Verum Audio - Exciting high performance DIY planar

Discussion in 'Headphone Measurements' started by cskippy, May 24, 2018.

  1. Garuspik

    Garuspik Tovarisch Ukrainian Terminator MOT - Verum

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    Try to rotate cable jacks inside sockets. It can temporarily help.
     
  2. obsiCO

    obsiCO Thai Fish Experiment Gone Wrong

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    I've tried that too but no luck so far. But hey, thank you for the quick (literally in seconds) response! That alone makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. :D I'll be willing to try any suggestions you may have, though, so don't be afraid to throw 'em at me (maybe via a PM)!
     
  3. Garuspik

    Garuspik Tovarisch Ukrainian Terminator MOT - Verum

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    No more suggestions, I’ll ship you a replacement cable. Please pm me your address.
     
  4. bilboda

    bilboda Florida boomer

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  5. Echoes1516

    Echoes1516 New

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    Garuspik Will you keep the price once the pre-sale ends?
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    This is the quality that I liked most about it. It's got a responsiveness to signals like the HD600. Many other orthos sound stiff or square. The Verum flows.
     
  7. DEATHxMACHINE

    DEATHxMACHINE Friend

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    I decided to join the hype train (does hype train only apply to pre-release?) and order a pair in zebrano wood. Now for the 4-week wait but I am even more hyped after I saw what his email address is (obviously don't post/share it without his consent).

    I greatly admire audio enthusiasts that turn a hobby into a small business and provides their passion to others for a very reasonable price. The one thing I love most about the audio community. Its really neat to have another planar magnetic headphone from a enthusiast like MrSpeakers, ZMF and LFF. I am going to look forward to seeing what refinements, evolutions and new designs Verum will put out but for now I can't wait to give my impressions of the Verum 1.
     
  8. Walderstorn

    Walderstorn Friend

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    Funny that you mentioned that since i use mostly my (padded modded) HD600 with my Sonett 2. I agree that they present some similarities in their dynamic presentation than, for example, the Audezes i had the opportunity to try, albeit with a different setup (i disliked every and each one with the exception of the 2C).

    At first i will mention that these were used with the following setups:

    JRiver Flac/ Spotify - EITR - Metrum Jade - DNA Sonett 2 - Verum/HD600
    JRiver Flac/ Spotify - EITR - Metrum Jade - Cavalli Crimson - Verum/HD600


    I also agree that it's brighter than the HD600 and its here that i feel the biggest difference. Whenever i am hearing a piano the notes strike harder and i, as a former piano student (although a very crappy and untalented one), appreciate the nuances of the different hardness of each stroke. At the same time the vocals are not jeopardized when this happens, which is something that i truly appreciate. That said in some recordings some cymbals hit me a little bit more than i love, although not to the level that i start feeling fatigued (i wonder though how much it would take to "break me" after i heard orchestral music for more than 3 or 4 tracks). I wonder if i would feel it being a problem with my previous SS amps (i believe it would). This may be a personal thing and doesn't mean that it will reflect to anyone else.

    With the Sonett 2

    I really enjoy this homogeneity of the sound, whatever the source or the type of music. It's more than just being neutral, it's more as it does so much right and very little wrong and whatever the type of music i feel like listening i never worry about the possibility of cringing my teeth when "this or that song" comes up, which is something that can happen, for example, with my modded HD800 (they are still my favorites, even though i've been using the hd600 more these last couple of weeks).
    The bass hits harder but loses a little a bit extension (more on that when talking about the Crimson). Still it's much better than the HD600, in every single bass aspect that i can perceive.
    A very good pairing indeed.


    With the Crimson

    The Verum were very good with the Sonett but they excel (comparing the 2 setups) with the Crimson.

    One thing i can hear from the Crimson that i don't on the Sonett is how i can hear the reverb from some instruments. Even in "less than usual" recordings like Unravel acoustic the reverb of the cello is something that i appreciate a lot and i don't hear as present with the HD600, even though it's slighter brighter nature reveals itself.
    I can't stop thinking about how, even in lower volumes, i don't miss some instruments or slight musical nuances that almost disappear when using the HD600 at that said volume.

    The bass...the bass hits cleaner, bolder and there's more sub-bass. This is something that made me put the HD800 on the side lately and pick up the HD600 but with the Verum its just so much deeper and overall better in this aspect.
    The sound, as a whole, presents itself a tad clearer as well (the slight veil of the HD600 is the reason i have a whole on my pads).

