Listened to Atticus and Eikon on all kinds of setups at CanJam SoCal, and boy do they ever scale up with the equipment. Loved the way Eikon sounded with the Wells Headtrip Reference and Chord Dave ($28,000 combined) - like listening to speakers in a great room - super transparent. And I also enjoyed it with the Woo WA-33 and Jack's EMM Labs DAC (about $36K combined) - hyper detailed with very 3-dimensional depth - like floating in a sea of sound particles. Super cool.
I also listened to Atticus with the Ampsandsound line-up. They were fabulous with all of them. I can see why grizzlybeast loves them on the Mogwai! Also, Justin and Jeremiah are super cool guys.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the Atticus balanced out of the Fiio X5 III. That's a great little DAP for $399. I also had a great chat with chowmein83 about the Atticus while I was at the FIIO booth. Always fun to meet folks you recognize from the threads in real life.
Can't go wrong there, fortunately I was next to Justin and ampandsound at CanJam, their amps are great, so is the decware stuff. Really can't lose!
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It would be a wise choice. Nice bumping into you at CanJam, BTW! I really enjoyed our chat!
I saw you were trying the Atticus with lots of different amps at the show. Did you come away with a top 5 or something? Would love to hear your thoughts on the top amp synergies with Atticus at the show.
I understand where the difference may be for bass. The Z1R is more focused at its fundamental core than the Atticus which is more punchy and does sustain better than the Z1R. I'd be okay ranking the Sony bass over the Atticus. In my review I said the Z1R was on the Atticus' heels.
However I believe the Eikon bass is less distorted and cleaner and since it has better dynamics, kick drums ( bass) are more punchy on my tube amp than the Z1R is on tube or solid state. Which is why I preferred the Eikon n Atticus bass because of kick drums and tone weight. I find the Z1R only mediocre at macrodynamics; sounding focused enough but not as much oomph on certain songs. The Atticus is slightly looser but solid enough for me with better weight and bass timbre than the Z1R.
For the sake of simplicity I cut out a lot of explanations. For EDM I preferred the Eikon just a little but really enjoyed the Z1R bass.
However,
The Z1R has no business costing a penny more than the Atticus if it is less clear, less spacious, less nuanced (microdynamics) with much worse timbre and realism than the Atticus. The timbre of the Z1R is a little thin and fake sounding to me. My notes have it with a papery kind of timbre that I found too difficult to describe in a short way. It's kind of dry and thin - like paper with unrealistic cup reverberations that are not natural like the Atticus. If it were 999 USD it would be rated 100% of price to performance. It is not nearly as clear as the XC no matter what amp.
The Elear is cleaner clearer, less distorted, faster, with better micro details, dynamics, same build quality (though worse upper mids and smaller images and soundstage) yet costs 999. And with the fancy Sony cups, it doesn't even sound semi open. Now I would take the sony because it has much better tonality and the images are larger. But by merit they are more or less equals.
999/2499 equals 39.9% which is what the Sony should cost. and if the Focal Elear performs better technically for the same price and build, that a 40% rating for price to performance is more than fair.
My friend, whose opinion I have come to put stock in, commented on how the Atticus sounded much better than the Z1R using his Mjilnor 2 (not really a tube amp since its synergy properties are like a solid state).
YM(Machinery, Model, Memory, Mileage, and Music) MV
Not debating but just offering perspective for anyone as legitimately perplexed as you. I totally get it especially if you owned it. As someone else mentioned, I became acclimated to the ZMF cans sound but the reality is it doesn't take long for me to become acclimated to things that sound real to ME
The SPL Phonitor E didn't go so well on the tour but its natural timbre and sense of realism is unique even if it's not 'impressive' in bass control and edge. That is why no matter what ppl said about it I love it. Now these ZMFs have realism but are also 'impressive' in performance for closed backs which is why the hype seems real to some.
Great thoughts here. I appreciate your insight, and although I still don't agree about the Z1R, I agree on almost all other fronts of what you say.
I think where the Eikon beats the Z1R clearly in the bass department is clarity, but I think the quantity of the Z1R bass is more immersive. I think both the Eikon and the Z1R beat the Atticus here as well, except in the midbass/lower midrange where it seems more punchy.
Not sure if you had a bad Z1R though. As most others don't feel the same way about the timbre or qualities that you heard. I would give it another listen on another set sometime if you have a chance.
Most importantly, I love that we can disagree and still be civil on this forum. This isn't reddit r/headphones it seems
Listened to Atticus and Eikon on all kinds of setups at CanJam SoCal, and boy do they ever scale up with the equipment. Loved the way Eikon sounded with the Wells Headtrip Reference and Chord Dave ($28,000 combined) - like listening to speakers in a great room - super transparent. And I also enjoyed it with the Woo WA-33 and Jack's EMM Labs DAC (about $36K combined) - hyper detailed with very 3-dimensional depth - like floating in a sea of sound particles. Super cool.
I also listened to Atticus with the Ampsandsound line-up. They were fabulous with all of them. I can see why @grizzlybeast loves them on the Mogwai! Also, Justin and Jeremiah are super cool guys.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the Atticus balanced out of the Fiio X5 III. That's a great little DAP for $399. I also had a great chat with @chowmein83 about the Atticus while I was at the FIIO booth. Always fun to meet folks you recognize from the threads in real life.
I call this one "waiting for Eikon". Currently have the Musette going straight in to the Jotunheim on the far left which is feeding a modded HE-400S via XLR. The Jotunheim arrived this afternoon so I am still getting to know it but it certain has the slam and the crazy fast attack and decay going for it.
My friend had a great time at canjam. He's just dipping the toes with headphone audio (I convinced him to get the HD6XX), but he was extremely impressed with the Atticus. He enjoyed the Eikon as well with classical (in his words, stellar and one of the best referenceish type songs at the show). He seems to prefer a bit more warmth. He liked the Atticus over the Eikon and felt the Ether Flow was a good in-between in terms of warmth. Interestingly, he felt the ZMFs totally dominated over any of the Audezes there. He also liked the Aeon quite a bit
He still can't stop talking about the Utopia with the WA22, though, but I guess that's in a different league. I haven't heard any of these, and am still awaiting my Atticus and Eikon!
I recently heard the Mogwai with upgraded tubes and a Kenzie at a meet for a good hour. Both connected to Chord Dave,
Everyone thought the Kenzie sounded better but it couldn't drive the LCD-4s very well.
The Mogwai bass was too bloated for me and it bled into the midrange somewhat.
Kenzie was clearly better although a different set of tubes in the Mogwai may have improved things.
I personally think the Milo sounds better than either, to be honest.
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