engineeringhobo
New Head-Fier
I like the cut of your jib. And the correct answer here can only be "as much as your bank account permits"
ZMF Verite Open
- Thread starter heliosphann
- Start date
Does anyone have any theories on why reviewers seem to experience the VO so drastically differently from one another? For example, Passion for Sound and Zeos seemed a bit underwhelmed by the VO's soundstage in their reviews, but I know that the VO's unique staging abilities and holography are things a lot of people praise. Of course any two people will hear any headphone a bit differently from one another due to differences in anatomy, but I'm just curious why some opinions - particularly about the soundstage - seem like near opposites. It seems the VO is one of the more amp-picky ZMFs, so could it just be varying degrees of synergy based on the amps reviewers have on-hand, or maybe just differences due to reviewers using pads that don't align with their preferences?
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Tchoupitoulas
100+ Head-Fier
It could well be anatomy or simply people's preferences or perspectives. I haven't watched or read Passion for Sound or Zeos reviews, so this reply isn't about them. I'd suggest, though, that just because some folks set themselves up to be reviewers doesn't mean that they're necessarily very good at it (again, this isn't to comment on the people you referred to).
All too often I see reviewers who don't state what their preferences are or identify the headphones (or other gear) they like, or explain why they like them (or not). This makes it hard to get a frame of reference for where they're coming from. And if someone doesn't have a consistent chain that they routinely use to review headphones, I'll be all the more suspicious of the value of their impressions. Finally, if a reviewer doesn't provide a comparative analysis of a pair of headphones with others, I'd be even less willing to go along with their take on them. In the case of Passion for Sound and Zeos, did they compare the soundstage of the VO with other headphones? If they claim it's poor, what sounds good to them? We need those frames of reference to triangulate where they're coming from.
I won't place any trust in a reviewer's authority until I've heard the same headphones as them and have compared their impressions with my own. If we hear things similarly, I'd be more inclined to trust them. If they hear things differently, I'd be keen to re-evaluate my own perspective. But if our takes don't align, even with a re-consideration, I'd approach their reviews cautiously (or even disregard them altogether).
As for the Vérité's soundstage, I'm not sure where they're coming from. I heard my Vérité with five different DACs* as well as more than 15 amps** and there were seldom any significant differences in staging. Some, like my Stratus, added a lovely holographic quality and expanded the stage size slightly. But even modest and less appealing amps were fine when it came to staging. Such issues as there were with amp pairings had to do with other things besides staging. For the record, I love the staging of the VO, and I'm fussy about having a soundstage that's open and spacious and free from congestion. The Atrium has a larger soundstage, for me, but it's not as open and airy in its sound as the VO.
All this is to say that you should approach reviewers' opinions with caution and see if you can compare your impressions of gear with theirs. Trust your own ears!
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* Airist RDAC, Bifrost 2, Gungnir A2, Spring 3 KTE, and Yggy A2
** Magni 3, Piety, Massdrop Cavalli Tube Hybrid, Eddie Current ZDT Jr., THX AAA 789, SPL Phonitor X, Mjolnir 1 and 2, Shortest Way 51+, Violectric V281, Ragnarok 1.5, Holo Bliss, Black Widow 2, ampsandsound Forge, and DNA Stratus
Seriously, tho. I recently bought a Zovember Caldera, and ordered 1 additional pad, but am left wondering if I should have just picked up all of them? I'd hate to think I accidentally left the "right" option for me on the table. #firstworldproblems
FWIW, in the past I have ordered multiple sets of pads for my VO and always managed to sell them in the classifieds for ~80% of purchase price. Just note that you tried them out briefly and decided they weren't right ones for you, so "Like New".
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I’ll probably keep extra pads around to try on future headphones. Im not good at selling things, and probably have hoarder tendencies. And I might want to mix it up later even if a particular pad isn’t my favorite all around. It’s easy enough to swap them out. Apparently the hard part is keeping track of which is which. I’m considering silver sharpie. I don’t have too many yet: Aeolus, Uni lamb, Uni suede, Caldera ultra, and BE2 lamb. I probably have room for a few more.
Shungite Trillionaire
Head-Fier
I noticed that Z and Passion (esp. Z) are two reviewers who have unique taste. I wouldn't expect them to agree on anything, esp. when it comes to ZMF.
Zeos isn't a good reviewer of (any) higher end gear in general imo (i say that as someone who watches a lot of his reviews).
I personally don't like Passion for Sounds wishy washy reviewing style with very little negative criticism of the products.
DMS does like ZMF products very much, but he releases like 2 videos a month, you can hardly call him a reviewer.
Joshua Valour and Currawong do not review any ZMF's and Resolve / Headphoneshow gets the ZMF models rather late (if ever), there is an unlisted review of Resolve liking the VO very much (i linked it somewhere in this thread).
I do like Wavetheory's approach which is a clear feedback on what's positive and negative, he did a nice review of the Verite aswell, i have also learned that i immensely align with his view and taste. If you generally know what a reviewer likes / dislikes it helps a lot. His first review of the Verite Closed was harsh (it was a stabilized one, that seems to affect the timbre), his second VC review was way more positive.
Goldensound is probably the GOAT, but he is also extremely slow and has only very few reviews out.
In my opinion, every reviewer which repeats terms like "a bit", "slightly", "a little", "maybe" etc. in their sound description gets a no-no from me. Overused minimizations when it comes to important factors like "how much treble", "how mid-forward", "how is the bass impact", etc. have no place in a solid review in my opinion. A DCA headphone does not have "slightly weaker dynamics", it has none and sounds as dynamic as a dead fish, period. It won't help me if you hype up the tonality of it and only mention the lack of dynamics in a subordinate sentence with the adjective "slightly".
