[Monsterzero]

I remember car audio "bass shakers" from back in the day. Powered by an amp just shook when bass was applied, guessing same type of situation. Will google them thx for the tip. And ya, thats what she said lmao

Yup, same principle

 

[ken6217]

If you're missing the tactile bass sensation of speakers you may want to investigate installing some Butt Kickers into your listening chair.

I use those for my home theater. I couldn't imagine using that with headphones as I wouldn't think it would integrates seamlessly. I have 3 2500W subs and so it works well with those.

 

[Monsterzero]

I use those for my home theater. I couldn't imagine using that with headphones as I wouldn't think it would integrates seamlessly. I have 3 2500W subs and so it works well with those.

yeah. I can run my sub, which is less than 2' from my listening chair, at the same time as my headphones. However I opt not to, but if i was really missing the bass sensation it works well enough.

There is also a product out there that does the same thing, but instead of installing it in a chair, you wear it on your body. I forget what its called though.

 

[ken6217]

yeah. I can run my sub, which is less than 2' from my listening chair, at the same time as my headphones. However I opt not to, but if i was really missing the bass sensation it works well enough.

There is also a product out there that does the same thing, but instead of installing it in a chair, you wear it on your body. I forget what its called though.

I've seen them in Iraq and Afghanistan. Great bass. Very explosive feeling.

 

[jgwtriode]

I dont really find I miss the bass that much, The VC's do a very good job down to 40 and there is a sense of Sub Bass with well matched amplification and solidly anchoring your components. I have an extra 20 lbs placed and on the case of my computer
and of course specific isolation feet sitting on a 25 pound maple block that is ultimately anchored through 3 lb apiece maple shade tri point brass feet. My DAC is anchored to the floor by even more weight on stand. Extreme yes but it improves the bass what there is of it below 40HZ. I can even feel a bit more impact on a 20 HZ test tone run through my system. But that's not entirely the point. The quality of Bass on the VC is much better than even the best speakers I previously owned. More involving more musical, only a hint less absolute dynamics. Better microdynamics. Ironically with my setup i don't really feel
a sense of losing staging. It might comparing be 90percent to 100 percent. But it like going from 65" qled tv at 4K to a 60" neo qled if you get my drift. Seen that on demo's of the latest Samsung TV's. That's comparing the Talon Khorus I used to own to my Leopardwood VC's and it's about to improve with a better rebuilt Gustard DAC. Replacing my previous one and that gorgeous OTL Beauty which LOrdgwyn already posted on this page. It will match the Ferrari sitting on top of my computer. Holy Frickin insane! So all of what I am describing is about to Jump through a wormhole to another plane of existence!

Happy listening

jgwtriode

 

[omega1990]

Alright so I finally got around to comparing my vc blackwood and vc leopardwood.

Before I begin, I wanted to explain something I feel is important. When I originally wanted to collect zmf headphones I had very different woods in mind compared to getting them all in the same wood. Here is a quick list:

What I originally wanted
Aeolus Blackwood obtained
Atticus African Padauk obtained
Auteur Cocobolo (still thinking about it)
Eikon Camphor Burl (still thinking about it)
Verite Pheasantwood obtained
Verite Closed Leopardwood obtained

While I feel like that's an awesome group of zmf's, what I did not expect to do was buy every zmf in African Blackwood. What I noticed throughout my audiophile journey is that no matter how much money I spent on headphones and gear was that the Blackwood Aeolus always won over my attention as my ideal preferred sound and presentation. Even over high end stax and my lcd 4 I obtained late last year around the time of getting my stax 009S. Don't get me wrong. I'm keeping the 009S and Lcd4 as they are both very impressive and enjoyable for different reasons, but the aeolus still won due to my personal preferences. This made me curious to know, that if buying more expensive headphones couldn't beat my aeolus-not in the technical department mind you, but in overall enjoyment-was it really the wood?

