ZMF Bokeh Review: Just Can't Get Enough

So first, gratitude for being allowed in this loaner tour. Thanks to @ChaChaRealSmooth and @zach915m for this loaner.

As I noted in my Sennheiser HD660S2 review, I am not real experienced with headphone listening. I’ve had my Koss’s for around 7 months now, and am used to them and like them a lot. They share a lot of that “planar/ribbon” sound that I’ve centralized in my speaker system for over 30 years now.

Chain: LP>Denon 301II MC>SME>Skoll (SE)>Kara (balanced)>Bokeh via Kara headphone amp/jack
Chain: CD>Phillips>Yggdrasil (balanced)>Kara (balanced)>Bokeh, …

So, my only cross references are the Koss’s and my recent memories of the Senns. But, that is partially obstructed by another change in the system since then: the arrival and insertion of Yggdrasil A1 (the original).

Here’s my initial take (both via Yggdrasil and with LPs):
1. I like these a lot more than the Senns pretty much across the board
2. In some ways I like them more than the Koss’ in other ways I don’t
3. They are comfortable enough on this 7 5/8 hat size head
4. The pads are a nightmare, even if I didn’t have hand arthritis it’d be fiddly AF, with it, it literally took me 30 minutes to figure out how to invert/roll them back on. (They were loose when I received them)
5. I think they are beautiful
6. I love that the closed design blocks out background noise.

Now on to specifics I observed (many of which correlated to @Ksaurav402

I find the midrange to be very big, warm and “bloomy” (note that I do NOT consider bloom to be a flaw, to me real instruments, most especially for example, vibraphones are all about “bloom”…). The mids reminded me of Rodgers LS3/5A’s driven by a good tube amp. Big, blowsy, warm, phat… let’s call it organic. On some pieces, this was GOLD to me (e.g. small group Jazz), in others it just didn’t sound REAL to me (especially my well known classical references.

Bass on some pieces was over-done (likely because closed/resonance?), but not objectionable, just not as “real” as the bass I get from my Koss’s

Sound space sounded very big, a bit overdone/echoey to me (but again, my reference is planar/ribbons). Again, likely do to physics of being closed.’

As @Ksaurav402 pointed out, it is obscuring some details in the upper highs (especially noticeable in direct back and forth A/B with my Koss. The Koss’ were just “cleaner, smoother, higher”. Neither were etched or anything like treble f’ery/DSS nastiness…

It may sound like I didn’t like them, but the reality is I liked them a lot. Should I convince myself that I *need* a close set, they would be first on my list in fact. They had some of the ribbon magic I like (not all mind you, but more than the Senns did). An analogy might be in order.

For those that remember back in the day (let’s say 80’s, but true in the 70’s as well). We all had/started with MM carts, and, for a while, the best sounding were Grados… then came MC’s…

This headset has (to me) very much that warm, rich-mids, solid bass, rolled treble “Grado MM sound”…

I’ve one more day and night of listening (shipping off to @ilikebananafudge Saturday morning. More impressions anon.

 

OK. All I said before holds, but there are variables I discovered:
1. They (generally) LOVE Jazz (well recorded), that midrange bloom/warmth is like a marriage made in heaven for things like, say, tenor sax
2. I didn’t like them at all on my rock or prog references; preferred the Senns here TBH
3. They loved classical as well, but… w/o the soundscape/stage they had on Jazz… seemed a tad constricted (too many distinct simultaneous instrument lines maybe?)

The quality is obvious.

Thanks again for opportunity.

Off later today to @ilikebananafudge_

 

As usual, thanks to everyone that made this loaner possible, especially @zach915m for bringing these beauties into existence!

The build quality is typical ZMF, which is to say extremely good! I thought they were super comfortable and looked gorgeous. They also felt very light on my head—even lighter than other ZMFs for some reason. I prefer the standard ZMF hardware that comes with other ZMFs a little more, but I thought the Bokeh hardware was still excellent. As others have mentioned, swapping pads on the Bokeh is a little harder than other ZMF models, but I honestly didn't have too much trouble.

