[arpinnurmela]

I'm very curious about these headphones but they seem to have mixed reviews. Here are a couple of reviewers talking about the issue of channel imbalance and build quality but also the behaviour of the owner/creator of Verum Audio. See the videos below. These headphones are $350 US or around $400 Canadian. I don't want to end up wasting my money on a product that won't last very long.

You're right about the mixed reviews. That's one of the main reasons that I started this thread in the first place. While I cannot of course speak to the build quality of every single headphone produced, I can speak regarding the build quality of my Verum One mkII, my positive interactions with the maker of the Verum One, and some of my listening experience. Some of my posts in this thread have been too long for sure, but I do try to cover my entire ownership experience, including my progress over time with them. Once I paired them with a headphone amplifier that could amply drive them and replaced the stock headphone cable, I've had nothing but an excellent experience. My Verum headphone setup has matured over time to the point that I can't imagine replacing them, certainly not anything in its price range. If I were coming at headphones fresh, with a bigger pot of money, I would personally purchase the Verum One again and spend any excess cash on my upstream gear. Having sold hifi for 8 years, and being a stereo lover since the early 90s, my strong critique of the headphone audiophile scene is that people overspend on their headphones relative to their upstream gear. Upstream gear would include sources, amps, and interconnects. The quality of your source creates a proportional bottleneck to the final SQ and musicality that is possible downstream. This happens because there is no way that amps and headphones can correct a low quality source. From your source(s), you then have to correctly match your headphone amp output to your specific cans. Now some amps really can do it all, but most cannot. This happens because headphones can have impedances as low as 6ohms (Verum) and as high as 600ohms, which makes some amps better for certain headphones. And once you have all of this things lined up, then you need to connect them with wires. Wires won't fix a bad source or a bad amplifier, but good wires can get more out of the way. With wires, prefer pure copper or pure silver, no platings, with high quality connectors.

Regarding some of the reviews: I've discussed in prior threads my opinion on where I feel some reviewers go wrong... even some of the positive reviewers make the same mistakes. Obviously I'm biased because I am a Verum One mkII owner who has continued to opine on my experience for a fair bit of time. I've tried to keep it "objective" but it's hard to say if that's even possible. But I will tell you that the two initial issues I had with my Verum One were the lack of bass and the stock headphone cable. I resolved the lack of bass by getting a much more suitable amplifier and replacing jacks and wires. I resolved the stock headphone cable by making my own cable. So the issues that I did have were fixable thankfully.

Prior to purchasing a pair for myself, I watched every review multiple times. Reviewers are just people, like you, me, and everyone reading this thread. And each of us have a perspective that is greatly shaped by our backgrounds and experience levels. There were two things that sealed the deal for me. 1) Watching Oluv's Gadgets review and sound demo using my Etymotic ER4SR, which gave me a comparative sense of the sound signature which to me seemed closest to what I enjoy, and 2) Reading a closed thread in which Igor said he voiced the Verum One using an Exposure integrated, which was important to me personally since I also own an Exposure integrated. The price was at least $150 more than what I planned to spend, but when I considered all of the factors involved, it seemed like a nice stretch, so I waited an extra few months to close that gap to get something better than what I was looking at in the $200 range. I did consider several other options in that price range, but just couldn't get interested in anything else except the even more expensive Dan Clark headphones at $500. For a while I was pondering some Koss electrostatic headphones, but talking about quality issues... yikes those had way too many negative reviews on Drop for me to move forward. I do really really like the sound of electrostat speakers and headphones, but when I heard their sound signature on a review video, I was really disappointed in their presentation. I thought about Stax for two moments until I realized that I didn't want to spend $1k on one of their amps. So Verum, with their strong sound signature seemed like a clean way to go, and it worked for me.

 

[Tonyll]

I received an email from him ten days ago and he sounded very positive despite the obvious hardships and is hoping to be back in business, life permitting.

 

[arpinnurmela]

The Orb - Abolition of the Royal Familia​

For some reason this Orb album has resonated with me since its release in 2020. I've been invested in The Orb since '95 and feel that their album Orbus Terrarum could be, might just be, the best electronica album of all time. This album, likewise, plays well over and over again. For fun, I'm on my third listen in two days. I've been using it to tour my solid core upgraded Koss KPH30i "clear", the Etymotic ER4SR, and now my VerumS. Each listen has been lossless, lossless via my Arcam MusicBoost, and then lossless via CD on my VerumS. I was really blown away by how strong my KosS performed yesterday, but when I played the album again this morning on my EtyS, I actually felt like I had more soundstage despite the fact that the EtyS are inside my head. The EtyS were down on overall bass impact from the KosS but offered up more detail across the playback in exchange. Dropping this album onto my VerumS, however, is definitely a next level experience that makes me completely forget about the performance on either the KosS or EtyS. It's all encompassing. Bass is authoritative yet nuanced. Mids are sharply outlined and deeply present, absolutely "right now" in nature. And the top end comes in so clean and natural, no weird artifacts for me to obsess over, and neither too bright nor dull. The album is a wonderful series of portraits that unfold in a sonic glory that just isn't possible on most headphones. Track 6 and 7 seem like an homage to Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack, and are so good on the VerumS that I just want to close my eyes and turn up the volume. The kind of playback I'm having goes well beyond any expectation I ever had for the Verum One. I wouldn't have believed it possible on a $350 headphone. No way. It reminds me of late night listening when music seems to encompass your entire being and has an almost palpable feeling. It's moments like this that make this hobby so enjoyable and I can give thanks to all the people it took to make this moment a reality. And as seamlessly as The Orb crafted tracks 6 and 7, track 8 comes in all of its dub glory and crafts a nice transition for the album. I'm definitely noticing even more detail on my VerumS compared to the EtyS from top to bottom in this playback, all sorts of in-depth nuance that just isn't present during playback of my EtyS, but I do have a completely different front end for the two, but my lossless was ripped with error correction from the same CD I'm playing now. I do prefer the sound of direct CD playback over lossless files no matter what so that could definitely be contributing to my experience. What a great album to experience with the Verum One!!!!

