[Poganin]

After 2 years with an Auteur, the time has come to expand my ZMF with an Atticus. Here it is, in marblewood.
First impressions are very positive.

 

[Mightygrey]

That’s exactly correct. A few early bands in the 90s created that sound to be purposefully anti mainstream and it kind of hung around. It has the overall effect of killing bass and emphasizing mids and upper mids. I still love it for some weird reason but have this losing battle to try to find a headphone to make it sound like it does live.

Opeth is one of the few metal bands with great dynamics in the recordings.

I literally just finished listening to Blackwater Park (again) on the new Grado SR325X. It's such a bloody great (and well-made) album.

 

[smodtactical]

I've had the Verite (open) and Empyrean at the same time, and have since sold off both to come back to the Atticus. I've boiled down my lineup to the HD600/650, Aeolus and the Atticus. Quite frankly I'm pondering selling off the Aeolus and just sticking with my 650's and Atticus.

I had a lot of fun trying out seemingly every headphone under the sun but have slowly figured out what I like the best and it's generally got nothing to do with neutrality, detail, resolution, whatever other descriptor you see get tossed around this hobby. I've got a very light weight Atticus now (LTD Black Limba, roughly the same weight as my Sapele Aeolus), which solves literally the only issue I had with my initial set a couple years ago. There isn't a genre I personally listen to that they don't sound great with, and I enjoy their signature more than any other headphone I've ever heard.

Interesting. On our Sonic Visions discord no many people heard Atticus but one of them who did expressed how she hated it and empyrean was vastly superior.

It made me really wonder about empyrean as a more detailed atticus that retains the warm heavy handed charms of the Atticus. But reading your post now kind of makes me doubt that. I got my atticus on a fairly fast chain (terminator, he9, di20he) with a ted allen silver cable and it really sounds magical. The rich bass yet detail that surprises you that cuts through the thickness.

 

[1-MiC]

Coming from someone who's in love with the Sundaras (I prefer them over than the lcd-x's even with EQ), would you recommend the Eikon or the Atticus? Wish it was easier to audition ZMF's stuff.

The bass extension and detail retrieval of the LCD-X's are phenomenal, but I prefered the tonality of the Sundaras. With the LCD-X's, I'd ocassionally have a song where one part of the frequency peaked, and I rarely had moments where the music sounded rich, full, and all encompassing like the Sundaras.

I went from Ananda to the Eikon, and I believe Eikon is much closer to the the Hifiman sound than the Atticus. You gain a little bass and sub bass, much better dynamics and get a smoothing of the highs. You lose a little bit of the that planar image separation. What remains the same is a pretty neutral tuning, I wouldnt call the Eikon bright but compared to the Atticus/Aeolus it definitely has more treble energy. Enough to satisfy coming from the Ananda for me.

 

[kid vic]

I went from Ananda to the Eikon, and I believe Eikon is much closer to the the Hifiman sound than the Atticus. You gain a little bass and sub bass, much better dynamics and get a smoothing of the highs. You lose a little bit of the that planar image separation. What remains the same is a pretty neutral tuning, I wouldnt call the Eikon bright but compared to the Atticus/Aeolus it definitely has more treble energy. Enough to satisfy coming from the Ananda for me.

This is true; the Autuer is like an upgraded HE500 and the Eikon is generally in line with the frequency response of my HE1000 (different but relatively similar).

 

[tudedude]

Can you request custom stains to ZMF headphones?

 

[Mightygrey]

Can you request custom stains to ZMF headphones?

Only one way to find out...

 

[kid vic]

Can you request custom stains to ZMF headphones?

Yes, I remember someone got a custom purple verite and I saw a for sale verite that was a custom cream white a while ago. Not sure if its an extra cost but I think it can be done.

 

[tudedude]

Yes, I remember someone got a custom purple verite and I saw a for sale verite that was a custom cream white a while ago. Not sure if its an extra cost but I think it can be done.

cool, yeah I've been debating on getting this but the color isn't quite what I want.

 

[kiwiduck929]

Yes, I remember someone got a custom purple verite and I saw a for sale verite that was a custom cream white a while ago. Not sure if its an extra cost but I think it can be done.

i recently asked for a stain and zach told me the schedule was too tight to accomodate requests like that so it may not be a sure thing, FYI.

 

[robo24]

i recently asked for a stain and zach told me the schedule was too tight to accomodate requests like that so it may not be a sure thing, FYI.

Yeah, I think it was last summer they said they were making some changes to help streamline production and might eventually launch a customization option on the website, with a premium and significantly longer build time. I've not seen any news on all that so I'd assume that means still no custom orders other than the options presented when ordering. When I got my stained Atticus that was back in March 2020 and seemed to take about a month longer than standard ones. It seems like there is more and more interest in ZMFs and I guess somethings gotta give or everyone would just have to wait even longer.

 

[smodtactical]

Jesus man the pass 350.8 + Atticus combo is mesmerizing and forcing me to respect headphones. At night time when I cant listen to my nearfields, the sound freezes me in place and is simply hypnotizing.

 

[steve468]

Can I ask you what you’re using to hook up your Atticus to your speaker amp? I’ve got an Atticus on the way and a decently powerful speaker amp at 200w, and am curious how the pairing might sound, but I’m worried about blowing the doors off something as sensitive as Atticus even with an attenuator/adapter. Am I just being overly cautious? Anyone else have experience with Zmfs and speaker amps?

 

[ufospls2]

Can I ask you what you’re using to hook up your Atticus to your speaker amp? I’ve got an Atticus on the way and a decently powerful speaker amp at 200w, and am curious how the pairing might sound, but I’m worried about blowing the doors off something as sensitive as Atticus even with an attenuator/adapter. Am I just being overly cautious? Anyone else have experience with Zmfs and speaker amps?

Depends on the gain of the amp. I used the Eikon, and now my Verite on my Kinki EX-M1 with no troubles, even on high gain. Just be careful with the volume knob at first, and go from there. Works great.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Jesus man the pass 350.8 + Atticus combo is mesmerizing and forcing me to respect headphones. At night time when I cant listen to my nearfields, the sound freezes me in place and is simply hypnotizing.

Now try an Aeolus (same driver in a somewhat different/open earcup design). More revelations to be found there...