[DaemonSire]

*Special Announcement*

Hivemind Cables will now carry ZMF's as a dealer: https://www.hivemindcables.com/

Up until now we have only had dealers outside of North America except for The Source AV which also stocks a couple Eikon's. But now our friends up north will have a ZMF dealer of their own so you guys won't have to worry about waiting in line for an Eikon or Atticus or customs. Jerrold currently has stock that's ready to ship immediately and I've been super impressed with his dedication to audio. He's a good dude!

Anyways, announcement over, thanks!

Hey Zach
Speaking as a Canadian, this is great news. One question, does this affect any warranty, service, etc? If we have a problem, do we still just contact you directly or go through Hivemind?

 

[rgs9200m]

More of my Atticus impressions if anyone is interested.

The ZMF Atticus goes against the grain of the trends today. No ear-bleeding, no EQ needed, no shout, no digital glare, just musical and organic with a great absorbing sound.

I listened for hours the other night. I think it is underpriced. I would have believed it's a $2K or even maybe $3K headphone based on the going rate for top-tier headphones that I have experience with.

The music just falls out of it effortlessly to my ears without fatigue and with very nice impact and detail.
It's balanced from bass to highs with compelling texture and no dreaded peakiness at any part of the spectrum or any types of instruments or vocals.

Brass has nice bite and piano has nice resonance. The bass is not soft and fits in with the rest of the spectrum without any pushiness or overwhelming pump. But the bass is all there with very satisfying impact and provides a firm foundation.

But it is NOT boring or cloaked. It's a sound that makes me lean into the music for a long session. It's not an over-the-top sound trying to dig everything out at the cost of making me cringe.
But it's still an open sound with realistic images boundaries and good staging that is believable.

This is not a claustrophobic or flat sound. It doesn't feel like something is missing or the attributes of a musical object are masked.

The Atticus can be listened to at high volume without shout or piercing sonics. So it is good for for popular music that can hurt if you turn it up.

I tried too many headphones that were just plain painful, so the Atticus is a revelation. It pairs perfectly with the DHC OCC cable which does a terrific job on bass-clarity and definition. I feel that it's a great matchup for the Atticus.

In summary, the Atticus overall sound can be described as balanced/sophisticated/organic/refined and it always keeps its cool and is controlled but still provides excitement and fine insight.

It's very comfortable and seems well made and sturdy and the wood and headband and pads seem just right.

I think you should be able to pair the Atticus with all sort of upstream equipment without worrying that the chain driving it is too bright or aggressive. The Atticus I think will be able to generate a nice musical sound regardless. I just tried a couple of upstream chains but that's my intuition here. I'll leave it to others to verify this.

 

[Monsterzero]

Can I make a recommendation? Instead of having your cable terminated directly to speaker taps (either bare wire or banana plugs), I'd suggest having it terminated to 4pin XLR male. Then have a separate 4pin XLR female to speaker taps cable.

This way, you still have the flexibility of 4pin XLR (different amp, 4pin XLR to 1/4" cable, etc.), but also have your speaker taps available. I have this set-up and it is awesome.

I have a 4pin XLR female to bare wire plugged into my vintage Marantz 2245 wtih the female end sitting on top of the receiver. Then I just have to plug in whatever headphone I want to drive off of the taps (HE500, Ori, etc.).

Your suggestion is exactly what i'm doing.
Zach is putting a mini-XLR about a foot or so from termination,which is the same as I have for my HE6.

 

[DaemonSire]

Your suggestion is exactly what i'm doing.
Zach is putting a mini-XLR about a foot or so from termination,which is the same as I have for my HE6.

Awesome! Can't wait to hear how it sounds. What are you going to use?

 

[Monsterzero]

I use vintage receivers exclusively to drive my headphones.I own 5 and switch them out occasionally to change up the sound.
Currently using my Sansui 5000a from the early 70s....It's only 50wpc into 8 ohms,but it has the best bass and warmest sound of any SS receiver I've heard to date,including my Marantz 2226b,which is known for its bass.

If it proves to be too warm of a combo I have a Kenwood Eleven GX and Onkyo 6500 Mk ll,both of which are over 100wpc into 8 ohms and are much more detail oriented.

 

[TonySunshine]

Anyone experiencing sibilance with their Atticus? I was running mine out of a lyr 2 with a variety of tubes and was hearing a lot of sibilance in a bunch of different tracks. I switched over to a project ember 2 and setting the output impedance to the highest setting helps, but still hear a treble peak, I think in the 5-8Khz region.

 

[Arcamera]

Just add me as another who thinks that cables affect the sound. Subtle, but real. Genuinely noticeable. Enough to make a difference. (But no interest in the astronomical figures. Diminishing returns. Go to town, you .001%..And be content, you less than .001%)

 

[zach915m]

Anyone experiencing sibilance with their Atticus? I was running mine out of a lyr 2 with a variety of tubes and was hearing a lot of sibilance in a bunch of different tracks. I switched over to a project ember 2 and setting the output impedance to the highest setting helps, but still hear a treble peak, I think in the 5-8Khz region.

Probably worth me looking at them. Send me an email at contactzmf@gmail.com

Thanks!

 

[Makiah S]

Anyone experiencing sibilance with their Atticus? I was running mine out of a lyr 2 with a variety of tubes and was hearing a lot of sibilance in a bunch of different tracks. I switched over to a project ember 2 and setting the output impedance to the highest setting helps, but still hear a treble peak, I think in the 5-8Khz region.

