[LCMusicLover]

The Autuer pads will be thicker at the largest part and have more of an angle than the Universe pads.

Also, opening on Auteur pads is bigger both ways.

 

[heliosphann]

Also, opening on Auteur pads is bigger both ways.

Figured the first info would be enough.

 

[Clear Water]

I'm definitely down for a meet up. I won't be back till January though. Also there's a hifi shop down in Honolulu and the owner is pretty cool. He comes up as an Audeze dealer so he might be interested in having folks with headphones show off in his shop.

Let me know if you guys end up doing something. I live in town and have a bunch of stuff I could bring too.

 

[9bphillips]

Also, opening on Auteur pads is bigger both ways.

Thanks. I was able to tell with the thickness of the pads. I have them paired right thankfully.

 

[DougD]

Exciting change! I find the Atrium's more of a lean back sound and Utopia more of a lean in sound. Utopia is cleaner, faster, more detailed, and are not forgiving of poorly recorded tracks. Soundstage is narrower but imaging and seperation is razer sharp. I found the Utopia's to be increasingly fatiguing as time went on, until I eventually stopped using them. In contrast the Atriums are so relaxing to listen to. Soundstage is huge and textures and timbres sound so interesting and addictive. The Atrium tuning is so nice and it has more sub bass.

Utopia can play classical recordings with lots of strings well, but I find Atrium's just can't, it ends up sounding a bit muffled to me.

With vocal tracks on the Utopia, I found myself focusing on all trhe background instruments (aided by the detail and seperation), on the Atriums, the focus is the singer and everything else is complimentary, which is better for me.

I prefer the Atriums everytime, except for classical and maybe really well recorded tracks like the later Radiohead stuff and Sohn.

@Sajid Amit explains the differences well in his video, he has the Utopia, Atrium and Euforia and much more experience than me so he might be able to share his opinion!

I don't watch a lot of equipment reviews on YouTube ... 15 minutes here, 40 minutes there, pretty soon you're wondering what happened to two years of your life ... but Sajid Amit does a really nice job. Highly recommended whenever he's discussing a product in which you are interested. And certainly a top contender for most articulate person in the hobby.

 

[SlothRock]

Gotta show my Viking Weave cable off I guess lol.

Love it! Been all in on Viking Weave cables after my first one for my VC's. Which one is that?

 

[tinariwen]

Exciting change! I find the Atrium's more of a lean back sound and Utopia more of a lean in sound. Utopia is cleaner, faster, more detailed, and are not forgiving of poorly recorded tracks. Soundstage is narrower but imaging and seperation is razer sharp. I found the Utopia's to be increasingly fatiguing as time went on, until I eventually stopped using them. In contrast the Atriums are so relaxing to listen to. Soundstage is huge and textures and timbres sound so interesting and addictive. The Atrium tuning is so nice and it has more sub bass.

Utopia can play classical recordings with lots of strings well, but I find Atrium's just can't, it ends up sounding a bit muffled to me.

With vocal tracks on the Utopia, I found myself focusing on all trhe background instruments (aided by the detail and seperation), on the Atriums, the focus is the singer and everything else is complimentary, which is better for me.

I prefer the Atriums everytime, except for classical and maybe really well recorded tracks like the later Radiohead stuff and Sohn.

@Sajid Amit explains the differences well in his video, he has the Utopia, Atrium and Euforia and much more experience than me so he might be able to share his opinion!

Brilliant! Thanks for that. I think I might try an SS amp first then, so you might’ve just saved me a few grand!

 

[etroze86]

Love it! Been all in on Viking Weave cables after my first one for my VC's. Which one is that?

I think it's the Uruz cable. Hard to tell we spoke about a bunch of different options.

 

[Mike C]

Both OTL and transformer-coupled amps can sound excellent with ZMFs IMO, just depends on the circuit and the quality of the parts. I think the performance ceiling for a transformer-coupled amplifier is higher, but you have to pay a lot more to get there. The main advantage of the custom / bespoke amplifier approach is the quality of the amplifier is not hampered by the limitations of a commercial product, which must be easy to produce, low cost to maintain profit margins, and will typically use new production tubes when certain NOS models might offer performance benefits. The best tube amplifiers in the world are being made in the DIY arena, which is the realm where the bespoke amplifier designers operate. The difference is creating something with performance at the forefront of the design ideology as opposed to focusing on profitability, which of course is completely warranted if you are trying to run a business and pay your bills!

Absolutely true!
Professionals have severe constraints as mentioned, I will just add another - showroom appeal! Appearance does influence customers especially in the shop, and good quality transformers and chokes are big, heavy and ugly .... but used correctly, they can contribute to the highest sound quality.

