[Somatic]

With regret I am putting the Atrium for sale. They are excellent. I used to own the Ferrum stack and felt they were superb in that setup and had a holographic nature to the vocals that I never experienced with any headphone. Great note weight and slam.

Issue is I moved up to the Feliks Envy and it turned the Susvara to a different beast. The Atrium to me personally sounded better off the Ferrum stack believe it or not. So at this point I will sell them but definitely keeping an eye out for the Caldera in the future.

It was a great journey and would love to own another ZMF in the future. Thanks Zach for all your dedication in this space.

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/zmf-atrium-ltd-koa-magnesium-chassis.38995/

 

[robo24]

With regret I am putting the Atrium for sale. They are excellent. I used to own the Ferrum stack and felt they were superb in that setup and had a holographic nature to the vocals that I never experienced with any headphone. Great note weight and slam.

Issue is I moved up to the Feliks Envy and it turned the Susvara to a different beast. The Atrium to me personally sounded better off the Ferrum stack believe it or not. So at this point I will sell them but definitely keeping an eye out for the Caldera in the future.

It was a great journey and would love to own another ZMF in the future. Thanks Zach for all your dedication in this space.

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/zmf-atrium-ltd-koa-magnesium-chassis.38995/

It was interesting at Can Jam SoCal because the Caldera/Envy pairing was the best to me of their many setups and the Envy took the Verite Open to another level, while I didn't find the Atrium any better on it than my setup at home with the Pendant or Glenn OTL.

 

[Somatic]

It was interesting at Can Jam SoCal because the Caldera/Envy pairing was the best to me of their many setups and the Envy took the Verite Open to another level, while I didn't find the Atrium any better on it than my setup at home with the Pendant or Glenn OTL.

Hhhmm. I was surprised that the Atriums didn’t scale further past the Ferrum stack. Probably sound better off an OTL. Either way, it’s a very nice headphone.

 

[WillieB]

in love. Zebrawood LTD from ZMF November courtesy of my spouse thinking I should have a pair of open backs for the headphones stable. I love the hand-wiped, more satiny finish as a contrast to my glossy VCs. They've got about 20hrs on them (got to open them yesterday), so it's still early days re: burn in. My very early thoughts on them is I like how they're a little brighter than the VCs and I can see why reviews always bring up the mids, but I do miss the noise isolation. They're 50g heavier than my VCs but don't feel like it, which is nice. Not saying that they're feathers, but I'm not getting neck/shoulder fatigue. They have a bit more clamping force so that's probably helping since I can move my head around more freely, but do need to take more care with glasses placement so they don't dig into my nose bridge. Weirdly enough, my Rognirs are my lightest of the 'heavy' headphones (80g lighter than these) but they feel the heaviest.

Never knew the Zebrawood Atrium existed, but I haven't been keeping up I guess. Magnificent!

 

[goldwerger]

@robo24 @Somatic - I also find that a good quality SS amp pairs very well with the Atrium. I enjoy tube amping a lot and find that, with the VO and VC, the synergy between tube amping and those fast drivers combines to create great value added; while the Atrium's already lush presentation and slower decay benefits from the tight control of a SS amp. It's a crude generalization with lots of possible exceptions (as it always ends up being amp specific), but I can see why you may have had these specific impressions with the amps in question.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

@robo24 @Somatic - I also find that a good quality SS amp pairs very well with the Atrium. I enjoy tube amping a lot and find that, with the VO and VC, the synergy between tube amping and those fast drivers combines to create great value added; while the Atrium's already lush presentation and slower decay benefits from the tight control of a SS amp. It's a crude generalization with lots of possible exceptions (as it always ends up being amp specific), but I can see why you may have had these specific impressions with the amps in question.

I completely agree. My main chain for Atrium is Holo May KTE + Ferrum Orr/Hypsos.

 

[Jaebug]

Never knew the Zebrawood Atrium existed, but I haven't been keeping up I guess. Magnificent!

They were from ZMF November so I'm not sure how many pairs have been made in this wood. I'm guessing not many? They've only had a couple limited wood releases, right? ZMF November excluded since it's sort of an outlier, iirc it's the two cherry finishes, a koa run, cocobolo run..and I can't remember if there was another one.

Unrelated, but I can see why some reviews joke that everything sounds good on these, because it's true. It's uncanny . They might not be the best at everything, but so far I've found them to be the most easy going when trying different amps, new tubes, variable source quality, etc.

