[GabeM]

I run them off a Topping D10 > JDSLabs Atom and I’m in love with them. YMMV.

Low gain about 11o’clock is loud, and to my ears, I have no sense they’re being underpowered.

I am very interested in whether ZMF Aeolus is similar and a significant upgrade…

I love almost everything the Zeus does but on some tracks I want cleaner, more defined bass and better extension and a less congested soundstage.

Maaaybe those things improve on a better amp? Maybe I need a ZMF?

I love my Zeus so much but I gotta have goals haha

Oh, have you tried eq? Resolve from the (headphone show on youtube and headphones.com) eq'd them to his taste, mostly to bring down and level out the lower mids, opening up the soundstage and adding definition to the bass (he left the bass at about the same level). You might can try out his preset and fine tune to your taste.
If you do try eq, let me know how it works out for you. I'm looking at getting the zeus, and I'm wondering how well they take eq and if i will be able to bring up the sub bass to my preferences without reaching the drivers' limitations.

 

[mattxo]

Oh, have you tried eq? Resolve from the (headphone show on youtube and headphones.com) eq'd them to his taste, mostly to bring down and level out the lower mids, opening up the soundstage and adding definition to the bass (he left the bass at about the same level). You might can try out his preset and fine tune to your taste.
If you do try eq, let me know how it works out for you. I'm looking at getting the zeus, and I'm wondering how well they take eq and if i will be able to bring up the sub bass to my preferences without reaching the drivers' limitations.

Just figured out how to make Equalizer APO work on Windows 11, woo. You gotta use v1.1.1 not the latest.

So, after applying Resolves EQ (and I'm not an EQ guy btw so.. grain of salt)

Bass
Loses some of warm, round tubey character, not that I've heard a tube amp mind you. The bass is cleaner and better defined, it quite obviously has a positive impact and slam now.. but.. imo, it's nothing to write home about. It sounds pretty generic and.. mmf, my Grado 325X's have a deeper, cleaner more satisfying bass response if a clean well defined bass guitars and kick drums are called for.

I threw on Korn - Ball Tongue because it's got a lot of drops that really require deep clean bass to sound good. I was very underwhelmed. Worse, the general character of the track imo is much worse. On my grado's that bass guitar is eerie AF, on Zeus.. ehhh, I know what it's trying to do and it's not doing it.

FKA Twigs - Two Weeks: This calls for clean, clear, deep bass and again, very underwhelming, with or without out this EQ imo.


Mids
Mmm... so, on FKA - Twigs this sounds too thin and tinny, the exact opposite of what I want from the Zeus.

Male vocals... so some Nick Cave - this I approve of, on this track. Flicking the EQ on and off, the EQ is clearly better, I love this track, but not without this EQ. Without EQ there's way too much bleed into the vocals, it's bloated and not enjoyable. This sounds natural and right. That said, the instruments are missing some warmth that I love from the Zeus.

Nirvana - Come As You Are (MTV Ungplugged)
This is clearly an overall improvement. The vocal tone sounds much better to me overall. Without EQ, Kurt's sweeter tones sound a little too smooth, and when he flips into some vocal distortion it's too harsh and emphasized, with EQ it sounds much more natural. Lacking a touch of body and richness again, but, it had far too much without EQ.

Treble
I'm not audiophile enough to really know what to look for here. I know the cymbals in Kittie - Mouthful Of Posion can be really, really sharp, so.. let's play that. Oof.... this is good, this is really really good. It's a little bit too warm and rich with EQ off, just slightly on the tinny side with the EQ for my taste.

Soundstage
The Zeus can definitely get congested. One track I noticed this on quite badly was Eve 6 - Rescue. The EQ does provide better instrument separation, at the cost of the vocals and some instruments sounding too thin for my taste. No changes to depth or width that I can perceive.

Overall
Anywho, I don't know "how well" they take EQ, but I don't notice anything where I feel like the EQ isn't doing what it should. Whilst it might not be quite to my taste, it doesn't feel like they're misbehaving in any way.

If you ask me what to look for on what track, happy to tell you how I perceive it.

I dialled back every change over 100hz by half and that strikes nicer toner balance overall for me listening to all these tracks. YMMV!

