It’s interesting that you mention Grado. They were my first love in this hobby. Well the Ety ER4 was first and then Grado. Started with a Senn H650 and while impressed with the sound it didn’t move me with rock music. I never got fatigued by Grado but was looking for something with a little more...

Got through the weekend with only a few hours listening on both the CO and CC (dam kids!) but wanted to share a few very impulsive early impressions. Started with the CO on the Stratus, and man did that impress! The CO unit is clearly well used and I'm thinking fully broken in. It sounded very...

I can understand as I have kept both VC and VO as they are different enough depending on my mood. I never noticed much between the different woods nor have I had much opportunity to try different ones but I would think pads make more of a difference than wood hardness. Overall you cannot go...

Thank you, I have got Ironwood VC and I had borrowed stock Sapele VC. I still can not decide what wood to have. Sapele wood VC is 1360 Janka and I was pleased by its weighty sound caused by decay - it was gorgeous with a prog metal music, but added decay was too much for other genres like...

Now that I have 2 AC, one Redwood burl and the other Macassar Ebony, they both have some special magic going on! Using Bokeh suedes on both. The Redwood sounds significantly more expansive and brighter which seems to give a bit more detail to female vocals. But the bass on the Macassar is just...

I also enjoy lists. I'm fortunate enough to own every current ZMF headphone at once, and will try to give my best personal feedback. Please note this list can slightly change based on what listening station I am at, but I will use the Dave/Blu/Viva since it's the best one I have. Last...

Man, I own both the VC and Atticus currently and you're making me want to get a pair of Atrium Closed!

So interesting that you found the upper mids aggressive on the VC - I find the upper mids really relaxed and love that about them (whereas e.g. the Focal Stellia upper mids are grating). This hobby is so baffling haha. Fair play about hardness to the transients though I do pick that up...

Oh lists are fun! :) Bokeh: Most fun, most engaging, mostest of the most when it comes to fun. Just grabs and holds my attention best. Atrium Closed: Much like the Bokeh, but with a more restrained treble region and less forward mids. Less exciting than the Bokeh but not by much. Atrium Open...

Really intersting info, especially since I happen to have 10 or so ZMF pads on hand already. But how did you get ZMF pads (other than the ZMF Susvara pads, obviously) to attach to Susvara?

I've tested no less than nine ZMF pads over the last few weeks and thought I'd share my findings. I'll do my best to be concise and pseudo-rank these: The Winners: Susvara Lambskin Pads: Considering that these pads are in striking distance in price to the stock pads and aren't built to...

For an opposing opinion, in my experience woods on opposite ends of the hardness scale will show clear differences. I can’t imagine comparing something like cherry with ironwood and not hearing each as unique. If you’re comparing woods that are closer to each other on the spectrum, the...

Not a completely different sound. The wood type (hard vs. soft; you can google the Janka hardness scale of the wood varieties; or go here: https://www.bellforestproducts.com/exotic-wood/ ) seems to affect how crisply the notes begin and end. Harder woods give a sharper attack at the beginning...

Perhaps I'll check out some pads and do some swapping. I'm looking here at the chart for ZMF pads and the legend to the right on the chart does not list the BE2 pads even though they are on the chart. https://www.zmfheadphones.com/zmfpads

I think @cats4cans is spot on here. I think of it more of a fine tuning of the sound than changing the character of the headphone, but many find the difference discernible. I never had the opportunity to try the two headphones side by side, but from VERY imperfect memory I do think I hear a...

If you want to try a few more pads now’s the time to do it. I’ve never figured out why my B-stock pads are B-stock. Sale is until the 10th. There are several discussions in multiple threads about how wood hardness can alter the sound slightly. The consensus seems to be pad rolling has a much...

Damn good Ebony you have there, congrats! When I was looking at Caldera collections on web, Black White Ebony was the one that truly catch my attention. While I like Blue or some other attractive colours for Dynamic Driver ZMF, I always think Caldera "should be" in more mature accent, more...

I love black & white ebony.. your set is just incredible!

Absolutely stunning looking pair!

Beautiful... very unique patterning! I'm quite sure I don't have to say, Enjoy them!!

My Black & White Ebony Caldera has just arrived. Piece of art in its appearance and piece of art in its sonic performance. Thank you Zach and team ZMF for such a beauty! Choosing wood was a long process. I was leaning towards the sound of hard wood editions, but I was also worrying about too...

Reading back through this thread because I'm looking into getting an AC (leaning towards Cherry or Redwood)... so it sounds like the Redwood has the qualities of the soft wood (more decay, atmosphere and bass) and has the qualities of harder wood like better attack and clarity? I find this...

The hardness of the wood isn't like a night or day difference if you really like the look of a softer wood. Soft woods can sound nice! I had a VC in Monkeypod which I really enjoyed. The VC driver is so fast to start with anyway. You won't be missing any snap. I now have the AC in olive wood...

Very fair! It's all a matter of taste, as we know. Well, I really like them. They are my favorite headphones I've heard under $2k. They have a bit of brightness at 5kHz that bothered me at first, but either it became less bothersome during break-in (more likely) or I simply got used to it. They...

And yet one stabilised can still sound different from another I guess. I found my stabilised AC to sound more energetic and focused than my current Redwood Burl which is more relaxed and lush with more enveloping bass presence. Great insights, janka wood hardness seem not to be the only factor.