I received my Sapele VO a few days ago, but the card says "Tru Oil Varnish". I guess the Vintage Mahogany Stain is a special order? Mine was a regular order.
ZMF Verite Open
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I received my Sapele VO a few days ago, but the card says "Tru Oil Varnish". I guess the Vintage Mahogany Stain is a special order? Mine was a regular order.
alreadyused
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That's interesting. The description on the site says it's the stock wood and finish. I wonder if "vintage mahogany" is just a description of what it looks like. I know Tru Oil is a type of varnish. Is it darker than the regular Sapele?
Looks the same as on my Aeolus, fairly dark. I will try to take a half decent photo this afternoon.
Keeping up with the fun news regarding Verite. I received an automated message from ZMF about a month ago, informing me that my African Blackwood Verites had started the sanding and finishing stage in the build. Then 3-4 days ago I received another email telling me that my headphones had begun the assembly stage of the build.
I know the good folks at ZMF are working away this summer and I'm sure I'll have my African Blackwood Verites in hand soon(ish).
I know the good folks at ZMF are working away this summer and I'm sure I'll have my African Blackwood Verites in hand soon(ish).
The African Blackwood VO is so tempting. Do you plan to keep both your existing Purpleheart and Blackwood ?
edit: typo
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@AudioPowerHead
That's a great question.
I think I'll keep them both for a few weeks. I want to do a subjective test to see if I can discern the difference between the Purpleheat & the Blackwood. I don't know yet. If one speaks louder to me, then I'll sell the other one. I guess to answer your question, I don't know at the moment. I was lucky, Zach was the one that made my Purpleheat wood Verite last year during the critical lockdown of quarantine. So on that level I value that the person who created the Verite built these by himself. I realize that the African Blackwoods are built by the highly trained staff at the new ZMF workshop. So on that level it's a team effort. We'll see...But I am getting excited that's for sure.
I wanted to add one thing that should make my subjective test of African Blackwood Verite vs Purpleheat wood Verite even more interesting.
My main, and full sized headphone amp is the ALO Studio Six. The SS was designed to drive up to four headphones simultaneously with equal power and equal levels of quality. So I really can see myself setting up both headphones side by side and doing a fun, home version of an A/B subjective test.
That's a great question.
I think I'll keep them both for a few weeks. I want to do a subjective test to see if I can discern the difference between the Purpleheat & the Blackwood. I don't know yet. If one speaks louder to me, then I'll sell the other one. I guess to answer your question, I don't know at the moment. I was lucky, Zach was the one that made my Purpleheat wood Verite last year during the critical lockdown of quarantine. So on that level I value that the person who created the Verite built these by himself. I realize that the African Blackwoods are built by the highly trained staff at the new ZMF workshop. So on that level it's a team effort. We'll see...But I am getting excited that's for sure.
I wanted to add one thing that should make my subjective test of African Blackwood Verite vs Purpleheat wood Verite even more interesting.
My main, and full sized headphone amp is the ALO Studio Six. The SS was designed to drive up to four headphones simultaneously with equal power and equal levels of quality. So I really can see myself setting up both headphones side by side and doing a fun, home version of an A/B subjective test.
OK, I had a chance to look at it. I see now that the website says "the current stock wood for the Vérité Open is Sapele. The sapele is finished in a vintage mahogany stain for a darker appearance." For sure my VO Sapele does not look as dark as in the pictures here - https://shop.zmfheadphones.com/collections/stock-headphones/products/verite .
I hadn't seen that part about the wood finish when I ordered, all I wanted was the same wood (and secretly hoped for the same color as my Aeolus).
And what I got is close, but not exactly the same. In fact, as you can see in the pictures, my Aeolus is obviously darker. Still not anywhere as dark as the VO pictures on the ZMF website. I am very happy with what I have.
Both headphones look more "orange-y" in the pictures than IRL. In fact they are more brown. Not darker, just more brownish. As everyone has remarked, they always seem to look better in person than in pictures.
The closest (very close) I can say my VO Sapele wood really looks like is this picture of an Aeolus from the ZMF website.
Maybe Zach could tell us if all VO Sapele are finished with the vintage mahogany stain and the result just varies from unit to unit?
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alreadyused
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Just wanted to see how many of us are out there making headphone cups, stands, desks, listening stations, racks, etc. I thought it would also be fun to talk about projects and possibly inspire others.
Obviously, Zach at ZMF is the king of this. I like to dabble a bit:
The stain we put on the Verite Sapele is a aging agent more than a super dark stain (it kind of de-saturates on some pieces). On some pieces of sapele it darkens it a lot, on some not as much. As with everything wood, expect variance as we don't have control of the exact tone the same stain takes on with every piece of sapele, although we do use the same stain.
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Pharmaboy
Headphoneus Supremus
or "perpetual stench of vinegar out of suede" (!!)
Pharmaboy
Headphoneus Supremus
Apparently I was stained with this stuff at some point. Lemme tell you--the aging part totally works!
PsilocybinCube
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There are videos online of people washing their pads (not necessarily ZMF, but plenty of others). Most of those folks just soapy water and wring them out. Then they rinse them off with fresh water and let them airdry.
That seems reasonable...but maybe I'm crazy...
That seems reasonable...but maybe I'm crazy...
Been a couple weeks since I’ve enjoyed my Verite. Kicking back listening Pearl Jam’s MTV Unplugged album on the VO, driven by a Feliks Echo / Matrix Audio mini-i Pro 3, and drinking a 17 year Balvenie Peated Cask. Just sublime 
arftech
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You winning off the field.Been a couple weeks since I’ve enjoyed my Verite. Kicking back listening Pearl Jam’s MTV Unplugged album on the VO, driven by a Feliks Echo / Matrix Audio mini-i Pro 3, and drinking a 17 year Balvenie Peated Cask. Just sublime
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