I pushed 40hz up another 8db gave what I consider the "right" volume for the bass guitar in Korn - Ball Tongue, but, it's still warm and rounded, lacking sufficient texture and extension. It's a lovely tonal character on a lot of tracks but so so wrong for this track. Oof, gives Kittie - Mouthful of Poison the right amount of kick drum volume but again, there's a warm smooth gooeyness that not right for this track.

EDIT: Ah! That 21hz bumped up to 6db gives the kick drum much better definition, same with the bass guitar in the Korn track. Still doesn't have enough texture or extension but... a massive improvement for the genre/tracks.

You may have inadvertently turned me into a fan of EQ haha.

Apparently this is what I like on the Zeus

EDIT2:

Okay, now the bass sounds "right" across the board to me and whilst I'd give the edge to my Grado's for extension and texture, it's satisfactory for the types of tracks where bass frequencies are a strong component of the track. Better yet, there was a tonne of tracks where I just didn't like the Zeus. EQ'd like this... I'm yet to find anything offensive or unlistenable (though the bass is leaning into gratuitous territory).

That said... some of the Zeus magic is lost and some tracks that just blew me away without EQ are just "good".

The Beatles - Sgt Pepper (album): Simply delightful without EQ, with the EQ it's... "meh".

Iron and Wine - Innocent Bones: It's not bad per se with this EQ, a little too thin and metallic sounding, without EQ, it's just scrumptious.

John Williamson - Cootmundra Wattle: Sounds warm to point of, I just don't want to listen to this without EQ, throw the EQ on and ka'blaam, delightful.

Nirvana - Come As You Are (MTV Unplugged): I wouldn't listen to this on Zeus without EQ, with EQ... all day every day.

Mudvayne - Dig: Waaay to warm without EQ, tiny, tiny bit thin somewhere in the FR, somehow that makes me want to fiddle that EQ but very, very listenable.

Kittie - Mouthful Of Posion: Without EQ, warm bloated mess. With EQ, bass is a little too gratuitous but it's got sufficient punch just lacking a touch of definition, guitars are off the charts, just missing a little a tiny bit of thickness. Vocals so, so, so good. I need to find whatever frequency is making the guitars on heavier end of this spectrum just a teeny tiny bit thinner than what I know they can be. But hot damn, the Grado's were my go to for the aggressive end of my playlist, now.. um, my warm, creamy, lush Zeus at the flick of a switch are absolute monsters. Hot damn I love this headphone.

Dunno if that helps in the slightest but, there ya go.

 

[GabeM]

Just figured out how to make Equalizer APO work on Windows 11, woo. You gotta use v1.1.1 not the latest.

So, after applying Resolves EQ (and I'm not an EQ guy btw so.. grain of salt)



Bass - After EQ
Loses some of warm, round tubey character, not that I've heard a tube amp mind you. The bass is cleaner and better defined, it quite obviously has a positive impact and slam now.. but.. imo, it's nothing to write home about. It sounds pretty generic and.. mmf, my Grado 325X's have a deeper, cleaner more satisfying bass response if a clean well defined bass guitars and kick drums are called for.

I threw on Korn - Ball Tongue because it's got a lot of drops that really require deep clean bass to sound good. I was very underwhelmed. Worse, the general character of the track imo is much worse. On my grado's that bass guitar is eerie AF, on Zeus.. ehhh, I know what it's trying to do and it's not doing it.

FKA Twigs - Two Weeks: This calls for clean, clear, deep bass and again, very underwhelming, with or without out this EQ imo.


Mids - After EQ
Mmm... so, on FKA - Twigs this sounds too thin and tinny, the exact opposite of what I want from the Zeus.

Male vocals... so some Nick Cave - this I approve of, on this track. Flicking the EQ on and off, the EQ is clearly better, I love this track, but not without this EQ. Without EQ there's way too much bleed into the vocals, it's bloated and not enjoyable. This sounds natural and right. That said, the instruments are missing some warmth that I love from the Zeus.

Nirvana - Come As You Are (MTV Ungplugged)
This is clearly an overall improvement. The vocal tone sounds much better to me overall. Without EQ, Kurt's sweeter tones sound a little too smooth, and when he flips into some vocal distortion it's too harsh and emphasized, with EQ it sounds much more natural. Lacking a touch of body and richness again, but, it had far too much without EQ.

