ZMF Stabilized Release - Friday 9.3.21 at 6PM CST

[PointyFox]

Hmm... I won't need to click fast if I become a distributor and sell myself one...

 

[DAPpower]

I'm sorry but am I missing something?
What are the stabilized versions?
Is it the wood?

 

[RedSleepZZ]

I'm sorry but am I missing something?
What are the stabilized versions?
Is it the wood?

Stabilized wood is a magical entity. The wood we used for this special run started its life as a maple tree that unfortunately acquired an infection. After infected - trees form “tumorous” growths called burls in order to protect the rest of the tree when this happens, which causes the grains to intertwine, in effect closing this area of the tree to the greater circulatory system. This creates abnormally beautiful wood, but also wood that has figuring, voids, and gaps. These burls can be seen to the naked eye, and cut off the tree while allowing the rest of the tree to grow healthily. Once harvested though, all these voids can make the wood hard to use without stabilization.

Fortunately for us, it can then be stabilized and made into beautiful headphones!

Before the wood is machined into a headphone, the wood is cut to precise sized blocks and carefully dried to near zero percent humidity. A liquid resin dye is then introduced in a pressurized chamber. The resin, not only beautifies the wood, but solidifies any of those gaps that would otherwise crumble when being machined. All this work to procure maple burl and stabilize the wood is a time consuming process, as it takes 6+ months from harvest to headphone, but we think the results show that’s it’s well worth the time, cost and effort!

 

[Alcophone]

Answering the question below - these come out as a denser wood than natural maple, somewhere around a Purple Heart or Bocote, they are quite dense and a little bit heavier. So the transients and bass impact is a little firmer and faster.

Based on what I can find online and on your website, this translates to more than 1500 (maple), instead somewhere between 2010 (bocote) and 2520 (purple heart) on the Janka scale.

The first time I listened to ZMF headphones was at the California Audio Show, and I didn't quite like how echo-y they sounded. Based on what you are saying, I suspect the denser the wood, the better for me.

I've listened to the Vérité Closed at RMAF 2019 and quite liked them, though. Was that Sapele (1800)?



Is another Ironwood (3260) run in the cards at some point? As much as I'm a sucker for sexy wood*, sound still comes first, so I'm wondering whether I should wait for something even denser than these stabilized ones. Hard to judge without being able to compare them.

* Obligatory no homo

 

[Undun]

Based on what I can find online and on your website, this translates to more than 1500 (maple), instead somewhere between 2010 (bocote) and 2520 (purple heart) on the Janka scale.

The first time I listened to ZMF headphones was at the California Audio Show, and I didn't quite like how echo-y they sounded. Based on what you are saying, I suspect the denser the wood, the better for me.

I've listened to the Vérité Closed at RMAF 2019 and quite liked them, though. Was that Sapele (1800)?



Is another Ironwood (3260) run in the cards at some point? As much as I'm a sucker for sexy wood*, sound still comes first, so I'm wondering whether I should wait for something even denser than these stabilized ones. Hard to judge without being able to compare them.

* Obligatory no homo

On the ZMF website it also says: "Softer woods have longer decay and natural resonance. Harder woods provide more speed and impact. Preference is subjective and personal, we suggest choosing based on aesthetic desires."

I'm not sure you'd be able to tell a significant difference between a Purple Heart and Ironwood since they are both on the denser side of things, at which point you might as well pick the one that looks better.

 

[zach915m]

Based on what I can find online and on your website, this translates to more than 1500 (maple), instead somewhere between 2010 (bocote) and 2520 (purple heart) on the Janka scale.

The first time I listened to ZMF headphones was at the California Audio Show, and I didn't quite like how echo-y they sounded. Based on what you are saying, I suspect the denser the wood, the better for me.

I've listened to the Vérité Closed at RMAF 2019 and quite liked them, though. Was that Sapele (1800)?



Is another Ironwood (3260) run in the cards at some point? As much as I'm a sucker for sexy wood*, sound still comes first, so I'm wondering whether I should wait for something even denser than these stabilized ones. Hard to judge without being able to compare them.

* Obligatory no homo

So yeah - if you didn't like the softer wood decay, than you would definitely like the harder woods. What you liked at RMAF was probably Desert Ironwood? As that was our first LTD run. And yes we do plan on having a small run of those again at some point - I'm hoping for soon. Desert Ironwood is an amazing wood! Definitely check out ZMF November to see what we have available then.

The stabilized maple isn't as hard as Ironwood, but it does get rid of much of the romantic decay in the lighter woods. The current stock wood Sapele is actually pretty hard, and harder than the MonkeyPod that was originally the stock wood.

 

[Alcophone]

So yeah - if you didn't like the softer wood decay, than you would definitely like the harder woods. What you liked at RMAF was probably Desert Ironwood? As that was our first LTD run. And yes we do plan on having a small run of those again at some point - I'm hoping for soon. Desert Ironwood is an amazing wood! Definitely check out ZMF November to see what we have available then.

Excellent, I appreciate the quick and honest response! I'll eagerly await ZMF November and my wallet is breathing a sigh of relief. For now.

@timeslip We can be friends now.

 

[Drue]

Stab VO when? Love you guys!!!

 

[bigbeans]

Stabilized Atticus is a dream of mine...perhaps will remain a pipe dream haha

 

[zach915m]

Stab VO when? Love you guys!!!

Soon I hope - working out some machining efficiency stuff so we can machine it well - but we hope for ZMF November but can't promise it yet.

 

[Drue]

Soon I hope - working out some machining efficiency stuff so we can machine it well - but we hope for ZMF November but can't promise it yet.

Very exciting, I've owned them all and can't wait to see what you guys do in the future!

 

[Odin412]

Beautiful! The Museum of Modern Art should purchase one of these and make it part of their permanent exhibit.

 

[PointyFox]

Beautiful! The Museum of Modern Art should purchase one of these and make it part of their permanent exhibit.

Do an image search for stabilized wood.

 

[herdingunicorns]

Morgana has to be named after league of legends right?

 

[AxelCloris]

Morgana has to be named after league of legends right?

My guess is Morgana is a reference to Morgan le Fay from the legends of Arthur. There are a couple other Arthurian-related names in the list like Gawain and Tolkien.