I've had the BO for awhile now, new toy syndrome is definitely no longer an issue. I've run it up against all my other ZMFs on many different setups. I thought I'd leave some late impressions now that I know it well and how it sits in my lineup. Something to sum up the BO for me. Big thanks to Zach for letting me demo it, I appreciate it immensely.
I'll start with this, the BO is pure fun to listen to. I listen for musicality, and the BO has it in spades. It has big bass, lovely mids, and extended treble that's fatigue free. Dynamics are excellent. Transients hit hard, with moderate decay and weight. It's energetic but not fatiguing. It's very much a Goldilocks tuning IMO. I also find it does all genres well. I personally love it with metal, rock, and blues. Anything guitar based really resonates. I won't go into detail on the frequency response, I've done that in past posts. It just works, and works well.
So ok, I like it. How about system notes. Anything really work well or not so well? Well anyone who knows me knows I don't like solid state. And that carries over to the BO. My meager solid state amps (Jotunheim 2 and Asgard 3) were a bit too aggressive for my tastes, and tonally too lean. I'm a tube man, and that's where my heart is at. The BO takes to tubes incredibly well. I've run it on all my tube amps, and there really isn't one in the lineup that wasn't at least good, if not great. A few standouts: Stratus, Jinx, Aegis, Tuba. Those amps really drive the BO well and bring out the musicality of the drivers. I won't bother with details, those amps all made the BO sound extremely fun and engaging, especially the Stratus. The under the radar hit was the Hagerman Tuba. I wish he still made them, this is such an underrated amplifier. Those other amps did sound better, but the Tuba was so close in the fun department at such a discount, it has to be told. If you ever see one on the used market just buy it, seriously. Don't hesitate, don't haggle over price, just buy and enjoy. Ok enough about the Tuba, back to the BO.
Where does the BO rank in my lineup? Oh that's tough. I'm not sure I'm fully ready to answer that yet, my tastes have shifted over the last year and hence my lineup rankings in general have flipped like crazy. But I'll give it a try with the caveat that this is not my final ranking, just where I sit right now amidst changing sonic priorities. I still put musicality above all, but I'm starting to gravitate towards the less dark ZMFs. Ok onto the rankings...
First off let me say which sets the BO sits ahead of, this is the easier task: I grab my BO over my Atticus, VC, and CC. Like every time I compare those to the BO I just like the BO more and don't want to bother analyzing or comparing. I just want to listen to the BO and enjoy. I won't go into details as to why other than from a macro standpoint the BO grabs my attention better and doesn't let go. When swapping to any of the others there's a disappointment factor that's tangible. Not that I'm disappointed in any of them as whole, just that I'd rather listen to the BO.
Ok that still leaves both Atriums, the BC, Auteur Classic, and Eikonic. This is where things get hard, really hard. Any of these headphones can grab my attention and make me rank them 1st. These are my core headphones, the ones I could live with on a daily basis. The others above I do love for various things, but they would not be my only ZMF. Any of these here could be my one and only if I were forced to consolidate. So let me take a stab at where the BO sits. Please take with a huge grain of salt that at any point of any day this ranking will change as I do love them all. But as of today...
Well lets start with the Bokeh throwdown, BC vs BO. Though I adore the BC, I do hear the BO as the more engaging set. It has about as much bass punch as the BC, but has more present and full mids, and Goldilocks treble. The treble is very present and forward, but not fatiguing. The BC's treble is a bit more subdued than the BO. That isn't a bad thing, but with treble this good I like more of it. Also I just think the BO's mids are more nuanced and expressive. They have more air and room to breathe being open. So the BO puts the BC in the rearview mirror I'm afraid. Doesn't mean I'm selling the BC, hel no. Still love it.
Ok Atriums, and i'll address both the AO and AC as one, as my thoughts on them vs the BO go the same way. This is a tough one, they're different sounding. Being biocellulose drivers, they have a wetter, thicker, more euphonic and warm tuning. At times I like that over the drier and brighter BO. But then the BO's even tunning at times trumps the Atriums for general listening. From a generalist perspective it's pretty much a tie. For a tie breaker lets move to my preferred genre...METAL! The genre with the worst recording quality. The genre that is as low fi as it gets in a hi fi world. I swear to be a metal band you are required to record your early albums in a tin box with a cassette recorder. Enough stalling. I'll give the slight edge to the Atriums. Why? The brightness of the BO can at times work against it when listening to the worst of metal recordings. Those tin box recordings that feature excessive gain and sibilance like no other. The BO can handle them ok but the Atriums are smoother and darker, making them just that much easier to listen to. If the metal recordings are of higher quality then I'd put the BO over the Atriums by a hair for the treble presence. Give me some Van Halen on the BO and I've got goosebumps. But as a whole I'd give the Atriums just a very slight edge overall.
That leaves the Auteur Classic (ATC). This headphone has dominated my attention since I got it at CanJam this summer. I had the Auteur in the past but back then my tastes ran as dark as it could get. The Atticus was my reigning champ, and I would have made it darker if possible. I sold it as I just didn't listen to it much. Now I'm liking more balance in my frequency response. And balance is what the ATC is all about. It's the most neutral of the ZMF lineup but far from thin or bright or lean. Actually it has a wonderful inherent warmth to it to go with such a balanced tuning. The BO in comparison has a slight V shape vs the ATC. The bass and treble are both more present on the BO, with the mids not being as forward as the ATC. The ATC mids are my favorite mids in all the ZMF lineup, period. Plus the ATC has biocellulose drivers, like the Atriums. It has that wonderful wetness I crave. When I compare the ATC and BO there's two factors at play that really alter my rankings of them. If the music calls for big bass to drive the beat, I tend to gravitate towards the BO. It's bass levels are just bigger and more engaging most of the time to me. But where the ATC counters is with specifically guitars and vocals, both of which resides mostly in the mids. And I did say the mids of the ATC are my personal fav, didn't I? So you can see where this is going, the ATC grabs my attention more for a lot of metal and singer/songwriter stuff. I give the slight advantage to the ATC here, by a hair.
A good illustration was one evening while comparing the BO and ATC, I hit a few of my favorite metal test tracks from Testament. They have decent overall recording quality with Chuck Billy having a wonderful thick and gruff voice. He used to be a screamer but in the more modern albums goes with traditional vocals. And the ATC just grabbed me. The bass hit hard enough that I wasn't missing the BO, and Chuck sounded so menacing and powerful, i was enthralled. Then came the solos. The ATC has wonderful treble extension to go with those perfect mids, and I was hooked listening. I forced myself to move to the BO a few times, but it wasn't as smooth and engaging as the ATC. I stopped comparing them and spent 3 hours going through Testament's album catalog. Despite the ATC being less bassy and leaner overall, my enjoyment was greater with the overall performance vs the BO.
So there you have it, the BO sits near the top of my lineup, within striking distance of #1. Ask me tomorrow, after I spend the day today with the BO and Jinx amp, and I might put it over the top. That's how close it is. It's a wonderful headphone with IMO the next generation of tuning from ZMF. There's a balance to the tuning that's remarkable. I give it my biggest compliment by purchasing it. If Zach will sell me the demo unit I'll keep it. If I have to return it, I'll be buying one shortly.
