ZMF EIKON & ZMF ATTICUS

Wow congrats @Vtory. You own one great headphone now man.

 

To me, eikon sounds like a baby between d5000 and lcd2.
Also unlike my expectation, this headphone didn't disappoint me even right out of the box. Pleasant surprise.
Of course I am excited to see how it is going to change after 100 hrs burn-in.

 

72 hours have passed. I assumed eikon did not need burn-in period in my day 1, but I was wrong it still got better.

This headphone sounds very resolving but forgiving at the same time. Even with poor recordings, eikon is very enjoyable. Of course with great musics, I am just blown away.

Here are my perceptions for three different headphones:
HD6xx : "Hey, unless you gave me a good source (both recordings/gears), I will not show my true potential."
Ether flow: "Don't worry. You don't need to invest more, I am already this great!"
Eikon: "You must be happy now. But don't you think I am more capable with higher level of systems?"

Will compare this with utopia very soon (tomorrow or so), to confirm that this is my end-game one. I am pretty much sure so at this point tho.

 

I'm confident it is my endgame! It's just so good at everything I've thrown at it.


http://m.imgur.com/gallery/DdisG

 

Today I could finally compare eikon with utopia. Very excited.
I've liked, or even worshiped utopia so much since I first auditioned them last year. Utopia sounded nearly perfect for me. But the stupid asking price strongly prevented me from owning them. I thought ether flow might be an alternative for me. While flow is quite enjoyable without much loss even matched to utopia, I cannot feel that flow has the same level of refinement or rightness in timbre accuracy or overall tonality.

And eikon came to my house. Having heard them for three days, I really wanted to hear utopia again to examine a certain hypothesis - Eikon might be my end-game headphone!.

This is my third time to hear utopia. Macbook, dave and wa5 were also used for listening (yes, I really envy this guy's wealth ).
Also listened to chosen tracks from Mahler #5 (Bernstein and WPhil), Beethoven #5 (Fricsay and BPO), Cho's Chopin (piano), Chung's Mendelssohn (violin), Eagles, Dire straits, Megadeath, Steely Dan, Daft Punk, Charlotte Church, Eliane Elias, X-Japan and so forth.

Here are my impressions:

• Utopia and eikon are rather similar than different with each other. Not only sound, but also ergonomics
• I had to concentrate intentionally to evaluate or compare the two, otherwise both of them easily hide themselves from my brain. Only music remains.
• Both effortlessly extend to the very low frequency (quite surprising for dynamic drivers). Eikon is much bassier (particularly much more subbass), but bass was well defined not bleeding into midrange. To my ear, eikon kills utopia here. Utopia is a bit bass-shy and may be too much critically controlled by comparison. Non-bassheads definitely prefer utopia to eikon.
• Both have their own mild but unique characters (technically speaking bumps and dips) in midrange - but not so extremely (e.g. Elear). Vocals are sweeter, warmer, and lusher in eikon. Utopia sounds more neutral. Presence is differently very good in both. Both are very clean and clear, maybe utopia is slightly cleaner.
• Utopia has been my dreaming reference in treble (and hd650 as a 'practical' reference lol) in terms of timbre / sibilance / stridency / top-end extension / brightness. Any other headphones felt 'maybe more enjorable but less appropriate' to my ears so far. Eikon sounds equally right. The biggest difference in treble is brightness. Utopia is tad bright while Eikon is a little darker. This makes eikon much more forgiving to poorer recordings (e.g. X-japan).
• Resolving power is on par. I can easily pick up small details and texture without losing every decay. Eikon just better expresses decay while utopia better illustrates nuance, although difference is minimal. Utopia's bright treble (not hd800 bright THO) conveys slight more information. This can be good or bad depending on recordings.
• Headstage is more open and consistent with utopia, but their images are smaller (thus less wow sometimes). Flow open did better in imaging, poorer in staging (thus less separated instruments sometimes). With eikon, both stages and images are sufficiently big, wide, and deep. Eikon uses cup resonance very effectively to mimic room reverberation, not losing details (unlike audio-technica's wood models). Combined with powerful macrodynamics, eikon gives me the better experience to enjoy Mahler's symphonies.
• Most of utopia's magics suddenly disappear when changed to Joten(SE) (from WA5) by comparison. Eikon does not lose that much in Joten(Balenced). Is this because utopia scales better or because of some anti-synergy? I don't know..

After enjoying comparison for several hours, I could confirm my hypothesis - Eikon is the very headphone that satisfies me the most, period. For me, Eikon is not a 'super hd650' (like some people described) but a 'poor man's utopia' (wow literally it makes a sense a lot!).

And this might be almost the transducer I can end up with (I know this is one of the most common audiophiles' lies haha). Why 'almost'? Because I still have strong curiosity on z1r .

P.S. I forgot to write this: I am very likely in the honeymoon period (thus 95% of my opinion must be biased ), and YMMV.

 

That is a great write up man. Thank you.

 

@Vtory Thank you so much for your continued impressions and testing with other headphones. What you are doing is a huge help to the rest of us. The more I hear about Eikon the more I want to actually hear the Eikon!

 

Fantastic! My most optimistic self was hoping they would be tuned the way @Vtory described... get the wallet out

 

I certainly love my Eikon. It actually wasn't supposed to stay, but I've chosen it over the HD800 for now. That said, I would caution that many are still in the "honeymoon" phase with these headphones so be careful how seriously you take impressions.