So starting around November 2021, I started putting money down on blackwood zmfs and before the year was over I had placed an order on the blackwood in vo and vc. Also bought the auteur blackwood around the same time. While waiting for the vo and vc to be built I was listening to the auteur in blackwood and began to realize that it might actually have something to do with the wood. That black background with a very warm but sweet and punchy holographic touch rung similar feelings I have with my aeolus. So I started looking for the other blackwood zmf's and after I posted my comparison of the vo pheasantwood to vo blackwood, someone pm'd me and sold me their Atticus in blackwood (thanks again for selling me your Atticus if your reading this). I also recently put up an add for the eikon in blackwood and even though I do not have one yet, I am currently in talks with someone who wants to sell me one (hopefully we can work out a deal, but I'm not going to assume things will work out).

Before I begin I also want to give you all a heads up just like when I was comparing my vo's is that no matter what I will say about them, they are both the same headphone overall. Don't think one vc in a different wood equals a different headphone. I also feel this is a very important comparison because while the pheasantwood and blackwood vo's are on different ends of the hardness scale, the leopardwood is alot closer to blackwood in hardness. Anyway on to the comparison.

To start with the leopardwood. I had originally wanted these over any other vc (desert ironwood came a close second to making me pull the trigger). However, when zmf was originally selling the leopardwood I couldn't afford them at the time and initially missed out on it. I ended up buying a salire in leopardwood (as seen in the photos) as a consolation. When I gathered the funds to buy any vc I was wondering what limited zmf's were in the works and I shot a message to zmf expressing how much I strongly liked the leopardwood vc but was willing to accept that zach might not be able to make one for me and asked about what other woods the vc would be sold in. While Zach mentioned the olive wood vc was next, he also mentioned he had enough wood left over after removing the leopardwood vc from the site that he could actually make one for me. I bought it immediately.

For looks, the leopardwood wood is a stunner to me. When shining light on the cups it has a holographic look to them. The wood is also very light despite being significantly harder than the non blackwood zmfs I own (I think its due to the added weight of certain grills on the open backs that makes those feel heavier than the closed zmf's). The pads I originally got them with were auteur hybrid and universe lambskin. I ended up preferring the universe lambskin due to getting more bass and greater clarity to the sound. The auteur hybrids sounded wide but a little muddy. I believe it was because the suede portion of the pads added euphonics to the sound. Even though I did not prefer the auteur hybrid overall, one thing stood out to me. The vocals were incredible. Listening to the vocalist in musical pieces like wagner's wesendonck lieder wwv 91-3 im treibhaus was rendered in such a way that I was sort of left with my jaw dropping a bit. It had enough reverb and emotional weight that I thought it was downright perfect if it wasn't for the rest of the instruments sounding a bit muddled up together. So I stuck to the universe pads and while vocals where not quite the same, at least the presentation gained more clarity and bass in general.

For the blackwood, of course it looks fantastic and being a closed back using blackwood, you can see a clear reflection of yourself on the cups. You can't really feel the wood grain on either of them but they both look fantastic. The blackwood is noticeably heavier than leopardwood but not really heavy overall, the blackwood is closer in weight to the open back zmf's using brass or steel grills. The new crescent headband feels great (even though I was already happy with the previous headband). Both my vc's have brass rods.

For sound the blackwood vc's carried over what I like about the blackwood vo's but in a more concrete fashion. The stock pads that came already on them was the Auteur in lambskin and a startling surprise happened. I heard the amazing vocals that I remembered from the auteur hybrid, but with none of the presentation sounding muddy. It could now be heard with startling clarity. I played all sorts of classical pieces and songs from musicals and was amazed with the sense of space these pads gave. With the black background of the blackwood it was so holographic and the sense of depth is unreal for a closed back. I guess you could say the vc in general has the most to boast about in the technical department since it sounds like a super wide open back, while remaining closed.

While the soundstage of the universe pads on the leopardwood gave up a bit of stage at least it was fun to listen to. However, the universe pads on the leopardwood had more subbass and very close sense of punch to the blackwood using auteur lambskin pads. Before switching ones pads with the other I put on the be2 lambskin on the blackwood and thought that since it sounded great on the blackwood vo, that it might be similar in the vc's case. It turns out, while I was ok with it, I remembered on the pads sonics page on zmf's website, be2 lambskin makes the vc fall on the brighter side of the scale, so the punch and subbass were lessened on those pads in this case. For comparison sake while the be2 pads also make my vo's tilt in a similar fashion, I feel it works in the vo's favor as it adds a wonderful strong punch to it.