The Bokeh are warm, bassy, and smooth. I thought that the tuning was definitely on the dark end of the spectrum, with ample bass and tame highs. I'd say that they're warmer and darker than my Verite Closed (Blackwood). I never detected any unwanted peaks in the frequency spectrum no matter how loud I cranked the volume. The Bokeh are decidedly non-fatiguing headphones. Despite the ample bass quantity, I didn't think that the bass bled into the mids, but I tend to like a lot of lower mids. I noticed that there wasn't much of a sense of upper treble "air" with the Bokeh, but the treble was present enough to prevent them from sounding claustrophobic.

When listening at low volumes, the ratio of bass to mids was somewhat unbalanced to my ears. It made vocals sound thin and distant to me. However, when I turned the volume up a bit, this ceased to be a problem. This also happened to me back when I owned a pre-fazor LCD-2. I always felt like there was something missing in the mids at lower volumes. The Bokeh had a similar sensation to me, which I guess tracks with @purr1n's assertion that the Bokeh has an Audeze-esque turning.

I felt like there was a little bit of woody resonance to the sound of the Bokeh, especially in the bass. There was definitely less than the Atticus or Verite Closed, though. Speaking of the bass, I noticed that kick drums sounded better on the Bokeh than I've ever heard them on any other headphones. Perhaps this has to do with the relatively quick transients, coupled with the strong bass response. I found that the transients were somewhere between the snappy transients of the Auteur Classic and the slower transients of the Atticus, probably leaning more towards the Auteur Classic.

As for detail retrieval/plankton/microdynamics I thought that the Bokeh were a little behind all of the other ZMFs that I've heard (which are the Atticus, Aeolus, Auteur OG, Auteur Classic, Atrium, Verite Closed, and Caldera). There was still a good amount of detail, but I noticed that subtleties in the music were less defined and harder to hear with the Bokeh. It had a simplifying effect on the music.

The Bokeh scaled somewhat, but not dramatically. It's something I wouldn't worry about if I were a Bokeh owner—they sounded good out of anything. In fact, I think this is one of their greatest strengths. They really work with gear that is otherwise harsh or edgy. For example, I find that the upper mids and treble of the Piety are prickly and fatiguing, but I could put the Piety in high gain and crank the volume with the Bokeh and I didn't get any fatigue. In fact, they sounded great! The Piety was a great pairing. Another good pairing was my iFi micro iDSD Signature Finale (what a moutful!) because it emphasizes the mids, which improved the bass to mids ratio at lower listening volumes.

Overall, I really like the Bokeh, which is not surprising considering there are four ZMF headphones in my house between my wife and myself. The Bokeh are warm, bassy, smooth, and forgiving. They're excellent when you want to crank the volume and rock out without any fatigue. It's really impressive that Zach keeps creating excellent headphones that are all different from each other and from other headphones on the market. Bravo!

 

Review done with only the hybrid pads.

First off, these things weigh just as much as my LCD-2’s, and I am not kidding. I had to weigh them just to make sure. 528g vs 532 for the LCD-2’s. I mention that because I used to see complaints about neck muscles with planars, but maybe we have all become more accustomed to heavier headphones.

I love a good around the ear headphone with cushy pads. Although it is so big and heavy, it is like two coconut halves against my head. I know many people like ZMF headbands, but they are not very comfortable for smaller heads like mine as I am all the way down and they still don’t feel super secure. And I am a big fan of the big cushy pads, although you have to be careful with tuning because the driver is now further away from your ear and things bounce around.

They measured around 81ohms on the DC resistance of my meter. Very efficient. Impedance confirms 80ohms.

I was warned that these need a day or two of brain burn in. The first day was just no good at all. The mids seemed pushed in an unnatural way. I felt like it was missing some low mids, too hot in the mid-mids, and rolls off too early in both directions. They are warm and smooth as others suggested, but something was just too bloomy in the mids. I was partly true by looking at FR.

I will say they do have some low end punch. Very good in the sub-bass region, but you can tell, there is a weird dip between 100-200hz, which is where a lot of mid-bass punch comes from - kick punch, bass guitar thump, etc. And yes, you can kind of tell this is missing, but then still has a push in the not so great 200-400 region. You want better bass clarity, then dip this area.

