[Goldhamster916]

Hi all,

i am in the market for a high end headphone for movie watching, gaming and some music listening. My top priorities are in descending importance:

1.immersion through good soundstaging and imaging
2.potentially powerfull yet controlled bass, especially subbass for movie effects
3.comfort
4.detail resolution

i don't mind eq'ing.

my current favourites are the hifiman He1000SE and the ZMF Atrium since both have fantastic imaging and soundstage capabilities, are comfortable and have decent detail resolution. any other suggestions under 4k are appreciated!

my question is about bass: the HE1000SE has a linear bass to 20hz, while the atrium has emphasized midbass but rolls off a bit below 50hz. i would add a bass shelf below 50hz for both. how would that change their sound? is any more capable of subbass power and rumble for movie effects then the other through eq? If so why and has the difference its cause in one beeing a planar and one being dynamic?

thanks a lot for your time and thoughts!

 

[bagwell359]

Hi all,

i am in the market for a high end headphone for movie watching, gaming and some music listening. My top priorities are in descending importance:

1.immersion through good soundstaging and imaging
2.potentially powerfull yet controlled bass, especially subbass for movie effects
3.comfort
4.detail resolution

i don't mind eq'ing.

my current favourites are the hifiman He1000SE and the ZMF Atrium since both have fantastic imaging and soundstage capabilities, are comfortable and have decent detail resolution. any other suggestions under 4k are appreciated!

my question is about bass: the HE1000SE has a linear bass to 20hz, while the atrium has emphasized midbass but rolls off a bit below 50hz. i would add a bass shelf below 50hz for both. how would that change their sound? is any more capable of subbass power and rumble for movie effects then the other through eq? If so why and has the difference its cause in one beeing a planar and one being dynamic?

thanks a lot for your time and thoughts!

The HFM can certainly take lots of bass EQ. I think the Atrium has more bass grunt/sustain sort of bass, the HFM quicker/tighter, but less dense. I have not heard the Atrium w/ EQ, but probably my take that the bass was a bit (at times) one note is due to the midbass. I do think the Atrium is built better and the SE can be fatiguing in the treble.

At that outlay I would recommend a serious demo of each on your equipment.

 

[Goldhamster916]

thanks a lot for your insight.
I am trying to find a store which has both. Right now I am leaning towards the atrium but wonder if the imaging capabilities aren’t too much of a drawback compared to the Hekse

 

[bagwell359]

thanks a lot for your insight.
I am trying to find a store which has both. Right now I am leaning towards the atrium but wonder if the imaging capabilities aren’t too much of a drawback compared to the Hekse

The Atrium is decent at imaging - well better than say a HD-600/650, but its not a match for the the HEK 2/SE/Stealth, or its stable mate the 800S. Problem with all of those HEK's (least on the Stealth) is that the stage is too big, they have the upper mid recession (only cured by PEQ), and they can be bright (HEK v2 the least). So they give a clean large and transparent type sound. If you like the HD-600 more than the 650 then that's probably the choice.

However if you like the HD-650 more, than tonally the ZMF will be a better choice. Also the ZMF does seem to favor OTL tube amps - not that its bad on SS by any means, just something about 300+ ohm headphones that mate with OTL tubes in a very pleasing way (but the bass might lose a hair of impact/clarity). The HFM are SS/hybrid/or high watt with transformer tubes - don't even try a OTL tube on those.

ANother option would be a HEK Stealth and a used ZMF Auteur - which combined is about the cost of the Atrium....

 

[Goldhamster916]

I heard only the he1000se has not only great soundstage with (to the sides) but unlike the lower end hifimans also soundstage depth (front to back). The atrium is said to have even more depth with a good tube amp. I wonder if that’s more worth then the better imaging and detail on the He1000se.

how do you think the bass compares if I lift the subass on both with eq? I guess the atrium has more impact? But can it go as low as the hekse?

I would rather buy one good one then two lesser ones.

Thanks for your insight

 

[bagwell359]

I heard only the he1000se has not only great soundstage with (to the sides) but unlike the lower end hifimans also soundstage depth (front to back). The atrium is said to have even more depth with a good tube amp. I wonder if that’s more worth then the better imaging and detail on the He1000se.

how do you think the bass compares if I lift the subass on both with eq? I guess the atrium has more impact? But can it go as low as the hekse?

I would rather buy one good one then two lesser ones.

Thanks for your insight

The Atrium could use a bit under 50 Hz it could be too fat if you start at 100 Hz

The HEK's have lots of bass except being open backs they could use a subtle boost under 75 hz and bit more under 50 Hz

Added: ++++++++++++++++++++

Also I don't personally think the SE is clearly better than the Stealth. Stealth has better bass impact, and bigger midbass, and a lot of the "air/transparency" of the SE is excess output from 10-13k. The Stealth also doesn't need as much as a lift at the 1.8k HFM upper midrange hole as the SE does. however the 6.5k rise in the Stealth I do find bothersome.

The Atrium has a bigger soundstage and more detail than the Auteur - but the Auteur is a more neutral can w/ better timbre IMO. The Atrium has more bass, but too much mid/upper bass than neutral - which can be dealt with by PEQ.

Different yes, lesser? Not IMO