    I simply love these with the Crimson on TRS Jack H with Low Gain, which is weird since i thought they would be preferred with L with High Gain (why was i thinking wrong? maybe someone can shed a light). The extension(s) as a whole is better with the Crimson than with the Sonett but i can imagine some people that feel that the 800's are too bright cringing with some highs. The DNA provides a "shorter" but also more "even sound" throughout the spectrum, which, maybe, will be preferable to some of you.

    Additional comment: It has been some time since i enjoyed rock this much (it's not something i hear everyday). From old rock, to punk, to modern crappy rock, these are very, very good.

    Strengths:

    Planars done right. Homogeneity Audeze, homogeneity. I just preferred them to the 2C (but those i didn't hear on my setup) and are the best i've tried so far.
    Bass extension.
    Weight (good distribution).
    Good imaging.
    Construction.


    Weaknesses:

    Can imagine it can become too bright with some setups. I wouldn't like them with my previous SS amps (they were nothing fancy though).
    Comfort / Very small hot spot for my medium to small ears.


    Strengths comparing to the HD600:

    Bass.
    Cleaner (compared with stock HD600).
    Nuances.

    Weaknesses comparing to the HD600:

    Treble.
    Comfort.
    Stage/Airness

    Nitpicks:

    Size/Aesthetics.
    A little bit more airness and imaging wouldn't hurt.


    As final thoughts i will keep these as my daily driver for now with the Crimson. In a week or so i will revert to my current setup Sonett + HD600 and see how much, if at all, i missed it.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2019
  9. Garuspik

    Garuspik Tovarisch Ukrainian Terminator MOT - Verum

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    @Walderstorn Cool! Very interesting and detailed review. I'm trying to read every review and have a file in excel where I write what people like and what don't ;)

    p.s. Size... They are not big really. Usual 105mm earpads and thin 2mm walls, but because of headband that sticks out of the cups they feel huge ;)
     
  10. Walderstorn

    Walderstorn Friend

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    Still changing minor things, including orthographic mistakes and some additional thoughts.
     
  11. Huhnkopf

    Huhnkopf Friend

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    General first impressions (Gungnir A2, V281 balanced out):

    -well balanced overall, neutral tuning and tonality well achieved, slightly bright treble, meaning north of the HD650, to my liking though as it gives the sound more liveliness and air.
    -overall definition is great. No bothersome peaks, harshness, hardness, no falling apart during loud volumes, can move a lot of air.
    -Big Speaker-like presentation which every planar should follow because planars (to me) cannot do soundstage/sharp imaging like dynamics; see HD800 as a reference and LCD-2C/LCD-3/LCD-X how a planar should not do it.
    -Very dynamic (both macro and micro) and lively headphone
    -really excellent big muscular (b)ass that goes very low and can react, turn, rumble, shake, bomb without slowing the overall presentation down, meaning it attacks and decays off fast enough while maintaining all that body, tactility. It's faster than the HE-500 for instance. The ideal EDM phone yet not being limited like all those that got this name before (LCD-2C, TH-900) etc.

    Resolutionwise it's (as to be expected) clearly not as resolving as the HD800 but makes up a lot of ground with a much better default balance and thus better compatibility with your music collection. That's not a very strong argument, true, but for the price it's near HD600/HD650 level (not the same) and those already kick a lot of ass so expectations should be tempered.

    First thing that came to my mind when I tried to grasp the overall feeling this headphone:

    cohorence and souvereignty.

    There's really nothing about this headphone that screams: Look where I'm good at, these are my qualities. hey, look at me. Compare with the LCD-2C and its fantastic bass and how the rest rather pales in comparison without a bit of modding (Dekoni Velour pads for instance) after you threw various genres at it that are not EDM or highlight its strengths. Or many other headphones that are rather one-trick ponies or do a few things good and then knock you off sooner or later once you give up making excuses for them because you really want to like them.

    This is already the biggest compliment I can give. It's powerful, strong, bold, it can slam, thud, kick. It's not "deadening" the sound, meaning it actually reproduces tiny decays (can't find a good word for it. it doesn't "cut off" the fading sounds) and reverbs it's fast enough (not HD800 like fast) to not smear and make you listen again and again during evaluation. Yes, it could be faster, more resolving (like the HD650 and above) and have better soundstage depth or less fuzzy imaging. However it competes at HD650 price and honestly. At that price I'd rather get this headphone and cover ALL my genres and give up the slightly better defined treble and resolution for a better, more lively presentation and that outstanding bass. It's simply so well done.

