[commtrd]

Doing a lot of switching back and forth between my Elites and 4z lately. Note 4z with new style pads but same old drivers that have tens of thousands of hours play time over several years. Bottom line: I prefer my 4z. True the Elites do have slightly wider sound stage (love that a lot) and the comfort factor MUST go to Elites. However what bugs me about them is the bass region performance. If they can fix that (which may entail thicker / better pads) or something else, the bass seems slightly off somehow, can't really put my thumb on it but I know what I hear when I switch out the Elites for the 4z over and over.

Now I am NOT dissing the Elites un-necessarily; they are exemplary headphones so get that straight. But I have 4z on right now streaming Omar Akram on Tidal and it sounds sublime. Just beautiful. I have to say the 4z are my favorite headphones of all especially with the new pads. Mid-range suck-out seems mostly remedied far as I can tell. That never really bothered me all that much anyway but now even better FR and dynamic ranging. Like shooting with my 200mm F2 Nikkor prime lens vs say a 70-200 the depth, sharpness, color are noticeably better if that makes any sense. Anyway enough rambling, the 4z is all that. To me...

 

[rsbrsvp]

Agree on the Elite Bass. There is a bump in the bass- somewhere in there- which is nice- but it is not somehow completely correct. My Cladera has a bass shelf built into it instead of a bump- covering the entire bass region and it is much more correct to my ears... as it raises the entirety of the bass instead of just the mid-bass.

 

[rsbrsvp]

The 4Z is a fantastic headphone which is severely underrated.

In sound personality I would say it is tuned like 70% LCD-4 and 20% Abyss phi TC and 10% it's own character. It is less lush, more energetic, more linear, less bloated, cleaner than the 4- somewhat in the direction of the TC, - but rounder and smaller sound staged and more mid focused than the TC- more in the direction of the 4. Actually a beautiful blend and to me very much sounding somewhat as a hybrid leaning much more to the 4; but nevertheless a hybrid of the 4 and TC. I'm curious if anyone else can hear the tuning in the same way as I do?

In terms of tuning- it is IMHO one of the best. Its only real shortcoming to me is soundstage is a bit small. I use Goodhertz Can Opener software to emulate speaker soundstage and it really gets the soundstage about 80% as much as a Susvara- while remaining totally realistic.

 

[paulybatz]

The 4Z is a fantastic headphone which is severely underrated.

In sound personality I would say it is tuned like 70% LCD-4 and 20% Abyss phi TC and 10% it's own character. It is less lush, more energetic, more linear, less bloated, cleaner than the 4- somewhat in the direction of the TC, - but rounder and smaller sound staged and more mid focused than the TC- more in the direction of the 4. Actually a beautiful blend and to me very much sounding somewhat as a hybrid leaning much more to the 4; but nevertheless a hybrid of the 4 and TC. I'm curious if anyone else can hear the tuning in the same way as I do?

In terms of tuning- it is IMHO one of the best. Its only real shortcoming to me is soundstage is a bit small. I use Goodhertz Can Opener software to emulate speaker soundstage and it really gets the soundstage about 80% as much as a Susvara- while remaining totally realistic.

Hmmmm. Still on the radar here

 

[iFi audio]

The 4Z is a fantastic headphone which is severely underrated.

In sound personality I would say it is tuned like 70% LCD-4 and 20% Abyss phi TC and 10% it's own character. It is less lush, more energetic, more linear, less bloated, cleaner than the 4- somewhat in the direction of the TC, - but rounder and smaller sound staged and more mid focused than the TC- more in the direction of the 4. Actually a beautiful blend and to me very much sounding somewhat as a hybrid leaning much more to the 4; but nevertheless a hybrid of the 4 and TC. I'm curious if anyone else can hear the tuning in the same way as I do?

In terms of tuning- it is IMHO one of the best. Its only real shortcoming to me is soundstage is a bit small. I use Goodhertz Can Opener software to emulate speaker soundstage and it really gets the soundstage about 80% as much as a Susvara- while remaining totally realistic.

That's a lovely, short and highly accurate feedback, thank you!

 

[Spawn300Z]

The 4Z is a fantastic headphone which is severely underrated.

In sound personality I would say it is tuned like 70% LCD-4 and 20% Abyss phi TC and 10% it's own character. It is less lush, more energetic, more linear, less bloated, cleaner than the 4- somewhat in the direction of the TC, - but rounder and smaller sound staged and more mid focused than the TC- more in the direction of the 4. Actually a beautiful blend and to me very much sounding somewhat as a hybrid leaning much more to the 4; but nevertheless a hybrid of the 4 and TC. I'm curious if anyone else can hear the tuning in the same way as I do?

In terms of tuning- it is IMHO one of the best. Its only real shortcoming to me is soundstage is a bit small. I use Goodhertz Can Opener software to emulate speaker soundstage and it really gets the soundstage about 80% as much as a Susvara- while remaining totally realistic.

So True, I been thinking about selling mine for a while, since I have a lot of cans and need to reduce collection. Usually go with my Susvara setup since I got it sounding so sweet. So I have light use in them. But when I put them on I always remember how good they are.

 

[rsbrsvp]

So True, I been thinking about selling mine for a while, since I have a lot of cans and need to reduce collection. Usually go with my Susvara setup since I got it sounding so sweet. So I have light use in them. But when I put them on I always remember how good they are.

The Susvara is excellent. Overall probably better. The soundstage is much larger- and it is tuned very well. The 4Z is more intimate with much superior bass. I think I do prefer it over the 4 as it is less vailed, more energetic. But close call. The lushness of the 4 is beautiful. I do believe I prefer the 4z over my caldera.

 

[Spawn300Z]

I also preferred the 4Z to to 4. Haven’t heard the caldera. But I do feel the 4Z is underrated. It’s an outstanding headphone easier to drive then the 4 and scales up wonderfully.

 

[commtrd]

Love my 4z; they can pry them out of my cold dead hands LOL. Never sell these headphones ever. Saying that, I sure do wish Audeze had a better suspension system for the headband. However since I have more hours on these in all the years I owned them than I can possibly count must not be that big of a deal. The new pads are SO RECOMMENDED to improve sound quality.

 

[rsbrsvp]

There is so much PR on the ZMF Cadera now. I have one and it is a very good headphone. I prefer the 4z slightly- sonically but I do prefer the comfort of the Cladera headband.

 

[rsbrsvp]

The 4z is a round, darker, very physical sounding sound. I love it.

 

[obzilla]

It's totally visceral. Key player in my lineup. Wildly under appreciated.

 

[rsbrsvp]

It's totally visceral. Key player in my lineup. Wildly under appreciated.

Agree. It has a lot of the visceral-ness of the TC without being as sharp. Again- I hold it is a 70% LCD-4 and 20%--30% phi TC hybrid. A superb blend

 

[obzilla]

Agree. It has a lot of the visceral-ness of the TC without being as sharp. Again- I hold it is a 70% LCD-4 and 2--30% phi TC hybrid. A superb blend

I've only got the v2 to compare in the Abyss world, but I totally love them both for different reasons. I'll probably end up with a TC at some point

 

[senseitedj]

the 4z doesn't really get much attention these days, but there's a good reason why Audeze have not discontinued them...