[ThePianoMan]

   
I'm looking at the black woods
 
And sorry for barraging you with many questions but now that you mention it what's the sound differences between the pads? Really digging the omni lol.

 
So, the cowhide pads I tried used a slightly stiffer foam than the lambskins. Zach said he'd be changing it to a higher-compression (softer I think) memory foam similar to the lambskins when he had the full production pads. You'll have to ask him for any more details than that. (Sorry if I bungled all that info!)
 
As for the differences, I found the lambskins were softer, and molded to my ears more. They seemed to have a little softer impact, and were a very slightly closer, more immediate sound. Perhaps they warmed things up a tad. Certainly the bass felt a little weightier due to the lowered distance from my ears. The cowhides felt a little more precise, wider soundstage, perhaps a slightly sharper, faster sound. Both were excellent. I slightly preferred the Lambskins due to their softness, and the fact that I had a little trouble getting both cowhides to seal fully. This was due to a slight pad mismatch that Zach said had been corrected with the production pads, so I'm afraid my cowhide pad impressions should be taken with more than a few grains of salt. Both were very comfy and sounded great - again, not a huge difference! Hope that helps

 

[Tasoeur]

I'm so hyped by the Omni but I don't have the money for it 

 Students problems 

 

[ThePianoMan]

^ haha, someone in the Chicago thread mentioned being reasonable with audio. I told them I wasn't reasonable... just broke!

 

[Tasoeur]

I wrote this just after finishing reading your (awesome) review !  
 
The part on acoustic instruments really got me interested 

 

[ThePianoMan]

Glad you enjoyed it. Zach listens to a lot of acoustic music - he plays (and used to build!) guitars himself, and he seems to really know how to get that natural sound on acoustic instruments.

 

[Stillhart]

Glad you enjoyed it. Zach listens to a lot of acoustic music - he plays (and used to build!) guitars himself, and he seems to really know how to get that natural sound on acoustic instruments.

 
It also helps that he uses R2R DAC's when tuning them.  If you really care about the most natural presentation of acoustic instruments, I highly recommend checking them out.  Something like a vintage Theta, Adcom, Monarchy, etc.  Or a more modern Schiit (Yggdrasil), Audio-GD (DAC-19, Master-11, Master-7), MDHT (Havana, Pagoda, Stockholm, etc), etc.
 
EDIT - The tradeoff with R2R BTW, is usually a loss in perceived detail and airiness in the highs.

 

[Cotnijoe]

I've put in a preorder for the Omni! 
 
I'm curious to know though. Generally how heavy are the wooden headphones from ZMF?

 

[zach915m]

  I've put in a preorder for the Omni! 
 
I'm curious to know though. Generally how heavy are the wooden headphones from ZMF?

Both Cherry and Walnut Omni's are 450-500 g in weight.  There is some variance but all my sets weigh in that range.  You can add 60-100 g for Blackwood.

 

[cs098]

 
Both Cherry and Walnut Omni's are 450-500 g in weight.  There is some variance but all my sets weigh in that range.  You can add 60-100 g for Blackwood.

Damn the blackwoods is in lcd 2 territory in terms of weight. The lcd 2 while comfortable in the sense that the ear pads and the headband didn't hurt my head, it was simply too heavy for me to consider. I may still consider the walnut, but the blackwoods is probably out for me.

 

[Stillhart]

  Damn the blackwoods is in lcd 2 territory in terms of weight. The lcd 2 while comfortable in the sense that the ear pads and the headband didn't hurt my head, it was simply too heavy for me to consider. I may still consider the walnut, but the blackwoods is probably out for me.

 
I find the Blackwoods to wear the weight better than the LCD-2.  The LCD-2 seemed heavy because of how the band was designed and how far out the weight is from the head.  The Blackwoods don't seem as heavy as the LCD-2 and I would never have thought that they were close to weight.  
 
I suspect that how well the headphones fit your head will also affect this.

 

[zach915m]

   
I find the Blackwoods to wear the weight better than the LCD-2.  The LCD-2 seemed heavy because of how the band was designed and how far out the weight is from the head.  The Blackwoods don't seem as heavy as the LCD-2 and I would never have thought that they were close to weight.  
 
I suspect that how well the headphones fit your head will also affect this.

The Omni cups are about 10-15g more each per cup in weight than the Vibro/Blackwood cups.

 

[Claritas]

The Omni cups are about 10-15g more each per cup in weight than the Vibro/Blackwood cups.

But the weight is distributed better, so it feels noticeably lighter to me. :duggfloat:

 

[fccn75]

Zach915m,
 
Your Omni is really tempting me to pre-order especially reading all these posts so far.  Can you or anyone give me a general idea of how it would compare to the LCD2.2 pre-fazor?  I'm surmising that the Omni has slightly more lushness in the vocal region with a hint more sub-bass but much more air in the upper range giving it more presence in soundstage sense.  Getting warm?  Just based on the Omni's FR.
 
How's the ear pad opening versus the LCD?  Is there about the same amount of space for the ears without touching the driver or any of the surroundings for an average ear size?
 
I am hoping that the Omni will accomplish this set of criteria for me especially with vocals and accoustic guitar music.

 

[zach915m]

  Zach915m,
 
Your Omni is really tempting me to pre-order especially reading all these posts so far.  Can you or anyone give me a general idea of how it would compare to the LCD2.2 pre-fazor?  I'm surmising that the Omni has slightly more lushness in the vocal region with a hint more sub-bass but much more air in the upper range giving it more presence in soundstage sense.  Getting warm?  Just based on the Omni's FR.
 
How's the ear pad opening versus the LCD?  Is there about the same amount of space for the ears without touching the driver or any of the surroundings for an average ear size?
 
I am hoping that the Omni will accomplish this set of criteria for me especially with vocals and accoustic guitar music.

You know, I really wish I owned more headphones besides my own, I have an HE-500 as my "other" phone besides the ZMF's, but even so I don't feel comfortable comparing my gear to another manufacturers.  I tune my stuff to how I like it, and thankfully, many other people like the way it sounds too!  The last pre-fazor I heard was at Steve Deckert's place (Decware) out of the Taboo and it sounded freaking awesome.  But besides that, I don't have too much to say!
 
Earpads - I actually do have an Audeze earpad here:
 
Audeze Earpad:  70mm high - 45 mm wide
 
ZMF Earpad:  68MM high - 50mm wide
 
Your ears won;t touch the driver I don't believe.  In the past the couple times that has happened I usually recommend 3/8 rope under the pad.
 
As someone said earlier, I probably test my gear on WAY too much acoustic music as I'm a little obsessed with it.  I used to play banjo and guitar every day before building headphone became my full time gig.  That being said, best someone else weigh in I guess concerning specifics!

 

[warrenpchi]

  I'm surmising that the Omni has slightly more lushness in the vocal region with a hint more sub-bass but much more air in the upper range giving it more presence in soundstage sense.  Getting warm?  Just based on the Omni's FR.

 
I would concur with that.