Finally got to spend some quality time with the Verite over the last several days. Just for clarity purposes, the pair I have are Pheasantwood and they have the new Magnesium chassis. The weight (or lack thereof) is quite impressive and these are around 50 grams heavier than the Silkwood's! I've also been mostly listening with a Michanikos cable, although I did do a comparison with the Atmos/2K cables (more on that later). My chain is FLAC/TIDAL>Singxer SU-1>Yggdrasil A1>Various Amps.
Amp Pairings w/Verite: I ran the Verite off 8 different amps: Woo WA2, THX AAA 789, Wells Audio Milo, MCTH, Cavalli Liquid Gold, Liquid Carbon v1, Liquid Platinum and Liquid Spark. I didn't find the Verite to be that amp dependent, or at least not nearly as much as say the Atticus. I actually found the Verite enjoyable on pretty much everything I tried it with, although the Spark and stock MCTH clearly showed their limitations. They are however $100 and $200 respectively, so I doubt too many people would pair their Vertie with them. The newly released THX AAA 789 is a very uncolored amp as advertised. I used this for a lot of testing and it’s power/neutrality let the Verite’s technical abilities shine through. Personally I probably wouldn’t use it all that much with the Verite though. The Liquid Carbon and Liquid Platinum both add some Cavalli magic, which helps fill out the midrange while retaining most of the Verite’s attributes. I just got the Platinum in today, so it hasn’t been broken in as well as the stock tubes. The WA2 was a favorite pairing of mine, especially when I rolled out the sweeter and warmer GEC 6080WA tubes for classic Tung Sol 5998’s. The later tubes really let the Verite’s dynamics shine, while providing some blissed out tube sound and increased soundstage. Finally the last two would be the Milo and LAu. Both are powerful reference solid state amps that really let the Verite let loose. For my tastes, I really want to bring the speed and dynamics out of the Verite as much as possible, and both these amps do just that. So really depending on what sound you’re looking for, you can easily pair the Verite up with an amp that will highlight it’s unique qualities.
Cable pairing: I’ve had a chance to compare Zach’s upgraded cable offerings (Michanikos, Atmos and 2K) with the Verite. Over the past several years, I’ve found that cables can certainly yield sonic improvements, but feel they should still be the last thing you upgrade in your chain. That being said, first up is the Michanikos, which I personally thought paired best with the Verite. The pure silver seemed to help accentuate the blazing fast drivers of the Verite and help retain it’s crisp transient attack. The Michanikos also helped highlight the exceptional detail levels of the Verite, while giving it a little extra spark. The 2K was quite impressive and kept the detail levels of the Michanikos, but provided a smoother, slightly warmer sound. I could see depending on your musical tastes or gear chain, the 2K might be a better match. It’s also a beautiful, beefy cable that feels extra premium. Lastly, the Atmos was no slouch and rightfully met somewhere in the middle between the other two cables. I’ve always been a fan of quality copper/spc cables, not only for their sonic attributes, but for their ergonomics. Out of the three, the Atmos is certainly the lightest and flexible offering. All in all, I don’t really think you can go wrong with either of these cables from ZMF.
Vertie and Auteur comparison: This was a very interesting comparison and really shed some light on the enigmatic Verite. For the comparison I used the THX AAA 789 Amp, Michanikos cable and Verite pads on the Verite and Auteur Pads on the Auteur. My Auteur is Blackwood and as I mentioned earlier, the Verite is Pheasantwood.
Verite vs Auteur: First thing that is immediately noticeable is the Be drivers of the Verite are FAST. Way faster than the Auteur’s, which aren’t a slouch by any means. The Verite wins in quite a few technical aspects due to its drivers. Quicker transients, micro details, superior instrument separation, bass speed and bass texture. It also has very captivating staging, that’s almost 3D sounding. The Verite overall is more dynamic, but yet at the same time has more finesse than the Auteur.
Auteur vs Verite: The Auteur has a fuller, more cohesive overall sound than the Verite. It has slightly weightier bass with more decay and reverb. Tonality of the Auteur is smoother, but yet is a tad more extended in the highs. It also has a slightly wider soundstage, but with more traditional imaging compared to the Verite. I found it to be also more forgiving on poorly recorded songs.
After all is said and done, I wouldn’t call either the Auteur or Verite better than the other. In fact track after track I kept going back and forth deciding which one I liked better. Both are top notch offerings from Zach, and I feel personal preference is going to win out in the end. As mentioned before, the Verite has some very unique attributes that very few headphones have. For that alone, it makes it worthwhile for me to add them to my stable along with the Auteur.
Feel free to ask me any additional questions in the thread or PM me. I also plan on comparing the Verite with my Utopia soon. You can check out my gear list in my profile if you’d like to me to do any other comparisons as well. I’m exhausted trying to finish this up, so forgive me if I made any errors or didn’t make things clear enough.
