oldmankensey
Head-Fier
Out of curiosity, is anyone using LTA MZ3 with their ZMFs?
Congrats on the AO, fellow Tennessean!Hello everyone - just dropping in to say "greetings from Nashville".
I am going to the ZMF family of owners having purchased on the of the Atrium Open stabilized resin offerings that was released a few weeks ago. I went back and forth on several options and was guided with great feedback to all of my questions. Looking forward to getting these in-house in the next few weeks or so, I will be using the headphones in a somewhat "desktop" centric system.
Which brings me to my next question - a good DAC-headphone amp combo like the Chord TT2 (currently by top choice), the Weiss 501, something else, or some some type of DAC along with a tube amp like the new Aegis that is being discussed.
While I listen to all kinds of genres, the thing I love most is an enveloping soundstage. Because I am rather technical, the presentations and theory of operation for the Chord TT2 and M-Scaler are very compelling. My Linn gear, like Chord, uses an FPGA and a custom output stage which is wonderful in every respect. Ergo, I am drawn to Chord has for a more compact system, But I can be flexible on this. I have enjoyed tubes in the past but tfor one reason or another I had nothing but trouble with them but willing to consider again.
Anyway ZMF owners, what would you think might be good options to consider?
The Decware ZMF OTL would likewise be another option potentially discounted by Zach, check out @goldwerger's review of it.
My recommendation for an initial setup would be to get a good OTL amp
Assumption that your budget is close to 10k since you mention the dac501.Anyway ZMF owners, what would you think might be good options to consider?
Yes. If you use the search bar, you’ll find about 3 pages of mentions for “MZ3”. I especially like it with the VO. Very quick.Out of curiosity, is anyone using LTA MZ3 with their ZMFs?
Great list, with a range of prices.Some good SS amp going around for ZMF, in no particular order
1. V281 reissue
2. Cen. Grand Silver Fox
3. Schiit Mjolnir 3
4. Holo Bliss KTE
5. ECP/NITSCH DSHA-3F
They all will offer good big soundstage and won’t mess too much with tonality of ZMF
Sorry, I've not heard one, I'm afraid. I've read impressions describing it as warmer than the Stratus. That's about all I know.Any thoughts or experience with the Starlett?
Hello everyone - thanks for such great and well thought out responses. Very appreciated. A few additional notes.
My budget can be up to around $9 or $10 USD. I do like the idea of the OTLs or some flavor of tube design and will look at research all of these (which I enjoy doing). Size and weight of some of the OTLs could be an issue due to current space constraints but will consider that on a case by case basis. So many good options to consider here. I have done my fair share of tube rolling and while fun it can be expensive for exotic NOS tubes - and some have quite good stories behind where they were sourced from.
@smutnyjoe - You mentioned tube rolling for your Feliks Euforia, can you share what you went with?
@Tchoupitoulas - The DNA amps look interesting. My initial findings seem to show they are specifically designed for loads like the ZMF Atrium. The size of the Stratus might be a bit large but I would work something out. Any thoughts or experience with the Starlett?
DACs have all kinds of options.
@thingwfeathers - I have read a good deal on HQ Player. While I use PCs extensively in my line of work at the end of the day I am a Mac "snob" till the end. Ultimately, I would like to stay with hardware based components where possible for all the heavy lifting but will to give the Mac HQ Player a try. Ideally it would be complied for Apple Silicon and would user the 32 GPU cores in the chip vs processing on the CPU cores. Agree the $$$ could be allocated to another pair of headphones or other parts of the system
When considering Weiss options the 204 could take care of conversion duties while one to the OTL tube amps could power the headphones.
Anyway more research and investigation as I have at least several weeks to the headphones arrive.
I used to own a TT2 and liked it quite a bit. It is a great DAC, and the HP out is also very clean. After a while I found it too polite, a bit thin in body and lacking bass strength/slam (aka I started to long for some 'distortion' in Chord lingo). Since I discovered R2R DACs, never looked back to d/s or even Chord's FPGA.@Deleeh - Thanks for the reply. The desktop system I am looking to create has no components. I have a main system which will be completely independednt so every piece of gear will be new and bought with the. intent to be synergistic with each other. So I have quite a bit of flexibility.
Option 1: Static desktop system
This would be made of a a combo DAC/headphone amp such as the Chord TT2, Weiss 501 and so on. Other options could include what some have suggested here - a DAC of some sort with a tube headphone amp that will work well the ZMF Atrium Open.
Option 2: Hybrid static / mobile system
- Source -> Chord TT2 -> ZMFs
- Source -> M-Scaler -> Chord TT2 -> ZMFs
- Source -> Weiss 204-> Feliks Euforia evo -> ZMFs
- Source -> DAC of some sort -> DNA Starlett or Stratus -> ZMFs
Very similar to the static desktop system with the main difference being the DAC could be become mobile to be used at a hotel, vacation or any where else It might be helpful to have a mobile solution. I could also factor in a mobile option combined with one of the options above.
- Source -> Chord TT2 -> ZMF (Mojo 2 or Hugo 2 when mobile)
- Source -> M-Scaler -> Hugo 2-> ZMFs (then simply tote the Hugo 2 along with me)
I cite Chord often just as an example but very open to the options already suggested. From a form factor the Feliks Euforia evo (stock) looks interesting and does the DNA Starlett. Good know about the output tubes. I have never been a big fan of the KT variety of tubes but have liked EL34s in the past. Does anyone know if these amps auto bias or does one have to bias the tubes to get them performing correctly?
I would add the ZMF Aegis to the mix for an amp. I can't imagine any other amp pairing better than the Aegis with ZMF's. . .@Deleeh - Thanks for the reply. The desktop system I am looking to create has no components. I have a main system which will be completely independednt so every piece of gear will be new and bought with the. intent to be synergistic with each other. So I have quite a bit of flexibility.
Option 1: Static desktop system
This would be made of a a combo DAC/headphone amp such as the Chord TT2, Weiss 501 and so on. Other options could include what some have suggested here - a DAC of some sort with a tube headphone amp that will work well the ZMF Atrium Open.
Option 2: Hybrid static / mobile system
- Source -> Chord TT2 -> ZMFs
- Source -> M-Scaler -> Chord TT2 -> ZMFs
- Source -> Weiss 204-> Feliks Euforia evo -> ZMFs
- Source -> DAC of some sort -> DNA Starlett or Stratus -> ZMFs
Very similar to the static desktop system with the main difference being the DAC could be become mobile to be used at a hotel, vacation or any where else It might be helpful to have a mobile solution. I could also factor in a mobile option combined with one of the options above.
- Source -> Chord TT2 -> ZMF (Mojo 2 or Hugo 2 when mobile)
- Source -> M-Scaler -> Hugo 2-> ZMFs (then simply tote the Hugo 2 along with me)
I cite Chord often just as an example but very open to the options already suggested. From a form factor the Feliks Euforia evo (stock) looks interesting and does the DNA Starlett. Good know about the output tubes. I have never been a big fan of the KT variety of tubes but have liked EL34s in the past. Does anyone know if these amps auto bias or does one have to bias the tubes to get them performing correctly?
Seriously… wow, that says a lot. I remember I was considering a 300b amp on a number of occasions before I built the Aegis but I love the Aegis so much I sort of lost interest!I would add the ZMF Aegis to the mix for an amp. I can't imagine any other amp pairing better than the Aegis with ZMF's. . .
Heck, I am so impressed with the Aegis, I have decided to sell my HA300MK2 and go with the Aegis. The amp is crazy good.