ZMF Atrium - new open-back co-flagship

[geoffalter11]

For those who need a bit of Mavis Staples in their life...

Oh, and these are all SUBLIME on the Atrium and HP8.

Running in some new tubes tonight and life is good. Mavis, The Atrium and the HP8.

 

[geoffalter11]

Thanks! Was between these and the red on black, can’t quite remember what they actually calls the color way. These really pop.

Headphones with a name. I remember when it was pot with a name. Now it is stabilized headphones with a name... LOL. Whatever their name, they are TASTY! Congrats on your heirlooms. Those are so beautiful you should keep them forever!

 

[geoffalter11]

Not sure where this vibe is coming from tonight, but I am liking it. New tubes and a bad ass headphone. (Atrium)... . Another one of my all time favorite songs from college. Bass line is thumping. Vocals are off the charts. As are every other part of this song. Imaging and instrument separation are first rate. Atrium + Soul = FUN! Enjoy!

 

[geoffalter11]

Sorry, one more! Roy Ayer's vibes sound like a waterfall of sound...

 

[geoffalter11]

An interim update on my Atrium experience. It still has less than 30 hours on it, so take with a big grain of salt. My last post was when it had less than 20 hours and things have changed substantially.

While I liked what the silver michanikos cable did for the top end, today I went back to the OFC because the silver cable lost a lot of the bass texture, which blew me away. I'd never heard anything like it. But with burn in, things have really opened up and spaced out. It's now very transparent and fast. I spent today going back and forth between the Atrium (on a Kenzie) and a few electrostatics (007 mk1, ES-1a and Sigma NB) and I feel like only the ES-1a was faster and less congested. The Atrium, in the way it (naturally) spaces everything out approaches that estat transparency and lack of distortion. I almost feel dumb for writing that the Atrium was less congested than a Stax 007 mk1, like it can't be so, but that's what I heard today.

One fun test for you: there's an instrument that gets played at 3:30 on The Band's The Weight. I don't know what it is, it's like an accordion or a mouth harp. I could barely hear it last week and today it came through a lot clearer on the same cable, which I credit to the burn-in. On the estats, that sound comes through much clearer.

I also did a quick comparison to the OG Auteur and the tonality was still very similar, but the OG felt a lot slower and more muddied. I love to A/B but I also know that it stacks the deck against the B variant because my brain is accustomed to the A. So I need to do some longer-term comparisons, but the Atrium is really special. Slam, bass texture/detail, very transparent and with a wonderful timbre. My favorite thing about the Auteur was how slow it was, but how liquid it was too - the best explanation I can give is to imagine a dark pool. When you drop a pebble into it, you get these concentric circles of sound slowly moving outwards. The nature of the Auteur was that there could be many, many pebbles dropped into the pool, with many overlapping concentric circles of sound rippling into each other. When I say slow, in this sense I mean you could hear the trailing edge of notes clearly just as you could hear the leading edge of new notes coming in. It was all very liquid and sweet, syrupy. I don't want to lose that, which is why I still can't imagine upgrading it, but the Atrium is growing on me.

I have a silver-plated copper cable coming in soon and I'm looking forward to what that does.

Absolutely love your imagery for how you described the sound of your OG in the last paragraph.

 

[dfiled]

If the mesh can be removed without affecting other parts of the sound signature, is the only purpose of the mesh to tame the highs?

…

You'd think the mesh would dampen and potentially tighten the macro dynamics of the driver as the driver pushes a mass of air through the mesh, some resistance would be created?

@zach915m if you have time (I know you have a lot on your plate at the moment) could you weigh in on this?

 

[Newbman123]

An interim update on my Atrium experience. It still has less than 30 hours on it, so take with a big grain of salt. My last post was when it had less than 20 hours and things have changed substantially.

