[mendye770]

I don't find that the Utopia suffers from sibilance or timbre issues. It's remarkably accurate and dynamic. It's not as bright as an HD800 or ZMF Eikon (my main points of reference since I own them).

The VO (to my ears) has an emphasis on being a fairly smooth headphone that's a pretty easy listen. The Utopia is a more energetic listening experience, though also less laid-back.

I personally prefer the VO if I know if it's gonna be a 6-hour headphone day or something like that. I use the Utopia when I'm using them for 3 hours or less. The VO will melt away on your head, but the Utopia will remind you of its presence quite often. Neither of those is right or wrong, and I find them to be very different headphones.

My preference is toward the Utopia if you forced me to pick, but the VO is still very compelling. And I find the VO with a touch of EQ in the treble to introduce a bit more sparkle is nice.

Have u ever listened to the HEDDphone?
Bc from what I’ve seen, ppl say it’s on par with treble detail as the utopia without any harshness or forcing in your face detail.

 

[Maelob]

Am i the only one here that does not care about wood? sorry I know heresy, i just ordered my first pair of VO mostly because of how they sound and comfort. Maybe once i get them, i will get the wood fetish LOL can't wait

 

[robo24]

Am i the only one here that does not care about wood? sorry I know heresy, i just ordered my first pair of VO mostly because of how they sound and comfort. Maybe once i get them, i will get the wood fetish LOL can't wait

I actually felt the same way with my first ZMFs and couldn’t imagine spending more for wood I can’t even see while using them. Not long after I began selling to replace with Limited wood versions, lol. Even with my perfectly good Verite in Silk, I still plan to spend much more than I can sell it for to get a different wood eventually. Since I keep several headphones on stands on my desk where I am much of most days, I do see them all the time and I can really appreciate having even more beautiful versions of them.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Yeah, it's incredibly nice wood and looks great in person. I ended up preferring the sound of silkwood for the VO, so I sold the blackwood. Both are exceptional headphones though. The density of the blackwood really helps take advantage of the driver's speed.

I'm so knocked out by the sound of my silkwood VO that I wouldn't even be interested in these very beautiful hardwoods (blackwood & desert ironwood) for a VO.

By contrast, my Aeolus has blackwood earcups, and that sound is glorious in the entertaining-as-all-hell Aeolus manner...

 

[RobertSM]

Am i the only one here that does not care about wood? sorry I know heresy, i just ordered my first pair of VO mostly because of how they sound and comfort. Maybe once i get them, i will get the wood fetish LOL can't wait

Congratulations! I'm curious, what wood type did you order your Verites in?

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Are u referring to the 1266 tc? Or the first 1266?

The OG, so a pretty significant difference.

 

[PsilocybinCube]

I can attest to the beauty and sound of the amp.

 

[Maelob]

Congratulations! I'm curious, what wood type did you order your Verites in?

the latest limited edition that expired the other day, see i dont even know LOL - I had to look it up Desert Ironwood

 

[breckstar]

So from a pure sound perspective, is it worth getting the better woods for 200 more or the regular one sounds pretty much the same?

The difference is pretty small between the wood densities as far as sound, imo. The new default sapele will sound closer to the LTDs because it is closer in density (1800) than the silkwood (840) was (https://www.zmfheadphones.com/wood). I'd pick whichever wood looks most appealing to you.

 

[PsilocybinCube]

I think one thing for all of us to keep in mind is that the wood (while important visually and perhaps audibly) probably pales in comparison to the impact of things like the pads you are using, the amplification, and ultimately - the actual build of the headphone. You can't build absolutely identical headphones out of wood. There is going to be a small variance here and there when working with organic material. And the variance resulting from the building process probably imparts more of a sound difference than the wood itself. Then you have things like the humidity of the room the headphone is stored in, the temperature, etc.

In other words, I would think that if we had five Verite headphones and could listen to all of them back-to-back, all things being equal, they wouldn't sound 100% the same.

I could be wrong in this assumption, but I think this is similar to the 'silicon lottery' when buying a semiconductor. If two people buy the same computer chip, they will have subtle differences in performance even if the systems are identical.

