Verite vs Utopia comparison:
Myself and many others have been curious to compare these two flagship headphones that integrate Beryllium into their drivers. While the Utopia’s driver is made entirely from Be, the Verite’s driver is a Be coated PEN driver. Zach choose to used a coated Be driver vs a full Be driver because it retained much of the speed, while not having the harshness that's attributed to most metal drivers. After doing some A/B comparing of both, I feel that these two headphones don’t share much in common besides the Be in their drivers. Even more so, these two headphones should mostly likely appeal to completely different listeners. While I feel the Utopia still wins out in several technical aspects, the Verite retains most of the trademark Be speed and comes across as far more musical and listenable. Here are a few more specific differences between them:
Verite: More weighty sound, with the low end having more quantity and slam. Tonally smoother, especially in the upper frequencies. Wider soundstage. More forgiving on poorly recorded source material. Overall more musical sounding and not as fatiguing. Gorgeous wood cups. Made in the USA by Zach and his cronies.
Utopia: Slightly faster and overall more technical sounding. Not as colored throughout the FR. Marginally better macro/micro details. Much more upper extension and overall more airy sounding. Better instrument separation. No pretty wood cups. Lighter, but not necessarily more comfortable. Made by some guy in a beret with baguette crumbs on his shirt.
Verite pad rolling: The Verite pads are definitely my preference when listening to the Verite. Compared to the Universe pads, they have a little more sparkle and energy that lines up with my taste and gear. They also slightly change the staging due to their depth, which I also slightly prefer. The Universe pads provide an overall more laid back, smoother sound. It’s not surprising that people are split between the two, as I could easily see using either or depending on your chain, preferences, etc…
I also took a little time and rolled a few other ZMF pads I had on the Verite. The perforated Eikon pads amp up the low end and take the bass slam to new levels, but they also introduce a plethora of issues into the FR. The depth of the pads also radically change up the staging. The perforated Auteur pads actually sound pretty good, adding a little more air and balancing out the signature somewhat. I wasn’t able to spent much time with this combo, but I will try to revisit if possible.