 

[arpinnurmela]

Rimsky-Korsakov: Suites; David Zinman​

This morning I really felt the urge to listen to some music but couldn’t utilize my main stereo. So I pulled out my VerumS. I decided on the ‘81 Philips recording of the title above. I began my listening at a lower level and was fairly displeased with the presentation. Nothing was sounding “right” to me. So after a few minutes of middling performance I decided to adjust the sound level to what I feel is closer to orchestra level, which is supposed to be ~101dB but I just go off of memory and don’t use anything precise to get me there. As soon as I dialed in this level everything changed. What was sounding like tinny headphones completely vanished and was replaced by the kind of viscitude that few hifi systems can accomplish, especially on a recording like this where there are big dynamic swings and variation of dynamics instrument by instrument. This is one of my favorite and oldest classical albums I own and it came to life as it rarely ever has besting my main hifi for this go around, as my VerumS setup is somehow offering more on tap than I’m used to for this album.

Symphonic music is such a bear to get right on anything in hifi. Rarely do I ever find great comfort in symphonic music unless I’m doing vinyl on my main system. The VerumS are just working. And as with most digital symphonic music I find that the only way to listen on any system, headphone or speaker, is to try and dial in that orchestra level.

The VerumS reveal some limitations of the recording itself, but present what is there with a palpable realism that gets my emotions flowing. A stand out track is “Tsarina in a barrel at sea” where the sweeping of the orchestra evokes the sea in full bloom and is worth a listen even if you never get this album. And of course it’s follow up track “Flight of the bumble-bee” in orchestral form is a brief yet invigorating experience.

 

[Tano]

You won't be able to use your Verums anymore if you keep on listening at levels close to 101db. Take care of your ears if you wanna keep enjoying your music

 

[arpinnurmela]

AECO silver plated plugs - O.M.G.​

At present I'm listening to Laurent Garnier - Retrospective on my VerumS. Great compilation of hits by one of the best. Since I last posted I have rebuilt my solid silver (no strands) air gapped in teflon headphone cable. About a month back I saw that partsconnexion.com was running a sale on AECO silver plated plugs and bought the 3.5mm as a flyer for my Etymotic ER4SR hoping to take them to the next level... yeah, my mind was blown at the sound quality difference. I didn't immediately think of doing this for my VerumSetup because in that chain, I was going to have to replace 4 plugs total: a 3.5mm for the Panasonic CD player, a 6.3mm and 2x 3.5mm for the VerumS. I really didn't feel like dropping the full price ($170) for this upgrade. Heck, that's more than my Naim clone cost with my upgrades! But AECO ran another 20% off sale, so this had to happen and I took the plunge. I was also getting pretty tired of my "special" cable regarding it's less than solid nature. I recently discovered the joy of working with Paracord over teflon tubing in a rewire of my 1996 Grado SR60. For this job, for these expensive plugs, I needed some really neat looking Paracord 550 and found this gold and black helix cord as shown in the photo below for $10 on eBay. Found a splitter on AliExpress for $5 shipped. Assembly using the AECO plugs is simple and straightforward. The plugs have good balance and when soldering, the 120micron silver plating is very robust and takes high quality solder very well.

Why Bother with the AECO plugs?​

Because these plugs are phenomenal. Best by a mile and worth every single penny you spend to acquire them and more. Firstly, these plugs play louder than whatever they are replacing. I can't speak to their gold plated or rhodium plated plugs, but I can speak to their 120micron silver plated plugs. They simply play noticeably louder right off the bat. Most plugs (including Furutech) are brass or cheaper and have platings that range up to 3microns. Brass is not a good conductor, and 5 microns is 0.005mm. So you've got maybe a 26ga "high quality wire" that is 0.4mm running to a junction where most of that very small current has to run across 0.005mm and also cross a tabbed junction of questionable integrity. AECO avoids all of this by using solid tellurium copper (90% of copper's conductivity) that very carefully embedded into solid position against the plug which is also tellurium copper. All of that is then plated with 120microns of silver and nothing else. No silly undercoats. No silly topcoats. Silver over copper. 120microns of silver is 0.12mm thick and has a conductivity of 106%, all of which is on top of the tellurium copper. Specs wise, this is the best plug on the market by a large margin. But how could this sound so much better? Well the answer to that question firstly is that you'll hear the loudness difference. It's like hitting a loudness button. And an obvious difference like that clearly demonstrates lower resistance. I've played with a lot of plugs. Plugs don't make things louder... unless they're the AECO plugs. So this is the first important aspect. But frankly, for me, this wouldn't matter too much... unless they sounded way better sound quality wise. These plugs have destroyed all other plugs I've ever used. They are by far the most transparent, the deepest hitting, the most airy sounding, and the smoothest plugs I've ever heard. Simply incredible to hear. The loudness thing is just a bonus feature as far as I'm concerned. But using such a ridiculously thick plating of the best conductor over a very high quality metal base is what is doing all of this. Again, I can't speak to the 10micron gold plated AECO plugs. Many high quality gold platings are 5microns. These are 10microns, coming in at 0.01mm. And sadly gold only has 72% of the conductivity of copper. So a simple back of hand comparison on the plating... The silver AECOs have 1.06x0.12mm=0.1272(made up conductivity plating units). The gold AECOs have 0.72x0.01mm=0.0072(made up conductivity plating units). Go with the silver AECO, they've got almost 18x the (made up conductivity plating units). **To calculate the total conductivity would be way more complicated and would have to factor in the tellurium copper pieces and shape, which I'm not doing. Almost certainly, however, there will be yet another difference between the two. Signal from the headphone wire will likely stay entirely on the silver plating and never even "see" the tellurium copper. However, on the gold AECO, it will certainly transition through the gold to the higher conductivity tellurium copper base and then back through the gold plating. This may or may not be an issue. But think of what happens when you put a pencil in a glass of water... it looks bent because of refraction. This same thing happens electrically. Usually, for simple surfaces, electrical refraction isn't going to be an issue, but for curved and other more complicated surfaces, electrical refraction comes into play. The signal will still arrive all at once, however there will be phase differences. The more matchy matchy you get your wires and plugs and jacks, the better they sound. (At one point I had silver wire to silver plated RCAs to a gold plated RCA. I replaced the silver plated RCAs with higher quality copper plated RCAs as an experiment, and the sound just got sadder, but was nearly restored to silver awesomeness when I replaced the silver wire with copper wire and then replaced the gold plated jacks with copper plated jacks.)

