ZMF Pendant by Ampsandsound; impressions, tube-rolling, and general discussions

[hikaru12]

Please excuse me if this question has already been asked:
Is it still worth buying a Pedant OG these days, or would it be better to go for the SE?
Headphones used: LCD4 & HE1000se.

Thanks in advance

The LCD-4 is a great pairing with either but the SE is quieter and I think will provide more benefit as you'll get more micro detail from it for sure. SE could definitely benefit from either as it needs a warmer pairing IME. If the SE prices jump too high because of the discontinued annoucement I think there are excellent SS pairings that would be just as good if not better for those particular headphones at this price range ($2.5-$3k).

By the way if you guys haven't tried - planars do sound amazing with the Pendant especially weird ones like the LCD-4 that has a high impedance. Don't feel like you should be limited to just Zach's creations [as much we love him ]

 

[blackdragon87]

We will no longer be selling the Pendant. Any further info I will let ampsandsound fill you guys in!

We will have the Cayin 300b MK II amps in stock soon (should be on the site next week, zmf owners email for price) and are working on a special collaboration with Decware on an OTL made just for ZMF as well as a solid state amp with JDS Labs that will have

Cool news. I'm interested in the solid state amp with jds labs

 

[fuhransahis]

The new Decware amp will have much more going on inside the chassis than most OTL's, I've listened at length to the final version and it was tuned in harmony with the creation of the Atrium, as Steve had an early Atrium for over 6 months while working on the amp. I really believe this will be the production OTL to have for dynamic ZMFs as it was designed just for us. Will do a full video and will probably give me an excuse to drive to Decware and shoot some video as well. We love the Decware team.

So anyways - definitely don't judge the amp based on what you've heard from other amps that use 6922 tubes. And yeah you can definitely adapt to tons of other tubes as desired.

That's really awesome about the Decware amp - do you happen to have estimated/ballpark pricing?

 

[Wes S]

That's really awesome about the Decware amp - do you happen to have estimated/ballpark pricing?

I emailed Zach the second I found out about this amp with the same question (as I will be buying one for sure), and he told me he will be releasing a video on the ZMF YouTube channel with all the information we will want about the OTL when it's ready. So I imagine all our questions will be answered soon, and I am pumped and can't wait to hear about the details.

 

[fuhransahis]

I emailed Zach the second I found out about this amp with the same question (as I will be buying one for sure), and he told me he will be releasing a video on the ZMF YouTube channel with all the information we will want about the OTL when it's ready. So I imagine all our questions will be answered soon, and I am pumped and can't wait to hear about the details.

Thanks for the notice! Looking forward to when more details come out

Meanwhile...

(Be patient, it'll be out before you know it. Should be soon. But... HOW soon? Like a year? Or like, 2 months? And are we talking like... $3k? Maybe $2k? Maybe less?? Will it have XLR? I want it now though, I wanna SEE IT IT'LL PROBABLY LOOK AWESOME... Will it ha...)

 

[Wes S]

Thanks for the notice! Looking forward to when more details come out

Meanwhile...


(Be patient, it'll be out before you know it. Should be soon. But... HOW soon? Like a year? Or like, 2 months? And are we talking like... $3k? Maybe $2k? Maybe less?? Will it have XLR? I want it now though, I wanna SEE IT IT'LL PROBABLY LOOK AWESOME... Will it ha...)

My thoughts exactly.

 

[4LoveOfSound]

While waiting for the video update, we’ll just have to suffer and listen to our Pendants…. That’s suffering I’m willing to endure

My wallet can’t handle all the new products on the horizon! I haven’t even started recovering from the Atrium purchase yet. So worth the money though. My Auteur has only been taken of it’s stand once since the Atrium arrived. I go back and forth between the VC and Atrium.

 

[Wes S]

While waiting for the video update, we’ll just have to suffer and listen to our Pendants…. That’s suffering I’m willing to endure

My wallet can’t handle all the new products on the horizon! I haven’t even started recovering from the Atrium purchase yet. So worth the money though. My Auteur has only been taken of it’s stand once since the Atrium arrived. I go back and forth between the VC and Atrium.

I am suffering with you and wouldn't have it any other way. The sound and site of the Pendant is just heavenly!

The Pendant SE will always be my "numero uno", and have a special place in my heart and isn't going anywhere even when I get the OTL.

 

[jonathan c]

I am suffering with you and wouldn't have it any other way. The sound and site of the Pendant is just heavenly!



The Pendant SE will always be my "numero uno", and have a special place in my heart and isn't going anywhere even when I get the OTL.

Good thinking ! Determination is everything !

 

[jonathan c]

While waiting for the video update, we’ll just have to suffer and listen to our Pendants…. That’s suffering I’m willing to endure

My wallet can’t handle all the new products on the horizon! I haven’t even started recovering from the Atrium purchase yet. So worth the money though. My Auteur has only been taken of it’s stand once since the Atrium arrived. I go back and forth between the VC and Atrium.

I do go back ‘n forth between Atrium and Auteur: each speaks so musically with its own eloquence .

 

[gonintendo]

We will no longer be selling the Pendant. Any further info I will let ampsandsound fill you guys in!

We will have the Cayin 300b MK II amps in stock soon (should be on the site next week, zmf owners email for price) and are working on a special collaboration with Decware on an OTL made just for ZMF as well as a solid state amp with JDS Labs that will have selectable impedances.

Very cool to see new amp collabs on the horizon! Would you be willing to share the motivation behind pulling the pendant? It seems like it was pretty well loved

 

[zach915m]

Very cool to see new amp collabs on the horizon! Would you be willing to share the motivation behind pulling the pendant? It seems like it was pretty well loved

It's a great amp! In a perfect world we would have kept it in the ZMF family forever, but it wasn't up to me. I can tell you there's nothing wrong with it and the logistics are beyond the scope of anything to do with the amp itself.

Also - I have some awesome tubes left over - and pendant chassis that I will likely sell at an extreme discount. If anyone is interested in a different wood chassis send me an email at zach@zmfheadhones.com, I can also test and rangle up some tubes for those interested.

 

[mainguy]

Had the pleasure of hearing the Pendant recently with my P9s and Stellia.
I really loved it with the P9, such a technically brilliant yet seductive sound. I think it's going to be my high end amp to aim for, possibly taking the place of the TT2. I wish I had more time with it, only 30mins or so.

Convince me audio has done a few reviews of ZMF gear and I recently saw his Pendant review dropped. Do you guys tend to agree with the sound section? Jokes aside, he seemed pretty enamoured. I haven't tried lots of high end amps so dont have many points of comparison other than Chord stuff.

 

[Wes S]

Had the pleasure of hearing the Pendant recently with my P9s and Stellia.
I really loved it with the P9, such a technically brilliant yet seductive sound. I think it's going to be my high end amp to aim for, possibly taking the place of the TT2. I wish I had more time with it, only 30mins or so.

Convince me audio has done a few reviews of ZMF gear and I recently saw his Pendant review dropped. Do you guys tend to agree with the sound section? Jokes aside, he seemed pretty enamoured. I haven't tried lots of high end amps so dont have many points of comparison other than Chord stuff.

I agree with what he said about the sound, and think that guy did a killer job describing the experience of the Pendant. I especially like that he realized tube rolling can definitely change up the sound quite a bit.

 

[ampsandsound]

Ill be able to share details soon. The sound of the Leeloo/pendant will live on.
Really pleased how much the sound has been enjoyed.