Since be2 pads are not the direction I wanted to take my vc blackwood in I went ahead and swapped both my vc's stock pads and that resulted in them both becoming my preffered take on each of them. The universe lambskin on the blackwood adds all the subbass and punch I could want from them and the auteur lambskin on the leopardwood brought back those vocals again with no drawbacks and a great sense of space at the expense of a little bit of bass in general.

Oh and just for the record, the leopardwood vc's are nothing like the vo in pheasantwood. The leopardwood do not have the airiness of the pheasantwood and have a blacker background-closer to the blackwood but not exactly so.

Comparing both vc's more carefully it seems to be that the amounts of added air and reverb of the leopardwood allows instruments like cymbals to resonate with greater presence. In conclusion to differences the leopardwood sounds preferable with classical, jazz, as opposed to blackwood that sounds better with edm and hip-hop (basically genres with more bass). They both can punch pretty hard and have plenty of subbass presence when using the same pads. The blackwood vc however made better use of the universe lambskin pads vs the leopardwood using the same pads. Trying to pick out reasons for choosing one over the other is more challenging because they are more similar as opposed to the differences found between pheasantwood and blackwood vo's.

I do prefer the blackwood vc in this case by a hair because I prefer genres that typically have more bass but the leopardwood are special to me and they're not going anywhere.

As a last mention of bass and punch. If the vo blackwood reminded me of a boxer giving my head a massage the vc blackwood is like getting a similar massage from the open palms of a sumo wrestler. What I mean is that while both verite blackwoods present bass in a strong and musical manner, a boxer uses a closed fist which translates to a more precise harder hit, but a sumo wrestler using his meaty open palms also hits hard but is less focused so the bass seems bigger at the expense of a slight decrease in impact precision.

VO blackwood be2 lambskin: excellent subbass presence but more focused on a super hard punch that are dialed into more precisely identified hits.

VC blackwood universe lambskin: larger presented bass than the vo that is still excellent sounding, but a little less emphasis on punching a specific target because the bass is trying to encompass more space in the soundfield rather than aim all together in one specific location. A bass with a larger radius.

I also wanted to mention again if I had not previously explained on my vo comparison that the blackwoods should not necessarily be viewed as a legendary version of zmf headphones if you had not already realized this in my post. They may be legendary to me, but that's just it. Its impressive to me, whether its amazing to you is anyone's guess and you still get the same headphone when selecting a different wood. This comparison simply explains the nuanced differences and my preffered way to hear either of them. Both were compared using zmf ofc 4pin balance cables.

 

[jgwtriode]

Alright so I finally got around to comparing my vc blackwood and vc leopardwood.

Before I begin, I wanted to explain something I feel is important. When I originally wanted to collect zmf headphones I had very different woods in mind compared to getting them all in the same wood. Here is a quick list:

What I originally wanted
Aeolus Blackwood obtained
Atticus African Padauk obtained
Auteur Cocobolo (still thinking about it)
Eikon Camphor Burl (still thinking about it)
Verite Pheasantwood obtained
Verite Closed Leopardwood obtained

While I feel like that's an awesome group of zmf's, what I did not expect to do was buy every zmf in African Blackwood. What I noticed throughout my audiophile journey is that no matter how much money I spent on headphones and gear was that the Blackwood Aeolus always won over my attention as my ideal preferred sound and presentation. Even over high end stax and my lcd 4 I obtained late last year around the time of getting my stax 009S. Don't get me wrong. I'm keeping the 009S and Lcd4 as they are both very impressive and enjoyable for different reasons, but the aeolus still won due to my personal preferences. This made me curious to know, that if buying more expensive headphones couldn't beat my aeolus-not in the technical department mind you, but in overall enjoyment-was it really the wood?

