[kinnikuren]

Does anyone know if the used cans in the ZMF November sale have new pads?

 

[Pharmaboy]

I've been going back and forth between ordering the Aeolus or not, and may just end up pulling the trigger this week on a pair of LTD in Camphor Burl. I just had to send a pair of Elex's back for a right driver that was DOA. Sort of left a sour taste in my mouth and I'm not super thrilled about receiving the replacement. With 15 years of HD600/650 experience I feel like these would be a great set of headphones to pair with my GS-X and WA22, and from what I've read about ZMF I doubt Zach & team would let a dead right channel leave their shop.

I heard my friend's Aeolus (briefly) on the WA22 I owned earlier this year: that was easily the richest, most dimensional sound I ever heard from a headphone + soundstaging to die for.

Of course, you can rather broadly shape the sound of a WA22 w/aftermarket tubes (all different kinds), so the sound you get would depend on your tubes. But it's a pretty good bet you'd like the Aeolus on the WA22.

 

[Thaddy]

I heard my friend's Aeolus (briefly) on the WA22 I owned earlier this year: that was easily the richest, most dimensional sound I ever heard from a headphone + soundstaging to die for.

Of course, you can rather broadly shape the sound of a WA22 w/aftermarket tubes (all different kinds), so the sound you get would depend on your tubes. But it's a pretty good bet you'd like the Aeolus on the WA22.

I agree 100% with that assessment. HD600's are well known for scaling, and I've never heard them sound so accurate and full.

Although I will say the WA22 doesn't seem to respond to tube rolling quite like other tube amps I've owned (namely the WA2 for almost 10 years). It really did sound great with the stock tubes. I'm currently running some Chatham 6AS7G's, RCA Gray Glass 6SN7's, and a 1944 RCA 5R4GY, and the most noticeable difference was that it's quieter than the stock tubes. I also noticed a bit more low end extension and high end detail retrieval, but we're not talking night and day. I'm really excited to try the Aeolus on the WA22, I have a feeling it will be a better match than the GS-X Mk2.

 

[GDuss]

I agree 100% with that assessment. HD600's are well known for scaling, and I've never heard them sound so accurate and full.

Although I will say the WA22 doesn't seem to respond to tube rolling quite like other tube amps I've owned (namely the WA2 for almost 10 years). It really did sound great with the stock tubes. I'm currently running some Chatham 6AS7G's, RCA Gray Glass 6SN7's, and a 1944 RCA 5R4GY, and the most noticeable difference was that it's quieter than the stock tubes. I also noticed a bit more low end extension and high end detail retrieval, but we're not talking night and day. I'm really excited to try the Aeolus on the WA22, I have a feeling it will be a better match than the GS-X Mk2.

I've never heard the HD650 sound as good as it does on the Glenn OTL. And the Aeolus still sounds better on that amp. When I first got the Aeolus I didn't think the distance between it and the 650 was that wide, but the more time I've spent with it the more I've realized just how much of an improvement it is on the 650. It's really interesting how much the Aeolus grows on you the more time you spend with it.

 

[breckstar]

Does anyone know if the used cans in the ZMF November sale have new pads?

Not sure if they are new, but you can select which pads you want with it like you can when ordering new. I would wager they are new pads and Zach keeping the used pads for upcoming shows etc.

 

[kinnikuren]

Not sure if they are new, but you can select which pads you want with it like you can when ordering new. I would wager they are new pads and Zach keeping the used pads for upcoming shows etc.

Thanks for the reply! Just a consideration I was thinking about as the new pads would shave away a bit of the cost differential between a B-stock/demo unit vs. new Aeolus (for example).

 

[Pharmaboy]

I've never heard the HD650 sound as good as it does on the Glenn OTL. And the Aeolus still sounds better on that amp. When I first got the Aeolus I didn't think the distance between it and the 650 was that wide, but the more time I've spent with it the more I've realized just how much of an improvement it is on the 650. It's really interesting how much the Aeolus grows on you the more time you spend with it.

You make a good point. Much as I admire the HD650, it doesn't scale very much, amp to amp, though it does do well on an OTL. The Aeolus does scale on different amps, letting you hear differences between SS, OTL, transformer-coupled tubes, amps of higher vs lower power, etc. I find the Aeolus to be the inverse of amp-picky: it sounds at least very good on every amp I try, but scales up noticeably on certain amps.

Throw in the distinct sonic effects of different pads, and you can change the Aeolus' sound considerably.