It's Theoretically the Best​

Silver is the best conductor. Silver to silver to silver. And the signal doesn't see the base of the AECO. And 3N silver is readily available on eBay at an affordable price. For my EtymoticS and GradoS I used 28ga solid silver wire and both sound so so good. My VerumS cable is using 4N 24ga silver on the recommendation from Joseph Levy over at TempoElectric. Teflon tubing is also the best. It's got both a low permittivity and is slippery. I'd have to charge no less than $450 for a headphone cable. My DIY cable was made with $240 in materials. There's no further you can go theoretically past this unless you find someone who is making solid silver phono plugs. And if you do, please PM me that info! Until then silver AECOs are the only way to fly. [I did have to drill the slot in the housing of the AECO to get this right.]

I used to think Rhodium is good.​

Rhodium is trash. I literally threw my rhodium plugs into the trash. Did some research on rhodium, and most rhodium platings are 1 micron or less, but could be upwards of 3microns. But rhodium only has ~50% the conductivity of copper, about 2/3 that of gold. Gold is a better conductor and has thicker platings because gold is actually way way less costly than rhodium. Now of course, all of this would be mute, if somehow, a worse conductor with a thinner plating miraculously sounded better than a better and thicker conductor like gold. But it doesn't. Rhodium sounds less hard than a nickel plating, but harder than a gold plating. And if you get a 5 micron gold plated plug, we can do my made up units calculation to see that 1micron rhodium will have 0.0005 (made up conductivity plating units) versus 5micron gold with 0.0036 (made up conductivity plating units). That's a 7x difference. I wasted about $50 on rhodium plated nonsense. Take your rhodium plated plugs and throw them into the garbage and replace them with silver AECOs or 5 or 3 micron gold plugs. Rhodium sounds a touch hard especially in the upper bands. I used to think it was my Panasonic CD player that sounded this way until I replaced its plug with the silver AECOs. However much you spent, throw your rhodiums in the garbage can. They have no place in the audiophile world. No place at all. Gold, copper, and silver.

You don't have to spend $240.​

So, knowing what I have learned, and being in a situation where I couldn't spend the $240 in parts cost to make my own wire, or pay even more money to someone to do a high quality headphone cable that would compete with mine... I'd simply go onto eBay and purchase 26ga 3N craft copper (24ga copper is too stiff, but 24ga silver feels like 26ga copper) for $15. I'd then purchase "thin wall" 20ga clear teflon tubing for $20 (standard wall barely fits and may not fit depending on the length due to combined friction). Then I'd pick out some awesome Paracord for $7-10. Go onto AliExpress and find some 3 or 5micron gold plated plugs for $5-10 each and wait a month without complaining. (If you own a Verum then you already understand waiting for quality.) Cut the length of wire you desire x4. Feed that copper wire into the teflon tubing leaving copper poking out both sides for soldering. Ideally you'd use a soft metal sanding pad to clean the surface of the copper prior to feeding. Then cut a piece of 550 Paracord slightly longer than you will need it to run to the y-junction on the headphone cable. Then cut two pieces that will run to the headphone. Inch the 4x teflon tubes with copper into the main Paracord section. Then run two of the teflon tubes per shorter Paracord. Take a heat gun and magically melt the y-junction together. Overcap with a nice splitter to cover that up. Connect the grounds to the main plug ground and mark them out on the other end making sure you have one ground per ear which you'll need to know in order to wire them to ground on the 3.5mm. Make sure you've slipped the plug housings onto the wire prior to any soldering!!! You'll also want to melt the ends of Paracord so they don't fray using your soldering iron. And depending on the plugs, you may want to melt some extra Paracord onto the Paracord inside the plug to keep the Paracord from sliding out. And then you will have a totally amazing sounding headphone wire, with the correct tonality, superb resolving power, and a smooth presentation. Air gapped solid core copper is so close in sound to air gapped solid core silver that I wouldn't have any issue building this. The reason I go silver, is because the silver doesn't oxidize, remains conductive even when tarnished, and can mate with silver plated plugs and jacks. But copper to gold remains excellent and much more affordable at $50-60 in parts cost.