So starting around November 2021, I started putting money down on blackwood zmfs and before the year was over I had placed an order on the blackwood in vo and vc. Also bought the auteur blackwood around the same time. While waiting for the vo and vc to be built I was listening to the auteur in blackwood and began to realize that it might actually have something to do with the wood. That black background with a very warm but sweet and punchy holographic touch rung similar feelings I have with my aeolus. So I started looking for the other blackwood zmf's and after I posted my comparison of the vo pheasantwood to vo blackwood, someone pm'd me and sold me their Atticus in blackwood (thanks again for selling me your Atticus if your reading this). I also recently put up an add for the eikon in blackwood and even though I do not have one yet, I am currently in talks with someone who wants to sell me one (hopefully we can work out a deal, but I'm not going to assume things will work out).

Before I begin I also want to give you all a heads up just like when I was comparing my vo's is that no matter what I will say about them, they are both the same headphone overall. Don't think one vc in a different wood equals a different headphone. I also feel this is a very important comparison because while the pheasantwood and blackwood vo's are on different ends of the hardness scale, the leopardwood is alot closer to blackwood in hardness. Anyway on to the comparison.

To start with the leopardwood. I had originally wanted these over any other vc (desert ironwood came a close second to making me pull the trigger). However, when zmf was originally selling the leopardwood I couldn't afford them at the time and initially missed out on it. I ended up buying a salire in leopardwood (as seen in the photos) as a consolation. When I gathered the funds to buy any vc I was wondering what limited zmf's were in the works and I shot a message to zmf expressing how much I strongly liked the leopardwood vc but was willing to accept that zach might not be able to make one for me and asked about what other woods the vc would be sold in. While Zach mentioned the olive wood vc was next, he also mentioned he had enough wood left over after removing the leopardwood vc from the site that he could actually make one for me. I bought it immediately.

For looks, the leopardwood wood is a stunner to me. When shining light on the cups it has a holographic look to them. The wood is also very light despite being significantly harder than the non blackwood zmfs I own (I think its due to the added weight of certain grills on the open backs that makes those feel heavier than the closed zmf's). The pads I originally got them with were auteur hybrid and universe lambskin. I ended up preferring the universe lambskin due to getting more bass and greater clarity to the sound. The auteur hybrids sounded wide but a little muddy. I believe it was because the suede portion of the pads added euphonics to the sound. Even though I did not prefer the auteur hybrid overall, one thing stood out to me. The vocals were incredible. Listening to the vocalist in musical pieces like wagner's wesendonck lieder wwv 91-3 im treibhaus was rendered in such a way that I was sort of left with my jaw dropping a bit. It had enough reverb and emotional weight that I thought it was downright perfect if it wasn't for the rest of the instruments sounding a bit muddled up together. So I stuck to the universe pads and while vocals where not quite the same, at least the presentation gained more clarity and bass in general.

For the blackwood, of course it looks fantastic and being a closed back using blackwood, you can see a clear reflection of yourself on the cups. You can't really feel the wood grain on either of them but they both look fantastic. The blackwood is noticeably heavier than leopardwood but not really heavy overall, the blackwood is closer in weight to the open back zmf's using brass or steel grills. The new crescent headband feels great (even though I was already happy with the previous headband). Both my vc's have brass rods.

For sound the blackwood vc's carried over what I like about the blackwood vo's but in a more concrete fashion. The stock pads that came already on them was the Auteur in lambskin and a startling surprise happened. I heard the amazing vocals that I remembered from the auteur hybrid, but with none of the presentation sounding muddy. It could now be heard with startling clarity. I played all sorts of classical pieces and songs from musicals and was amazed with the sense of space these pads gave. With the black background of the blackwood it was so holographic and the sense of depth is unreal for a closed back. I guess you could say the vc in general has the most to boast about in the technical department since it sounds like a super wide open back, while remaining closed.

While the soundstage of the universe pads on the leopardwood gave up a bit of stage at least it was fun to listen to. However, the universe pads on the leopardwood had more subbass and very close sense of punch to the blackwood using auteur lambskin pads. Before switching ones pads with the other I put on the be2 lambskin on the blackwood and thought that since it sounded great on the blackwood vo, that it might be similar in the vc's case. It turns out, while I was ok with it, I remembered on the pads sonics page on zmf's website, be2 lambskin makes the vc fall on the brighter side of the scale, so the punch and subbass were lessened on those pads in this case. For comparison sake while the be2 pads also make my vo's tilt in a similar fashion, I feel it works in the vo's favor as it adds a wonderful strong punch to it.

