ZMF EIKON & ZMF ATTICUS

@zach915m

Yes! UK loaner tour for SBAFs/Former ZMF customers...please make it happen Zach, I for one am willing to chip in for shipping, insurance etc.

 

Agreed. I'm sure enough of us EU chaps would be happy to cover shipping costs to get them here and back.

 

How do we convince Marvey to send that Utopia across?

Cover shipping and make a refundable deposit to the SBAF fund as collateral? I'm game. We need allies.

 

Yeah Utopia's like rocking horse poo over here at the moment. I've been trying to get a shop demo for ages, just can't pin one down.

International shipping isn't too expensive (and least from this side), it's the insurance that gets tricky ime. I use UPS via Interparcel and they tend to top out at £1k to £1.5k insurance. Covers the ZMFs nicely though ;-)

 

Yeah, it'd be lovely to try the Utopias somewhere quiet, and without a crappy NAIM streamer. That said, if they can sound that good with all those handicaps...

So, are you getting an itch to hear the ZMFs, then?

 

Well the Eikon in particular does sound interesting. Of course, having just sold my main headphones, I'm now on the prowl like a horny left handed snail.

 

What the f**k did I just read.

 

@AMW1011

Welcome to SBAF, sorry about your brain.

 

Thanks. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Psal posts here so there is bound to be some crazy shit.

 

Do the drivers have rubber surrounds like the TH-900?

 

Well, preorders for these two pairs of headphones will start tomorrow.
I am still highly expecting them, but it's a bit disappointing that ZMF didn't update any information that may be helpful to potential buyers. Personally, I would like to have a set of measurements to confirm objective tonal balances and distortion characteristics.

Also strangely enough, no highly influential reviewers (e.g. @Marvey here, @Tyll Hertsens IF, or even Jude HF) did not talk about anything since the last review from @gbeast - Did ZMF not send review samples to these people? Or because of NDF? I don't know...

 

Agree. I remain interested in the new ZMF offerings, but there's simply not enough info or data on these to jump in on a pre-order for me.

 

I was able to visit the ZMF corporate office and factory and take a listen to both headphones. Unfortunately, the listening was done on unfamiliar rigs and I didn't use my HD650s as a reference, so my impressions are probably limited in their usefulness. They are beautifully made and feel quite robust. The downside to all the wood, metal, and leather is that they are much heavier than what I am used to (but not unreasonably so). The differences between them as I heard them were as Zach describes on his website. The Atticus defintely has a very lush sound to it, with a boosted midrange. The Eikon is a little flatter and clearer. Both have some great bass. I could feel the grunt of some upright bass notes I was focusing on. Definitely don't get this kind of bass with the HD650's. Funny thing is that they measure quite similarly on his system than their sound differences would indicate. Hard to tell which one I like better, as for classical, I liked the cleanness of the Eikons better, but man did Norah Jones sound sweet out the of the Atticus. I feel that they resolved as well as the HD650's, but not sure if they did much more (hard to really dig in without my own gear and some more time). I wasn't blown away by the soundstage, but I didn't feel like it was too small, either. This is harder for me to remember at this point. The treble was very nice. I am very treble sensitive and neither can bothered me at all. This might mean these are too laid back for some.

When I asked Zach about tuning these to sound like closed HD650s, he said that it wasn't his goal. He did say that the best thing that the HD650s do is tonality and if anything, he worked a long time to get these right. This is the first time I have been excited for a closed/mostly closed headphone in a long time. Alot of the ones I have tried either had too much treble or not enough bass. I don't know if I can get one (most likely the Eikon) since I would like to build a better speaker setup.

And as for reviews, I believe he was just finishing up the final tuning when I visited a bit over a week ago so I would imagine review samples will be going out shortly. I hope better ears than mine get a chance to hear them and better articulate how these sound.

 

You didn't have a problem with the Atticus's mid bass?

 

Zach has an AMA right now on reddit...

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/5azy0h/zmf_headphones_ama_five_years_ago_i_modded_a/

 

The Eikon I heard at the PDX meet was actually quite good. In some ways it did sound like a souped up 650. Not sure if it's worth the premium over the 650 though.

 

It was more than I liked, which is why I ended up liking the Eikon better overall. Out of a Metrum Musette feeding a Decware OTL, both were overly warm, with the Atticus being too bloomy. Swapping over to an Yggdrasil feeding a Microzotl, they both sounded better and cleaner.

 

The Atticus I heard also had too much mid bass for my taste. The Eikon was a lot more balanced, and had excellent sub bass.

 

Zach has told me he really likes how the Atticus sounds now. It's gonna sound different in the upper bass than you heard when its done

 

Good to know! Still, between the two, if I was going to get one based on what I've already heard, it would have to be the Eikon.