TSAVJason
Sponsor: The Source AV
Just as a brief aside (not trying to steer the topic off course), I wanted to address the perception that homemade = lower quality. I have a decent amount of woodworking experience and I assure you that the quality of Zach's work is extremely high. You must keep in mind that the driver housing itself is also made out of wood, not just the cup, unlike something like the Fostex woodies which are molded housings with a wood cup on the back. Wood is not an easy material to work with and building headphones out of the stuff is very challenging. However, I think the 100% wood construction contributes to the unique sound of the Atticus / Eikon. Zach has basically made miniature wood speaker cabinets for the ears. The design is quite impressive actually and the quality of the head band and aluminum gimbals is also extremely high. Zach basically tuned these by ear, trying out different cup dimensions, porting and dampening materials / placement until he achieved the desired sound, much like speaker designers. When you look at the amount of handwork that goes into each headphone, the ZMF's actually seem very reasonably priced, especially since Zach gives you the option to customize by choosing different woods, finishes and metal colors. If anything, the Z1R should cost less than the ZMF's because they are made in a fully automated factory with little to no handwork. Sony is able to do everything in house while Zach has to source his drivers and raw materials from outside vendors which also drives up the cost. The fact the a guy building small batch handmade products in his garage is able to beat Sony in terms of cost and performance is pretty remarkable in my opinion. The whole point of headphones is to give you sound quality that rivals speakers in a more compact and affordable package. There is no headphone that should cost more than $1200 - $1500. This idiotic pricing trend needs to stop. What Sony is charging isn't based on anything other than "Well I guess it's our flagship so we should charge X to make them seem super special." You can get away with that when your product is exceptional (Utopia, Stax 009, Sony R10). Is the Z1R $2300 exceptional? Thats up to you to decide. You are turned off by ZMF's DIY aesthetic. I'm turned off by Sony's nonsensical pricing. Different strokes I guess.
We became a dealer for ZMF because we saw an improved build quality on an already good sounding headphone and at their individual price points they have been deemed by us and our clients that purchased them to be a great value for performance and build quality. - for what it's worth - Our opinion at TSAV
TSAVJason
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