Since be2 pads are not the direction I wanted to take my vc blackwood in I went ahead and swapped both my vc's stock pads and that resulted in them both becoming my preffered take on each of them. The universe lambskin on the blackwood adds all the subbass and punch I could want from them and the auteur lambskin on the leopardwood brought back those vocals again with no drawbacks and a great sense of space at the expense of a little bit of bass in general.

Oh and just for the record, the leopardwood vc's are nothing like the vo in pheasantwood. The leopardwood do not have the airiness of the pheasantwood and have a blacker background-closer to the blackwood but not exactly so.

Comparing both vc's more carefully it seems to be that the amounts of added air and reverb of the leopardwood allows instruments like cymbals to resonate with greater presence. In conclusion to differences the leopardwood sounds preferable with classical, jazz, as opposed to blackwood that sounds better with edm and hip-hop (basically genres with more bass). They both can punch pretty hard and have plenty of subbass presence when using the same pads. The blackwood vc however made better use of the universe lambskin pads vs the leopardwood using the same pads. Trying to pick out reasons for choosing one over the other is more challenging because they are more similar as opposed to the differences found between pheasantwood and blackwood vo's.

I do prefer the blackwood vc in this case by a hair because I prefer genres that typically have more bass but the leopardwood are special to me and they're not going anywhere.

As a last mention of bass and punch. If the vo blackwood reminded me of a boxer giving my head a massage the vc blackwood is like getting a similar massage from the open palms of a sumo wrestler. What I mean is that while both verite blackwoods present bass in a strong and musical manner, a boxer uses a closed fist which translates to a more precise harder hit, but a sumo wrestler using his meaty open palms also hits hard but is less focused so the bass seems bigger at the expense of a slight decrease in impact precision.

VO blackwood be2 lambskin: excellent subbass presence but more focused on a super hard punch that are dialed into more precisely identified hits.

VC blackwood universe lambskin: larger presented bass than the vo that is still excellent sounding, but a little less emphasis on punching a specific target because the bass is trying to encompass more space in the soundfield rather than aim all together in one specific location. A bass with a larger radius.

I also wanted to mention again if I had not previously explained on my vo comparison that the blackwoods should not necessarily be viewed as a legendary version of zmf headphones if you had not already realized this in my post. They may be legendary to me, but that's just it. Its impressive to me, whether its amazing to you is anyone's guess and you still get the same headphone when selecting a different wood. This comparison simply explains the nuanced differences and my preffered way to hear either of them. Both were compared using zmf ofc 4pin balance cables.

Brilliant absolutely brilliant! Very
Much appreciate your insight and very specific explanations and detailed comparisons. I do love my VC's in leopardwood. They are quite nice for B stock, although some of the really well spotted ones are truelly incredible to look at. If I had unlimited funds I wood get a pair in Blackwood! Love my Blackwood Auteurs. But after tuning and tweaking my leopard woods VC's the Blackwood's are no match in area but pure musical timbre and tonality and they are at best now just slightly better. I am cleaning them up refitting them and may decide to sell them.


Happy listening and thanks so much,

jgwtriode

 

[omega1990]

Exactly right. As said in your post that compared to the auteur the vc has more musical timbre and tonality. Since the Auteur is the zmf made for those who want the least of the zmf house sound for musicality since its advertised as the most neutral zmf. I would say that the Auteur is the zmf with the most appropriate presentation for classical. Listening to an orchestra I do prefer headphones that present things a few rows back. That's why I've kept my k1000, hd800, estats (among many other reasons for them), and solitare p-se. I think to the typical audio reviewer, the Auteur probably receives the highest praise from the zmf line because of its neutrality and extremely natural tuning. As much I like them-as far as zmf's are concerned-I'd rather overwhelm my ears with the warmer and more musical zmf's in their lineup. The vc's in general are a front row seat experience and brings with it a different perspective with its own advantages. Plus instead of showing the general size of a concert hall that the Auteur would be more concerned with. The vc would bring me to the front row, but the new advantage would include all the depth the stage in particular would have to offer. The vc in leopardwood gives my other headphones mentioned above, which to me are more traditional audiophile presentations of classical music a powerful run for the money.

