[robo24]

ferraro25 said:
it was one of the worst decisions I've ever made.

I find that hard to believe...

Boy I wish my life was so great that buying a headphone I didn't like was one of the worst decisions I've ever made. We should all be so lucky!

 

[saidentary]

Since my endgame-for-at-least-a-little-while headphone, the RAAL SR1a, is taking a break due to my Jotunheim R frying, I have been spending time listening to my other headphones, including my Monkeypod VC.

It has a very unique quality among all my headphones: I find it infuriating. There is a gap in the frequency response which makes them sound uneven and horrible with most recordings, and they are also just so boring and dead (this is coming from someone who likes the HD 800 S). You might think the problem is that I'm using a THX AAA 789 amp, but I took my Woo Audio WA 6 (tube amp) out of the closet and let it warm up, but it didn't magically make the VC likeable - same problems, but now more muffled. I also always try a bunch of different pads, but none of them fix the response gap flaw. I do not understand why anyone likes this headphone, and the reality seems to be that most people LOVE it, and compare it favorably to other super expensive headphones, even!

And it isn't like I can't appreciate headphones that don't have my preferred signature (brighter than the Harman target, to put it simply). I don't prefer the HD 650 over much besides the VC, but I admit that they sound good and don't have any glaring flaws besides being boring (but more alive than the VC). I have a pre-fazor LCD-2, and it is too dark for me, but at least it has great bass. The Koss KHP30i is warmer than I tend to prefer, but it makes up for it by being involving and euphoric/musical. The VC just sounds like someone took a neutral headphone (depending on the pad, I guess) and ruined it by eq'ing out some of the frequency range. It sounds wrong, it isn't musical, it isn't involving. It just makes me angry and wonder what is wrong with my hearing/brain that I am pretty much alone in thinking this. I just don't get it, at all.

It's bad enough that I have sometimes thought that maybe I just got a bad one - but that is unthinkable, given the way these headphones are caringly handmade and tested.

Dunno what my point is in posting this (I'm not trolling - the above is accurate to how I think about the VC) except to update and state that I still hate the VC, and to warn that not everyone thinks these headphones are great, or even worthwhile - always listen to a headphone for as long as possible before buying! I went in blind, and it was one of the worst decisions I've ever made.

If you fried an amplifier by driving it too hard then you may be listening too loud and may have damaged your hearing. You may want to very strongly consider getting a formal audiogram from an audiologist. Also, headphones are miniature speakers and speakers can be blown if driven too hard; could this have happened to your VC? Perhaps you could ask ZMF and/or respond to their messages. But if you don't want to respond to ZMF's repeated offers for help, then you can sell these extremely fast on head-fi and be done with them.

 

[normie610]

Read his sign: " Due to strong social anxiety, I do not read a thread once I've posted in it, nor do I read my PMs."

I bet he does read the thread and PM

 

[JL3001]

Waiting impatiently for my Verite Closed. FedEx was supposed to deliver them on Wednesday...then Thursday...now they're sitting just outside of my city with a date of "pending." I was looking forward to spending Christmas listening to a lot of music!

Coming up on a week that my shipment is "pending." I feel like I've been refreshing the tracking page every 10 minutes. Sigh, FedEx is awful.

Edit: I lucked out, my local FedEx store just got a package. Won't be real til it's in my hands!

 

[GU1DO]

Since my endgame-for-at-least-a-little-while headphone, the RAAL SR1a, is taking a break due to my Jotunheim R frying, I have been spending time listening to my other headphones, including my Monkeypod VC.

It has a very unique quality among all my headphones: I find it infuriating. There is a gap in the frequency response which makes them sound uneven and horrible with most recordings, and they are also just so boring and dead (this is coming from someone who likes the HD 800 S). You might think the problem is that I'm using a THX AAA 789 amp, but I took my Woo Audio WA 6 (tube amp) out of the closet and let it warm up, but it didn't magically make the VC likeable - same problems, but now more muffled. I also always try a bunch of different pads, but none of them fix the response gap flaw. I do not understand why anyone likes this headphone, and the reality seems to be that most people LOVE it, and compare it favorably to other super expensive headphones, even!

And it isn't like I can't appreciate headphones that don't have my preferred signature (brighter than the Harman target, to put it simply). I don't prefer the HD 650 over much besides the VC, but I admit that they sound good and don't have any glaring flaws besides being boring (but more alive than the VC). I have a pre-fazor LCD-2, and it is too dark for me, but at least it has great bass. The Koss KHP30i is warmer than I tend to prefer, but it makes up for it by being involving and euphoric/musical. The VC just sounds like someone took a neutral headphone (depending on the pad, I guess) and ruined it by eq'ing out some of the frequency range. It sounds wrong, it isn't musical, it isn't involving. It just makes me angry and wonder what is wrong with my hearing/brain that I am pretty much alone in thinking this. I just don't get it, at all.

