[UntilThen]

I will send you a pair of Elrog 300B.

It would be rude of me to refuse so yes send away.

 

[Patmach]

These are great posts, and as @Monsterzero stated, all one must do is be curious and you will ultimately land where you want to land in this hobby. These are all fantastic tube amps being written about. I have had the pleasure to speak a bit with @L0rdGwyn and he is a gentleman of the highest order. Over the yrs I have mostly had odysseys with SS amps, not willing to have tubes around my young children. As they have gotten older, I have delved into the world of tubes.

One more amp to add into this list of amazing tube amps with ZMF headphones is the Icon Audio HP8 MK2 Signature. It is sonically perfect with the Auteur, Atrium, and every other ZMF I have tried. It is such a beautiful, musical and all around incredible amp. It is not a 300B amp. It has 3 tubes and the most beautiful copper plate. A 12AX7/12AT7 driver and 2 6SN7 power tubes. I have spent a lot of time talking with other head-fi members and learning in the threads how to pair different tubes to best maximize the HP8. Bottom line, it is a sensational amp. I am currently enjoying the perfect symbiotic relationship of image specificity, tone, gentility and voracity as I write this.

As are all the Glenn, Airmid's and every other tube amp named above. I have come to the conclusion that the best headphone experience for me involves a tube amp. I am already hunting for my next.

Perhaps a Trafomatic Head 2, Stratus V4, or whatever I can afford when the day arrives.

There are many roads to sonic bliss, and it has taken me a long time to realize that my road to sonic bliss leads through a high quality tube amp. I still love my Cembalo Labs Spring 1. A unicorn amp with secret powers, but more and more I find myself longing for the sound of the HP8 with my Auteur or the Atrium I still have here on loan. I can't get enough. It also happens to sound sensational with my Radiante 1706 and my LCD-4z. There isn't a headphone I have tried that doesn't love the HP8.

Atrium and HP8 are currently giving me spine inducing shivers.

A quick word also on the Auris HA2 SE (Serbian amp) that I use daily with the ZMF Atrium. I don't have many points of comparison but it seems to me that this amplifier knows how to drive these headphones perfectly. An impressive soundstage, a very quiet and very neutral amp.
The preamplification tube that has been changed is a telefunken 6211 gold pins and the amplification tubes of the original PL95 EI.
It is quite possible that amps like the Cayin HA-300MK2 or the Feliks audio Envy, often mentioned, also surpass it (perhaps by a little), because they are more recent (but also more expensive).

 

[realmassy]

Keep the pictures and suggestions coming, now that I’ve joined the ZMF club (anxiously waiting for the delivery of the Atrium). I think the research on our next purchase is one of the most engaging aspect of the hobby, isn’t it?
I have already a tube amp (the Manley Absolute) and one solid state amp (Fluxlab FA-12) but I‘m looking to add another tube amp. On my list there are Feliks Audio Elise and Euforia, Cayin HA3A, a couple of Woo Audio and the cheap(er) Icon Audio HP-8

 

[geoffalter11]

Keep the pictures and suggestions coming, now that I’ve joined the ZMF club (anxiously waiting for the delivery of the Atrium). I think the research on our next purchase is one of the most engaging aspect of the hobby, isn’t it?
I have already a tube amp (the Manley Absolute) and one solid state amp (Fluxlab FA-12) but I‘m looking to add another tube amp. On my list there are Feliks Audio Elise and Euforia, Cayin HA3A, a couple of Woo Audio and the cheap(er) Icon Audio HP-8

The HP8 doesn’t sound cheap. Promise you that. Especially the Signature. It is soooo good.

 

[Monsterzero]

Keep the pictures and suggestions coming, now that I’ve joined the ZMF club (anxiously waiting for the delivery of the Atrium). I think the research on our next purchase is one of the most engaging aspect of the hobby, isn’t it?
I have already a tube amp (the Manley Absolute) and one solid state amp (Fluxlab FA-12) but I‘m looking to add another tube amp. On my list there are Feliks Audio Elise and Euforia, Cayin HA3A, a couple of Woo Audio and the cheap(er) Icon Audio HP-8

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-un-official-amp-thread-for-zmf-headphones.965309/

 

[robo24]

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-un-official-amp-thread-for-zmf-headphones.965309/

The first time I checked this yesterday there were 2 posts. Now 12 pages! Clearly a very much needed thread. Thanks for starting it.

 

[whirlwind]

The first time I checked this yesterday there were 2 posts. Now 12 pages! Clearly a very much needed thread. Thanks for starting it.

Ditto....great idea.

 

[UntilThen]

The first time I checked this yesterday there were 2 posts. Now 12 pages! Clearly a very much needed thread. Thanks for starting it.

Shows how passionate people are with their amps.

 

[realmassy]

Atrium received, listening to them as I type, different from what I was expecting.
I guess my ears are so accustomed to the warm, smooth blanket (aka Meze Empyrean) that it might take some time to appreciate the newcomers.

 

[Somatic]

Atrium received, listening to them as I type, different from what I was expecting.
I guess my ears are so accustomed to the warm, smooth blanket (aka Meze Empyrean) that it might take some time to appreciate the newcomers.

Yeah wasn't the warm blanket I expected either but very happy with them now. Those mids and timbre is amazing. Even though it is not super detailed it sounds very holographic and lifelike.

 

[steve468]

Yeah wasn't the warm blanket I expected either but very happy with them now. Those mids and timbre is amazing. Even though it is not super detailed it sounds very holographic and lifelike.

My Atriums are a couple weeks old now, and I will say in the first few hours I was surprised how bright they were. Then after a bit of burn-in, brain or otherwise, the bass REALLY came on. The mid bass is very present (to my ears at least) and warms thing up considerably; it just took a while to get there.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

Yeah wasn't the warm blanket I expected either but very happy with them now. Those mids and timbre is amazing. Even though it is not super detailed it sounds very holographic and lifelike.

I’d say the Atrium is more detailed than the Empyrean (I used to own them).

 

[realmassy]

It’s not a matter of detail, it‘s a matter of timbre. The Atrium seem a bit harmonically dry, the way the Empyrean reproduce the piano is on another level, more realistic, rich, full. Let’s see how it goes in the next days

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

It’s not a matter of detail, it‘s a matter of timbre. The Atrium seem a bit harmonically dry, the way the Empyrean reproduce the piano is on another level, more realistic, rich, full. Let’s see how it goes in the next days

Agree to disagree. In terms of timbre, the Atrium runs circles around the OG Empyrean.

 

[Somatic]

Agree to disagree. In terms of timbre, the Atrium runs circles around the OG Empyrean.

I would add it even runs circle compared to the Susvara. I can't believe how life like these cans sound. I might end up selling my Susvara's eventually. Time will tell.