 

[jgwtriode]

I find the area beyond all the technical capabilities of the Leopardwood VC, with my preferred pads being The Auteur lambskin, to be harmonic structure from top to bottom. They are more clearly and correctly integrated across the gamut of voices and instruments than the auteur. I think that has to do with the speed they possess. I think the group delay of the auteur is as a result just slow enough to lose some of the upper overtones so they are slightly hindered in their presentation. It's not just about the upper frequency air although that is a part of it. It how it captures those notes and integrates them with the ones below and even beyond that the fundamentals are somehow better integrated as well. But that may just be a function of the upper mids and highs being more correctly rendered in time and space. I had a particular individual from years ago, who upgraded the tweeters in my Linn Isobariks also changing the crossover points to do so, explain to me that I would likely hear better bass as a result; and in fact he was right, I did. I am anticipating that LOrdsGwyns Airmid OTL will further enhance this quality over what I have been hearing. It is after all, at least in my opinion, the real magic of triode amplifiers; the uncanny ability to accurately reproduce real harmonic structure. I find that substantially enhances the emotionality and soul of the music.

In the end this is what I love about triode amplifiers and what I most enjoy about what I am hearing with the VC's as well.

Another thing I should point out is how much The Wywires cables blow up the staging in all directions. More than any cables I have heard. This includes the power cord because that took the System far beyond what it was previously doing with my very good power cord I was using and the Diamond USB and platinum headphone cable.
The platinum power cord took it far beyond. I am now hearing intricacies of staging, holographic focus and layering that I have never heard before.

The VC's will also create a surround effect. It is not exactly like 5.1 or 7.1. It is a more natural less pronounced effect. It i were to compare it to a clock it would be sound coming from between 4:00 and 4:30 on the right hand side and correspondingly 7:00 to 7:30 on the left. On really good live stuff this really creates the sense of being in the audience. Live rock concerts are ridiculous. Pyromania, albeit not the best recording ever does really create this sense. Much better is Lindsay Buckingham's live recordings. And David Byrne's American Utopia broadway show recording is transcendant. Better than being at most real concerts. I think the Wywires pulls the VC back a bit from a more forward perspective, which I do like better. All my previous cables. Silver Gold Zenwave and Mad Scientist are definitely more forward thant the wywires are. I also think this is also because the Wywires create more rear fill, quite a bit more actually. So it psycho acoustically shifts your perspective somewhat more away from what is in front of you. But don't get me wrong all of that which in front is far more correctly presented. Simply put other cables just don't quite seem to do rear fill. Thing about it a bit more it's actually more correctly stated rear side fill. But I think you get my drift. It is quite uncanny and most well recorded albums have at least a bit of this. On a couple of Joe Bonamasa cuts it's panoramic!


This surround effect is not something I really noice with my previous cables. Monster talks about it in his review of the VC. And I heard hints of it with My Mad SCI custom harness. This ability really makes the VC's off the chart. I have never had that effect with any of the stereo speakers I have owned. Including Acoustats, Linn Isobariks Infinity Reference Standards or even my favorite speakers, Talon Audio Khorus, which sound very much like ZMF headphones with more low bass and somewhat bigger Dynamics. These created a pretty substantial soundstage run with good triode amps. My previous Qled/NeoQled comparison was in reference to these. The VC's are NeoQLED slightly smaller compared to QLED, that being the Khorus. Only thing I miss is Sub 40. But the VC is good enough down to 30 to be acceptable even in that regard. Above 40 VC any day.

The Wyires do a lot of other things as well. but that's another discussion.


Happy listening,

jgwtriode

 

[intedinator]

IMHO, as long as you keep expecting the VC, or any other headphone for that matter, to sound like your speakers, you're going to be perpetually let down.

Both offer a unique way to enjoy music, and both have distinct strengths, as well as weaknesses.

I'm a huge dog person, and I have an English Shepherd and a Perro de Presa Canario inbound. My ES was created to herd and look beautiful, not to protect, guard and attack. If I judged her on her ability to stop bad guys, she'd be the worst dog in the world. Similarly I'm not expecting my Presa to round up cows, sheep or chickens. I love and appreciate my dogs ( and headphones) for what they can do, and I do not deduct points from them for not being able to do things that they werent created to do.

