I bought a stellia recently so I could compare it to my beryllium XTC closed. The stellia is a little faster and a little cleaner sounding than the XTC, but I must say for my preferences and my library, the XTC wins this one. It often helps to have a little extra bass with my music, and the XTC delivers. Both headphones are incredible, but if I could only keep one, it would be the XTC. I could see how some people might prefer the stellia, depending on their library and preferences, and I could be very happy using the stellia as my main headphone. But after going back and forth testing the two, my preference would have me grabbing the XTC more often.
I bought a stellia recently so I could compare it to my beryllium XTC closed. The stellia is a little faster and a little cleaner sounding than the XTC, but I must say for my preferences and my library, the XTC wins this one. It often helps to have a little extra bass with my music, and the XTC delivers. Both headphones are incredible, but if I could only keep one, it would be the XTC. I could see how some people might prefer the stellia, depending on their library and preferences, and I could be very happy using the stellia as my main headphone. But after going back and forth testing the two, my preference would have me grabbing the XTC more often.
This is kinda what I was expecting. I'm still waiting for a chance to try the Stellia again. I'm curious about how much is a "little" here. I think these are going to be good headphones to compare and contrast with one another.
I suspect it will come down to preference and I would definitely think the XTC is capable of delivering more bass than the Stellia from memory.
I've listened to the XTC Closed for about a month or so and am blown away. So I wanted to compare them to other high end headphones. So I bought the ZMF verite opens and atrium open that came in yesterday. They don't even hold the XTCs nut sack. Don't get me wrong, they are beyond beautiful and have incredible build. The ZMFs sound muffled and have too much dampening going on. The XTC has more clarity, imaging, tight bass, and separation. The XTC is all around better except for build quality. I feel like I blew almost $6,000 on headphones that won't even be my everyday listeners. Kind of a bummer. John has something special going on.
I've listened to the XTC Closed for about a month or so and am blown away. So I wanted to compare them to other high end headphones. So I bought the ZMF verite opens and atrium open that came in yesterday. They don't even hold the XTCs nut sack. Don't get me wrong, they are beyond beautiful and have incredible build. The ZMFs sound muffled and have too much dampening going on. The XTC has more clarity, imaging, tight bass, and separation. The XTC is all around better except for build quality. I feel like I blew almost $6,000 on headphones that won't even be my everyday listeners. Kind of a bummer. John has something special going on.
This is kinda what I was expecting. I'm still waiting for a chance to try the Stellia again. I'm curious about how much is a "little" here. I think these are going to be good headphones to compare and contrast with one another.
I suspect it will come down to preference and I would definitely think the XTC is capable of delivering more bass than the Stellia from memory.
My XTC is definitely bassier than my Stellia. And I love the bass on the Stellia, it's super punchy and slams really hard, but the XTC kicks it up a notch and the sub bass has a little more rumble.
I've listened to the XTC Closed for about a month or so and am blown away. So I wanted to compare them to other high end headphones. So I bought the ZMF verite opens and atrium open that came in yesterday. They don't even hold the XTCs nut sack. Don't get me wrong, they are beyond beautiful and have incredible build. The ZMFs sound muffled and have too much dampening going on. The XTC has more clarity, imaging, tight bass, and separation. The XTC is all around better except for build quality. I feel like I blew almost $6,000 on headphones that won't even be my everyday listeners. Kind of a bummer. John has something special going on.
I got a similar impression from ZMF with regard to being muffled. It was like you had a pillow or blanket over your head was the best way I could describe it.
This isn't true for all ZMF though. The Caldera I found didn't suffer from this and was terrific sounding to me. Definitely ZMFs finest headphone. Then actually their lower tier headphones like the Eikon I thought also were less muffled and a little better. The Verite gets so much praise that I thought the Verite Closed would be my next headphone - very glad I was able to try it before buying.
That said, it's really about personal preferences. There's definitely a lot of folks who like what ZMF has going on and that's perfectly fine.
The challenge is in trying to describe what you hear and trying to read impressions from everyone else out there who have different tastes and ears.