It's bad enough that I have sometimes thought that maybe I just got a bad one - but that is unthinkable, given the way these headphones are caringly handmade and tested.

Dunno what my point is in posting this (I'm not trolling - the above is accurate to how I think about the VC) except to update and state that I still hate the VC, and to warn that not everyone thinks these headphones are great, or even worthwhile - always listen to a headphone for as long as possible before buying! I went in blind, and it was one of the worst decisions I've ever made.

Man you saved me from going back to ZMF hehehe ,, i had the same experience with the Aeolus when it was released , i sold it within one week ,, i was never looking back but last few weeks i was talking to a friend about his VC and how he likes it soooo much and how it sound way better than the Aeolus , so i was giving it new thoughts and maybe try it and if i dont like it ,, it will sell so fast , now i dissmesed the whole idea after your post , it reminded me how i didnt like the Aeolus so much, i even compared it at that time to the HD650 like you did now hehe.

tbh ZMF headphones are very polarizing , so i cant say they are bad headphones by any means , but it is not the type of sound i look for, which apply to any other brand .

 

[SteveM324]

Man you saved me from going back to ZMF hehehe ,, i had the same experience with the Aeolus when it was released , i sold it within one week ,, i was never looking back but last few weeks i was talking to a friend about his VC and how he likes it soooo much and how it sound way better than the Aeolus , so i was giving it new thoughts and maybe try it and if i dont like it ,, it will sell so fast , now i dissmesed the whole idea after your post , it reminded me how i didnt like the Aeolus so much, i even compared it at that time to the HD650 like you did now hehe.

tbh ZMF headphones are very polarizing , so i cant say they are bad headphones by any means , but it is not the type of sound i look for, which apply to any other brand .

If you sold the Aeolus within one week, then you didn't even hear it at its best. I found that it took over 200 hours to fully burn-in. At under 120 hours, it sounded veiled and closed in. At about 10 days (240 hours) of burn in, the Aeolus opens up substantially and produces a much larger soundstage and better imaging than at 120hrs. I've since sold my Aeolus, but not because it sounded bad, I just prefer my Verite Open over all other ZMF models including the VC that I sold a week ago. I found the VC to sound very good but I don't need a closed headphone and I prefer the VO.

 

[Audioraider]

Man you saved me from going back to ZMF hehehe ,, i had the same experience with the Aeolus when it was released , i sold it within one week ,, i was never looking back but last few weeks i was talking to a friend about his VC and how he likes it soooo much and how it sound way better than the Aeolus , so i was giving it new thoughts and maybe try it and if i dont like it ,, it will sell so fast , now i dissmesed the whole idea after your post , it reminded me how i didnt like the Aeolus so much, i even compared it at that time to the HD650 like you did now hehe.

tbh ZMF headphones are very polarizing , so i cant say they are bad headphones by any means , but it is not the type of sound i look for, which apply to any other brand .

Thank god for him! You really dodged a bullet...

 

[DitheringFool]

tbh ZMF headphones are very polarizing

...what? ZMF headphones are one of the least polarizing headphones according to the community.

You might want to check out how the crowd splits for Z1R/HD820.

 

[gazzington]

I’ve just sold my Sp2k and thinking of getting a set of these headphones. Will they sound good out of a Hugo 2?

 

[YtseJamer]

Will they sound good out of a Hugo 2?

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/zmf...ck-zmf-flagship.911505/page-258#post-15942656

 

[Nostoi]

I’ve just sold my Sp2k and thinking of getting a set of these headphones. Will they sound good out of a Hugo 2?

I've been banging on about this combo for a while, personally I'm a fan (I also touched on it recently in a review of the Sparkos Aries amp here)

 

[ninjapirate9901]

I'm so glad you got them! These beautiful "real life" pictures make my day every time.

Haha you know me Zach, I only buy stuff so I can take pictures

 

[gazzington]

Hmm pondering over the verite closed and the abyss Diana 2. I own a rad 0 at the moment so I’m guessing the dynamic driver verite would be the best compliment

 

[JL3001]

Finally got them last night. These cans have absolutely exceeded my expectations. Spent the evening listening to my music with my eyes closed, sitting back in my chair and just feeling the pins and needles on my skin during some moments. This must be the euphony Zach talks about! And I wasn't expecting them to be lighter and more comfortable than my daily driver HE-500s. I'm super impressed, and these came right in time for my holidays, so I'm gonna be spending all weekend rediscovering how good music could sound.

Thanks, ZMF!

 

[saidentary]

Thank god for him! You really dodged a bullet...

Wondering how many will miss the obvious sarcasm in that statement.....