Just my .02

@69SS396 I share some of your ambivalence when comparing any headphone listening contexts (including my VC) with my dedicated treated listening room, and my experience echos that of @Monsterzero. My current feeling is that the two contexts serve different use cases, and provide different kinds of enjoyment. The headphone experience has grown on me over time, in part perhaps because I have more opportunities to listen via headphones and because there’s something uniquely intimate about headphone listening that I’ve learned to enjoy independently of speaker listening. But when I do find time to listen to speakers in my dedicated listening room, that’s also a wonderful experience that I’ve never been able to duplicate with headphones. That said, I have tried to expand the envelop of my headphone listening in a couple of ways that may be informative to you and other members.

I have had some limited success with HRTF emulators and headphones (I’ve used Redscape the most) to create an expanded soundstage, but that restricts me to a PC, and my critical listening use cases are usually elsewhere. Ultimately, I found the emulator was still not really that close to speaker listening, and I grew to appreciate the headphone sound field as something different and enjoyable on its own. I haven’t tried high-end custom HRTF emulators (e.g. Smyth Realizer). Tempting. Somebody will probably offer an economical personalized HRTF emulator that can be built into DACs or run on portable source devices in a few years, and I’ll eagerly try it out.

I’ll add some weight to other member suggestions and apprehensions of trying a tactile transducer, with the caveats that, in my limited experience, it does not recreate a speaker listening experience, requires acclimation (brain burn-in), and benefits greatly from a full frequency range transducer and control flexibility. I use a Clark Synthesis TST209 full frequency range transducer in conjunction with a small Aiyima A3001 amplifier with an adjustable volume and low pass filter (and a full range switch) in my dedicated listening lounge/recliner with the VC. It took a while before my brain would automatically integrate the resonating tactile feel from behind me with the precise and immediate sound from my headphones on my head. Being able to adjust the frequency range and level over which the transducer operates has been very helpful in creating an immersive experience, and I find that I adjust it frequently (usually when changing albums or genres). Running the transducer full range often seems to give the best blend with the headphones, but of course it’s increasingly audible as the frequency rises. I can usually find a good blend well below full range, but be aware that not all “bass shakers” are capable of full range response. The chair type and transducer integration are probably also significant factors in the experience. I use an antique Contour Lounge Chair that supports my whole body, and the tactile response is spread over my entire backside.

Ultimately, listening to headphones with a tactile transducer is a distinctly different experience than listening to quality speakers or headphones alone. I find it addictively immersive with electronic music and music with a strong rhythm or beat. With slower acoustic music (instrumental piano, for example), I find myself reducing the tactile response quite a bit, but usually still find it beneficial. In the future, I’d like to try moving the transducer closer to my head and/or digitally delaying the sound to my headphones (relative to the transducer). I suspect that reducing the sound transmission time difference between the headphone->ear->brain and the transducer->chair->body->brain may improve the immersion and reduce brain accommodation time.

I hope you find a configuration that pleases you. Joy in the journey

 

[raphaelchan]

Update: 30 hours of break in on my new ZMF. Not near as tinny, background is blacker, separation is improving and they are not near as grainy. However they still fall far short of my Persona/Krell XD home audio standard. I am hoping the next 100 hours or so of break in will take it up another notch or two but I am starting to suspect the DAC in my Jodenheim2 is not up to my expectations. I also have no doubt I need some Class A amp love to get back to what I am used to, but we will see.

(Visions of a Yaggy LIM or OG and ZMF Pendant are in my head)

I have a weirder experience. Initial 0-20 hours was pretty good. however at around 30-50 hours, everything sounded out of syn, bass was soft, vocal was way too prominent and forward and way too bright for my liking. I was wondering if Burson composer and soloist were not a good match. I tried VC a bit with Monolith liquid platinum seemed to be a better match tonally. I just listened again with composer 3xp and Soloist at around 100 hours. All is well and keep improving. I secretly said a secret prayer to thank the Lord. Hopefully things will keep on improving. This is the first time I spent so much on a pair of Can. Pardon my overreaction as newbie to high end. Just wanted to share my experience so that other newbie will not have unnecessary worry as I was. As of now the VC is much better then my Aeolus and Hifiman He6 v2 and match well with burson.

