone. It pleases me to no end.

Of course, the bass is off-the-charts good. This is one of the 2 or 3 best headphones I've ever heard for bass. But I like everything I hear from the Ori: the mids, the treble, the soundstaging (so good for a closed back). This is one incredibly musical planar, and it never fails to satisfy.

Yes, there are higher resolution planars around, headphones that do the "plankton" better than this (I own one, the Final D8000, which is excellent in every way). But do I love that more than this? Nope.

I've had a few outstanding success stories in headphone audio...this is right up with the best.

I missed my chance - bummer. I hoped Zach would eventually put out another planar. The way you described the bass makes my LCD-2F pale in comparison. I'll see if I can hit the used market.

 

[Pharmaboy]

At the moment I'm having the prototypical ZMF Ori experience:

• After several months playing with other toys (mostly the Caldera, which is just amazing), I strapped in for an Ori session. Amp is the Monoprice Liquid Gold X, which loves planars
• The sound is just as wonderful as the 1st time I heard them. The Ori really has my number ... it nails my sonic preferences to a "T"
• The bass is epic, among the top 2-3 best bass headphones
• Everything else is also top-shelf: the midrange is expressive, smooth, and tonally pleasing; treble is nice, not harsh or edgy, but accurate anyway; and the soundstaging is way better than most closed backs

Both my other planars (Caldera & the Final D8000 with the D8K Pro's "G" pads) crush the Ori on paper: greater resolution, bigger/stronger frames, largers drivers, and more evolved design. But they don't crush it in the listening. The Ori is competitive with any other planar I've heard. That's amazing considering its vintage and origins as a Fostex TP50 planar before ZMF totally reengineered it.

I just love this headphone!

 

[zach915m]

Wow a whole year between posts!

Well I guess everyone should know that I made a t50 kit with a new wood cup design that I just need to find the darn time to release. I hope to have it out later this summer. I promise to make a video where I talk about all the t50 modding and such too, hopefully someone finds it interesting!

@Pharmaboy I appreciate the love! The Ori is certainly a unique headphone and it's really fun to go back to after exploring many others!

 

[Odin412]

I still have my Ori and I still love it! It's a very enjoyable headphone.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Well I guess everyone should know that I made a t50 kit with a new wood cup design that I just need to find the darn time to release. I hope to have it out later this summer. I promise to make a video where I talk about all the t50 modding and such too, hopefully someone finds it interesting!

I already find this very interesting!!

I need another headphone like I need an IRS audit--but I'd listen to this new TP50 planar in a New York minute...

 

[Odin412]

Here's some love for the trusty old Ori (aka Omni). I have to take it out and listen to it again from time to time. It sounds truly wonderful with the Monoprice Cavalli Liquid Gold X. Superb synergy!

 

[Pharmaboy]

Here's some love for the trusty old Ori (aka Omni). I have to take it out and listen to it again from time to time. It sounds truly wonderful with the Monoprice Cavalli Liquid Gold X. Superb synergy!

I recently sold my LGX (too many amps). But my Ori sounded amazing on it...also the V281, Liquid Carbon V2, and Wells Milo.

Like most planars, the Ori loves power. It still sounds amazing to me...

 

[Strayngs]

Ori is a headphone you never see on the used market anymore. When I had it, I didnt have the amp to do it justice. Would like to hear it with what I have these days.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Ori is a headphone you never see on the used market anymore. When I had it, I didnt have the amp to do it justice. Would like to hear it with what I have these days.

I got lucky, though I didn't realize it at the time. The Ori was my first planar headphone. I'd read that it sounded best on a powerful SS amp, like most planars, but those were just words on the screen until the Ori showed up.

The lucky part was that my first serious headphone amp, a true desktop amp, was the very capable Lake People G109-A, a single-ended design. I couldn't get the volume dial past about 9 o'clock w/ the 2 dynamic headphones I had then, but w/the Ori, things were different: it had to go over 1 or 2 o'clock to really wake up. And it did wake up. The sound amazed me. The G109-A is quite compact, but it had plenty of power for even the power-hungry Ori (if memory serves it had a high gain setting, but I never bothered with it ... no need to).

• Everything about the Ori's sound pleased me then and still does--especially the bass. It was my first experience of pressurized, deep, low distortion planar bass. I have other planars now, very good ones, but the Ori is still my reference for bass capability

I ended up using the Ori & other headphones strictly with balanced cabling, so I favored balanced amps. I sold the G109-A (still miss it) and went with larger/stronger balanced SS amps, all of which sound like money with the Ori. I've heard this headphone with a few SS amps that really don't have enough power, but even then it sounds pretty good--just can't get up to moderate loudness w/o things falling apart.