I personally don't like Passion for Sounds wishy washy reviewing style with very little negative criticism of the products.
DMS does like ZMF products very much, but he releases like 2 videos a month, you can hardly call him a reviewer.
Joshua Valour and Currawong do not review any ZMF's and Resolve / Headphoneshow gets the ZMF models rather late (if ever), there is an unlisted review of Resolve liking the VO very much (i linked it somewhere in this thread).
I do like Wavetheory's approach which is a clear feedback on what's positive and negative, he did a nice review of the Verite aswell, i have also learned that i immensely align with his view and taste. If you generally know what a reviewer likes / dislikes it helps a lot. His first review of the Verite Closed was harsh (it was a stabilized one, that seems to affect the timbre), his second VC review was way more positive.
Goldensound is probably the GOAT, but he is also extremely slow and has only very few reviews out.
In my opinion, every reviewer which repeats terms like "a bit", "slightly", "a little", "maybe" etc. in their sound description gets a no-no from me. Overused minimizations when it comes to important factors like "how much treble", "how mid-forward", "how is the bass impact", etc. have no place in a solid review in my opinion. A DCA headphone does not have "slightly weaker dynamics", it has none and sounds as dynamic as a dead fish, period. It won't help me if you hype up the tonality of it and only mention the lack of dynamics in a subordinate sentence with the adjective "slightly".
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Superunknown2
100+ Head-Fier
PassionForSound liked the VO, I think he just liked the VC and AO a bit more, though he said his wife liked the VO best. I wouldn't pay much attention to Zeos' reviews, as he is more an entertainer than reviewer. Zeos and Josh Valour stand out to me as pretty much always having opinions completely opposite of mine, though they are both more mid-fi people. All of the reviews that I can think of other than Zeos was very favorable towards the VO. I did used to have a stock wood VO but sold it and now have an Ironwood VO, and I like the Ironwood better since it is more concise and planar-like. I don't tend to like any headphones with soft wood because I find the lushness soft wood causes distracting. ConvinceMeAudio just put out a very good review of the VO, and I think he made the point correctly that the VO never got the attention it deserved because the VC overshaddowed it, though the VO may well be the best ZMF, other than maybe the Caldera. I have both and don't think either is better than the other, though they are both better than everything else I have.
Yeah I don't take Zeos' reviews very seriously. I stopped watching his reviews entirely years ago but was recently checking out some of them. I trust Passion For Sound a bit more but I'm still not sure how closely his preferences align with mine. I mostly just used those two examples since they're two reviewers who I remember were slightly (or in Zeos' case, largely) underwhelmed by VO's soundstage which seemed odd. But yes CMA's review of the Verite was really good and although I've never had ears on them myself, it does seem like they're under-appreciated today given Zach has said they're one of his personal favorites and they're the favorite of many members here who have owned or had extended experience with basically all the ZMFs.
My plan is to try to hold out til next ZMF November and grab a stabilized VO or b-stock in a hard wood. Hopefully by then I will have had the chance to try them out, but I suspect they'll be exactly what I'm looking for in an open back!
Also, does anyone here use their VO with a Cayin iHA-6? I'd be curious to hear if it's a good pairing as far as SS amps go
Superunknown2
100+ Head-Fier
You can buy a b-stock VO right now in ironwood or a couple other woods for just $2000. Might be worth considering. That price is a steal. I don't generally go with the overall opinions of any particular reviewer. I find most reviewers (other than Zoes and Josh Valour) to provide useful commentary about the abilities and sound signature of what they are reviewing, and use that to make a decision. I find WaveTheory more useful than PassionForSound, not necessarily because he is better, but because his taste in music is closer to mind. He listens to a lot of rock and metal as I do, while PassionForSound seems to listen to a lot of classical and jazz, which I don't. So his critique of the individual attributes I find a bit more useful, though PassionForSound is still useful. CMA seems to be between the two since his taste in music seems to be between the two. DMS and GoldenSound would be more useful if they did more reviews. I doubt anyone at Headphone Show would be too useful for ZMFs since they are basically competitors. I used to have a stock wood VC but had similar concerns as WaveTheory had in his two VCs, so I sold it. I recently bought an ironwood VC, so hopefully I will have a better experience with that. I also have agreed with WaveTheory on the AO and VO. That doesn't mean that the VO will certainly be good for everyone, or the AO will certainly be limited in its use for everyone, it just means his observations are likely to be reproduced if you have the same versions of each headphone, so if you like or dislike that, you can start from there and then make changes in pads, wood, cables, etc. I have found that different woods make a massive difference in the sound. I even recently found that cables (silver vs copper) can make a big difference. I don't like my Caldera with a copper cable, but it is tied with my VO for my favorite headphone with a silver cable.
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andrewchoppa
500+ Head-Fier
I’m one of Lachlans Patreon members (passion for sound) so I’m biased. I love his reviews and he is an extremely knowledgeable and a very generous person. It was he who recommended I buy the verite opens. He was going to lend me his but I pulled the trigger early on a redwood burl due to the bstock sale. He loved the vo, vc and ao but the ao is more his taste. I prefer speed so I will no doubt prefer the vo. Zeos doesn’t have a clue-he imo is only in it for the $$$. And I do like both cma and wave theory. I also really like William from the headphone experience.
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Indeed -- not only is a VO at $2000 a bargain, but getting it in one of those rare, exotic woods is even more so.
Despite all of the gorgeous options with ZMF November, I couldn't pass on the opportunity to get a VO in my favorite wood, African Blackwood, for just over $2k.
The Selectstock discount had to be the best value in Summit-Fi.
Can't wait for my pair to arrive tomorrow, despite having already owned a VO in the past (Ironwood).
First ironwood then blackwood? You must have a very strong neck.
lol(I kid, as an ironwood owner myself)
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