ZMF Verite Closed

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by Vtory, Jul 21, 2019.

  1. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    does the closed ZMF Verite present a wider or deeper head stage when compared to the typical Focal Utopia / Stellia small/narrow head stage? (assumption here is Stellia has similar Focal traits)
     
  2. m17xr2b

    m17xr2b Friend

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    It was a short audition so take this with a grain of salt, soundstage didn't feel like a strength of the closed Verite, where for the Stellia did.
    I find the Verite as the ideal closed ZMF headphone if the warm, lush tuning is what you're after. I'd rather take it over my former Eikon that's for sure.
     
  3. yvv

    yvv Acquaintance

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    I did a short A/B between the Eikon/Stellia/Verite Closed and I used to have the Atticus.

    The Verite C is a big step in the direction of more neutral sound. Bass is tighter and punchier, but still on the warm side and not clean enough with lingering notes indicating resonances. What I really liked was increased resolution in the midrange without adding nasality, congestion or harshness. Much more natural. The Atticus lacks resolution in this area and the Eikon is congested. Nothing stood out in the treble but the show conditions wouldn't allow to judge it anyway. The ZMF stand was super popular and very noisy.

    Also I listened to it from the Glenn OTL with a rather strange choice of tubes (RCA 6f8G/Mullard 6080) which IMO didn't play to the headphone strengths.

    Soundstage-wise the Verite C is deeper and wider than the others including the Stellia.

    Also take the opinion with a grain of salt. It was a short audition (20-30 min?) but on familiar music. I'm also not a fan of the ZMF house sound in general. A neutralhead.

    I've spent much more time with the Stellia. I think it still is the best closed headphone in terms of tonality, resolution and timbre but it does feel claustrophobic and the highs are beryllium and the weight and comfort are sub-par. And it still sounded worse than any half-decent open back. £2799 for this? Common.

    The Verite C for £2100 is a better value IMO if there is such thing as value in this type and price category. I would kill for that gorgeous Desert ironwood alone. The craftsmanship, the comfort and build quality are top-notch.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2019
  4. yvv

    yvv Acquaintance

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    And by the way (I hope Zach, @zach915m doesn't mind) it's gonna be called the Verite Closed.
     
  5. A Child of the Jago

    A Child of the Jago Facebook Friend

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    Spent a bit of time at the ZMF stand and auditioned the Verite closed – comparing to the open Verite its most immediate difference was soundstage which felt far wider and deeper than the opens and impressed me greatly; the closed also sounded a little more euphonic and considerably warmer.

    The closed was so noticeably warmer that I assumed it was the amp and asked Zach about the Glenn OTL and its tubes and he said he’d set it up to be neutral… so make of that what you will but it seems that the warmth was inherent to the phones rather than the chain.

    The closed seem quite different to the open in the sense that they don’t seem related but I enjoyed it a lot and came within a hair's breadth of putting a deposit on it and then had spontaneous nervosa about not trusting my own judgement and walked away with an Auteur.
     
  6. zach915m

    zach915m MOT: ZMF Headphones

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    Just wanted to apologize for anyone who was at the booth that I didn't get to go through the different iterations of the Verite Closed we had at the table. It was super busy and I had trouble keeping track of what headphone was where.

    Between the four sets, although they were all tuned the same, we had two Desert Ironwood sets and two ash (final stock wood is monkeypod, similar density),but there was quite a bit of possibilities of timbre and pad tuning.

    One of each set of wood had the universe pads, with a narrower stage and more punch, closer to Verite tuning.

    One of each wood had the auteur pads, which have the more open stage and more neutral frequency response.

    Then on top of that the extreme density of desert ironwood puts that African blackwood like speed punch and smooth filter on.

    The headphones will come with three sets of pads, both lambskin types of universe and auteur, and a hybrid pad with suede and leather for those wanting a more true neutral experience. So there's a lot going on. My apologies and I know it makes it harder to follow impressions online where one person may say "wide stage" (monkeypod and auteur pads) and another may say "typical zmf warmth" universe and ironwood.

    Thanks for stopping by the booth and sorry if we didn't get to chat!
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2019
  7. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    @zach915m all solid and valid explanations.
    am actually more interested in:
    a) did you find any food in London worthy of an evolved palette or merely survive on fish n chips n ales?
    b) if you show up at RMAF speaking with a british accent. ;)
     
  8. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    There were a few nice pizza places near me when I lived in South Kensington, though I wasn't OK with paying premium 3-course meal prices for a just pretty good pizza and a beer.

    I mean the beer was like 5 pounds aka 8 euro aka an excellent pizza and beer here where people know how to cook it everywhere.

    The Indian places are also usually solid.

    Other than that honestly it was cornish pastries or starve.

    The actually good British food - shepherd's pie and such - was impossible to find at non-extortion restaurant prices when I was there.
     
  9. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    confirmed then, nothing has changed much since 1998. other than GBP per beer and food item.
    ps. at least I got to see Arsenal at Wembley once. (no need to return)
    (sorry back to real ZMF talk please.)
     
  10. ChaChaRealSmooth

    ChaChaRealSmooth SBAF's Mr. Bean

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    For those who want to buy the Verite Closed, it's up on the ZMF website. I imagine the ironwood LTD will go fast.
     
