[Mojo65]

Anyone driving the ZMF phones off a portable dac/amp like a Hugo 2? How does it sound?

Hi Dababy, I am currrently driving my cherry Atticus with a Alo Audio Continental V5. There is no issue in powering the Atticus correctly, volume remains manageable even though the pot is turned to the second half.
The CV5 beautiful midrange rendering is ideal for the Atticus, while treble is really sweet and never fatiguing. It could be a little more present but it's not an issue. The bass section however is not really perfect, texture is good but there is a little mid-bass bloom that could be better. I prefer a tight bass rather than a bloated one and in this respect the CV5 is not ideal. Soundstage and depth of the CV5 match really well with the Atticus.
I partially mitigated this and improved mid/treble result by mean of a silver plated copper cable, the Labkable's Silver Galaxy II.

Probably the Atticus is not a headphone that is intended for portable use and I'd like to test it with more powerful portable amps (Vorzuge..?) but it can be driven quite easily. Yesterday night I played David Gilmour's Live in Pompeii and the result was excellent, the details of the crowd in the background were excellente as like as the vocals and the guitar playing. An intimate and fascinating rendering.

Bye
Alessandro

 

[Hansotek]

Hi Dababy, I am currrently driving my cherry Atticus with a Alo Audio Continental V5. There is no issue in powering the Atticus correctly, volume remains manageable even though the pot is turned to the second half.
The CV5 beautiful midrange rendering is ideal for the Atticus, while treble is really sweet and never fatiguing. It could be a little more present but it's not an issue. The bass section however is not really perfect, texture is good but there is a little mid-bass bloom that could be better. I prefer a tight bass rather than a bloated one and in this respect the CV5 is not ideal. Soundstage and depth of the CV5 match really well with the Atticus.
I partially mitigated this and improved mid/treble result by mean of a silver plated copper cable, the Labkable's Silver Galaxy II.

Probably the Atticus is not a headphone that is intended for portable use and I'd like to test it with more powerful portable amps (Vorzuge..?) but it can be driven quite easily. Yesterday night I played David Gilmour's Live in Pompeii and the result was excellent, the details of the crowd in the background were excellente as like as the vocals and the guitar playing. An intimate and fascinating rendering.

Bye
Alessandro

The CV5 and the Hugo 2 are very different amps. There isn’t really much that can be learned from one and applied as a lesson for the other. Both great sounding pieces of gear though.

 

[Speednut]

Is there any video showing how to remove the earpads on the atticus (and putting new ones on)?

I have a suede set arriving in a couple of days, and i don't wanna risk braking something, if i do it wrong.

I see Zach have a video on his youtube showing how to put new pads on the older zmf headphones, but does this method apply to the atticus and eikon as well?

 

[gLer]

Is there any video showing how to remove the earpads on the atticus (and putting new ones on)?

I have a suede set arriving in a couple of days, and i don't wanna risk braking something, if i do it wrong.

I see Zach have a video on his youtube showing how to put new pads on the older zmf headphones, but does this method apply to the atticus and eikon as well?

I believe @zach915m was making an Atticus specific video. But I can confirm the old video works. Just be careful to hold the pad firmly in place and be gentle with the thin elasticated flap that fits into the ridge.

 

[Speednut]

I believe @zach915m was making an Atticus specific video. But I can confirm the old video works. Just be careful to hold the pad firmly in place and be gentle with the thin elasticated flap that fits into the ridge.

The video doesn't show how to remove the pads though. I'm a little unsure about the proper way.

 

[gLer]

The video doesn't show how to remove the pads though. I'm a little unsure about the proper way.

Just pinch hold one and gently pull towards you. It will slide off easily.

 

[mgivens]

just got my atticus, had about 5 days...im using them for office use only. Ive let them burn in every night when im at home

not sure im in love, i find myself missing my mad dog planers. i cant tell what is going on but im thinking the mid bass bump is bothering me...my chain is tidal-gumby-beyer a20. if i don't learn to like them im going to try something else. possibly the z1r or eikon. massive attack and portishead(two favorite bands that i really listen to over and over) don't sound that good to me, where other artists are spectacular.

not sure what to do...

 

[Gambitek]

I didn't expect to love my Atticus as much as I did. But boy those mids are something and I love how controlled and tight/punchy the mid bass is. EQ up the sub bass and this headphone is pretty close to the dream. Atticus does better on real instrumental music versus rap/pop/edm, but so much of edm/pop is poorly recorded to be piercingly high that the Atticus tames the highs well. I do prefer classical, gaming, and rap on the HP3.