 

[GDuss]

You make a good point. Much as I admire the HD650, it doesn't scale very much, amp to amp, though it does do well on an OTL. The Aeolus does scale on different amps, letting you hear differences between SS, OTL, transformer-coupled tubes, amps of higher vs lower power, etc. I find the Aeolus to be the inverse of amp-picky: it sounds at least very good on every amp I try, but scales up noticeably on certain amps.

Throw in the distinct sonic effects of different pads, and you can change the Aeolus' sound considerably.

Agreed that the Aeolus sounds good on every amp I have tried (admittedly not that many), both SS and OTL. It also easily highlights differences between tubes on the GOTL.

One of the things that became most obvious about the HD650 after spending lots of time with the Aeolus is just how narrow the stage is on the 650. I certainly don't want to critique the 650 (it's obviously a legend), but it's not that easy to go back to it once you get used to the Aeolus.

 

[robo24]

I'm so confused, which exactly are the standard pads which come with the Aeolus? On another site I saw mention of an Aeolus pad (which isn't mentioned on their site) and other posts saying they come with Universe lamb as stock. About to pull the trigger on the discounted b stock sapele.

 

[jinxy245]

I'm so confused, which exactly are the standard pads which come with the Aeolus? On another site I saw mention of an Aeolus pad (which isn't mentioned on their site) and other posts saying they come with Universe lamb as stock. About to pull the trigger on the discounted b stock sapele.

Zach has a wonderful section about pads on his website, with a lot of helpful info there. All about which pads work best with which headphones. Here's what it says about the Aeolus (stock ) pads:

"Aeolus Pads: Punchy, warm, weighty. Not commercially available, on ZMFheadphones.com - the Aeolus pad comes only on the aeolus. It is the same design as the universe pad, made with a tighter stitched chrome based leather, and stiffer foam. This pad gives the aeolus the most warm "atticus" like sound, with punchy mid bass and smooth treble."

 

[robo24]

Zach has a wonderful section about pads on his website, with a lot of helpful info there. All about which pads work best with which headphones. Here's what it says about the Aeolus (stock ) pads:

"Aeolus Pads: Punchy, warm, weighty. Not commercially available, on ZMFheadphones.com - the Aeolus pad comes only on the aeolus. It is the same design as the universe pad, made with a tighter stitched chrome based leather, and stiffer foam. This pad gives the aeolus the most warm "atticus" like sound, with punchy mid bass and smooth treble."

Thank you! I had only looked at the page to buy pads on, which explains why I didn't see them.

 

[jinxy245]

Thank you! I had only looked at the page to buy pads on, which explains why I didn't see them.

No worries...I hope you'll enjoy them! I know I do.

 

[CoFire]

I'm so confused, which exactly are the standard pads which come with the Aeolus? On another site I saw mention of an Aeolus pad (which isn't mentioned on their site) and other posts saying they come with Universe lamb as stock. About to pull the trigger on the discounted b stock sapele.

Here are my notes. I think this may be directly from Zach earlier in the thread.

Aeolus Pads debunked - We ended up changing some specs of the Universe pads to meet the sound requirements of the Aeolus, so we're calling them Aeolus pads, although they are the same specs as the Universe pads, with slightly denser Visco foam and slightly thinner leather basically among a couple other minor changes for the pads to better fit Aeolus. We don't sell them on the site yet in an effort to keep them in stock for building Aeolus'. The suede pads used for Aeolus are Universe perforated suede. These indeed have the foam of the regular Universe pads and work great on Aeolus. Yeah to clarify - there have been zero production sets that don't have what we are now calling the Aeolus pads on them. If you have a set with the original universe epads you already know it because you were a reviewer. We also tuned those preproduction sets to match how the aeolus pads sound, so there's that.

 

[Thaddy]

Ah, interesting, I thought I had selected stock Aeolus pads but I ended up requesting the Universe perforated lambskin pads, which are apparently the stock pads for the Verite. From Zach's description they seem to be a good blend of the stock Aeolus pads and the Universe suede pads.

 

[Sustain]

So I just ordered a Blackwood Aeolus with Black grilles and rods for ZMF November! Can’t wait to spend all of my time listening to them

I currently have a Fostex HP-A8C amp, but I’m looking for a good tube option to pair with the Aeolus. Not looking to go super deep into it, so I’m between the Bottlehead Crack and a used ZDT Jr. Any thoughts on which one may pair better with the ZMF’s?