  11. DEATHxMACHINE

    DEATHxMACHINE Friend

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    Sweet. Releases on my birthday. A good excuse to buy one. Not like I needed one though.
     
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2019
  12. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    @zach915m is magnesium an option on these?
     
  13. zach915m

    zach915m MOT: ZMF Headphones

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    MG chassis is standard - I'll make sure I get that on the site today.
     
  14. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    Dear admins, could you please change the title of this thread to just "ZMF Verite Closed"? (as the name confirmed)

    upload_2019-8-10_12-29-5.png

    I am also surprised that African Blackwood ltd became available again because I thought it impossible due to the updated CITES appendices.

    Kinda looking forward to seeing Verite (open) Ironwood or Blackwood some day. Must be awesome.
     
  15. Elmer Danilovich

    Elmer Danilovich MOT:Earmen, HeadAmp, Bricasti; AKA:MShenay

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    We share a birthday then!

    I do like the naming as simply closed. While the Eikon/Atticus thing was cool the simplicity of Verite and Verite Closed falls is nice! Even better I'm thrilled to hear MG chassis is standard and additional pads are included!

    That said a more resolving ZMF closed back has been at the top of my wish list since I sold my Eikon, while for now Jude's measurements will suffice, @zach915m looking forward to your measurements when you post them. I would ask if you could have different measurements for each pad in addition to your own impressions though I imagine that was your plan already
     
  16. lighty

    lighty New

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    The new labels for the ZMF Dynamics is much simpler, I like it. Also the Aeolus LTD with rose gold grille looks amazing.
     
  17. zach915m

    zach915m MOT: ZMF Headphones

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    Took some graphs last night both for myself and to post here and everywhere. I wanted to really listen to the V closed next to the open and try to pinpoint the differences since that's probably a good frame of reference for anyone considering one.

    • V closed accentuates note attack a little more, it might be because it's closed and you get more immediate decay/cup reverb, or because the 8-10Khz region is more accentuated by a few dB's.
    • V closed is less euphonic in the mids - you can see this easily in the measurements. It makes everything a little less breathy, and likely what most consider closer to neutral.
    • V closed has a touch more rumble in the subby sub bass.
    • The sense of space and dimension is similar on both, but the open has that "can't pinpoint" the distance of the head-stage effect because it's more open. The closed you can imagine the position of what you're listening to easier, because a little of that space isn't there.
    • Because of the closed nature, sound attenuation, and maybe a slightly smoother THD the closed in a way seems to have a blacker background. With the open I was carefully playing with cup-reverb and the amount of wood used to get the effect I wanted, where'as with the closed I had to make everything more uniform in damping methods and airflow. You can see by the below THD graph the closed is just a hair smoother, which might explain it a little.
    These are taken with our AP system. AECM206>AP1701>AP515 audio analyzer in an anechoic box we made.

    THD_V_Closed_OpenVerite(dotted).jpg

    Here's some measurements. The pads I am excited to get in are the auteur hybrid pads with suede on the top and lambskin elsewhere. They should be a little more "flat" in the bass and add some of that suede texture. You can ofcourse use all solid suede pads too. I will work to get a comparison of all pads for each headphone on the site at some point.

    This is Diffuse Field Compensation on all graphs BTW.

    Universe Solid Lambskin (dotted) Vs auteur solid Lambskin (solid)
    Closed_a_vs_closed_U.jpg

    Here's some comparisons with the Verite.

    Universe Perf on Verite (dotted) VS Universe Solid on Verite Closed (solid)
    V_cl_U_vs_v_Ver_U.jpg

    Verite Pads perf (dotted) on Verite VS auteur pads on Verite Closed (solid)
    V_cl_aut_vs_v_Ver_P.jpg
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2019
  18. Aeron

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    I’ve only had a brief time to listen this afternoon, but I’m comfortable saying that the VC has a superior stage to my former Utopia or Clear, both in width and depth.
     
  19. Aeron

    Aeron Facebook Friend

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    I’ve spent some time with the Vérité Closed, damn these are an incredible addition to the ZMF Lineup. I’ll be waiting more detailed impressions shortly, but a brief synopsis (using a Hugo2/Airist R2R, WA5/Euforia, ZMF Vérité Open, Aeolus, Atticus). Take the great tone of the VO, move it forward, with greater percussive impact, bass, and increased dynamics and you have the VC. It’s become my “go to” headphone for rock, Americana/Folk, metal, classic rock, and jazz.
     
  20. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    Quoting Zach from Head-Fi for those who ordered Verite Closed Today

    "We have about 20 of each (Ltd and stock) in production that will be finished and shipped in the next 10 - 14 days. The monkeypod will ship faster as we received a number of ironwood orders already from people at shows (London and rmaf) - I am doing my best to secure more Ironwood as I am anticipating it will be sold out quickly, if I am able to do so I will leave it selling as long as we have units we can make.

    The whole plan was to have as many ready to ship as we could for the 20th and we are way ahead of where we were with any other release, so it won't be the typical wait from our previous pre-orders, which is why we're just calling it a "release discount" instead of a "pre-order discount" for 300 off.

    I will run the discount through Zmfestivus weekend until the 7th of October for both models (Ltd and stock)."
     

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