[KBGolfRunner]

Am I looking at a minimum of $400 for a balanced 4-pin amp? Used is fine with me. Was thinking about robbing the collections from a random church in my area. Only joking. Well, sort of......

 

[Modulus]

Hey Taveren, unfortunately I don't. You know, I'm sure the 15 and 11 sound very similar, but if the T50RP is going to be your primary phone I would go with a 'brighter' amp, because the T50s are already very warm and lush in the mids. I think there's a chance they would sound too dark. As I mentioned above, I will probably apply equalizer to my ZMF to get a drier sound in the mids. If I had to choose between the 15 and 11 again now that I am familiar with the sound signature of the T50RP, I would definitely go for the brighter amp, the 11.32, since reviewers seem to agree that it is a little less 'warm'.
 
To my ears at least, almost all headphones reproduce forward mids (or the perception of forward mids), everything I've heard including and especially the Sennheiser  HD6xx. This 'problem' is only successfully resolved in higher end, more expensive headphones, such as the Beyer T1 and HD800. If you compare the 800 to the 650 the first thing you will notice is that the 'lush' mids, the signature of the 650, are gone, this lushness is just a forward presentation imo. So for my tastes and perception of sound, it was a no brainer to get the 'brighter' amp as I'm not a huge fan of the mid centric sound of so many sub $1000 headphones. To me it is distortion.

 

[Tiemen]

There's a thread about amping the Mad Dog: http://www.head-fi.org/t/683118/mr-speakers-mad-dog-3-0-3-2-amp-pairing-recommendation-discussion-thread
I guess the recommendations there will also apply to the ZMF

 

[Taveren]

  Hey Taveren, unfortunately I don't. You know, I'm sure the 15 and 11 sound very similar, but if the T50RP is going to be your primary phone I would go with a 'brighter' amp, because the T50s are already very warm and lush in the mids. I think there's a chance they would sound too dark. As I mentioned above, I will probably apply equalizer to my ZMF to get a drier sound in the mids. If I had to choose between the 15 and 11 again now that I am familiar with the sound signature of the T50RP, I would definitely go for the brighter amp, the 11.32, since reviewers seem to agree that it is a little less 'warm'.
 
To my ears at least, almost all headphones reproduce forward mids (or the perception of forward mids), everything I've heard including and especially the Sennheiser  HD6xx. This 'problem' is only successfully resolved in higher end, more expensive headphones, such as the Beyer T1 and HD800. If you compare the 800 to the 650 the first thing you will notice is that the 'lush' mids, the signature of the 650, are gone, this lushness is just a forward presentation imo. So for my tastes and perception of sound, it was a no brainer to get the 'brighter' amp as I'm not a huge fan of the mid centric sound of so many sub $1000 headphones. To me it is distortion.

 
Thanks for your thoughts. I was coming to the same conclusion, I initially considered the 15.32 because it is cheaper 

.

Ironically though In my A-B (albeit to my budget-fi cans) the ZMF is not forward at all. note that I have the V2 and paired it with a not so well known desktop dac/amp so I might be under powering them.

 

[Taveren]

  There's a thread about amping the Mad Dog: http://www.head-fi.org/t/683118/mr-speakers-mad-dog-3-0-3-2-amp-pairing-recommendation-discussion-thread
I guess the recommendations there will also apply to the ZMF

 
Yeah, I am lurking on that thread 

 

[KBGolfRunner]

THANKS!  Just posted on that thread and learned a lot.

 

[zach915m]

  There's a thread about amping the Mad Dog: http://www.head-fi.org/t/683118/mr-speakers-mad-dog-3-0-3-2-amp-pairing-recommendation-discussion-thread
I guess the recommendations there will also apply to the ZMF

 
There is a lot of good source info over there.  I've noticed about the t50rp's and other Ortho's like the he-500 which I own and love that the source seems to change the character of the sound more dramatically than with dynamic headphones.  I don't know why, maybe it is just that they need more power to fill out the sound.  In switching between the LYR and MJOLNIR there really is a dramatic change on the same set of headphones.  The LYR is a little syrupy and lush while the Mjolnir comes of almost exceedingly dry and flat while pushing the mids very far back and increasing the soundstage and clarity.
 
I mentioned a few pages back that I wish there were more places you could bring your headphone to and try out different sources and amps, there are a couple here in Chicago, but on the most part it's hard for people to find places like that because not many of them exist.  I do think that by reading on head-fi though there is so much info that for most you can find something to fit your preferences whether it's a dry neutral sound, or a lush engaging one. 
 
I do think that power is important though, as the bass and treble are the last areas to fill out if the t50rp's are underpowered.

 

[uncola]

My painted ZMB with the gold jack arrived today, I just listened briefly to make sure everything was working ok before gluing on my brainwavz pads and it sounds really great.. more later.
 
Any tips for the best way to glue on pads?  Does the temperature setting on the glue gun matter?  best to apply glue to the back of the pad or the inside of the headphone earcup?  or doesn't matter?

 

[zach915m]

"Any tips for the best way to glue on pads? Does the temperature setting on the glue gun matter? best to apply glue to the back of the pad or the inside of the headphone earcup? or doesn't matter?"

Just stretch out the pads as much as possible to fit the contour of the headphone and then apply the glue directly to the pads back. A small amount on the outside edge works. By gluing onto the pad you can easily remove the pad later and not leave residue. No specific temp just a regular glue gun will work!

 

[uncola]

This was my first time using a glue gun for anything and it was super easy.  I was overthinking it.  Glue gun was $3 at walmart.
Here are some pics.  First pic is before I glued on the pads. Just a size comparison vs he-300

 

 

 

 

 

[Taveren]

Nice, looking forward to hear your impressions mate.
 
Cheers!  

 

 

[uncola]

These headphones made me fall in love with headphones all over again.  I was about ready to switch to bookshelf speakers and retire my headphones but the detail and texture these reveal while maintaining bass and comfort make these truly exceptional.  I hope the industry makes more planar magnetics/orthos because they are clearly superior.  These headphones are noticeably better than all my others.. sennheiser hd595, hifiman he300, sony mdr ma900.  I guess I mostly buy what you guys consider mid-fi but I feel like these zmf t50rp could be endgame for me

 

[KBGolfRunner]

Did you get the V1's or V2's?

 

[uncola]

V1 classic mod..  I dunno if these just have the standard blue monkey flier mods or what but it sounds amazing

 

[grizzlybeast]

They sound really good. More musical to me than the mad dogs I had. I love the midrange.
The mad dog 2.0 is what I had and while it's probably not fair because the 3.2 has changed its still a close idea because the 2.0 has more mids, 3.0 is just with the pads, 3.2 is more bass and treble and even less mids. 
 
So based on that (maybe a good base point) the ZMF is the clear winner because it was clearer, had nicer/fuller mids, and sounded a mile more natural to me. I abandoned the Mad dog and Alpha dog persuits. I can say that The Alpha pads are really nice. I liked those a lot more than the brainwavz... but thats purely aesthetic and comfort wise, not sound.