[JelStIy]

This is a bit off-topic, but does anyone know the approximate timeline for the new portable ZMF closed backs? I had the AC in my cart before the price change but ultimately decided to wait as I already have the VC with a large collection of pads and something that I could take to the office would be more complementary. But who knows I might succumb to temptation eventually…

 

[Monsterzero]

@Monsterzero , do you like the AC run from your vintage pieces? Or, does it become too dynamic and bassy?

Listening now out of the Sansui 881, using a Burmese Teak AC (soft) The Sansui is not too warm or bassy for the AC. In fact it sounds excellent. There is more bass presence than out of the violectric v550. Depth is fantastic as well. I'd say that the Violectric sounds more incisive and has a wider stage, whereas on the Sansui the bass is a bit more rounded off, not too dissimilar to what a tube amp can sound like. I have the volume pot between 9 and 10 o'clock and the AC is slamming, with loudness function off and the bass/mid/treble adjustment knobs dead center.
The Violectric is a bit more nimble sounding with better micro detail, whereas the Sansui is more of a brute force, where a slight bump on the volume pot brings a major jump in volume and dynamics, you can tell that the Sansui just has gobs of power on tap.

Given the fact that my Sansui is still using its original capicitors (!) and the price difference between the v550 and the 881 (3700 vs 75....yeah I stole this thing), the Sansui is more than holding it's own. Just be aware for anyone thinking about buying a vintage receiver, they are BIG and HEAVY and take up a lot of real estate. Also none of my receivers play well with planars or low impedance headphones, so it's pretty much high impedance headphone duty only.

 

[zach915m]

This is a bit off-topic, but does anyone know the approximate timeline for the new portable ZMF closed backs? I had the AC in my cart before the price change but ultimately decided to wait as I already have the VC with a large collection of pads and something that I could take to the office would be more complementary. But who knows I might succumb to temptation eventually…

Im hoping to have at least some kind of limited release this year, but there's a few more things to do with the new form factor and with it being a more singular sku type product etc. I hope to have a unit at one of thw upcoming Canjams for demo at some point.

 

[sp33ls]

Listening now out of the Sansui 881, using a Burmese Teak AC (soft) The Sansui is not too warm or bassy for the AC. In fact it sounds excellent. There is more bass presence than out of the violectric v550. Depth is fantastic as well. I'd say that the Violectric sounds more incisive and has a wider stage, whereas on the Sansui the bass is a bit more rounded off, not too dissimilar to what a tube amp can sound like. I have the volume pot between 9 and 10 o'clock and the AC is slamming, with loudness function off and the bass/mid/treble adjustment knobs dead center.
The Violectric is a bit more nimble sounding with better micro detail, whereas the Sansui is more of a brute force, where a slight bump on the volume pot brings a major jump in volume and dynamics, you can tell that the Sansui just has gobs of power on tap.

Given the fact that my Sansui is still using its original capicitors (!) and the price difference between the v550 and the 881 (3700 vs 75....yeah I stole this thing), the Sansui is more than holding it's own. Just be aware for anyone thinking about buying a vintage receiver, they are BIG and HEAVY and take up a lot of real estate. Also none of my receivers play well with planars or low impedance headphones, so it's pretty much high impedance headphone duty only.

Awesome, thanks Monster.
When my Olive arrives, I'll give it a shot on both my Sansui AU-999 and Yamaha C-1.
I have a feeling my experience with the Sansui will be very similar to yours as that tubey-ness is present with my other cans, too.

I've already recapped mine, but I'm going to replace the emitter resistors and other carbon resistors on the amp boards for decreased noise. I'm also doing this for a constant current source mod. These things are sleepers. >:]

I'll share brief thoughts here, but I think I'll go through and share comparisons of all my gear w/ ZMF interactions on the amp thread at some point in the next couple of months.

 

[BrainSalat]

I was at the Munich High End and I was able to test the new AC (olive-wood) on the Envy and on a A&K player (cherry wood). I can only say I love it and I can confirm all attributes you have already described on this thread.

First I would like to thank @zach915m and her wife for their kindness, patience and simplicity.
My agenda was to try the Caldera and to compare the AC against the VC, and what a nice surprise I could perform it side by side on the Feliks Envy, given it can feed two headphones in parallel. I would start with that the Caldera, AC and VC, they all sounded fantastic out of the Envy and I was happy to see my VC is still very competitive against these new ZMF jewels.

When comparing the AC against the VC (both on stock pads), the AC was everything I have already read. It has softer delicious decays , a more neutral tuning and a more extended bass department compared the VC (the last is something I have always missed on my VC for electronic/trance/OST genders). When switching back and forth with the VC, the VC felt more unbalanced but more engaging. In the beginning I thought the AC as a replacement for me VC but after the audition it didn't came that obvious, but if I would be forced to pick one, this would be probably the AC, a more all-rounder choice given its more neutral and relaxed tuning. To me the AC on Caldera lambskin pads have the perfect balance, however I didn't like the AC on the Caldera suede pads. For me it was too warm and lifeless, but this could be something about own tastes.