 

[geoffalter11]

@robo24 @Somatic - I also find that a good quality SS amp pairs very well with the Atrium. I enjoy tube amping a lot and find that, with the VO and VC, the synergy between tube amping and those fast drivers combines to create great value added; while the Atrium's already lush presentation and slower decay benefits from the tight control of a SS amp. It's a crude generalization with lots of possible exceptions (as it always ends up being amp specific), but I can see why you may have had these specific impressions with the amps in question.

I like reading these types of posts and the difference between what we all hear. I personally enjoy the Atrium most on my SET tube amp, but absolutely love the Atrium on both of my SS amps as well. Different experience listening on each. @goldwerger is exactly right, in my opinion. It really comes down to how you like the decay of the Atrium to be presented. Faster and more concise with SS, slower with a more rounded sound on tubes. Truthfully, I like it both ways. It isn’t a technical headphone. But, an emotional and musical headphone meant for easy listening. However you get there is good by me. The fact that it presents so differently depending on the chain speaks to the quality of its design.

 

[geoffalter11]

It was interesting at Can Jam SoCal because the Caldera/Envy pairing was the best to me of their many setups and the Envy took the Verite Open to another level, while I didn't find the Atrium any better on it than my setup at home with the Pendant or Glenn OTL.

This is very interesting indeed. Another interesting thing I found from reading all the comments from Canjam was how many people seemed to prefer the Classic to the Atrium. It seems that headphone presents better in short spurts.

Your system at home is quite amazing, so I am not surprised that it didn't sound any better. Hard to beat what you already own...

 

[robo24]

This is very interesting indeed. Another interesting thing I found from reading all the comments from Canjam was how many people seemed to prefer the Classic to the Atrium. It seems that headphone presents better in short spurts.

Your system at home is quite amazing, so I am not surprised that it didn't sound any better. Hard to beat what you already own...

I mean it was still fantastic on the Envy, there just wasn't such an obvious difference as with the Caldera and VO, but I don't take that to mean it doesn't scale well but more that every headphone is going to have it's ideal match with the millions of possibilities of the rest of the chain. Then throw in tube rolls, and it becomes difficult to draw any firm conclusions given that between my 2 tube amps, sometimes I'll prefer the Atrium on the Pendant and other times on the Glenn sometimes based on only changing a single tube on either amp.

Perhaps the Classic is somehow more impressive on a short listen. I know with the Atrium it certainly took me more time to really "get" it than some other headphones which hit me over the head with how different they are than what I'm used to hearing (1266 TC, Raal). Having only been to one show, that makes me realize that perhaps some other of the many headphones I tried out could actually be ones I'd like with a longer listen as I did with the Atrium. The Caldera was one of those hit me over the head ones, having spent much more time with it since that first few CanJam auditions, I realize I also didn't truly get what it was capable of despite the amazing first impression. Always bums me out when I read of people moving on from a new ZMF in a few days and deciding it's not for them because I wouldn't have some of my favorite headphones if I'd made that same decision after a few days. The VO was my favorite for years until the Caldera, but even it took a couple months of owning it to really fall in love. The Atrium, though, only took me 2 days.

 

[goldwerger]

The fact that it presents so differently depending on the chain speaks to the quality of its design.

Indeed

 

[cdanguyen08]

I completely agree. My main chain for Atrium is Holo May KTE + Ferrum Orr/Hypsos.

Yall make me wanna sell my gsx mini for the orr/hypsos to pair with my Atrium and Caldera

 

[yolosauce]

Yall make me wanna sell my gsx mini for the orr/hypsos to pair with my Atrium and Caldera

That's what I did. The Atrium pairs well with the Mini but the Caldera sounds much better with the Oor. The bass hits harder and it sounds more dynamic. The Caldera sounded sterile and emotionless on the Mini compared to the Oor.

 

[cdanguyen08]

That's what I did. The Atrium pairs well with the Mini but the Caldera sounds much better with the Oor. The bass hits harder and it sounds more dynamic. The Caldera sounded sterile and emotionless on the Mini compared to the Oor.

How did the oor sound with the Atrium?

 

[yolosauce]

How did the oor sound with the Atrium?

The Oor gives the Atrium a slightly more forward/aggressive sound compared to the Mini. The Mini has a wider soundstage and a more relaxed presentation. I do prefer the Mini/Atrium combo but the benefits the Oor added to the Caldera was worth the trade-off.