So I got a set of camphor Atticus last Saturday and pretty much haven't been able to take them off since I got them. I knew they were going to have a signature similar to the HD6XX but was still surprised just how similar they sounded.
I wasn't a huge fan of the stock tuning. The mids were just too overpowering and highs too subdued/rolled off. For metal/hardcore, the sound just was not right at all. Guitars lacked bite primarily and cymbals being so low in the mix really took the energy out of most music. So I've been playing with the parametric EQ in Roon and think I've got a profile that really shows just how versatile and impressive these headphones can be. For anyone interested:
Band 1: Low shelf 80 Hz, 7 dB, 1 Q
Band 2: Peak 970 Hz, -7.5 dB, 1.2 Q
Band 3: Peak 1490 Hz, 6 dB, 1 Q
Band 4: Peak 3761 Hz, 9 dB, 1 Q
Band 5: Peak 8000 Hz, 5.4 dB, 1 Q
Band 6: Peak 12000 Hz, 7.7 dB, 1 Q
Band 7: Peak 4900 Hz, -6 dB, 4 Q
Distorted guitars have lovely bite, cymbals are detailed and much more present in the mix, and the overall timbre sounds more natural to me. While not neutral, these settings make the Atticus sound much more similar to the RAAL SR1a but with much better bass and slam of course.
I was listening to some Dillinger Escape Plan last night and was shocked at how well the Atticus image and separate instruments. I was hearing a lot of backing instruments that presented as some kind of noise and I could interpret the general chords being played in the past on other headphones (ESP/95X, Ether 2, SR1a) but suddenly, I could hear exactly what was being played nearly perfectly without the lead riff overpowering it to the point of reducing it to background sound.
These are great, great headphones that have totally surpassed my expectations--especially in regards to detail retrieval and clarity. And they're so FUN. It's so easy to just rock out with these on. Now I'm really curious about the Verite...
EDIT: my chain is as follows:
Roon Core (2014 MBP) USB -> Bifrost 2 XLR -> GS-X mini preamp RCA -> Gilmore Lite MK 2 -> Atticus