Finally about aesthetics and comfort, I liked a lot the new Caldera pads, they are so much nicer than the VC pads but I don't know if it were the pads or the AC, it has a tighter fit on your head than VC (but still comfortable). The AC also felt heavier than the VC (maybe the more dense olive-wood??)

 

[Leto Dal]

I was at the Munich High End and I was able to test the new AC (olive-wood) on the Envy and on a A&K player (cherry wood). I can only say I love it and I can confirm all attributes you have already described on this thread.

First I would like to thank @zach915m and her wife for their kindness, patience and simplicity.
My agenda was to try the Caldera and to compare the AC against the VC, and what a nice surprise I could perform it side by side on the Feliks Envy, given it can feed two headphones in parallel. I would start with that the Caldera, AC and VC, they all sounded fantastic out of the Envy and I was happy to see my VC is still very competitive against these new ZMF jewels.

When comparing the AC against the VC (both on stock pads), the AC was everything I have already read. It has softer delicious decays , a more neutral tuning and a more extended bass department compared the VC (the last is something I have always missed on my VC for electronic/trance/OST genders). When switching back and forth with the VC, the VC felt more unbalanced but more engaging. In the beginning I thought the AC as a replacement for me VC but after the audition it didn't came that obvious, but if I would be forced to pick one, this would be probably the AC, a more all-rounder choice given its more neutral and relaxed tuning. To me the AC on Caldera lambskin pads have the perfect balance, however I didn't like the AC on the Caldera suede pads. For me it was too warm and lifeless, but this could be something about own tastes.

Finally about aesthetics and comfort, I liked a lot the new Caldera pads, they are so much nicer than the VC pads but I don't know if it were the pads or the AC, it has a tighter fit on your head than VC (but still comfortable). The AC also felt heavier than the VC (maybe the more dense olive-wood??)

Great write up, thanks for sharing, wish I could be there. How is Envy performing against Bliss, considering getting Envy sometime next year, wondering what I am getting compared to Bliss

 

[BrainSalat]

Great write up, thanks for sharing, wish I could be there. How is Envy performing against Bliss, considering getting Envy sometime next year, wondering what I am getting compared to Bliss

That's a tough question and I probably would not able to give you a direct comparison of attributes, but I can give you my opinion.

To me the Bliss is as far as you can get with SS amps but somehow I still prefer my VC on the Euforia and the Envy is its bigger brother. When I tried the VC on the Envy, my immediately reaction was "Wow!!, are these my VCs?".

When I bough the Bliss I liked a lot the Utopias on it, but not the VCs. But later I accidentally discover that I had to play a bit with the pads. On the Euforia my favorites pads for the VC are the Universe hybrid, but on the Bliss the VC with these pads is too quick/bright. But the last was solved using the Auteur pads and now I enjoy the VC on the Bliss as well. So to me ZMF headphones make a better match with tubes than SS amps. Nicer decays and the tube rolling where you can find your own holly grail tuning for a given headphone, specially because ZMF have a more unorthodox presentation.

But I think the Atrium and the Caldera could be the exceptions. The Atrium has bio-cellular drivers, with already slower transient than the Verite drivers so to me they don't take too much advantage of tubes for the decays as the Verite do and also have a more neutral tuning (To me the AC sounded great out of the Envy and also out of the A&K player). When auditing the Caldera (redwood) and Susvara on the Envy, they sounded great but I had the impression that the previous and others planar magnetics I tried like the Arya Organic and the HE1000SE, sounded better when I tried them out of SS amps (and these were not even TOTL SS amps).

 

[BrainSalat]

When auditing the Caldera (redwood) and Susvara on the Envy, they sounded great but I had the impression that the previous and others planar magnetics I tried like the Arya Organic and the HE1000SE, sounded better when I tried them out of SS amps (and these were not even TOTL SS amps).

@Leto Dal How your Caldera sound out of the Bliss compared the HA-3A for example?

 

[Leto Dal]

@Leto Dal How your Caldera sound out of the Bliss compared the HA-3A for example?

Caldera sounds much more open, layered and detailed on Bliss. Same goes for AC but to a lesser extend. Bliss (being a slightly warm amp) maintains some of the warmth that tubes provide on HA-3A but adds so much more. The stage feels bit more 3D with HA-3A and there is a bit of the usual tube sweetness, but the advatages of Bliss outweight HA-3A by with both headphones for me. I tried HA-3A with plenty of tube rolls (got a rather big collection), but couldnt find anything that would make me want to go with HA-3A instead of Bliss. With VO its different, HA-3A slows the fast berillium driver a bit, which results in very organic vocals and slower much more natural decays, I prefer VO on it for sure.

