ZMF Eikon Measurements and Review

Discussion in 'Headphone Measurements' started by purr1n, Mar 17, 2017.

  1. KarlStromberg

    KarlStromberg New

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    Thanks for your opinion on those models. As I own the Ether C and TH900 I can very much agree with that perception. I have been looking for an alternative to those closed backs two for a while now, because their faults (too thin in case of the Ether C and too V shaped in case of the TH900) started to get too annoying for me after a while. However I always felt the PM-3 which I also owned for a while is not on the same level. I ordered the TH-X00 PH end of last year and this one I can enjoy quite much, however I feel it's not as clear sounding as the other two. Therefore I was interested where The Eikon fits in that picture. Well the MDR-Z1R would be another possibility, but when I last heard it (which was unfortunately just for a few minutes) I thought the bass interferes too much with the nice highs and midrange. Well...finally need to drop the Ether C and TH900...
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    No idea. It looks the same as the Atticus (see photo in that thread).
     
  3. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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    @Daveheart It's Padauk. The other option is Cherry for the two of them (which is also a tad cheaper)
     
  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    ZMF Atticus and Eikon Sonic Attribute Comparisons with other closed headphones
    ZMF Sonic Attribute Comparisons.png
    Results from my custom 45 amp and VPI Classic 4 / Ortofon Cadenza Bronze / custom phonostage. Results using other gear will differ. For example, from my Jotunheim / Modi system, differences in plankton, microdynamics, macrodynamics are smaller.
     
  5. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

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    Any word on soundstage? These seem very interesting but for me personally soundstage is quite important, others might not care about it. Would you say smaller, bigger or about equal to HD650 for instance?
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    marvrig.jpg

    I finally had a chance to directly compare the Atticus and Eikon tonight and I am still hesitant to name a winner, even for myself. The Eikon slams just as hard and has such a great frequency response that works so well with every record that I put on. The Atticus is close. In fact, on recordings without much bass, it sounds just as good, a bit leaner, like on my HD650 K-modded. But when there is bass, the Atticus drives it home some explosive punchy mid-bass action. I do feel the Eikon has slightly tauter and clearer bass than the Atticus, although because of the Atticus' very slight dip in the upper bass / lower mids in relation to the Eikon, the Atticus can sometimes have the appearance of more clarity. The Atticus' driver does seem slightly faster, more lively, and more responsive to small changes to signal. The Atticus' cups produce a more reverberant sound with decay that plays off the wood. The Eikon seems to control this better. Finally, I find the Atticus' timbre to be colored a bit sweeter. There's some small amount of ortho DNA to the Atticus' driver, yet it still maintains its best dynamic traits.

    I found the soundstage more expansive in all directions, although the HD650 does have a more sense of openness. Hard to explain. I'd say on par with the TH900, which is no slouch in soundstage. In other words, I didn't hear anything wrong, coming from the HD650. The Ether C / Flow series soundstage I actually find more restrictive, closed, and lacking depth.
     
  7. Daveheart

    Daveheart Friend

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    Thanks. Yeah, I'm aware of the options but was just curious to see what was measured here. Not that I'd expect the differences to be large, but I'd like to see if the wood choice makes any noticeable difference in the measurements.

    Does anyone know how long the lead times are?
     
  8. Ash1412

    Ash1412 Friend

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    Which one do you think is more suitable for Jot? From your description, Eikon seems like a better pairing.
     
  9. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    You owe me a new keyboard and another bottle of Sam Adams. The intense pain of breathing alcohol I will forgive you for.

    :p

    Thanks for the charts and info! Seriously good stuff
     
  10. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    I liked the Eikon much more through my Jot. I adore it through my Milo. (I know some here aren't a fan of Wells stuff, but it really does sound great.)

    Others have said it, and I'll repeat it, something wicked good happens on the Atticus with tubes. My Elise wasn't a good pairing in tone, but other aspects improved such as staging and... feeling?... naturalness? Hard to put it into words. I think a better tube amp would have been sublime.
     
  11. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    The website says "Ships in 6-12 weeks" for either/both headphone(s).
     
  12. MattRG

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    Zach told me "about 6 weeks" when I initially purchased mine in February. He has a Google document that he sends you a link to that has all of the customer orders so that you can see what stage your headphone is in like "awaiting sanding" , "assembly" , "burn-in" and so on. Watching that document and the amount of time it's been taking for folks in front of me I think 7 - 8 weeks is going to be more realistic. I'm hoping for an early April arrival but we'll see.
     
  13. Rthomas

    Rthomas Friend

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    So a question about the Eikon for my next upgrade:

    I dislike the HD800 and HD800 S. I don’t want to bother with the HE-6’s amping requirements or with modding an Elear.

    Is the Eikon my best choice under $1500? (Purely based on sound quality.I prefer neutral with a bit of warmth)

    I’m happy with the HD650 but could do with a bit more clarity and tighter more defined bass.

    Open/closed: I have no preference as I do all my listening at home in a quite environment.

    Thanks!
     
  14. TwoEars

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  15. Rthomas

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  16. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    Silly question. If you have an Atticus and Eikon in the same wood species, how do you tell them apart? I see that pic from @Marvey, and immediately thought two different species are in order...
     
  17. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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    There's a somewhat subtle A or E stamped on the headband. Also if you order both in Padauk, Zach will make the metal gimbals of Atticus black (for Padauk wood they'd normally be silver) to further differentiate. But cherry always gets black gimbals, so it would just be up to that stamp.

    @Rthomas I haven't heard everything (although have owned everything you mentioned) and you're definitely on the right track if you don't mind closed (and despite those large vents they are definitely closed). It has nice low rumbly bass in the vain of HE-6 (not as great of course), great overall tonality, bettter extension than HD650, all around better than Elear IMO (even modded Elear, but that's much closer)....etc.

    Only word you mentioned that gave me pause is "clarity" in that Eikon is not elite here (certainly nowhere near 800) but it's not bad at clarity/speed/resolution, just not one of it's strengths.

    Edit in regards to @Elnrik comment below: Yes, I would say "clarity" of Eikon is better than 650, which you would be moving on from, I was more trying to compare against the best traits of all headphones mentioned.
     
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2017
  18. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    I'd argue it's better at that than the HD650 and Z1R for clarity, and would give many other popular similarly priced headphones a run for their money. No, it's not an hd800, but plenty of us are glad for that.
     
  19. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    plus the word steroids implies more strength. The edition X is clearer but weaker with poor dynamics. The Eikon is the way to go but it sounds less open than the 650. As long as you don't mind that I consider it an upgrade easily.
     
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2017
  20. TwoEars

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    @gbeast

    I'd strongly disagree that the Edition-X has poor dynamics. It moves a lot of air and hits pretty hard, harder than HD650 at least. Maybe the movement isn't as deep as a dynamic driver but it's can be very snappy when it needs to be. But let's not derail the thread... I only brought up my Edition-X was because he said he was considering the HE-6 but didn't like the amping requirements. But then the next thing he says he doesn't like HifiMan's out of principle... whatevs :rolleyes:
     

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