[MF Kitten]

Fun fact: if you measure Verum One without an ear model at all, and only using a flat foam coupler that absorbs all reflections, the frequency response is an entirely flat line from 10Hz to over 10KHz. That means that all the variables and bumps in the FR comes from how the reflections interact with your ears. Pretty insane, really.

Different pads will tame different bumps in different places. ZMF lambskin pads (I chose Auteur pads) lower the 1KHz bump a lot and make the transition to the treble much cleaner. It also boosts the area from mid bass all the way up to the mids a little. It also lessens the bumpyness of the treble so it's flstter and smoother. The sub bass changes are miniscule, but it drops off a little more than with the airtight pleather pads.

I would kill to try pads that had pleather outside, microsuede towards the face, and velour inside. The Cascadia Impact pads are on my list of pads to try out.

If you have problems with the treble, they are so incredibly linear that you can just put a few layers of felt over the driver to adjust it, and you won't lose a lot of detail in the highs like you will with many dynamic drivers.

I also EQ mine, as I do with all my cans, because I can. I mostly just refine the FR so it's really smooth and linear, and then I apply my own preferred target curve. Not a big change, though!

 

[franz12]

Fun fact: if you measure Verum One without an ear model at all, and only using a flat foam coupler that absorbs all reflections, the frequency response is an entirely flat line from 10Hz to over 10KHz. That means that all the variables and bumps in the FR comes from how the reflections interact with your ears. Pretty insane, really.

Different pads will tame different bumps in different places. ZMF lambskin pads (I chose Auteur pads) lower the 1KHz bump a lot and make the transition to the treble much cleaner. It also boosts the area from mid bass all the way up to the mids a little. It also lessens the bumpyness of the treble so it's flstter and smoother. The sub bass changes are miniscule, but it drops off a little more than with the airtight pleather pads.

I would kill to try pads that had pleather outside, microsuede towards the face, and velour inside. The Cascadia Impact pads are on my list of pads to try out.

If you have problems with the treble, they are so incredibly linear that you can just put a few layers of felt over the driver to adjust it, and you won't lose a lot of detail in the highs like you will with many dynamic drivers.

I also EQ mine, as I do with all my cans, because I can. I mostly just refine the FR so it's really smooth and linear, and then I apply my own preferred target curve. Not a big change, though!

Can you share your EQ setting? There also seems some laid-back region (or slight dip) in the lower midrange, perhaps around 0.8k.
Pad swapping would be also interesting, but I am not too fond of pillowy mid-bass like the hd650. Perforated pads would intrigue my interest more as those pads tend to make head-stage more rounded.

 

[MF Kitten]

Can you share your EQ setting? There also seems some laid-back region (or slight dip) in the lower midrange, perhaps around 0.8k.
Pad swapping would be also interesting, but I am not too fond of pillowy mid-bass like the hd650. Perforated pads would intrigue my interest more as those pads tend to make head-stage more rounded.

They have a flat response up to around 600Hz, where the high mid bump starts. It's got a bump centred around 1K. This makes the lower mids seem recessed by comparison, but that's not really what it's like. The zmf pads really just bring low mids up and high mids down so they meet. It just sounds like it becomes flat.

 

[FullBright1]

If you've not seen it already.....
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https://kenrockwell.com/audio/verum/1.htm

 

[SHAMuuu]

 

[franz12]

People were saying that the Verum sounds like an old school planar headphone. I never understood what that meant. Directly comparing the Verum to the HEKse, they sound differently to my ears of course. But I noticed that they sound in a way that is more similar than different. Can I say the HEKse is a new school planar and the Verum is an old school planar?

Yes, what people said is absolutely true. Amazing bass, natural timbre, unbelievable resolution, and very open sounding.
Whenever I give my impressions on headphones, I usually give direct comparisons with my existing gears. But I became one headphone guy recently and have kept only the HEKse. And I don't really want to compare the Verum to the HEKse, because it doesn't seem to be a fair comparison given their price points.

But what I can say at this point is... let's imagine that I visit to a local audio shop with my friend, and do head-to-head comparisons between the Verum ($350) and the HEKse ($3500), and I end up picking the HEKse. Then my friend will be yelling at me "You are crazy!! You are donating $3000 to Fang's offspring college funds!! The HEKse doesn't sound $3000 better than the Verum at all."
Yes, the Verum is that good.

That said, I am crazy. To my ears, the HEKse sounds like a grown-up Verum. The HEKse is just half or one step ahead in realism, staging/ imaging, linearity, clarity and resolution. But the Verum is again a close contender.