While I liked what the silver michanikos cable did for the top end, today I went back to the OFC because the silver cable lost a lot of the bass texture, which blew me away. I'd never heard anything like it. But with burn in, things have really opened up and spaced out. It's now very transparent and fast. I spent today going back and forth between the Atrium (on a Kenzie) and a few electrostatics (007 mk1, ES-1a and Sigma NB) and I feel like only the ES-1a was faster and less congested. The Atrium, in the way it (naturally) spaces everything out approaches that estat transparency and lack of distortion. I almost feel dumb for writing that the Atrium was less congested than a Stax 007 mk1, like it can't be so, but that's what I heard today.

One fun test for you: there's an instrument that gets played at 3:30 on The Band's The Weight. I don't know what it is, it's like an accordion or a mouth harp. I could barely hear it last week and today it came through a lot clearer on the same cable, which I credit to the burn-in. On the estats, that sound comes through much clearer.

I also did a quick comparison to the OG Auteur and the tonality was still very similar, but the OG felt a lot slower and more muddied. I love to A/B but I also know that it stacks the deck against the B variant because my brain is accustomed to the A. So I need to do some longer-term comparisons, but the Atrium is really special. Slam, bass texture/detail, very transparent and with a wonderful timbre. My favorite thing about the Auteur was how slow it was, but how liquid it was too - the best explanation I can give is to imagine a dark pool. When you drop a pebble into it, you get these concentric circles of sound slowly moving outwards. The nature of the Auteur was that there could be many, many pebbles dropped into the pool, with many overlapping concentric circles of sound rippling into each other. When I say slow, in this sense I mean you could hear the trailing edge of notes clearly just as you could hear the leading edge of new notes coming in. It was all very liquid and sweet, syrupy. I don't want to lose that, which is why I still can't imagine upgrading it, but the Atrium is growing on me.

I have a silver-plated copper cable coming in soon and I'm looking forward to what that does.

That's awesome. Exactly what i felt with the silver. Once you get the silver plated copper do let me know how it fares. I've been partial towards copper and this was my first silver cable. I've been wondering how silver plated copper would fare and been on the fence if i should get copper or silver plated copper.

 

[zach915m]

@zach915m if you have time (I know you have a lot on your plate at the moment) could you weigh in on this?

The mesh has an exponential effect as you move up the FR range, especially with the perforated mesh that we cut on the laser, the the treble peaks are most affected, and more-so in the 4.5K + area. As far as macro dynamics, the impulse response is a touch affected by having it on, but it's such a small amount that I struggle to make a statement saying that it does or doesn't make a perceivable affect. I usually just say "if you hear it than it's true" in these types of cases.

 

[geoffalter11]

Interesting conversation with my buddy Peter @Pharmaboy about how well ZMF and the Atrium renders piano. So, here is my answer to that...



Hope you all have a great Atrium day!

 

[erics75]

Ozzy on the Atrium is magic! This new album rocks, btw. I've had to stop myself a few times from getting dangerous with the volume, i'm enjoying it so much. Love the Tony Lommi collaborations!

 

[YtseJamer]

Ozzy on the Atrium is magic! This new album rocks, btw. I've had to stop myself a few times from getting dangerous with the volume, i'm enjoying it so much. Love the Tony Lommi collaborations!

I had the same reaction yesterday, the new Ozzy sounds great on the Atrium \m/

It's by far my favorite Ozzy album since Ozzmosis.

 

[Monsterzero]

I had the same reaction yesterday, the new Ozzy sounds great on the Atrium \m/

It's by far my favorite Ozzy album since Ozzmosis.

I haven't listened to it yet, but now I have to

 

[LCMusicLover]

Cocobolo Atrium delivered today. Burning in w/ a little Steely Dan from my FiiO M15. Yay!!!

 

[geoffalter11]

Cocobolo Atrium delivered today. Burning in w/ a little Steely Dan from my FiiO M15. Yay!!!

Wow, beautiful headphones.

 

[Dawgfish]

I finally picked up a pair of aged cherry Atriums. I can't wait to hear these as I've been drooling over them since their release.