I see how people get sucked into ZMF headphones. They are magically enveloping and one other comment called them a “vibe” headphone and I would agree. ZMF’s can have a color and you are either going to like it or not. I am not talking about just SQ though…these definitely have something wild going on with the accuracy, the details, and the instrument separation. They do sound more like “open” headphones than even my HD650’s do. They don’t sound like closed headphones at all.

The top end does come through with great details. It never gets too hot in the highs, but the details sound fast and quick. I was worried about this with them being closed and seeing the “Atrium Damping System”, but nothing sounded over-damped.

Although these still to me sound like listening through smoked glasses, they still have a seductive romantic sound. The vocals are up front and the reverby instruments are pushed back and everything still has space. I tried a bit of EQ to dial in some of those low-mids out and push up the high-mids just a touch and it was really enjoyable. They are very polite, resolving for what they are and exceptional with acoustic music. Some rock music and more aggressive tracks may not show off quite as much.

Note, I did find that these did better out of my Mjolnir 1 than out of the DNA Starlett. The Starlett made them less exciting, less dynamic, and a little stuffy. Lower impedance headphones will likely always sound better with solid state sources in my experience. So the fact you don't need a megabuck tube amp to make these shine should make many happy. I did not test on my Vali 1 or my Piety (these past 6-weeks at work have been killing me and luckily that project is now over), but I can tell they will do extremely well in those type amps and most likely for portable, but I will let others speak on that.

 

I figure I might as well repost the review I posted on Head-Fi. I didn't sign up for the SBAF loaner since I almost never use closed backs, but when I had the chance to have a Bokeh in house, I couldn't resist. I’ve been curious about the Bokeh closed ever since it came out,but more so since I heard the Bokeh open prototype at CanJam NYC in March. When I heard the open version on a modest Schiit stack, I was truly caught up in the music. I generally don’t get along well with closed back headphones due do persistent tinnitus being agitated and this was true for the Bokeh Closed as well, though to a lesser extent. Unlike many closed back headphones,I wanted to keep listening for longer stretches despite that fact.The Bokeh closed is an entrancing headphone. Despite the fact that the Bokeh open is forthcoming, I’ll refer to this as the Bokeh from here on out for brevity.


I think from now on when I write a ZMF review I need to include a disclaimer. At what I think was my 1st headphone meet, I heard my 1stheadphone from ZMF: the Vibro (probably MK II). I hadn’t been seriously contemplating headphones very long, but when I heard that headphone I knew: that was the type of sound I was looking for. It lead me to my 1st blind purchase (the Eikon) and from there the Aeolus. Both have been sold since but I currently own an Atrium open, and I don’t think that’s going anywhere soon.Needless to say I am a fan of the ZMF house sound, so it’s not likely I’ll be posting a negative review. I’ll still be honest and call it like I hear it, but with ZMF there is a track record of me liking what I hear.


My audio chain consists of mostly FLAC and some MP3s from my HP EliteDesk to my Schiit Bifrost 2 (not 64) to either an ifi Pro iCAN or my ZMF Pendant(1st gen). I tried the Bokeh from many sources including my diminutive Fiio M6, Shanling Up4 and Fiio E10K. The easy to drive80 ohm Bokeh sounded wonderful from all sources, indeed they seems to be fairly amp agnostic. There was a particularly lovely synergy with the Pendant so I did the vast majority of my listening from that amp.As I was finishing up writing this, I was lucky enough to get ears on a Mjolnir 3for a few days, and that made a fine combo too.


Another consideration with any ZMF is the pad options, and there are many.Each will change the sound somewhat, and there are more in depth reviews out there that will give you an idea of what each pad brings to the table. I won’t beat the already dead horse (difficulty ID-ing pads and odd cumbersome names that don’t necessarily make sense) but I stuck with what I think are the stock pads, the Caldera Thin Hybrid Top Perf Pads. I tried some of the other pads I had on hand with the loaner: the Caldera Protein, also called Bokeh protein I think, which are perforated on the top; and the Caldera Closed Suede pads but I kept going back to stock. I found them to have the best blend of euphony and detail for my tastes.