I know that based on this post and all the modding work that I've done it seems like I'm a hands on kind of person. Just one year ago, I was not, and could never have imagined myself doing any of this. But I've been on a true audiophile learning curve that has toppled my 30 years of audiophilia. We all have heard that silver is bright sounding. Yeah... it's not. Silver plated copper is bright sounding and should be thrown in the garbage and replaced with either pure silver or pure copper. Solid silver air gapped in teflon by all practical measures eliminates any capacitive effect of a jacket adhered directly to a wire. Air gapped silver or air gapped copper is both more relaxing in sound character, more detailed and nuanced, and sounds tonally corrected when compared to stranded wire. The big problem with air-gapping solid wire is that the Teflon tubing has a mind of its own and twists and turns all over the place. But inside Paracord, it handles beautifully and feels like a pro cord. One more thing. Upstream cables matter more than your headphone cable. They really do. And it is easier to make RCA cables than to make phono cables. Solid silver bullet style RCAs will blow your mind when coupled with air gapped solid silver in teflon. Easy to make. Easy to hear the difference. Then make your headphone cable. If you don't want to go crazy on the RCAs then make either solid core copper wire into copper plated RCAs or thick plated gold RCAs. Remember, underneath almost all platings is trash brass. And eutectic brass is barely better. No difference in conductivity.

Hopefully this post helps at least one Verum owner to reach excellence not yet achieved.

 

[arpinnurmela]

mu-ziq: royal astronomy​

I just put this album on and am blown away. I can remember buying this album as soon as it came out. You lose count of the number of times you listen to some albums. This is one of them. Played on so many systems. But for the first time I feel like I am hearing this album. Sound effects I never knew were present. I listened to this album sometime last year on my VerumHel chain. It was enjoyable. But it sounded much like I'm used to hearing it sound with sharp distinct sounds, melodies, and beats. An impressive tour of what electronica was offering at the time ('99).

On my Naim clone system, with complete solid core silver inside and outside, with solid silver connectors, and thick plated silver jacks and plugs. This is extremely impressive playback quality. Balanced, smooth, no harshness on the top end, just miles of clear sky and clear detail. Turning it up doesn't punish my ears. Instead the sound gets more. Bigger, deeper, more nuanced. You hear deep into the electronic synthesis of effects that I've not even experienced on my main system. Granted the last time I played this on my main system was before I did a tonne of solid core work on it. It took me something like 50 hours to do my main system. Maybe 60. Man hours put in on my headphone system, excluding parts research, is around 25. And the last time I listened on my main system, I actually turned it off before the album finished. I thought this might be a bad recording, which tells you how bad my main system used to sound compared to now. I'll have to revisit this album on my main system just to compare and contrast all of this. But from where I'm sitting, and to what I'm listened to, this is by far the best playback I've ever had of this album. It's just damn impressive.

It's Time to Compare​

That the Verum One is capable of this kind of playback experience is just plain silly. And compared to where I started with the Verum One. I can look all the way back to the beginning, and realize that my journey had not yet even begun. That, everything I heard at the beginning of my journey just pales in comparison. Sonically, this setup sounds fundamentally different than when I started. It's that marked. I have to say that I would not be able to believe that a headphone could sound so completely different because of things in the chain. Of course I would believe that a headphone can sound better or worse depending on the chain, but I would have felt that the headphone would have kept its original sound signature. The sound signature of my current headphone is frickin glorious. This isn't the only album to blow my mind. It's every album at this point. There isn't anything I play that doesn't change years or decades of prior album impressions. I commit to do a comparison post between the original setup (all of which I still have with original wires that I used for my original post), and my Naimclone setup.

"slice" & "carpet muncher"​

Tracks 4 "slice" and 5 "carpet muncher" are both big favorites of mine and they sound so so good! These tracks, heck, the entire album has a depth of top end I've never heard in any playback. It's always come across as a bit hard, and I can remember hurting my ears a few times playing "carpet muncher" on my car stereo at tilt. I don't know how I can even hear up to 16k at this point. Maybe at one point I had better hearing. Kind of not smart on my part, but I do enjoy loud music.

This was the start of my journey in more than one way...​

I can distinctly remember listening to this album in stock form on the Hel and thinking, man there's got to be a way to make this sound better. I've actually passed up listening to this album at least twice because I was actually sonically disappointed by its original presentation. Not this time... So crazy that this album sounds completely different. I don't even know if I finished the playback of this album the first listen.

"mentim"​

If you only knew how many times I've skipped this track. Not all the time, but maybe like 50% of the time. It's always been a difficult sounding track. Just wow is it sounding incredible now. This goes from a track I want to skip, to a track that I want to experience the very detailed sonic manipulations of mu-ziq. Just wow! It's a total standout piece by mu-ziq. Brilliantly done. And I've never been able to fully appreciate it until now, on the Verum One.

Track after Track​

I wasn't planning on writing a post today, but this album has prompted yet another tribute to the Verum One headphone. I'm super glad that Igor is okay and that he is again making headphones. What a phenomenal headphone. Superbly done. "world of leather" sounds so sick good on this headphone, hard to believe. Igor just nailed the presentation. He absolutely nailed this presentation. And we just need to put some quality in front of it to find out just how good they are.

 

[arpinnurmela]

Silly Money​

I've put in $350 on my wiring. $350 on the Verum One. $150 on the Naim clone. $50 on my Panasonic CD player. All in it is definitely not cheap. But I'm happy to have begun a headphone journey with the Verum One. What an outstanding scaling headphone. As I mentioned I'm going to do a side by side comparison of the original to current setup. I'm wildly curious as to what I'm going to think when I do this. But my emotional experiences with these headphones just take me to another level with all of my music collection. And can you really put a price on that? I'm not an audiophile because I like the gear. I'm audiophile for my music. Not music. My music. What I listen to. What I love. And the Verum One allows me to love every album without that wonder, what if? And doing something totally silly like spending $350 on wires, plugs, and jacks was nowhere on any list of mine to do. I was never a wire guy when I sold hifi and could get them for nearly free, even the expensive ones.

