[erics75]

I ordered first or second day and it came last week, sounds pretty good. Not sure the stock pads are for me, frankly, I'm preferring the Auteur at this point. I'm thinking Auteur 2 might've been a better choice. Atrium goes more in the Senn 800 direction than I had hoped.

I may have to check out the forthcoming closed back version of Atrium: ZMF Arena.

Which pads are you using on the Auteur? On the Atrium you're using the stock lambskin Universe pads? I ask as I have both the Auteur and Atrium, and both with their stock lambskin pads I find the Auteur noticeably brighter than the Atrium. If I switch the the Auteur's pads to the lambskin Eikon pads then things flip, and the Atrium is brighter, but not by much. Not disputing what you're hearing, just curious.

 

[Deleeh]

Which pads are you using on the Auteur? On the Atrium you're using the stock lambskin Universe pads? I ask as I have both the Auteur and Atrium, and both with their stock lambskin pads I find the Auteur noticeably brighter than the Atrium. If I switch the the Auteur's pads to the lambskin Eikon pads then things flip, and the Atrium is brighter, but not by much. Not disputing what you're hearing, just curious.

Hello,

How big are the differences for you between Auteur and Atrium in terms of sound, regardless of which pads you use?

I started with the Auteur or received one of the last ones a few days ago and would be interested to know how big the jump is to the Atrium.
I haven't read or heard much about it.

The quiet voice in my head told me you should have gone with the Atrium.
But my wife would probably have gone crazy .
Even though she thinks the Atrium is very nice and would have bought it if she had had the choice.

 

[erics75]

Hello,

How big are the differences for you between Auteur and Atrium in terms of sound, regardless of which pads you use?

I started with the Auteur or received one of the last ones a few days ago and would be interested to know how big the jump is to the Atrium.
I haven't read or heard much about it.

The quiet voice in my head told me you should have gone with the Atrium.
But my wife would probably have gone crazy .
Even though she thinks the Atrium is very nice and would have bought it if she had had the choice.

For me personally the gap isn't huge overall, they just have a different base tonality. The Atrium is a bit warmer sounding with more gentle treble vs the Auteur. It's more bassier and less neutral than the Auteur. But the difference isn't huge. If you swap to the Eikon lambskin pads on the Auteur then you're very close to the Atrium's base tuning. The Atrium has slightly better technical abilities, but again, not by a huge margin. In a vacuum yeah the Atrium is better. But taking budget into consideration, the Auteur is tough to beat.

 

[Monsterzero]

How big are the differences for you between Auteur and Atrium in terms of sound, regardless of which pads you use?

For me the differences lie in the bass and staging. If you value a deep, wide and tall stage, plus fantastic bass, IMHO the Atrium is a clear step up from the Auteur

 

[fuhransahis]

This is the week my Atrium ships... this is the week my Atrium ahips... this is the wee...

 

[Deleeh]

Thank you for the impressions @Monsterzero and @erics75

I didn't go too far wrong with the auteur as an entry point.
Even though you read very good things about the Atrium, for me it would be one of the last headphones I would get at the moment.
Before that, it would be the Aeolus that would come into question.

 

[rhenom]

This is the week my Atrium ships... this is the week my Atrium ahips... this is the wee...

When did you order? I put my order on April 8th, order number 8030 aged cherry, still waiting.

 

[KrauserX91]

When did you order? I put my order on April 8th, order number 8030 aged cherry, still waiting.

I have the feeling that they stopped aged cherry for a while to ship al the Koas

There are some koa from 8th shipped, so I hope your aged cherry ships today

 

[fuhransahis]

When did you order? I put my order on April 8th, order number 8030 aged cherry, still waiting.

April 8 as well, 8034 for me!

Had some wishful thinking that it'd arrive by today as it was my bday present I console myself by thinking they're taking their time to make mine extra special lol (would of course prefer they take longer and do their best than rush anything )

 

[yolosauce]

Put on the leather auteur pads today and WOW. Vocals went from great to amazing. The treble seems to have improved as well. I'm ok with losing a little bit of bass slam to even out the mids and treble. I don't notice a reduction in soundstage but others have so I'll take their word for it.

 

[robo24]

Hello,

How big are the differences for you between Auteur and Atrium in terms of sound, regardless of which pads you use?

I started with the Auteur or received one of the last ones a few days ago and would be interested to know how big the jump is to the Atrium.
I haven't read or heard much about it.

The quiet voice in my head told me you should have gone with the Atrium.
But my wife would probably have gone crazy .
Even though she thinks the Atrium is very nice and would have bought it if she had had the choice.

I don't think one can go wrong with either. I found them more similar when I first got the Atrium than I do now. Perhaps they're more similar than any other 2 open ZMFs but that doesn't mean they aren't very distinct and different enough to have both. The Auteur still has more forward vocals and are brighter, while the Atrium just overall feel like there is so much more in the music, present it as more full sounding with the bass making its presence more obvious and pervasive throughout the music while it seems to come and go more quickly on the Auteur. The Atrium is more detailed and if I spend a lot of time with it and then go to the Auteur it can feel like some of the music has disappeared. Though if I start a listening session with the Auteur I don't feel like it's lacking anything. They both convey a sense of the music sounding just right and natural. The staging is also different on the Atrium, giving a more out of the head sensation.

I think you made a good decision because you can't even order the original Auteur anymore. While I'm sure the Auteur Classic will be wonderful too, it always seems to be the case that some inevitably prefer certain earlier versions of headphones (Arya v2 vs. v3, SD 800 vs 800S, Stax SR-007 MK1 vs. later versions) and this can help them hold their value. I think it's also a good idea for first time ZMF buyers go with less expensive models, both to confirm one enjoys the ZMF house sound, but also because many eventually expand or upgrade to higher end ZMFs and the benefits become very obvious vs. going backwards from TOTL to less expensive models. That's certainly what I did, starting with a used Atticus, then buying every model within a couple years. I don't love the Atticus any less, and I don't think you'll love the Auteur any less either if you buy the Atrium eventually.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

My Atrium's just arrived. Listening to it with

Node 2i > mscaler > TT2 > Orr > Atrium. Man, it sounds fantastic out of the box without any burn in. Has the rich and lush mids characteristic of my VC. Has better treble and wider stage. Atriums feel lighter than VC. VC has more well defined bass response. Much more richness and detail. Atrium sounds more neutral. These are literally 5 minutes out of the box. May be change considerably after burn in. Very happy. These 2 headphones are very complementary.

Matching VC Koa

 

[lllkkkoo]

My Atrium's just arrived. Listening to it with

Node 2i > mscaler > TT2 > Orr > Atrium. Man, it sounds fantastic out of the box without any burn in. Has the rich and lush mids characteristic of my VC. Has better treble and wider stage. Atriums feel lighter than VC. VC has more well defined bass response. Much more richness and detail. Atrium sounds more neutral. These are literally 5 minutes out of the box. May be change considerably after burn in. Very happy. These 2 headphones are very complementary.





Matching VC Koa

@HiFiHawaii808 Nice. Looking forward to your impressions! Please enlighten more about the atrium and ferrum chord pairing! My atrium will be arriving in two weeks and my gear is similar albeit few tier below tt2, it is chord qutest and ferrum stack... hoping i can get away with the synergy!..

 

[rizena]

When will the stabilized atrium be sold? I'm curious. I will definitely buy red stabilized atrium.

 

[Henrim]

What is a 'stabilized' ZMF? Heard the term thrown around a lot.