Unsurprising to me,the build quality is top notch. In my experience ZMF has a high standard for QC, and the Bokeh on hand is a great example of that.Beautifully crafted wooden cups that are...well, just plain beautiful as well. Comfort is very good, especially for a (+/-) 480g headphone.Having had so many years working with wooden headphones, ZMF has done a great job of making heavier cans easier to wear IMO.






One of the 1st things I noticed was that the Bokeh closed has a surprisingly wide stage. IIRC the Verite closed is deeper and wider, and I imagine the Atrium closed is as well, but the Bokeh is definitely no slouch. I’m guessing there seems to be something about the ADS (Atrium Dampening System) that really helps with a sense of space. Obviously it’s not just the ADS as the Verite series doesn’t utilize that particular tech, but whatever it is the Bokeh’s stage made me take notice. Excellent imaging as well.


Tuning is more on the fun side, with a bass that hits hard and goes pretty deep. The bass is also a lot cleaner than I’ve come to expect with a fun tuning, maintaining good speed and articulation. It’s a good rendering IMO with enough bloom and emphasis to be fun without being too obtrusive. I do enjoy some bass heavy music, and I had fun seeking out different tunes to try.


Going for a somewhat“V” shaped tuning, ZMF decided to put a more even tuning in the lower mids, sloping down to the upper mid/low treble range. That being said, all vocals sounded well represented to me. The dip in frequency wasn’t distracting unless I was listening for it. I found the Bokeh to be surprisingly engaging with acoustic music like Jack Johnson, Regina Spektor, Brandi Carlile etc. which I don’t always find to be the case with headphones tuned to sound “fun”.


Treble is on the relaxed side to my ears, as I usually prefer a little more oomph in the 5/6k area, but I wouldn’t go so far as calling treble rolled off. Laid back and ear friendly for my tastes, but self avowed treble heads won’t likely be satisfied. There’s not a lot of shimmer and sparkle to the treble but as far as I can hear, which is admittedly not very far so take with a grain of salt please, all the sonic information is there.


No surprise that I don’t find the Bokeh to be a detail monster. Again, I don’t feel as if I’m missing anything however I also don’t think this headphone was designed to be an audio microscope. This headphone epitomizes the idea of sitting back & enjoying the music, perhaps with your finest liquid of choice. Even if the Bokeh isn’t the last word in resolution, it doesn’t leave out much IMO and makes up for it in engagement (obviously for my tastes etc. etc.).


For a comparison, I thought the best I had on hand would be my ETA Mini-S. ETA is a small company just getting started in the audio world, and like ZMF I’ve enjoyed every headphone I’ve heard from them. The Mini-S is a semi-open headphone with a 32ohm voice coil & a 50mm graphene composite diaphragm selling currently for $499 (USD). The differences for me are more of a matter of preference than one headphone being clearly better than the other, which is in itself an accomplishment.


The bass of the Mini-S is a little more pronounced, and the sub bass reach is similar, with the Bokeh emphasizing the lowest notes a bit more. I found the mids to be more relaxed on the Bokeh with the ETA sounding more forward, though not shouty or harsh on my chain. Treble is also more evident on the Mini-S, though once again never getting too hot for my preferences. Surprisingly headstage is wider and deeper on the Bokeh, despite the Mini-S being semi open. Transients are snappier on the ETA, and as I’ve noted the Bokeh is more fluid. I also found them pretty much equally resolving with the edge going to the ETA, though that might just be because of the treble presence and livelier transients. So for me which headphone I’d reach for is all about what mood I’m in.


The Bokeh is very engaging headphone. Obviously it’s not perfect. If you value lightning quick transients and more treble energy, maybe a lighter headphone than this probably wouldn’t be the headphone for you.This strikes me more like a headphone you kick back and enjoy. I certainly did.