Now, $350 in wiring happens to be the same $350 I spent on the Verum One. The only difference was that the first $350 had 25 hours of work associated with it. And in my former audiophile life, I would have strongly told anyone that spending $350 on wiring was a bit much for a $350 headphone. And yet, I might still say that for all the other mediocre sounding planar magnetics I've heard, that all have disturbing frequency imbalances that wires won't fix. No, the Verum One, are clearly built to a higher standard, to a higher quality of sound than what these other corporate headphones are made for.

Get these headphones for $350 before Igor raises his prices. He is going to have to raise his prices at some point. These are an absolute steal for that money. Are you looking for a killer $900 headphone. Buy these. Buy these not because they are a bargain or a "good deal". You buy these because the sound craftsmanship that went into these are easily equal to the $900 headphones. There is no doubt in my mind that these offer the same kind of high class and superior performance that would normally be associated with vastly more expensive headphones. But do not buy these because they are a cheap way to get into headphones. No. Buy the Verum One because they are a uniquely sonically crafted experience by an expert headphone designer. You need a pair of these if you want something special. You already have a $1500 headphone? Go buy a pair of these, and enjoy. You'll find that they give up nothing to the $1500 headphone on expensive gear. If a uniquely sonically crafted experience is your cup of tea, then you need to own these, end of story. I think that the main reason people want to buy a $1500 headphone is a mixture of wanting the best sound and also wanting something that feels boutique, that they can feel assured that many hours went into the crafting of that sonic experience. Folks... that's exactly what these Verum One are. Go ahead and roll $1500. That's awesome. I don't think it's a waste of your money at all. I really don't think that. So don't misread this and feel that I'm saying buying expensive headphones is silly with the existence of the Verum One. In a world where I had $1500 dropping out of my pocket, frankly, I would have bought something like a Stax, Audeze, or Dan Clark. So I got into this journey hoping that the Verum One really were as shocking as some of the now pulled reviews were stating. They are all of that and much more.

Now, I don't know just how far a setup could take either my Verum One or any other high quality headphone. But from where I'm sitting, and from what I've spent, I think it's a totally worthwhile expenditure given where I am today. I wouldn't blink twice in buying any other product from Verum Audio. If this guy could do the Verum One, then pretty much anything he does will be a sure winner. It's hard for me to imagine a guy like that making a substandard product. A very clean design that has so many design benefits. Class leading in fact. Comfort for hours and hours. Beautiful to look at. Truly beautiful. They actually pull that off, something that most companies don't attempt until $1k-ish. Totally worth the wait.

These headphones make it possible to build a darn impressive boutique setup for maybe only $500 with $50 of solid core copper wiring. And still give that person with the starter system many many miles of improvement possible. They'll have a headphone that continues to reward them over time.

 

[arpinnurmela]

Verum vs. VerumS​

My journey comes full circle with the Verum One. This is a comparison of 7 albums I am deeply acquainted with. And one by one I will list the sound profile on the Verum One. For this review I have reassembled my original gear and placed my original gear next to my new gear for fast (but not fast enough A/B) switching. As before, I will be running the Schiit Hel only in low gain mode to avoid notable distortion on the Hel. All of these reviews are written real time while listening to only one or two tracks so that I have some memory of what is happening as I switch.

Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony (Riccardo Chailly on London)​

VerumHel (all original)​

Let me first begin by saying this album might be my favorite symphonic music album. I've owned this album for well over 20 years and fell deeply deeply in love with this music so many years ago. Sadly this album is sounding exactly how I remember it sounding when I first played it with excitement on the VerumHel. I was, well, somewhat disappointed. Does it sound good? Yes, I am enjoying the presentation of the Verum One for sure. But on this setup I am simply unable to capture any element of that emotional impact you might feel inside of a symphony hall. The headphones play the instruments with a faithful reproduction but never are able to create any of the scale needed to bring tears to my eyes with this album. I've heard a number of hifi systems do this very album justice, but sadly the VerumHel just isn't cutting it for me. I am wanting so much more from this beautiful album that I'm just not getting at this point. As I sit, this is not a system I want to keep listening to this album on.

VerumS (all silly upgrades)​

I take a huge breath out. And tears start forming in my eyes. Yes. Yes. Yes. This is what I want. This is what I could only have imagined was possible on a multi-thousand dollar headphone system. The drums come in much like you would hear in a symphony hall, with that gentle force, and they hit with the level that matches the rest of the strings. This is a reproduction where I am compelled to just close my eyes and type rather than look at the screen (high school typing class we weren't allowed to see our fingers). The string sections immediately take on size and body. They have the same presentation but much much fuller and complete. The wind and brass don't sound like secondary elements to the music, instead they sound as they would in a hall. The urgency that was lacking on the VerumHel is in full force here on the VerumS. And when the brass rolls, holy cow does it roll in. The orchestra is brought to a fever pitch and I can hear nuance in the orchestra that was completely missing on the VerumHel. And as if no time has passed, I'm two minutes further into the track than I could make it with the VerumHel. All of the elegance and pain of Tchaikovsky's unrequited love. Beautiful. Truly beautiful. I could stop the review and just listen, but I must persist.