For the time being, it's certainly easier to try a ZMF somewhere at a meetup or CanJam than it would be finding an XTC to try. I bring the XTC with me to meets though. I definitely would suggest to everyone who asks to try any headphone over $500 before buying.
I continue to enjoy my XTC-C, especially on bass-heavy tracks. I was listening to Led Zeppelin's Good Times Bad Times and the low end was sublime. John Bonham was certainly a busy drummer with his polyrhythms and a unique force underpinning their music. The XTC-C brings all this to the fore.
So I will write a more fulsome review once I’ve listened to them a bit more but I’ve had my XTC-C for a few days now, which are tuned to what John describes as “warm defined” tuning and I’m pretty pleased thus far. I’m mostly an IEM guy at this point which I feel like raises the bar a bit regarding tuning. At initial listen I could tell they were well tuned but wasn’t sure how I felt about them overall but they’ve really grown on me. I told John I wanted essentially a more technical E-Mu Teak and that’s basically what he delivered. What is actually insane about these is the soundstage, which I find shockingly deep for a closed back. Detail retrieval is also excellent with solid dynamic capabilities. Sometimes I want to add a little warmth to the lower midrange for male vocals but it’s fairly close to my ideal tuning there. I don’t want to overhype these considering I haven’t heard the other closed pairs considered TOTL but damn these are good for the price. Also, if I had to nitpick while they sturdy enough they certainly don’t feel as well crafted as something like an Audeze LCD-X, which I guess is also twice the weight and therefore a trade off I’m willing to make.
So I will write a more fulsome review once I’ve listened to them a bit more but I’ve had my XTC-C for a few days now, which are tuned to what John describes as “warm defined” tuning and I’m pretty pleased thus far. I’m mostly an IEM guy at this point which I feel like raises the bar a bit regarding tuning. At initial listen I could tell they were well tuned but wasn’t sure how I felt about them overall but they’ve really grown on me. I told John I wanted essentially a more technical E-Mu Teak and that’s basically what he delivered. What is actually insane about these is the soundstage, which I find shockingly deep for a closed back. Detail retrieval is also excellent with solid dynamic capabilities. Sometimes I want to add a little warmth to the lower midrange for male vocals but it’s fairly close to my ideal tuning there. I don’t want to overhype these considering I haven’t heard the other closed pairs considered TOTL but damn these are good for the price. Also, if I had to nitpick while they sturdy enough they certainly don’t feel as well crafted as something like an Audeze LCD-X, which I guess is also twice the weight and therefore a trade off I’m willing to make.
I have a bunch of the top of the line closed backs now and my XTC competes very well with all of them. The only one that is clearly superior to the others is the kennerton rognir planar. Most of them are a lot more expensive than the XTC, but sound wise, it goes toe to toe.
I got a similar impression from ZMF with regard to being muffled. It was like you had a pillow or blanket over your head was the best way I could describe it.
This isn't true for all ZMF though. The Caldera I found didn't suffer from this and was terrific sounding to me. Definitely ZMFs finest headphone. Then actually their lower tier headphones like the Eikon I thought also were less muffled and a little better. The Verite gets so much praise that I thought the Verite Closed would be my next headphone - very glad I was able to try it before buying.
That said, it's really about personal preferences. There's definitely a lot of folks who like what ZMF has going on and that's perfectly fine.
The challenge is in trying to describe what you hear and trying to read impressions from everyone else out there who have different tastes and ears.
For the time being, it's certainly easier to try a ZMF somewhere at a meetup or CanJam than it would be finding an XTC to try. I bring the XTC with me to meets though. I definitely would suggest to everyone who asks to try any headphone over $500 before buying.
Can you rank all the ZMFs you've heard for me? I feel like all the reviewers on YouTube mislead me on the verites. I like the atriums so far but still not XTC level.
That fractural mesh really does something to enhance most all capabilities of the headphones he uses it in. I have a set of Vali Neos that he modded - literally the only headphones I've owned that I have zero desire to EQ. I really need to try the XTC, but that would mean I need to sell something else. I'm pretty pleased with my current cans, so it would be a gamble unfortunately. Tough decision.
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