 

After spending a week with the ZMF Bokeh's, to my surprise, I think I have a pretty different take on their sound from my experience. It is highly likely that I may have had a synergistic mismatch with my associated gear (Lenovo miniPC > Bifrost 2/64 > DIY Pass ACP+). From what I know, the ACP+ is designed for low-Z headphones, which my LCD-X certainly is but which the Bokeh's are not (ideally). So please take my thoughts with a grain of salt, as I may have had a different experience if I had a more flexible amp to synergistically drive them with.

Note: this is also my first legitimate experience with any ZMF headphones - aside from a very brief listen to a set in meet conditions (no idea which model they were).

From the jump, I wanted to fall madly in love with the Bokeh's based simply on the design, fit, and finish. These headphones looked and felt incredible in hand. I have so much appreciation for the craftsmanship and quality of the finished product, and they were very comfortable to wear. No hot spots, no undesired clamp force, and no quirks that made me doubt the quality (*cough* except the earpad install process *cough*).

As the hybrid pads that arrived on the Bokeh's were partially unseated, I had to initially re-install one of them from scratch. My word...what a pain in the ass. Fortunately I stumbled on Zach's youtube video on how to place the pads on, and that certainly helped. After reading more on the different pads and respective sonic changes, I decided to give the protein pads a try, so I had to swap both pads. Even knowing the trick to it, I still struggled - and after a few choice words that sent my dogs scurrying away, I got them both on and opted to keep them on for the remainder of my time with them.

Overall, as others have put very well, the Bokeh's delivered a dynamic, engaging, and fun sound to them. To me, they definitely had a more V-shaped tuning to them - most considerably dominated by the bass. After dozens of hours with them, I learned that - in addition to me being particularly treble sensitive - I'm not much of a basshead. While I wouldn't go as far as to say there was a bleeding effect of the midbass into the midrange, I did feel like the Bokeh's were too warm for my taste and I was getting to much midbass that kept my attention too focused on that area.

I decided to apply some EQ to the Bokeh's, and that certainly helped clean things up (for me) - enabling the quality of the bass to shine through more tightly and coherently, while also allowing that rich midrange to strut more clearly. The protein pads helped tame the treble energy that seemed a bit more prominent with the hybrid pads, so the combination of protein pads with some EQ to the bass/midbass yielded a much more enjoyable experience.

That all said, comparing the Bokeh's with my LCD-X (2021), I came away feeling like the Bokeh did not do anything particularly special that made me want to pull the trigger and get a set. Maybe my brain is just so adapted to the LCD-X sound that the Bokeh's seemed too relaxed, and I couldn't quite settle in with them strongly enough to want them. I can fully appreciate and understand why the Bokeh's would be an amazing choice for a lot of listeners out there - they really are a fun headphone that gives a beautiful presentation, especially in vocals. So while I do see these as an excellent high-value performing headphone with looks that could kill, they just aren't my thing.

 

First of all, huge thank you to everyone who made this loaner tour possible, and let a mere contributor and relative noobwhale like me in on the fun. It’s a tremendous value to me to get to hear gear this way, and I can only hope my impressions will provide value to someone else down the road.

That said, I didn’t have a lot of time to listen during my time with the Bokeh, so take my comments as comments here as exactly that - quick impressions.

Here's the tl;dr: This is the headphone I wanted the Audeze LCD-X would be.


Backstory

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again - I’m a two-channel listener first, and have never really been into headphones, but a few years ago, it became clear if I wanted marital harmony, I was going to need to figure out a way to incorporate headphones in my routine.

I landed on Audeze LCD-2 and LCD-2 Classics as being just right for me, but while they let me listen in my office/sitting room, I couldn’t use them in shared spaces due to being open back. Around the time the Bokeh was announced, I was starting to think I needed a pair of closed backs, and having tried LCD-2 Closed at a show, knew that wasn’t going to work for me.

When early impressions were about how Audeze-like the Bokeh was, of course my interest was piqued. So much so, shortly after I signed up for the loaner tour, I actually tried buying a pair off the second hand market. After some enjoyable messages back and forth, we talked about the Bokeh - and how much he enjoyed it, as well as other headphones I was considering. Chief among them, the ZMF Atticus.