Missy Elliott: Under Construction​

VerumHel (all original)​

Opening track with Bring the Pain. Killing it. Oh yeah. Immediately in movement. The original setup just nails the groove and movement of this music. Head movement can't be stopped on this setup. Great presentation of vocals. Bass isn't outrageous but I don't feel like it's missing anything on the low end. Male vocals sound now and present. Into Gossip Folks (one of my favorite) the VerumHel really own this and deliver all of the fun that this track should deliver. No hint of distortion anywhere in the track despite topping off the volume on the Hel. One more killer track to round this out, Work It. Loving this track. Would be happy to keep on listening. Bass is represented without feeling you're running a sub. Kind of like a bookshelf speaker. And folks, bookshelves can easily kill it in any small to medium sized room, sometimes better than a full tower. This is very good.

VerumS (all silly upgrades)​

Wow. Okay... This album has depth. There is a depth of sound that appears on the VerumS that was 100% absent on the VerumHel. Vocals were good before. But this is really no comparison at all. The VerumS completely smash on the first track in every meaningful way. The male vocals still pop but sound totally wild and authentic on the VerumS. Gossip Folks suddenly has a pop that just wasn't there on the VerumHel. It's like the difference between listening to entry level speakers vs listening to a three thousand dollar hifi. No comparison. Work It, is truly working it. Bass hits more as I enjoy it when listening to this album on my car stereo, but with that depth that I expect of a very expensive hifi. First rate hip hop here. And despite the VerumS ringing in at less than half of the VerumHel, the differential sounds like it should be 3x or 4x. It's notable and I seriously doubt anyone would want to hear this album on the VerumHel after hearing it on the VerumS.

Luke Slater: Freek Funk​

VerumHel (all original)​

Okay now. The opening track is hitting really well on the VerumHel. Dang. Purely is a very happy introduction to this album. I'm getting a sense of some of the air in this album, and Luke Slater's electronica prowess is on full display and I can't say that I'm wanting for anything more. This is excellent. Excellent. Score One sounds like it is trying to give me that sense of air and I'm left with just that, a sense of air. No part of this music is coming across harsh or overworked. But, ugh, when the low end rumble comes in, I heard some distortion on the left ear cup, and then the choral droning is really washing out the sound of this great second track. With all of the layering that Slater is putting into this second track, I'm just having trouble enjoying this second track really in any way. Unpleasant is the word that comes to mind. Top end frequencies sound like they are struggling and there is a real washing or smearing that I'm hearing that is driving me nuts. Bass is alright, but not very remarkable. Wouldn't want to keep listening at this point.

VerumS (all silly upgrades)​

Oh Lordy....... First off, no comparison. Doesn't even sound like the same headphone. Holy ccw. Bass is hitting, like really hitting. And there is absolutely zero sense of any struggle in the hit. Clean all the way through. The depth of sound feels 3D on this setup. The music layering is absolutely magical on this. It's almost like listening to a different album. Second track, Score One, is so expansive and encompassing. Immersive is the word that comes to mind. I'm sitting back for this track to just enjoy. What sounded like distortion on the left ear cup is plainly in the recording and clearly distinguishes itself from distortion. So perhaps a level issue in the mastering? VerumS have this power to reveal the recording and to do it plainly. As the second track comes into beat, it presents itself as the true electronica tour de force that is Luke Slater. On this setup, you can really appreciate his style and what he brings to the table. I have none of the fatigue I was feeling on the VerumHel and am ready to just keep listening to this album. I'm compelled. Power, depth, and soul are what come to mind.

Radiohead: Kid A​

VerumHel (all original)​

Total emotional capture on this first track, Everything in its Right Place. So much of this track is coming through on the VerumHel. That big Radiohead experience is outstanding here. Totally immersive. Doesn't feel or sound like struggle in any way. Really impressive here! Second track opening feels in the background, but the track opens up and you're back to that immersive feeling that this album often delivers on systems. I'm hearing some clear smearing on the top end, that isn't horrible, but it is definitely there. And as this track complexities, the presentation starts to muddy. It's not bad, but it doesn't have that same impressive quality as did the opening track. Track 5, Treefingers, is an ambient track that is very frustrating on the VerumHel, where I can hear clear smearing on the top end and the track just fails to have any emotional element to it. In Limbo, should be destroying it, but just isn't. It lacks that big expanse that you will hear on a really nice hifi system. Now relative to what other <$350 headphones this is definitely moving in a strong direction, but you know that this track could be more.

VerumS (all silly upgrades)​

The information differential is fairly astonishing here on the opening track. Dang. All of that "emotional capture" and immersion, but with what feels like 3x the information. You hear nuance that Radiohead put in here that takes this music to the next level. Slight reverberations that were entirely missing on the VerumHel. The second track opening is entirely fixed on the VerumS and leads smoothly into the main song without feeling abrupt like it did on the VerumHel. Stereo separation feels quite a bit superior here and the track takes on a compositional element that didn't exist on the VerumHel. The smearing isn't present at all, so much so that I'm not even sure where I was hearing it on the VerumHel. This is a sit back and enjoy experience. I skipped track 3, The National Anthem, on the VerumHel, because frankly, it sounded totally boring. So boring that I didn't want to review it. But I had to stop and review this track on the VerumS. YES. Treefingers has a real and present electronica/ambient vibe to it that is a deep welcome and doesn't even sound like the same track. Wow. Oh man... track 7, In Limbo, opens with total magic on the VerumS and moves into total sonic excellence. Oh yes, yes, yes! And when Yorke's voice comes in, it just sounds beautiful in every way. What a cohesive and compelling play back. Truly great.

