[Wes S]

Curious @AnyDave or @zach915m, does the commercial Aegis have XLR inputs on the back, or is it just RCA?

 

[AnyDave]

Curious @AnyDave or @zach915m, does the commercial Aegis have XLR inputs on the back, or is it just RCA?

It’s not an inherently balanced amp, so it just has RCA.

 

[DenverW]

Here's a better pic than the quick show snap that I posted earlier. It better shows off the overall aesthetic and how the front trim matches the transformer covers.

My Aegis, previously the prettiest girl at school, has suffered a crushing loss of popularity now that the beautiful transfer student has arrived.

 

[Wes S]

It’s not an inherently balanced amp, so it just has RCA.

That's what I was thinking, and thanks for confirming it.

 

[cats4cans]

My Aegis, previously the prettiest girl at school, has suffered a crushing loss of popularity now that the beautiful transfer student has arrived.

It had to be done.

 

[hafzz123]

Here's a better pic than the quick show snap that I posted earlier. It better shows off the overall aesthetic and how the front trim matches the transformer covers.

Are there gonna be other color options or will it be 1 color configuration only?

 

[AnyDave]

Are there gonna be other color options or will it be 1 color configuration only?

At this point, the plan is one color only. It’s possible that there could be tweaks from batch to batch, but there are no current plans for that.

 

[Kdot]

Awesome - keen to hear impressions between this and the DIY version (spent some time the other day skimming through the original thread & the Aegis build documentation but I'm easily intimidated by that stuff). Also, any word on whether there will be alternate finishing styles of the production Aegis offered down the line?

I spent a lot of time listening to the commercial aegis in the ZMF room at Canjam NYC and even brought my own headphones to compare. You can tell they are the same circuit, they sound virtually identical to my ears. I think any difference I heard could be chalked up to my NOS tubes at home vs the stock JJ tubes, which still sound great!

L0rdGwyn has done a great service to the community by putting the DIY guide out there for free, and I am very excited that the ZMF version will allow the Aegis to be in more people's hands. I'd say if you are DIY inclined, building it yourself can be a very satisfying option, but if you don't want to go through the hassle (waiting for parts mostly) or want the extra features and visual polish, the ZMF version is the way to go! What they are charging for it is very fair and it punches way above it's price.

From speaking with L0rdGwyn, he exudes a passion for designing tube amps, and that is very evident when you listen to the Aegis. I will be blind purchasing whatever he cooks up next! (Please be an OTL )

 

[George Hincapie]

Oh dear...

Please don't hate me Zach, but that aesthetic just doesn't work for me. I don't like the wood fascia, nor the fussy transformer finish. Much prefer the look of Lord Gywn's DIY version.

Good luck with it - am sure it'll sell like hot cakes

 

[Nick76]

I love the look, but would really love if a darker walnut faceplate would be available.

 

[ethr]

really bummed i didnt get to hear this at axpona

 

[AnyDave]

The standard price will be $3499, but as Zach mentioned above, there will likely be bundle discounts for ZMF owners.

We've decided that we're going to simplify things and just offer a release discount of $3299 for the first 50 of the 120V units and first 25 of the 230V units. This initial-release discount price will be decoupled from any previous ZMF headphone purchase.

After the first 50/25 units, we will likely offer bundle pricing with a set of ZMF headphones at the same time of purchase.

 

[AnyDave]

Are there gonna be other color options or will it be 1 color configuration only?

Oh dear...

Please don't hate me Zach, but that aesthetic just doesn't work for me. I don't like the wood fascia, nor the fussy transformer finish. Much prefer the look of Lord Gywn's DIY version.

Good luck with it - am sure it'll sell like hot cakes

I love the look, but would really love if a darker walnut faceplate would be available.

We truly appreciate the feedback on this, both on the positive and negative side. We tried to come up with something that is visually different than most headphone amps on the market, yet fits within the ZMF design ethos. As such, I think it's likely that people are going to have a lot of opinions on the aesthetic and some may want to kind of tweak it to their preferences.

There have been a number of requests within the thread for color and finish options. Obviously, this is something that we've been able to to offer with the Homage amps, where we can offer unique chassis colors and face plate woods (including some pretty cool looking stabilized face plates). Unfortunately, the Aegis is a bit of a different animal, and more like the ZMF Decware OTL amp, which just has a singular configuration. As Zach has mentioned, we have the ZMF Aegis made by Cayin. In order to keep the pricing where it is, we need to build in decent size batches, with no variation within the batch. So, while it's possible that we could iterate between production batches, we don't currently have any plans to do so. In fact, it's likely going to be quite a while before that's even an option for us. The good news is, we're really happy with how it turned out and we think that a lot of people will like it, particularly when they get to see it in person. The feedback at Axpona last weekend was overwhelmingly positive, so we're getting kind of excited.

 

[AcousticMatt]

Aegis has landed.

I've been listening to it a lot the last couple of days. The sound is super nice - different from my other tube amps, which I appreciate. I gotta say - I love the looks and whole vibe of it, too. The copper & green colors on the transformers are very nautical looking to me and that's something that more than floats my aesthetic needs boat!

Reminds me of this very cool nautical Aeolus.

 

[zach915m]