I don't really see anyone buying the Eikon and being disappointed. It has a smooth but forward tonality with good resolution, dynamics, and speed. It has neutral to slightly north of neutral treble, which is new for ZMF, but the treble remains smooth and the air frequencies are present. The bass is boosted tastefully, but I know some people are more sensitive to that than others, namely sub bass boosts. I don't find the bass to bleed at much at all, its very clean and doesn't color the the recording with exaggerated bass. Some might find the staging too closed in and intimate, I think that's the major flaw to this headphone.

As a closed headphone I think its basically untouchable in the market, and compared to open headphones I think it holds its own well enough to justify the price with good resolution, dynamics, and tonality at the expense of stage and some air.

 

Agree so much, and I also agree with your take on Eikon mostly. Three months (from preorder in Oct 2016 to delivery in Jan 2017) were long, but well deserved.

BTW, my experience is strongly telling me that eikon scales very well. I got very positive feeling from both dave and wa5. For source, I will upgrade to Gungnir Multibit (indeed currently waiting for it). For amp, I am still not very sure. Tubes did some magic, but wa5 is stupidly expensive. Maybe some offerings from decware, ampsound, or ec? (still quite expensive tho) The thing is that I do not want to lose anything Joten is doing now (particularly control, microdynamics, and plankton)

What amps and sources are you using with eikon?

 

I'm using the Audio-GD NFB11 right now. I haven't been sure where I was going since I gave up on my the HE-6 and speaker amp stuff.

Yea I do think that the Eikon will scale quite a bit, as I unfortunately hear all the complaints I have with the NFB11 very clearly with the Eikon. For the Eikon specifically, I think tubes might be the right way to go to get the "tube staging" coloration to try compensate for the closed in staging. Preliminary reports have been good that it works out quite well that way.

My primary plan was to build another Torpedo 1 amp, which I think is probably the best <$1000 tube amp for my tastes. The Eikon has impressed me enough that I'm also dreaming of the big boy amps as well. The IHA-1 (with full upgrades), ZDS, and possibly the new Decware Taboo (perhaps with a less warm tube combo, but I hate tube rolling). The Decware's warmth, huge lead time, and sketchy marketing puts me off so its mainly a race between the IHA-1 and ZDS. I think its a hard argument to make against an Eddie Current amp, though the ZDS does seem to suffer some softness/OTL bass.

Its all kind of moot and we need real impressions of this shit, so I recommend trying amps that are known to be good (and have good resale value).

 

Ampsandsound Kenzie is highly recommended. I've used it for LCD 3s, HD 650s, and Beyers. It has great synergy with almost every headphone I've tried with it.

 

I know it's still super early but can anybody chime in on the Eikon vs Elear?

Is the Eikon the better choice as an upgrade from the HD650?

I love my 650 but could do with better bass quality without sacrificing the smooth midrange or almost perfect treble (I could use a tiny bit more sparkle up top)

 

Open vs. Closed aside, I like Eikon more than Elear. Eikon's bass slams nearly as hard, but is more linear and extends lower, even if there is maybe a pinch less in quantity. Eikon does not have the upper mid dip that the Elear does, and Eikon actually has good bite and presence on electric guitars and female vocals that Elear really lacks. Elear is more laid back in the treble for sure, even though it has a spike or two up top. Eikon is definitely brighter, I wouldn't call it bright tho, neutral through the treble with a small amount of peakiness and sparkle. Stage width, weight, and comfort are all about equal

IDK about Eikon vs. 650, I'd have to think about that one more. HD650 is certainly warmer and more laid back... If wanting more linear, harder hitting, textured bass and more sparkle up top, Eikon would be moving in that direction. Atticus, FWIW, was like a parody of the HD650 especially in it's midbass and overall warmth, really not my style

 

How's the isolation and sound leakage on the Eikons? (page says "excellent" but that is not a precise enough term)

 

Average to good I'd say. They don't leak much and they isolate quite well with music playing, but they aren't the absolute best when it comes to isolation. I'd say its more than workable, though. I'd feel confident using these in a library, but I probably wouldn't use these on the subway (besides the obvious reasons).

 

Would you say they cut the people speaking from 1m away?
(Stupid open offices are stupid.)

 

@AstralStorm My listening area is in the corner of our living room, with the TV, couch, etc only separated by a curtain. Eikon has passed both my SO's sound leakage test when she is at her adjacent desk, as well as my isolation test when she is watching TV. I've been surprised how well isolating it is considering those vents. For reference:

Notable other passes:
ZMF Blackwood
Alpha Dog
PM3

Closed Fails:
TH-x00
MSR7

Edit: If music is playing, yes no issue for me from 1m away. You would likely catch the conversation with no music playing tho. Altho that's probably true for most non-iems

 

With music on? Easily. Without music maybe not quite.

 

For leakage. eikon doesn't leak much. When playing normal listening level (75db or so), it cannot be detected at 1m unless extremely silent space.
For isolation, eikon is better than very leaking closed cans (such as denon d5000 or audio-technica woodies), but less than very isolating cans (e.g. beats solo2). From my memory, eikon is almost the same or so with lcd-xc with regard to isolation.