The idea with Envy is to get this tube sweetness back maintaining the qualities I got so used to from Bliss.

 

[Huntersknoll]

The versatility of the AC is unmatched. I can't figure out how to make them sound bad. I don't think it is possible
The metal and hardcore I listen to is crunchy and kickass
The weird indie pop I listen to has the most amazing sub bass. Some stuff I've never noticed. I think I am a sub bass head???

I know some people asked about gaming. This is what I can confirm. Diablo IV sounds amazing. Zelda ToTK sounds amazing. I even played a round of the Fork Knife with my young cousin and that sounded great. I can't comment on completive gaming since I don't do that. Single player games sound great.

 

[johnnypaddock]

I've been enjoying the AC a lot over the last few weeks. After reading some of the early impressions discussing the elevated bass response, I was curious to see if it would be overwhelming in my system. Thankfully, that's not the case at all. There is some serious low end extension when called for, but it's tasteful and well controlled. i don't feel that it bleeds into the midrange much if at all. The sound presentation overall is pretty well-rounded and I'm enjoying all types of music.

The staging is really impressive. It's smaller than what I get from the VC (monkey pod), but it's well defined with pinpoint imaging. I'm getting more impact and less resonance / decay with the AC. The VC is more resolving but the AC is no slouch.

I'm finding the sound to be energetic and dynamic in comparison with the AO (koa), which is relatively laid back and subdued. It can't compete with the AO's huge soundstage, but for most music I'm just as happy with the AC in that area.

Overall this is a great headphone and I'm glad I picked it up. Another gem from the team at ZMF!

 

[robo24]

I've been enjoying the AC a lot over the last few weeks. After reading some of the early impressions discussing the elevated bass response, I was curious to see if it would be overwhelming in my system. Thankfully, that's not the case at all. There is some serious low end extension when called for, but it's tasteful and well controlled. i don't feel that it bleeds into the midrange much if at all. The sound presentation overall is pretty well-rounded and I'm enjoying all types of music.

The staging is really impressive. It's smaller than what I get from the VC (monkey pod), but it's well defined with pinpoint imaging. I'm getting more impact and less resonance / decay with the AC. The VC is more resolving but the AC is no slouch.

I'm finding the sound to be energetic and dynamic in comparison with the AO (koa), which is relatively laid back and subdued. It can't compete with the AO's huge soundstage, but for most music I'm just as happy with the AC in that area.

Overall this is a great headphone and I'm glad I picked it up. Another gem from the team at ZMF!

Also having a koa Atrium, glad to hear it's significantly different and reinforces my desire to get a harder wood type Atrium Closed when I get one.

 

[goldwerger]

Also having a koa Atrium, glad to hear it's significantly different and reinforces my desire to get a harder wood type Atrium Closed when I get one.

can confirm hardwood AC is distinctly differentt than the AO. It's now one of my all-time favourite headphones. The hardwood really makes a difference (whichever one prefers is a matter of taste). For me, the hardwood makes everything a touch more tight and defined.

 

[JerseyD]

can confirm hardwood AC is distinctly differentt than the AO. It's now one of my all-time favourite headphones. The hardwood really makes a difference (whichever one prefers is a matter of taste). For me, the hardwood makes everything a touch more tight and defined.

Does hard vs soft wood not matter as much on the AO?

 

[goldwerger]

Does hard vs soft wood not matter as much on the AO?

Wood choice does make a little difference with all ZMFs (much less than changing pads, but it's there). But, to my ears, the choice of wood is more notable on the AC than all other ZMF headphones (AO included).

I generally go with the rule of picking wood based on esthetics, then rolling my preferred pads. I've definitely followed that rule also with the AC, but in retrospect have found that the hard wood I selected was more distinct than the softer wood I tried earlier than I expected.

I think if you want to emphasize more decay and reverb, the softer wood will be your choice. And if you want a slightly faster sound and definition, the harder wood may be the choice. For me, very subjectively, I've perceived the AC to have gobbles of decay and wanted to create a bit more separation between the elevated bass and transition to the mids. I've found that, mostly, the Suede pads have done that (people are rather 50/50 split here, with many preferring the Caldera lamb thin pads for the even more pronounced bass), and the harder wood took this a touch further and resulted in what, to me, is a very clean and enjoyable sound. Ton of sub-bass and bass for sure, but better separation.

If you can't demo the headphones (e.g. CanJam?), I'd still follow the rule of esthetics first, since you can achieve such a massive shift in tuning with pad rolling, the decision can be left to that. But yes, I found the wood to have more impact with the AC than with the AO.