And perhaps that's the true magic of a ZMF headphone (or anything handmade from natural materials), each headphone is unique.

 

[PrTv]

Hello Guys... I'm joining the club!

 

[Richardhoos]

I’m clearly in the minority, but I do feel like I can appreciate the differences in wood.

And while it’s subtle for sure, I do really enjoy that little bit of extra snap or crispness of a denser wood. Hard to describe it any better. I’ve listened to the VO in silk, pheasantwood and ziricote. I think this is one of my favorite features of the VC (that is, the extra snap).

I’m eagerly waiting on the Blackwood VO.

all in all though any Verite is outstanding and worth owning/treasuring for a multitude of reasons.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

all in all though any Verite is outstanding and worth owning/treasuring for a multitude of reasons.

Damn right.

 

[jurumal]

I was fortunate enough to be able to compare Verite of different woods one year. So far I've tried 4 different types: silk, cocobolo, ziricote, and pheasantwood. The latter three I was able to hear back-to-back at canjam. My first encounter with Verite was at Upscale Audio in La Verne, CA. Off of memory and the notes I took, first thing I noticed when I heard Silk was its warmth. It was the warmest sounding, and yet the cleanest sounding of the three other headphones I had for comparison at the time: Aeolus, Auteur, and LCD2C. Next thing I noticed was how it had an ability to project crisp images in a 3D-like manner that I haven't heard from other headphones previously. With a little more clockwise turn on the pot, qualities I enjoyed from Auteur and Aeolus were also present. Verite brought the sparkle from Auteur and the fun from Aeolus. Verite's superior detail retrieval to the other headphones was clearly evident at this point and became more apparent the longer I listened. The word I used to describe Verite in my notes was "addicting".

As an aside for those who are interested, I believe I heard the Verite on a Pathos Inpol amp. Regrettably, I could not recall the DAC or streamer it was connected to.

Fast forward to canjam. I had the opportunity to hear Verite in 3 different types of hardwoods. Now, as a disclaimer, I'm the type of person that will seek out "the last 5%", meaning the tiniest changes to the sound can potentially impact my overall experience with something. I'm totally "that guy" when it comes to preferences on woods, cables, pads, amps and DACs to achieve the sound I like (unfortunately, I'm limited by my general lack of funds). Please temper your expectations appropriately as I am critiquing with a microscope (if you will).

Just like Silk, the hardwoods retain the crisp 3D-like imaging with the added benefit (imo) of less decay, quicker transient response, and more impact. These differences do not make the hardwood variants wildly different from their stock counterpart as they all share the same overall tonality, but when seeking out the "last percent", the "minor" differences are important enough and weigh heavily on the purchase decision. Ziracote was the first of the three I heard and it touted the aforementioned qualities and served as my baseline for the hardwood variants. Cocobolo was the next one I heard. It was an instant favorite for me. It added a hint of treble sparkle over the comparatively darker Ziracote. Not to mention, the beauty of Cocobolo hath taken for itself another casualty so to speak. Pheasantwood was the most interesting in that it had the widest soundstage of the three. Left to right image distinction was prominent comparatively. However, it was a little too wide for me and thus not have the imaging consistency of the former woods to my ears.

It's been a couple years since I've last heard a VO. I am excited, however, because I pulled the trigger on a Desert Ironwood set. This will be the fifth variant I will have heard and I can't wait to get them on my head.

Here's some pictures I took on my Verite journey.

 

[PrTv]

Guys,

Anyone has experience with Dana's Lazuli Reference Plus (silver+copper) with the VO?

I own the LR and it worked perfectly with my Utopia, but as the VO is on the warmer side, I think LR might be too warm for it. Vinh at Dana recommended the Ref+. I did the search but could not find any comment (both in VO and VC threads) regarding this cable. Brands people talked about seemed to be Norne/Forza/ZMF, and one fellow recommended Arctic Cable's Palladium which looks very, very promising but at $3k+, it's out of reach for me.