Ultimately, that seller chose to keep his Bokeh, but left me with the advice that I should follow my heart. And my heart told me that I’d like the Atticus. So I bought one, and I loved it. Marital harmony restored.


Amp Pairings

I had on hand three systems, Bifrost 2 OG -> Mjolnir 3, Gungnir A1 -> Monoprice Liquid Platinum and a Vali 3 fed at times from the same Bifrost 2 OG or from an EAD DSP-7000.

One thing I’ve found is that I LOVE the MJ3 for the two Audeze cans I use, but I don’t like it with the Atticus. I find that it trades too much of its dynamics and liveliness for detail. And with the Bokeh, I was kind of surprised to find the same thing. I expected with a far lower impedance and a different driver material from the Atticus that it might be better, but music just sounded flat and lifeless out of the MJ3.

But on the Vali 3, that’s where it became a fun listen! Music came to life with verve! It was dynamic, and with the leather pads, I daresay tactile even. Bass was punchy and lively, and I just wanted to tap my toes with the music on this little amp.



Give me all the Vali 3 and Bokeh you have.

I also enjoyed my time with the Liquid Platinum, but I just didn’t get much listening time with it to comment further. Better than the MJ3, too, but not noticeably better of a match than the Vali 3.


Pad Rolling

Before I got the Bokeh, I’d kind of planned to go straight for the suede pads and avoid pad rolling. Partly because I’d heard swapping pads was a pain in the ass (it was, but not impossible), partly to avoid more wear-and-tear on a loaner, and partly because I’m mostly a vegetarian who avoids leather. If I were to buy the Bokeh, my plan was to buy them all vegan.

But…the Bokeh came with the leather pads installed, so that’s where my listening began.


Leather Pads



My listening started with a bang, as these pads were the fun ones! The bass kicked! When I say I wished the Audeze LCD-X sounded like the Bokeh, it’s with these pads. I’ve never really thought of the bass region being 3D, but, there was such tactility to the low end that it made drums feel “real”. I mostly listen to rock and metal, and kick drums usually live somewhere in the 40-60 hz region. I don’t listen to much below that, so I can’t say how it does below 40hz or so, but, with these pads, the Bokeh has some real presence and power down low!

When it comes to gear, I often think of bass as living on a spectrum between quality and quantity. You can have one, or the other, or compromise somewhere in between (or even worse, have neither!) My ZMF Atticus has a great quantity of bass, but, it’s kinda woolly and not the best. My Audeze LCD-2/2 Classics have great quality of bass, but not always the best quantity. The Bokeh found a way to have both in spades.

Long after I switched to the other pads, my heart yearned to go back to these pads.

But, these pads also seemed to bring extra energy in the low-mids, too, adding a “honking” quality to music. I couldn’t quite get past that for a long listening session, but for folks who can, and who want that fun bass, the Bokeh would be quite the music machine.


Suede Pads

If the leather pads were what the heart wants, then the suede pads are what the brain wants. These traded a lot of that low-end energy for a far more even-keeled presentation throughout the frequency spectrum. Ultimately, if I were to live with the Bokeh, these would be the pads I would choose long term. As they committed the fewest sins. They were less fun, but these were the ones I could get lost in the music the most easily with. The ones that eventually made me forget I had headphones on my head.

But, much like a tawdry love triangle in a Victorian novel, I might have chosen the suede pads, but I’d never forget the leather pads.


Hybrid Pads

The best of neither, the worst of neither, either. Truly the middle of the road. These pads just…didn’t do what I’d hoped.


Bass, Mids, Treble, Etc.


As I said at the beginning, these are the headphones I had hoped the Audeze LCD-X would be. The LCD-X had that elusive bass that is both high in quality and quantity, as does the Bokeh. But, the LCD-X fell apart for me in terms of cohesiveness between the bass and the mids. Here the Bokeh shines for me. The bass is impactful and deep, but doesn’t feel disproportionate with the mids at all. They flow seamlessly into each other. With the leather pads, it’s intoxicating.

The mids are also very much in the ballpark of the Audeze LCD-2/2 Classic for me, with a very forward and engaging presentation. I very much like an upfront presentation, and the Bokeh has that. With the suede pads, the mids were also much more “realistic” to me, whereas with the leather pads, they had that bump that made things have a honkiness.