 

[DeweyCH]

I have a weirder experience. Initial 0-20 hours was pretty good. however at around 30-50 hours, everything sounded out of syn, bass was soft, vocal was way too prominent and forward and way too bright for my liking. I was wondering if Burson composer and soloist were not a good match. I tried VC a bit with Monolith liquid platinum seemed to be a better match tonally. I just listened again with composer 3xp and Soloist at around 100 hours. All is well and keep improving. I secretly said a secret prayer to thank the Lord. Hopefully things will keep on improving. This is the first time I spent so much on a pair of Can. Pardon my overreaction as newbie to high end. Just wanted to share my experience so that other newbie will not have unnecessary worry as I was. As of now the VC is much better then my Aeolus and Hifiman He6 v2 and match well with burson.

That's really interesting. I'm experiencing something similar right now with a pair of Rognir planars... they sound quite good on my Pro iCAN, but on the Burson Conductor 3XP they sound really odd. In my case the vocals are way recessed, and the mids seem way out of balance. I wonder if there's some sort of correlation where Bursons exacerbate any sort of driver burn-in process oddities.

 

[sp33ls]

Exactly right. As said in your post that compared to the auteur the vc has more musical timbre and tonality. Since the Auteur is the zmf made for those who want the least of the zmf house sound for musicality since its advertised as the most neutral zmf. I would say that the Auteur is the zmf with the most appropriate presentation for classical. Listening to an orchestra I do prefer headphones that present things a few rows back. That's why I've kept my k1000, hd800, estats (among many other reasons for them), and solitare p-se. I think to the typical audio reviewer, the Auteur probably receives the highest praise from the zmf line because of its neutrality and extremely natural tuning. As much I like them-as far as zmf's are concerned-I'd rather overwhelm my ears with the warmer and more musical zmf's in their lineup. The vc's in general are a front row seat experience and brings with it a different perspective with its own advantages. Plus instead of showing the general size of a concert hall that the Auteur would be more concerned with. The vc would bring me to the front row, but the new advantage would include all the depth the stage in particular would have to offer. The vc in leopardwood gives my other headphones mentioned above, which to me are more traditional audiophile presentations of classical music a powerful run for the money.

Great review! How would you compare your Blackwood VC to your Blackwood Aeolus?

 

[omega1990]

Great review! How would you compare your Blackwood VC to your Blackwood Aeolus?

Hmm...thats a tough one. I usually choose aeolus because of its intimacy, but both verite blackwoods are great all rounders. I do however favor midbass over subbass which Aeolus and Atticus put more emphasis on. So while I've only had the verites in blackwood for a short while (blackwood vc for less than a week), for now I'd still choose Aeolus and also Atticus blackwood. They both present music in a way that feels like the performer is singing only to me.

Between the Aeolus and Atticus blackwoods, I'd choose the Aeolus over Atticus by a tiny bit because while the Atticus does intimacy in the way that I like, being a closed back with that unique black background can make certain recordings sound perhaps intimidatingly close. For example, if I hear the oogie boogie song from the Nightmare before Christmas soundtrack on the Atticus, Santa Claus isn't the hostage anymore, the listener is (this is still a whole lot of fun to listen to though). With the Aeolus being an open back I get that intimacy but also some breathing room. The Aeolus reminds me of that scene from Family Guy where Barry Manilow is singing to Quagmire. They are sitting close together but at least I get a bit of my personal space back

Quick update: Today I put money down on the Eikon in Blackwood. So my Blackwood collection is now complete. I'm excited to finally hear them because I've never heard an Eikon in general before.

 

[69SS396]

A word of advice to new ZMF VC owners.

Hook your sweet new VC up to your amp, load a weeks worth of music on your media device, hit play and put them to the side for 6 or 7 days. The break in on these is very real and takes quite some time. I am on hour 120 of break in and they continue to improve (I only listen every 20 hours of break in or so), you will likely be disappointed if you do any serious listening before the 100 hour mark.