 

[dunkyboy]

just got my atticus, had about 5 days...im using them for office use only. Ive let them burn in every night when im at home

not sure im in love, i find myself missing my mad dog planers. i cant tell what is going on but im thinking the mid bass bump is bothering me...my chain is tidal-gumby-beyer a20. if i don't learn to like them im going to try something else. possibly the z1r or eikon. massive attack and portishead(two favorite bands that i really listen to over and over) don't sound that good to me, where other artists are spectacular.

not sure what to do...

They’re definitely not for everyone. I didn’t get along with them - too far from neutral for my tastes, and something about the treble was “off”. Try the Eikons. . (Or if you want really neutral, and have tons of cash, try the Sennheiser HD820...)

Dunc

 

[ohcrapgorillas]

I have been listening to Vali 2/Atticus with the stock tube while I'm trying to find time to rewire parts of my Crack slash waiting for a socket saver and 6SN7 adapter to come in from across the Pacific. I don't want to make sweeping generalizations based on the stock tube--with the HD800 I find it slightly tizzy with a tinge of 3-6kHz weirdness, with the Atticus treble issues aren't as pronounced/bothersome but there's definitely gains to be made in terms of bass extension, midrange tonality, and detail retrieval. That said, it's a surprisingly solid and respectable pairing with a little bit of that unique sense of layering/space that you only get from tubes, and while detail retrieval isn't hear every gritty detail good it is good enough that I don't feel like I'm missing anything really significant.

On a side note, since there isn't much buzz about these, I got a pair of ZMF Classics earlier this week and they are absolutely fantastic. I haven't done any side-by-side comparisons, but I have been really really surprised/impressed with the way they are tuned (clear and easy), the level of clarity and detail (I use them at work with a Chord Mojo and never feel like I am missing significant detail), and the value (sound quality wise they are absolutely competitive with OPEN BACKED headphones in their class, similarly priced Sennheisers; I haven't heard the Hifiman midrange lineup in a while but I would take them a million times over the original HE-400 I used to own, or any similarly priced Beyers/AKG that can't get the treble/tonality quite right). I would list the soundstage as being one of the things I'm surprised by but I own the Atticus so I know how good the soundstage in a properly vented closed headphone can sound.

Cheers y'all

PS bass

 

[ZenErik]

just got my atticus, had about 5 days...im using them for office use only. Ive let them burn in every night when im at home

not sure im in love, i find myself missing my mad dog planers. i cant tell what is going on but im thinking the mid bass bump is bothering me...my chain is tidal-gumby-beyer a20. if i don't learn to like them im going to try something else. possibly the z1r or eikon. massive attack and portishead(two favorite bands that i really listen to over and over) don't sound that good to me, where other artists are spectacular.

not sure what to do...

what cable is that? It looks awesome.

 

[mgivens]

what cable is that? It looks awesome.

Thanks, I made it myself. It’s Norne audio wire with paracord. I made the splitter out of some teak I had around. Thought it went well with the wood of the headphone.

 

[heliosphann]

just got my atticus, had about 5 days...im using them for office use only. Ive let them burn in every night when im at home

not sure im in love, i find myself missing my mad dog planers. i cant tell what is going on but im thinking the mid bass bump is bothering me...my chain is tidal-gumby-beyer a20. if i don't learn to like them im going to try something else. possibly the z1r or eikon. massive attack and portishead(two favorite bands that i really listen to over and over) don't sound that good to me, where other artists are spectacular.

not sure what to do...

I've found the Atticus can be quite finicky depending on your chain. Changing amps might help. Also doing a pads swap can alleviate some of that mid-bass hump.

 

[TokenGesture]

Which sounds better out of Chord mojo?

 

[zaky]

just got my atticus, had about 5 days...im using them for office use only. Ive let them burn in every night when im at home

not sure im in love, i find myself missing my mad dog planers. i cant tell what is going on but im thinking the mid bass bump is bothering me...my chain is tidal-gumby-beyer a20. if i don't learn to like them im going to try something else. possibly the z1r or eikon. massive attack and portishead(two favorite bands that i really listen to over and over) don't sound that good to me, where other artists are spectacular.

not sure what to do...

relatable . it's been 10 days for me, regreting.. and yes it's definitely the mid-bass, i tried EQ it down about -2db and suddenly i'm in love. though i prefer not to use EQ. i'm gonna try suded pad (waiting for stock) and if it doesn't help i will go for auteur.

can someone tell me how much change in midbass will i get from suede pad(eikon) ? thanks!