Treble
I'm not audiophile enough to really know what to look for here. I know the cymbals in Kittie - Mouthful Of Posion can be really, really sharp, so.. let's play that. Oof.... this is good, this is really really good. It's a little bit too warm and rich with EQ off, just slightly on the tinny side with the EQ for my taste.

Soundstage
The Zeus can definitely get congested. One track I noticed this on quite badly was Eve 6 - Rescue. The EQ does provide better instrument separation, at the cost of the vocals and some instruments sounding too thin for my taste. No changes to depth or width that I can perceive.

Overall
Anywho, I don't know "how well" they take EQ, but I don't notice anything where I feel like the EQ isn't doing what it should. Whilst it might not be quite to my taste, it doesn't feel like they're misbehaving in any way.

If you ask me what to look for on what track, happy to tell you how I perceive it.

I dialled back every change over 100hz by half and that strikes nicer toner balance overall for me listening to all these tracks. YMMV!

I pushed 40hz up another 8db gave what I consider the "right" volume for the bass guitar in Korn - Ball Tongue, but, it's still warm and rounded, lacking sufficient texture and extension. It's a lovely tonal character on a lot of tracks but so so wrong for this track. Oof, gives Kittie - Mouthful of Poison the right amount of kick drum volume but again, there's a warm smooth gooeyness that not right for this track.

EDIT: Ah! That 21hz bumped up to 6db gives the kick drum much better definition, same with the bass guitar in the Korn track. Still doesn't have enough texture or extension but... a massive improvement for the genre/tracks.

You may have inadvertently turned me into a fan of EQ haha.

Apparently this is what I like on the Zeus

Haha! seems ive won u over to the dark side glad hear you're enjoying eq!

I like to picture eq as kind of like editing a photo: the subject of the picture (such as a person or a lake) is the music, the camera is the headphone, and eq is the editing software.
If you want to, you can try to make a picture "look like real life" by "correcting" the distortions of the lens used, the same way that with a headphone, you can try to "correct" the frequency response. This approach can be useful in some circumstances to create a good starting point, but photographers and audiophiles shouldn't and usually don't stop there, unless of course "correct" or "neutral" is what they like and what they're going for. More often, photographers, audiophiles, film editors, musicians, etc... have different preferences, different artistic styles and personal twists. in audio, this is amplified by the fact that everyone's ear gain and perception of reality is different....

so basically: eq won't really change or improve the music or headphones
the same way editing a picture won't change its contents or camera

what eq can do, however, is change how perceive our music/headphones
for example you can add "warmth" and make the sound more "relaxed" by boosting the lower frequencies below 1khz the same way you can add warmth to a photo by adding increasing the colors with lower electromagnetic frequencies (red, orange, yellow)
and a lot of times, tweaks can change our perception of quality and technical performance (more treble=more detail)

wow, that was long winded
you probably know all this stuff, but I wish I had this mindset when I started out with eq. it's awesome, and I think u'll find yourself spending hours at a time tweaking the parameters. check out resolve's video on how to eq. it's probably the best explanation i've seen and had a lot of the stuff i've learned from experience and even taught me a couple of things
big things with eq apo: check the visual graph that shows what exactly you're doing and check where the highest point on your curve is. However high it is is how much you need to lower the pre-gain to prevent digital clipping.

i can't wait to try out the zeus myself. based on its reviews, it might be what ive been looking so long for: a headphone with big soundstage, natural timbre, good imaging, and good detail but with a warm, laid back signature and tonal balance
my main concern is whether the zues can reproduce enough sub bass amount and slam for my preferences (willing to eq) at my listening level (~65-85dB) without approach in the drivers' limitations (causing reduced dynamic range and introducing distortion)
i guess i'll just have to try them and find out for myself whether they fit the bill

thank you and everyone else for sharing your experience with them. you guys have got me excited for them to arrive

 

[mattxo]

Haha not as long-winded as me and thank your explanation! Some I knew by osmosis, and I've dabbled in recording so EQ isn't entirely unfamiliar to me, but I love the analogies you used, that really clicked for me.