    Soundstage: Towering overall presentation, not very wide (HE-4 is wider) or deep (it's deeper than the HE-4) but you can clearly notice the "speaker-like" tuning Garuspik mentioned. I love this so much about the HE-500 which replaced the 2C in my house (and returned after many years of absence). Compare this with the LCD-2C where the headphone builds a (deformed) igloo of sound in and very slightly out of your head and reminds you its still a headphone. Yeah, no shit, those other two are also limited in what headphones can do compared to speakers but nonetheless it's a better "design" than trying to come off big and then collapse (LCD-2C) or don't show any effort at all. See for instance K701/Q701 where the stage is very oval/wide and then you have a hole in the middle.

    My first impressions vs. the HE-4 (balanced, Hifiman's slightly angled Velpads) are:
    The HE-4 is a special headphone which ultimately suffers from unnatural treble while being very fast, snappy, punchy, clean, very well extended on both ends. I wish it was as bright but better defined up top. It's kinda sad as that part kinda sticks out. Couldn't have it all back then, I guess.
    From an overall standpoint the Verum 1 is superior by naturalness, the body and weight it gives to the sound. Where the HE-4 seems cleaner and faster is especially in the bass but the lack of body kinda negates it. It's the Fernando Torres of headphones, ultimately still limited. And I loved that guy a lot. Still a keeper or me.

    HE-500 to follow.

    Preliminary verdict: The only Schlong in the world I'd ever eat.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2019
  12. ColtMrFire

    ColtMrFire Writes better fan fics than you

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    Kind of rethinking the HE4xx after reading all the praise for this. Never owned a planar and this might be a good place to start.
     
  13. ReAlien

    ReAlien Acquaintance

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    IMHO, you definitely should. Today, I listened to Verum and decided to buy them as I consider them to be better than my HE560 in many ways (I sold my 400i after buying 560). From my limited run, I can say that they definitely have more natural sounding instrument timbres and more deep bass (Amon Tobin tracks gained more weight in sub-bass). And they are not so harsh on your ears in HF range as 560 are. But the main thing is that they are more engaging and lively sounding, maybe its called dynamics, I'm not that versed in Hi-Fi slang. I listened to them with THX AAA 789 and Opus 1S.
     
  14. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    ^ What SBAF refers to as microdynamics. Responsiveness to signal, high granularity of volume levels in a small range, speed or instantaneousness of volume movements. The ability to dig into the swing of things.

    There may be terms used by other communities to denote the same or similar thing, we may be right or wrong, but it works for purposes of communication among members for better or worse.
     
  15. Youngarthur

    Youngarthur New

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    I have run these for around 40 hours now, including one 9 hour session, no hotspots on top of head/jawline pressure/hot earsI tried some other pads, but have gone back to standard as I could not detect any difference. These have been used with an HA1, both balanced/unbalanced, HiFi M8 iFi audio SE Amp, iFi dac,a couple of FiiO amp/Dacs.SSD iPod Classic/iPhoneXr, iPad. I listen to a wide range of music,Jazz/Dance/House/Classical.These have a very good overall balance, and a cohesive and Dynamic sound., and no distortion to my ears.As other people have stated, these are Speaker like in their presentation.The bass punches deep, my ears don't hear any bleed into the Mids, Mids are neutral, no forwardness, treble being clear,very life like, but no sharpness, or sibilance, The soundstage, is both wide and deep.One very slight niggle?.The Midrange occasionally sounds as if there is a thin blanket over it, or as someone else stated, a slight haze. I did try a bit of EQ, and this solved it for me.As my ears are nearly 79 years old, and I am not an educates man, take all this with a pinch of salt. One other thing to notice, I pick these up, not the HEK, HD800.
     
  16. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    Sir, I hereby notify you that I am reporting you to the Internet commission for excessively ironic usernames
    |\/|
     
  17. m17xr2b

    m17xr2b Friend

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    The last thing I expected arriving from work was to have a headphone size package on my doorstep. Total transit was just 10 days. The box looked like it had a fight with Rocky.

    Packaging is spartan, just the headphones and cable all wrapped up in a lot of bubble-wrap, no bag or a box to contain the headphones, nothing at all. I know low cost was a consideration and I'm fine with it. I don't need a fancy wood carved box I'll never see again that raises the price. There is quite a strong smell of industrial glue mixed with leather that quickly dissipated, felt like my father's workshop.