Remember that every $1 spent on components results in $5 to $10 added to the selling price. It is possible (not that easy, but possible) to make a high quality power supply with 4 chokes and film caps. With low resistance chokes and good design, regulation is not necessary, it is fast, clean, very natural. But the parts cost about £500 so for a specialised low volume market, that's £5000 added on top of say a £3000 product.
So the pro has to look to 0 or possibly 1 choke, electrolytic caps, and things like regulation to make it work, and they do a very good job at getting a reasonable result at the price.
But as suggested, bespoke builders may to an extent be able to do beat the constraints to an extent.

Myself, I have a good transformer coupled amp (Dave Slagle OPTs) and it's very good; my OTLs sound very similar but I find a touch more transparency so my opinion differs slightly from the above, that's life, no absolute truths here. Perhaps it's because I design for low distortion, with high value loads on the valves. Or perhaps I'm wrong.

A poster was asking about the 'best' OTL amp, and here I have a few comments.
There are always going to be compromises, even at the highest level. I use multi stage power supplies with chokes a lot, one thing is that good film/oil caps of low capacitance can be used and this gives high transparency, fine tonality, good sound generally. Even so, there is a compromise. The capacitance of the final cap is critical and to an extent, a compromise. Small value say 25uF (in a well designed and modelled circuit) gives the best transient response, clean and fast. But a higher value like 50uF can give a touch more bass, at the cost of slightly slower transient response. Differences are not great, both are fabulous and way better than any typical supply with big electrolytics; but if we are talking absolute best, cost no object, there is still a compromise and one has to choose.
I believe such compromised will generally exist even at the highest level, they are made by the manufacturer and give their 'house sound'; so to the customer, the 'best' will be the one you like best, not what someone else says.

 

[whirlwind]

Keep in mind most individuals building these custom amplifiers also work full time jobs and are getting a constant stream of PMs from interested, current, and past buyers. It's a lot to keep up with. Audiophiles are also very, very particular people and can really push one to the brink of their patience. Anyone considering reaching out with questions should first check the builder's respective website / Head-Fi thread to see if the questions have already been addressed.

Great advise. A lot of questions have already been addressed.

I can only imagine the amount of pm's and e-mails a person would have to deal with.

Audiophiles The Good The Bad & The Ugly.....this could be a great book

 

[Nago]

Love it! Been all in on Viking Weave cables after my first one for my VC's. Which one is that?

Looks like an Ansuz! My personal favorite when it comes to cables.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I'm joining the team. Can't wait to break the Atrium in. Looking forward to a long night of listening after a crazy work week. I'll take better pics tomorrow.

This headphone is in the classifieds. Looks like it's perfect for your collection.

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/fs-zmf-aeolus-green-stabilized-maple-burl-ltd.29213/

 

[goldwerger]

This headphone is in the classifieds. Looks like it's perfect for your collection.

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/fs-zmf-aeolus-green-stabilized-maple-burl-ltd.29213/

As someone who owns such a trio, I’d highly recommend it! (and that here would be some gorgeous set alright

 

[dfiled]

So I had to send my Atriums to ZMF for repair (broken gimbal from a fall, entirely my fault). I purchased a set of used VOs with the intention of reselling them once the Atriums come back. It's been very interesting listening to the VOs after listening to the Atriums constantly for the past month.

I'd always had a hard time grasping the concept of "fast" headphones, but listening to the Verite after becoming habituated to the Atrium I think I get it now. Mostly I'm noticing how much faster the notes decay on the VO. Generally, while I'm perceiving some increase in clarity in the VOs, the faster decay, as others have noted, detracts from the weight and impact of the music. This is especially noticeable in the midbass, where the weighty impact of the Atrium has been replaced by a comparative lack of dynamism and slam in the VOs.

I'll be curious to see how I feel after my brain gets used to the VOs and I listen to the Atriums after repair. For now, I'd say the VO would probably be the slightly better for headphone for classical music, but for rock, hip-hop, electronica, etc. (which I mostly listen to), I think I strongly prefer the Atrium.

Edit: one thing I'll add is that the VO macrodynamics seem to improve at higher volumes, whereas the Atrium still sounds punchy even at lower volumes.

 

[433521]

Brilliant! Thanks for that. I think I might try an SS amp first then, so you might’ve just saved me a few grand!

If I were shopping for solid state for a ZMF headphone (and I am) I would seriously consider their Cayin amp at thheir site ... it has a switch for high impedence headphones ... now it's not a MAGIC switch or anything, in some situations it helps and some it doesn't, I have a similar switch on an amplifier and it can be helpful.