i can't wait to try out the zeus myself. based on its reviews, it might be what ive been looking so long for: a headphone with big soundstage, natural timbre, good imaging, and good detail but with a warm, laid back signature and tonal balance
my main concern is whether the zues can reproduce enough sub bass amount and slam for my preferences (willing to eq) at my listening level (~65-85dB) without approach in the drivers' limitations (causing reduced dynamic range and introducing distortion)

Very similar experience for me. I wanted how people describe the HD6x0 series (I wanted the HD600 Zeos loved so much), but having tried them for myself, I was so disappointed. The soundstage awful, they were dark, sounded muffled, and lacked any appreciable bass to my ears. I asked the guy for the exact opposite of the HD600 and bought a HE-400S instead, which I loved for many years. Then I got the Grado, and realized the clarity and bass on the HD400S was technically deficient, so, I started looking for an upgrade. The Grado is shockingly fatiguing and just straight up uncomfortable, and didn't do nice things to the gentle end of my playlist... so, about a zillion hours of reading and watching reviews later, I settled on the Zeus.

And it ticked almost every box.

"a headphone with big soundstage", it's as wide as anything I've heard, and has a nice height and width. Check.
"natural timbre" Check.
"good imaging" Best I've ever heard in a headphone, though it's not something I particularly care about.
"good detail" As good as the best I've ever heard. Check.
"warm" Check. Too warm sometimes in fact.
"laid back signature". It absolutely is, but you might be surprised how aggressive it can be if you ask it to, I certainly was.
" tonal balance" I was expecting these to sound awful on a fair bit of my playlist, I bought them specifically for the laid back end of my playlist and in that regard they were exactly what I wanted, and failed not nearly as badly as I thought they would on a lot of the rest of my playlist. However, I have "better" headphones for that. Or rather, I did, until EQ!

In regards to sub bass amount and slam, I don't think if you're going to be so happy in that department. I haven't tried pushing the bass shelf any higher, but I've got it as high as I'd ever want it with EQ and it's still pretty "meh" for me. It tasteful, and for the styles of music I bought it for it's delicious, it's got a really unique character, but, big, clean with good extension and texture? It's passable but not a star imo. YMMV!

 

[GabeM]

Haha not as long-winded as me and thank your explanation! Some I knew by osmosis, and I've dabbled in recording so EQ isn't entirely unfamiliar to me, but I love the analogies you used, that really clicked for me.

Very similar experience for me. I wanted how people describe the HD6x0 series (I wanted the HD600 Zeos loved so much), but having tried them for myself, I was so disappointed. The soundstage awful, they were dark, sounded muffled, and lacked any appreciable bass to my ears. I asked the guy for the exact opposite of the HD600 and bought a HE-400S instead, which I loved for many years. Then I got the Grado, and realized the clarity and bass on the HD400S was technically deficient, and I wanted so, I started looking for an upgrade. The Grado is shockingly fatiguing and just straight up uncomfortable, and didn't do nice things to the gentle end of my playlist... so, about a zillion hours of reading and watching reviews later, I settled on the Zeus.

And it ticked almost every box.

"a headphone with big soundstage", it's as wide as anything I've heard, and has a nice height and width. Check.
"natural timbre" Check.
"good imaging" Best I've ever heard in a headphone, though it's not something I particularly care about.
"good detail" As good as the best I've ever heard. Check.
"warm" Check. Too warm sometimes in fact.
"laid back signature". It absolutely is, but you might be surprised how aggressive it can be if you ask it to, I certainly was.
" tonal balance" I was expecting these to sound awful on a fair bit of my playlist, I bought them specifically for the laid back end of my playlist and in that regard they were exactly what I wanted, and failed not nearly as badly as I thought they would on a lot of the rest of my playlist. However, I have "better" headphones for that. Or rather, I did, until EQ!

In regards to sub bass amount and slam, I don't think if you're going to be so happy in that department. I haven't tried pushing the bass shelf any higher, but I've got it as high as I'd ever want it with EQ and it's still pretty "meh" for me. It tasteful, and for the styles of music I bought it for it's delicious, it's got a really unique character, but, big, clean with good extension and texture? It's passable but not a star imo. YMMV!

Thanks for your thoughts and experience, man! So glad I found head-fi and people as crazy about audio as I am. Waiting on the zeus like a 5 year old waiting on Santa.