A mismatch of the Output Impedance will translate to sibilance on the Atticus, I found 35R to be the best, even more so than 120R out

I'd also try swapping to a different tube to help cut down on the energy up top, the Atticus in particular has a 10k peak that helps pull out some detail up there, as well as another at 5k. How long have you had your Atticus and when did the problem arrise

Or have @zach915m take a look lol, he'll know better than any of us!

 

[TonySunshine]

I've had my atticus for about a month I think. Out of the box the sibilance was really bad, unlistenable. I burned them in for ~150 hours and that helped a bit.
On the lyr 2 and the project ember I've tried them with a variety of tubes(after burn in) including the genalex gold lion, orange globes, 1975 Russian 6N23P's, RCA cleartop 12au7, and 6N6P gold grid, ECC88 JAN Sylvania. So far the Russian 6N23P's and the 6N6P gold grids warm up the sound the most, but the sibilance still pokes through.
I verified the sound sig of the tubes using my HD650's just to make sure I wasn't going crazy.

Will try the middle impedance setting when I get home tonight. Thanks for the tip!

A mismatch of the Output Impedance will translate to sibilance on the Atticus, I found 35R to be the best, even more so than 120R out

I'd also try swapping to a different tube to help cut down on the energy up top, the Atticus in particular has a 10k peak that helps pull out some detail up there, as well as another at 5k. How long have you had your Atticus and when did the problem arrise

Or have @zach915m take a look lol, he'll know better than any of us!

 

[Makiah S]

I've had my atticus for about a month I think. Out of the box the sibilance was really bad, unlistenable. I burned them in for ~150 hours and that helped a bit.
On the lyr 2 and the project ember I've tried them with a variety of tubes(after burn in) including the genalex gold lion, orange globes, 1975 Russian 6N23P's, RCA cleartop 12au7, and 6N6P gold grid, ECC88 JAN Sylvania. So far the Russian 6N23P's and the 6N6P gold grids warm up the sound the most, but the sibilance still pokes through.
I verified the sound sig of the tubes using my HD650's just to make sure I wasn't going crazy.

Will try the middle impedance setting when I get home tonight. Thanks for the tip!

Worse comes to worse if your interested I've got a Grey Glass RCA 6sn7 that's CRAZY thick and warm, it's my top end tamer

 

[Hyp0xia]

I think it is underpriced. I would have believed it's a $2K or even maybe $3K headphone based on the going rate for top-tier headphones that I have experience with.

While I agree that the Atticus is an amazing headphone, I have to object to this statement. In a world of four-digit USB cables and $35K DACs and $6K HiFiMAN headphones that require a generator to drive, I don't find this to be helpful at all. Audio products should be priced according to BOM and labor costs, not a subjective "measurement" of how good they sound. I have no idea what the BOM and labor cost of a ZMF Atticus is, but, if someone genuinely believes them to be underpriced and they have more money burning holes in their pockets than they know what to do with, they should write ZMF a check and not encourage manufacturers to gouge the rest of us. I believe that there should be such a thing as a good value in this hobby and, if the Atticus can be described as such, that's great and we should keep it that way.

Now, I realize you didn't explicitly say that the price of the Atticus should be raised and may merely have been pointing out that it holds its own against more expensive offerings, but I think one should be very careful how one phrases things.

 

[Makiah S]

While I agree that the Atticus is an amazing headphone, I have to object to this statement. In a world of four-digit USB cables and $35K DACs and $6K HiFiMAN headphones that require a generator to drive, I don't find this to be helpful at all. Audio products should be priced according to BOM and labor costs, not a subjective "measurement" of how good they sound. I have no idea what the BOM and labor cost of a ZMF Atticus is, but, if someone genuinely believes them to be underpriced and they have more money burning holes in their pockets than they know what to do with, they should write ZMF a check and not encourage manufacturers to gouge the rest of us. I believe that there should be such a thing as a good value in this hobby and, if the Atticus can be described as such, that's great and we should keep it that way.

Now, I realize you didn't explicitly say that the price of the Atticus should be raised and may merely have been pointing out that it holds its own against more expensive offerings, but I think one should be very careful how one phrases things.

Apparently Zach feels the same, as the price is SUPER competitive. Coming in that much lower than the competition means he can move some serious numbers hopefully!

Either way it they are an amazing pair,

 

[xDaveyJ]

Anyone experiencing sibilance with their Atticus? I was running mine out of a lyr 2 with a variety of tubes and was hearing a lot of sibilance in a bunch of different tracks. I switched over to a project ember 2 and setting the output impedance to the highest setting helps, but still hear a treble peak, I think in the 5-8Khz region.

There's a peak at 6k but it's not really a peak, more of a depression on both sides. The peak doesn't go over the mids. My guess is etiher you listen way to loud to music that boosts that region or there's something wrong.

The Atticus while punchy and energetic doesn't boost anything the HD650 doesn't in terms of upper mids and treble. I personally find the HD650 more shouty.

 

[xDaveyJ]

Speaking of pricing. When I see joke of a headphone for price/performance like the Z1R and Ether Flow C the Atticus is a steal. That resolution and detail with a dynamic driver that has planar smoothness mixed with the punchy, impa tful sound of the dynamic driver along with the high quality build and materials compared to the competition is quite underpriced.

Zack also works so hard, puts passion into his work and I wouldn't complain if the Atticus went up a couple of hundred. I think he should personally.