MC5: Kick Out The Jams​

VerumHel (all original)​

This is a difficult album usually. But boy do I love this rock! And the opening with the audience on this album really helps take me back to this recording. I get that feeling that I'm listening to the recording at the mixing panel. Screams in the audience are crisp. And what is normally a very difficult sounding album is sounding really smooth and non-fatiguing here. When the guitars kick in on Ramblin' Rose, however, there's a smear that seems proportionate to the volume and it is a big subtraction for the album experience. On the KLF, I mean Kick Out the Jams track, the pace is excellent on the VerumHel, but the guitars feel like they lack body. Not sure if this endemic to the recording or the VerumHel. Making me scrunch my face. Taking away a lot of my enjoyment. Let's switch.

VerumS (all silly upgrades)​

Cranked high. I'm not at the mixing booth. Yeah... I'm standing in the audience. The claps sound like they're next to me and behind me. I've got a huge smile now. The presenter sounds like he is right in front of me. Closing my eyes on this one. I am deeply hearing this. I am ready to testify. Louder, louder baby. The blues sound is all here. None of that tinny rock like on the VerumHel. When the guitars kick in, even as loud as I'm listening, it's not bleeding my ears. Trying to listen like I'm at an actual rock concert, right at that point where just before I know I'm going to have hearing damage when I walk out of the venue. The entire track sounds fantastic. But right now, it's time to Kick Out the Jams mother****ers. Need this louder. I'm just closing my eyes and imagining being there and the VerumS make this possible. Not possible at all on the VerumHel. Not even close.

Jon Anderson: Deseo​

VerumHel (all original)​

I couldn't bring myself to listen to any Vangelis, but when I saw his buddy Jon Anderson's Deseo pop up, I knew that I had to review this album. The opening track is completely wild track, or should be, but I'm super disappointed on the VerumHel. Just not bringing me that wow factor that this track, Amor Real, has. On track 5, Floresta, the VerumHel give a beautiful rendition of that tropical space in the background, but Anderson's vocals just come across a touch flat here. The drums and bass lines, have good presentation, but I just feel the vocals have taken a back seat. Let's move on to the VerumS.

VerumS (all silly upgrades)​

There's a reason so many artists remixed this album. Particularly Amor Real and Floresta. With the Naim clone, I'm able to drive this track to right playback level that Amor Real is super dynamic and it just makes me want to move my body. Anderson's voice sounds wonderful on this track and all of the diverse elements in the background each have their own clear and distinguishable line of persistence on this track, a feature that was completely missing on the VerumHel. Very clear and giving me everything that I know is inside this music. Floresta's opening paints a very big tropical landscape that you feel like you can hear way deep into. The drums are so much deeper and impactful but with zero bloom. Just right. The bass lines are beautifully full and textured. This is next level. And Anderson's voice on this track is gorgeous. Let it go, let it go right away, be the light. So nice. Beautiful presentation to match beautiful sentiments. You really get a sense of how much production went into this track. Track 10, Deseo, has wonderful pace, something that the Verum One excel at regardless of what's powering them. But on the VerumS, it's just more. And when the supporting vocals come in on this track, they have real vibrancy that matches the pace of the music.

Rostropovich: Bach Cello Suites​

VerumHel (all original)​

For me, Rostropovich's performance here is truly outstanding. And upon playback, I'm immediately bought into this notion on the VerumHel. The cello has wonderful presentation across the Verum One, and I get that beautiful sense of the body of the cello here. And when Rostropovich puts his soul into his playing, I'm capturing some of that intensity on the VerumHel. I have that sense of a beautiful summer afternoon, my eyes closed, just relaxing to the sonic masterpiece that this recording is. The Verum One inform me of much of what makes this album so special. But the space of the room is missing. The breathes of Rostropovich are missing. The fingering is missing. As I listen, I want more oomph to the cello. Maybe 10-20% more. But all considered, this is a really good playback of this performance. Maybe just a little bit of washing out of detail when Rostropovich gets heated.

VerumS (all silly upgrades)​

Holy cow. There is so much information here compared to the VerumHel. I'm hearing Rostropovich move around. I'm hearing bridge movement and finger touches on the cello. Really. This sounds like a different album. A better album on the VerumS. The cello feels complete on this playback. I can tell that roughly where they've mic'd him. Fantastic room presentation. You get a clear sense that he is performing in a moderately sized room with nothing else in it. Reflections off of the floor. And when Rostropovich digs in you are right there with him, in the room. You can hear the reverberation of cello carry not just through the body of the cello, but through the room. CRAZY. You can hear his breathing, his body movement. The lows are appropriately balanced with the highs. Truly transformative to hear this masterpiece of an album on the VerumS. It is so special. It's not just the music. It's Rostropovich, the room, the cello itself. They all take center stage here and it is glorious.