Just curious, have you ever tried the modhouse argon mk3? They are the only other ones on my radar at the moment that sound like they check our boxes. Only concerns with them are huge wait time, no returns, and good bit of power needed (from what ive heard).

 

[mattxo]

Thanks for your thoughts and experience, man! So glad I found head-fi and people as crazy about audio as I am. Waiting on the zeus like a 5 year old waiting on Santa.

Just curious, have you ever tried the modhouse argon mk3? They are the only other ones on my radar at the moment that sound like they check our boxes. Only concerns with them are huge wait time, no returns, and good bit of power needed (from what ive heard).

A pleasure, and thank you for yours!

Haha yeah, I had to wait 2 weeks for my Zeus, I was checking the tracking status hourly.

Nup, never tried Argons, my impression from reviews I've watched was they were exceptionally hard to drive bass cannons which has zero appeal for me. I do have the DT770 250ohm though... I'm not sure I'd call them bass cannons but they certainly have the cleanest and deepest bass in my collection. If I were to put on EDM (I'm not going to put on EDM) I'd probably put it on them.

 

[TrixRabbit]

Is there anyone here who owns the Sennheiser 58x & HD Zeus? If so, can you do a brief comparison of the 2 please. I LOVE my 58x, but always wanted to try the Zeus.

 

[skeeb23]

I'm back to listening to the Zeus after going deeper down the rabbit hole of audio to more higher end stuff.

I must say, these are still an absolute joy to listen to!

 

[Silver Wolf]

I'm enjoying listening to mine today as well just off my little Zen stack....

 

[skeeb23]

Hopefully I am ok to link this here, but this is my take on the Zeus. Right/wrong or indifferent, I still enjoy them to this day and had to include them to my channel.
I didn't mention this, but I used the with the ifi go blu as a portable solution and that was pretty fun too!

 

[IlSalmeron]

Deleted.

 

[Silver Wolf]

What cable are you using?

My own custom, made it just recently.

 

[IlSalmeron]

Deleted.

 

[CT007]

(Mine are up for sale to USA in the classifieds, $275, tested once. Mint)

 

[GabeM]

Finally bought the Zeus, and oh my... I completely understand the hype: this thing is almost magical.

Timbre:
Incrediby Natural, Almost Life-Like

Soundstage, Imaging, Detail, Separation: Good, Approaching Great

Contrast, Dynamics, Punch & Slam:
This is where the Zeus is kinda meh. Like it isn't exactly bad, but it isn't very special either. This is especially present in the sub-bass, where no matter how much I boost, it never really seems to have the impact I want.

Tonality Above About 2khz:
Incredibly neutral, natural, whatever you want to call it. It just sounds...right. It sounds like it stays very close to the recording, so when a song is mixed and mastered so that the instruments and vocals sound like real life, it sounds pretty believable, which is hard for a headphone or any audio device to pull off in my experience. When a recording artistically strays from reality, the upper midrange and treble follow it. My typical preference is a bit warmer than "neutral", so the zeus has a little more treble than I usually like, but the balance is so well done, I can easily listen without eq and be happy. (I usually do just broadly eq it down about 2dB for my preferences.)

Tonality Below About 2khz:
As everyone who is reading this probably already knows by now, the midrange, lower midrange, and upper bass are incredibly warm, which follows my personal tastes extremely well, and the Zeus never seems to sacrifice clarity or detail for this warmth.

Bass:
I wanted to make bass it's own category here because this is the only place I feel that the Zeus falls short for me personally (not necessarily for everyone) and is why I am sending them back. Research has shown that everyone hears bass from headphones veryyyy differently, so take this with grain of salt. The bass just doesn't have the impact I get from other headphones, such as the KPH30i (ouch, here come the pitchforks). Even after boosting the sub-bass 10dB, the Zues has a large amount of bass (obviously), but it doesn't punch, rumble, or feel very physical, and at that level, it loses definition and introduces distortion (understandably, that is a huge unhealthy boost).

So in summary, the Zeus was (for me personally) a near-unicorn of a headphone, almost perfection, but with one drawback that I just couldn't live with. After trying it, I feel as though I am a lot closer to figuring out what I like, and to finding the headphone for me.