[cats4cans]

Are there any pics of the internals yet? Not that it’s going to be very informative to most of us, but I’m curious.

As far as branding goes a small, tasteful “ZMF/JDS” above the power switch wouldn’t have been bad. Maybe one monogram at an angle on each side, flanking it instead.

 

[joshua1122]

Are there any pics of the internals yet? Not that it’s going to be very informative to most of us, but I’m curious.

I didn't see any Warranty Void if Opened stickers/seals anywhere, so I gingerly unscrewed 4 screws to pop open the top.

Schaffner transformer to the left, power board to the front on a riser.

ALPS pot sits on a 3D printed riser above the VU, and the op amps sit on the main board.

The front switches sit directly on the main board. At a glance, it looks like the pair of 47Ω resistors are paired to the output inline with the impedance switch. There is a "ZMF Amp v3" screen printed on this board. Wonder what V1 and V2 sounded like?

Different angle to see the side of the VU. I couldn't quite get the label on it on this quick snap.

A view of the rear inputs.

There's a lot of different ideas on this amp that I haven't seen elsewhere, especially in the power section – so I guess that's where some of the ZMF magic happens. Not a whole lot of things to say about the internals, since my specialization in EE is in radios and robotics. Otherwise, I'll just say that it sounds good!

Just to cross-post, I made a post on the ZMF November thread with pictures of the exterior.

 

[cats4cans]

I didn't see any Warranty Void if Opened stickers/seals anywhere, so I gingerly unscrewed 4 screws to pop open the top.

Thanks. Nice.
I’ll need to look at these on a bigger screen than my phone. Not that I’ll really understand it much better. I’m an ME so while I had to take some basic EE classes, i only learned that if you let the magic smoke out of the chips, they usually stop working.

 

[ctaxxxx]

I got a HA-3A as well and I was thinking about the Homage as a complement to it. Can you give a comparison between the two?

Well, it's not suseptible to EMI for one lol. Been struggling with that on some tubes I've bought.

 

[jrkong]

Well, it's not suseptible to EMI for one lol. Been struggling with that on some tubes I've bought.

It's a nice alternative that doesn't have that tube warmth

Really? That's interesting because I would have thought they had a bit of the tube warmth considering amps that people tend to describe as more musical tend to be on the warmer side, at least from my experience... would you think it would be an apt description to say it's got a tint of warmth so you don't get too clinically sterile? I'm trying to nail down where it falls with what I got because the THX 789 definitely sounds sterile at times and the HA-3A is great but a solid state amp that falls in between the two would be amazing, especially when I'm fiddling with IEMs.

The EMI issues are obnoxious at times with the HA-3A! I got it on it's own EMI shielding power bar and sometimes it's still not enough so that's promising.

 

[ctaxxxx]

Really? That's interesting because I would have thought they had a bit of the tube warmth considering amps that people tend to describe as more musical tend to be on the warmer side, at least from my experience... would you think it would be an apt description to say it's got a tint of warmth so you don't get too clinically sterile? I'm trying to nail down where it falls with what I got because the THX 789 definitely sounds sterile at times and the HA-3A is great but a solid state amp that falls in between the two would be amazing, especially when I'm fiddling with IEMs.

The EMI issues are obnoxious at times with the HA-3A! I got it on it's own EMI shielding power bar and sometimes it's still not enough so that's promising.

Lol I've edited and removed that comment like a minute after I hit reply accidentally. I wanted to reword it as you're right, it does have warmth to it. It's just not as bloomy. Just a tad tighter and precise, like you would expect a solid state to be. However, it's definitely not as spacious and holographic as my HA-3A for sure.

 

[aloki]

I love ZMF and JDS Labs and the temptation was just too great. Put in an order for the Heritage color way and I am very excited.

 

[droptables]

Duplicate

 

[droptables]

does anyone know if this synergizes with the Tungsten double sided?
debating on this and the MJ3. Love the Cayin ha-3a with my ZMFs

 

[KlaraKlang]

ZMF Homage arrived today, it is warming up...

 

[joshua1122]

Has anyone received a Homage yet that also has a Mjolnir 3? The past 6 days with the Homage have been extremely fulfilling, and it's been a huge step up when A/B testing with the Jotunheim 2. I still have the time to cancel my Mjolnir 3 preorder, so I was wanting to know if it would be good/different enough to keep both, or just cancel it since I'm very happy with the Homage.

 

[ctaxxxx]

The high impedance switch is very nice for the Meze 109 Pro. Makes them smoother, which is perfect as they were too sensitive for the HA-3A and picked up too much tube noise. They kind of become bass cannons too lol.

 

[droptables]

Has anyone received a Homage yet that also has a Mjolnir 3? The past 6 days with the Homage have been extremely fulfilling, and it's been a huge step up when A/B testing with the Jotunheim 2. I still have the time to cancel my Mjolnir 3 preorder, so I was wanting to know if it would be good/different enough to keep both, or just cancel it since I'm very happy with the Homage.

Does the Homage drive the susvara?

 

[joshua1122]

Does the Homage drive the susvara?

Quite well, I'd say. Over XLR, a 4V DAC, no EQ/preamp applied, and high gain: I'm at 9:00 on the dial (which ranges from 7:00 to 5:00) for normal listening volume (~60dB). Can't wear it on my head that loud, but 12:00 hits 85-90dB on a moderate volume song (with a SPL meter with a baffle). Under more "normal" conditions (-8dB preamp for bass shelf EQ, ReplayGain, targeting ~65dB listening volume, etc.) I'm at 10:30 or so. At no point has it sounded strained or underpowered.

Has good, open sound stage compared to Jotunheim 2, along with a much more holographic and euphonic sound. Compared to the Oor I demoed, I heavily prefer the presentation of the Homage. The Oor might have had a tiny bit more dynamics (been a couple months, so audio memory is fuzzy), but Homage is better on Susvara than it for just about everything else to my ears.

 

[JL3001]

Glad to see this topic! I'm really curious about the high impedance switch, any insights on how it affects the sound, possibly with a Verite or VC?