Same Headphone... not the same sound.​

I've written much about the scaling power of the VerumS. I am nodding to myself. This was no hyperbole. This is simply ridiculous. The differential on each album was crazy. Let's just compare price points here. VerumHel = $350 + $200(Hel) + $35(Pana) + $10(3.5mm) = $695. And while the Verum One often performaned admirably on many albums, even noteworthy on some, they just can't touch what I've assembled for my final system on any album. Folks... this isn't a small differential. It's big, really big. Albums sound literally different on the VerumS, a $900 system. What is different between these setups? The headphones themself remain untouched, unchanged. The source is the same Pana. I've swapped the Schiit Hel for a Naim clone, and I've spent $350 on silly solid core silver wires and expensive plugs and jacks. And the differential is kind of mind blowing. The Verum One sound so elevated, so precise, so true, so expressive on my upgraded setup, that there would absolutely zero point to ever do this comparison ever again. No point at all. It wasn't close on any album, any genre. And this has been my perceptual distinction based on my mind being blown over and over again on this most current setup. Smearing - gone. Depth - 3-4x. Bass - right on. Album after album, I don't have a substantive complaint to level against the Verum One. That the Verum One is even capable of this scaling potential is truly incredible. I knew these scaled, but this is just shocking. Shocking I tell you. They truly don't even sound like the same headphone. The sonic signature remains largely the same, but even that is substantively different. Bass is just right now. Top end is so smooth, clean, and detailed now that it is mind-bending. Perhaps the one area where the Verum One have remained the same is in the mids. The mids are to die for on the Verum One. Igor is clearly a lover of vibrant mids, as this attribute of the headphone from day one has been superlatively good and remains superlatively good. I feel honored to own a pair of these headphones. And as I mentioned before, if you are a headphone collector looking to acquire headphones just for their unique perspective on sound, then the Verum One are absolute must have. You must have these in your collection. I would never part with mine and will always need them. Personally, I can't even see a reason to replace these. What I'm hearing on my setup is so insane and ridiculous that I've attained a level that was far outside of what I though would be possible on a $350 headphone. I just wouldn't have believed this possible. But Verum Audio is that darn good.

My journey is now complete.​

Folks... there's no where left to go sonically with headphones. Maybe there is something better than what I have. Maybe. I wouldn't know where to start though. I don't know if an LCD-3 or Stealth takes these down and locks them in a basement. I don't know if some $1k or $3k headphone amp brings them into heaven where they dance with angels. I really couldn't even tell you what might get better than what I'm hearing at this point. It's nuts how good these are. I have detail levels that I've only heard on the very best hifi systems. I have damn near perfect sound presentation. Everything just sounds right all the time. And emotionally, I am blown away by albums I've known for decades. Blown away. I don't know what is past this. I really don't. All I wanted to do was to document my trials with the Verum One and to get them to sound better. I tried some weird stuff. And the weird stuff was a game changer. What I do know is that systems matter, sometimes more than the headphone itself. You can't fix bad, but when you have good, sometimes good can be transformed into the ridiculous. And this is Verum One. Extraordinary. I so much appreciate the engagement surrounding these headphones over the past many months. And I hope that this thread continues to help other Verum One owners realize just what they have in their hands. Something so special, that if you treat them to the very best, they are so worth it. They give you everything you give them. And there are so few audiophile speakers and headphones that can really pull this off. Every last niggle I ever had with these has been eliminated over the past year plus, and the reward is my music to the next level.

Deepest thanks to the Head-fi community and to Igor at Verum Audio.​

 

[NickT23]

My Steady State Verum One Setup​

Below is a picture of my humble Verum setup. I'm very happy with my headphone cable, as I was able to put the neck break low enough for my personal liking, and the rhodium plated plugs have shown zero wear despite nearly daily use. (And that's why we rhodium, despite gold being a better conductor. If you go gold, make sure you score a thick gold plated plug.) Resting on top of my Naim clone is my source preference, giving me the benefits of multibit across my thousands of CDs. And connecting my Panasonic is a DIY 3.5mm rhodium plug running to two KLEI solid silver bullets. (Bullet connectors have a single contact point for the ground return and can be had in pure silver, since it's a much smaller point of metal. And bullet connectors alone are very nice audible upgrade for bass and mids.) As I've mentioned, all my signal wire inside the Naim clone have been replaced with 24ga silver as well as the jacks on the rear. This creates a continuous chain of silver straight to the potentiometer. (Silver remains conductive as it tarnishes over time whereas copper oxide is not conductive.)



As I have continued to upgrade the performance of my reference hifi system, this system has continued to provide a competitive audiophile performance. The full range capability of the Verum coupled with the Naim clone keep me from disappointment. I could imagine a >$1k DAC adding even more to my setup, but I don't like streaming music. When I do stream, I own an authentic Apple iPhone dock that I will connect my 3.5mm plug into the back of. The dock will pull the audio off the iPhone and do the decode inside the dock, making it a true sleeper solution for anyone with an iPhone.

fking nice setup. CD setup.

 

[Bonddam]

Just received used set of mark 2 and it has solid pads and like them very much.

 

[Tonyll]

I've just received a second pair from Verum and they are now being used with a Mytek Brooklyn Bridge and sounding great.

Arpinnurmela, thanks for a very useful thread.

 

[stasta]

I paid verumaudio on May 6, 2022 and have not been able to contact them to inquire if I paid successfully and when I will receive it.
Does anyone know how to contact verumaudio?
I have sent multiple messages over the months via the verumaudio website contact with no response. contact@verum-audio.com
The email address doesn't seem to be in use either. Additionally, I have sent direct messages and replies on Instagram and they seem to be intentionally ignoring me. Why are they doing this? I now regret having paid for this service.

 

[Cancerman]

I paid verumaudio on May 6, 2022 and have not been able to contact them to inquire if I paid successfully and when I will receive it.
Does anyone know how to contact verumaudio?
I have sent multiple messages over the months via the verumaudio website contact with no response. contact@verum-audio.com
The email address doesn't seem to be in use either. Additionally, I have sent direct messages and replies on Instagram and they seem to be intentionally ignoring me. Why are they doing this? I now regret having paid for this service.

You do realize that Russia invaded Ukraine in february 2022? Visit www.verum-audio.com for situational updates. Also verify with your bank wether the payment was successful or not.

 

[stasta]

もちろん、私は理解していますし、私の後に私の国から注文し、すでにそれを受け取っている人を見ています. マイメッセージや返信を無視する理由にはなりません。
お金は銀行によって正しくあります。