So I am sending my Verum to @FullBright1 in the next week. I know that some of my fellow clashed with her in the past. But I think she is an active fellow headfier who write an interesting and honest review. Also she owns many gears so that she will be doing a better job for gear comparisons. And I think the Verum should be heard to a larger audience.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

People were saying that the Verum sounds like an old school planar headphone. I never understood what that meant. Directly comparing the Verum to the HEKse, they sound differently to my ears of course. But I noticed that they sound in a way that is more similar than different. Can I say the HEKse is a new school planar and the Verum is an old school planar?

Yes, what people said is absolutely true. Amazing bass, natural timbre, unbelievable resolution, and very open sounding.
Whenever I give my impressions on headphones, I usually give direct comparisons with my existing gears. But I became one headphone guy recently and have kept only the HEKse. And I don't really want to compare the Verum to the HEKse, because it doesn't seem to be a fair comparison given their price points.

But what I can say at this point is... let's imagine that I visit to a local audio shop with my friend, and do head-to-head comparisons between the Verum ($350) and the HEKse ($3500), and I end up picking the HEKse. Then my friend will be yelling at me "You are crazy!! You are donating $3000 to Fang's offspring college funds!! The HEKse doesn't sound $3000 better than the Verum at all."
Yes, the Verum is that good.

That said, I am crazy. To my ears, the HEKse sounds like a grown-up Verum. The HEKse is just half or one step ahead in realism, staging/ imaging, linearity, clarity and resolution. But the Verum is again a close contender.

So I am sending my Verum to @FullBright1 in the next week. I know that some of my fellow clashed with her in the past. But I think she is an active fellow headfier who write an interesting and honest review. Also she owns many gears so that she will be doing a better job for gear comparisons. And I think the Verum should be heard to a larger audience.

Sending so she can review it or are you getting rid of it? Did the treble peak calm down?

 

[franz12]

Sending so she can review it or are you getting rid of it? Did the treble peak calm down?

I am selling mine before I am going on a long trip in the next month. I don't want my Verum to gather dust for a month while I am being away.
I also read some impressions from the other forums. It seems there are two groups of people, one group think the Verum is smooth and the other think the Verum is bright. Also, there is one guy who claims he heard two pairs of the Verum and he thought both Verums were bright.

IMO, both are true and as garuspik said, it doesn't seem a QC issue, but that seems to depend on whether one is sensitive to a rise above 10khz. Also, I think it depends on a listening volume. It doesn't bother me when the volume is below 80db.
I think I am sensitive to those frequencies, as I also have those issues with my HE-1000SE, though the HE-1000SE seems to be a bit smoother in there.

 

[omniweltall]

I am selling mine before I am going on a long trip in the next month. I don't want my Verum to gather dust for a month while I am being away.
I also read some impressions from the other forums. It seems there are two groups of people, one group think the Verum is smooth and the other think the Verum is bright. Also, there is one guy who claims he heard two pairs of the Verum and he thought both Verums were bright.

IMO, both are true and as garuspik said, it doesn't seem a QC issue, but that seems to depend on whether one is sensitive to a rise above 10khz. Also, I think it depends on a listening volume. It doesn't bother me when the volume is below 80db.
I think I am sensitive to those frequencies, as I also have those issues with my HE-1000SE, though the HE-1000SE seems to be a bit smoother in there.

Frans, try the ZMF perforated Ori before you get rid of it.

 

[franz12]

Frans, try the ZMF perforated Ori before you get rid of it.

Thanks for the suggestion. I was really amazed to see how easy swapping pads is with the Verum! It is super simple and costs zero effort. I will check whether I can get those pads before shipping mine.

 

[omniweltall]

Thanks for the suggestion. I was really amazed to see how easy swapping pads is with the Verum! It is super simple and costs zero effort. I will check whether I can get those pads before shipping mine.

I just tried it. It tames some of the treble energy.

 

[FullBright1]

So I am sending my Verum to @FullBright1 in the next week. .

Looking forward the gear....

 

[chrolls]

I just tried it. It tames some of the treble energy.

I had read in another forum that removing like a "layer of dampening" from the Verums tamed the treble some. I had also seen Garuspik say it was ill-advised to disassemble them to mod. So can the layer of dampening be easily removed or...?

 

[omniweltall]

I had read in another forum that removing like a "layer of dampening" from the Verums tamed the treble some. I had also seen Garuspik say it was ill-advised to disassemble them to mod. So can the layer of dampening be easily removed or...?

Don't think you can modify the dampening foam anymore, as you would need to disassemble the grill. There is really no need to do it anyway. Garuspik already did that. You can now modify the sound using different pads.

 

[abm0]

https://kenrockwell.com/audio/verum/1.htm

Well, not quite "the first European planar", since the Meze Empyrean came before the Verum (and its driver, coincidentally, is also made in the Ukraine).

Now if only we could get a Meze-Garuspik collab on the next Verum, imagine the build quality and looks those headphones would have. (Sadly, Meze would probably never price them like Garuspik likes to price them.)