Completely new member here, this being my first post (sorry it's a lengthy one). After reading every single page of this thread about the Vibro (and eventually the Blackwood) and seeing how highly regarded Zach's amazing creations are, well, I had to put in my two cents here. From the initial emails discussing some slightly unique finish options to just asking about pad options, Zach was ridiculously helpful and encouraging, and I hadn't even committed to a purchase yet! Once I pulled the trigger, it was both pleasure and agony watching my name move slowly up his handy self-updating order list, but then all of a sudden they had shipped.
I'm going to pause a moment here to say that I am completely new to head-fi beyond a cheap open Sennheiser set and some pretty decent Shure E2Cs that I've had for forever. I have, however, heard some ridiculously nice home audio systems at my local audio store and other places and I knew that somehow headphones could "get there" in terms of that kind of rich and dynamic sound. And for far cheaper than a pair of $13k floorstanders. At any rate, after reading the heaps of positive praise and impressions so helpfully provided here by you folks, I confess my expectations of my newly-crafted Vibro MK II cans were through the roof. Thus, my first evening listening to these through my three month old Grant Fidelity TubeDAC-11 was surprisingly lackluster. I had read about burn-in, so I didn't fret too much. Instead, I just listened to them a bunch and left them burning for a couple hours or so whenever I went out, and it seems that in just the past two days the sound has completely transformed into the butterfly I knew these could, should, be. Burn these cans, people! The bass is now rich and full, even down to some surprisingly low octaves by the organ in Bjork's "Virus." And this evening while listening to Porcupine Tree's "The Incident", the experience was not dissimilar to hearing the band live a few years ago in Portland playing the same material - loud, bold, dynamic, clear, musical! Like all good relationships, this 'phone definitely needed some time to open up, but now, what an amazing experience!
So, Zach, I personally want to thank you in a public forum for making astounding planar sound available to mere plebeians like myself. I am enamored with my Vibros!
As an aside, anyone else here have any experience with the ZMF/Grant Fidelity pairing? I have to pin the volume almost to full at times, but it definitely powers the 'phone. Good sounding amp, and the DAC even makes streaming from Spotify a joy.
Also, I am not sure if he is on these forums, but Instagram user headfiyyc provided quite a bit of helpful discussion when I was just starting to think about new headphones. Loving this community!