    Comfort is better than expected. I was fearful of the clamp as I bend most of my headphones but it was a perfect match right out of the box without adjusting anything.
    The earpads and headband are uber soft and hug my face well,clamps just a smidgen more than my ideal, you can feel the headband but in an informative way not this is going to hurt way. Overall one of the better headphones for overall comfort and I don't see any issues for long term listening. Genius magnetic pad system, some 2K headphones use glue. A bit of the heavy side but I'm used to steel band Audeze.

    Build quality is impressive overall, the carbon fibre texture feels thick and I can't see any issues on corners and such.
    The right outside silver grill on my pair is a bit loose, I can easily peak it off and see the magnets. Inside there are white sticky pads holding the black mesh to the metal grill and the same ones have to secure the grill to the cups. After pressing it with a bit of force it stuck properly but I have a feeling it might not last. This may not be the best approach as in time those white sticky pads could give way. A magnetic system would be great but overkill. Pads fit my ears nicely but just bearably. Utopia doesn't.

    Bulkiness is a slight issue, the cups are quite wide and the swivel hinges add more to the overall width. Because of this I feel them pushed forward when I recline into my chair. Pillow users be warned.

    Cable is mediocre like most offerings but above the HD6XX one, no balanced option. My main gripe with it is the 2.5mm connectors, these are pretty hard for me to solder, I can't use my bulky wires and posh connectors are harder to find.

    Initial impressions with Apex Peak/Volcano using ECC32 and Pavane:
    - fantastic balance, it's rare to hear a headphone without a focus on a particular frequency band.
    - quite neutral tuning, not to the level of my HD580's but close.
    - bass is not as punchy as LCD-3/4 but extends well into the subbass and sounds ruler flat. Would have liked more mid bass. Control is good but not great.
    - midrange has a slight hollowness to it and slightly pushed back , tone is near good to excellent, plenty of detail
    - high end is just a tad steely but doesn't have any sort of weird artefacts. Shimmers and sparkles as a good headphone should
    - mids don't bleed into low end
    - plankton is about average tho most headphones I've heard are about average. For a planar it's excellent and impressive, wipes the floor with LCD-2.
    - good instrument separation but has a softness to the edges.
    - impressive imaging, can create a realistic scene.
    - soundstage width is above average with good distance from my imaginary seat. LCD-3 from memory sounds more closed in.
    - most instruments are presented on the same plane so depth isn't a strong point.
    - high end is mostly sibilance free. I'm pretty sensitive to treble peaks and thankfully the Verum does a remarkable job at presenting detail without harshness. I've heard 3K+ planar headphones that fail at this.
    - can't really find a major/medium fault
    - lacks warmth(coloration)

    By the end of my writing the left outer grill came off again and I really don't care, it's no worse than my Audeze/Abyss driver failure and I'm sure Garuspik will help me out. For 240£ these are without a doubt the best price/performance headphone beating my beloved HD650 for value, then again the HD58X is great value and I don't like them because the HD650 is just a bit more but sounds better. With the Verum to get a slight improvement I'd have to spend at least triple for a better planar.

    Overall it exceeded my expectation with soundstage and frequence balance being my favourite aspects of it.
    This is the headphone I'd recommend to a friend getting into the hobby if looks are not a factor.

    Next step is to get a better cable,try it out on my big amps and WM1A,do critical listening against my reference and test scaling.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2019
  18. Garuspik

    Garuspik Tovarisch Ukrainian Terminator MOT - Verum

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    @m17xr2b - I'm sorry for the came out of the grill. It was -20c when I shipped you headphones and they were stored at such temperature for several days in post office warehouse. I've already heard complaints about those problems and fixed it but... early backers have received headphones with such cosmetic issue. It doesn't affect the sound yet I feel ashamed ;(

    How to fix that problem?
    Grill is connected to cups with 2-sided tape that is about 1.5-2mm thick. So you just need to accurately detach grill, remove old 2- sided tape, install new one and attach grill back. You need to detach 2-3 pieces of 2-sided tape and then it'll be easy to detach grill.

    Cold wheather vs 2-sided tape - 1:0 ;(
     
  19. AudioFriend

    AudioFriend Facebook Friend

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    This thread is so full of text... No pictures for the toddlers like me, who are waiting for their unit... o_O No one has camera nowadays? ;)


    Edit:
    @m17xr2b: Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2019
  20. m17xr2b

    m17xr2b Friend

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