Where the Bokeh kind of fell apart for me was on into the upper- mids and lower treble. Here, the Bokeh departs from comparisons with the Audeze LCD2/2 Classic and even the ZMF Atticus - all of which have a warm, downward tilting frequency response. Instead, the Bokeh has a lot of presence in this region, and a harshness. The word that kept coming to mind was a “glassiness” in this region. In general, this extra energy in this region wasn’t so bad as to be unlistenable, but it could be uncomfortable at times, especially with recordings that also have a lot of energy, or even just one or two poorly mixed elements that live in this region.


Final Thoughts

At the outset, my goal was to find a closed-back headphone I could live with. One that would spark joy. I ultimately landed on the ZMF Atticus and am entirely happy with it. My experience with the Bokeh hasn’t changed my mind nor made me want to rush out and buy a Bokeh. Which, kind of begs the question - if I had gotten the Bokeh first, would I have been content, or would it have made me want to keep looking for something else?

And I’m not at all sure what the answer is. Compared to the Atticus, both headphones are objectively in the audioFile camp, where the “F” stands for “Fun”. But, where Bokeh has a refined and tactile bass, the Atticus is more boomy and bellowing. Where the Bokeh has an upfront and forward mid presentation, the atticus is more laid back. And where the Bokeh has an aggressive upper mid and treble, the Atticus has a darker disposition, and in direct comparisons, sounds downright muffled.

I don’t know - they’re different for sure.

But for folks looking for a fun, easy going listen, the Bokeh should be in consideration for sure.


Edit: I totally forgot to mention comfort! I wonder if I have a small head, because I needed the ear cups on the shortest setting on the adjustment rods, and I still felt like I could go for one more hypothetical notch smaller. It also kinda felt like the earpads sat a bit loose. Indeed, my wife who is super sensitive to clamping force didn't immediately object to the Bokeh, once properly sized. The headband was super comfortable, though - way more comfortable that on my Atticus. All in all, a headphone as easy to wear as it is to listen to.

Edit 2: Also forgot - I didn't mess with the mesh. It came with mesh installed and I left it. No clue how a different mesh, or no mesh, would influence any observations. Also didn't mess with the earpad spacers. I had no issue with my ears touching anything without the spacers.

 

Thanks again for the loaner. Participating in loaners on this site never gets old and I am always very grateful.

I caught COVID a little more than three weeks ago just a few days after shipping the Bokeh off to the next participant. So between being sick, recovering, and catching up on work, I have not been in the position to post my thoughts.

TLDR - A great, very enjoyable headphone, smooth with lots of excellently produced bass. No out of the blue frequency response nasties. Resonance issues bothered me on a number of songs but made others sound godly. Ultimately, The Bokeh just isn't my taste though. Its a little too dark, obscures a little too much fine detail, and lacks the top end sparkle I like.

The Bokeh is only the second ZMF I have ever heard. Given that the Auteurs are often called the most neutral ZMF, I was unable to discern a ZMF house sound between the two given that the Bokeh is decidedly not neutral.

Rig was either the Yggdrasil MiB or GS into either the Mj3 or AMB M3. I didn't switch the cup mesh. I don't know which mesh was on it during my audition but I took a picture. As others have noted, switching pads causes gnashing of teeth and many tears of sadness. Round pads on an oval baffle don't mix well.

Speaking of pads, I hated the suedes. They make the Bokeh boring and greyish. The midrange becomes more forward and resonant while also becoming fuller and fluffier. More neutral I guess but Less resolving, Less Bass, Less dynamic, Less fun. Cue me crying, cursing and wrestling with pads for 30 minutes...

As most have noted, this is an enjoyable headphone. Put it on your head and sit back, after 15 minutes or so you will be sucked in. BUT, I could not find a consistent use case scenario. My immediate comparison based on memory is the LCD2C. That headphone had a very consistent use case for me - pop music and nothing else. The Bokeh resolves better and has less unexpected frequency response peaks and dips than the LCD2C so it should have a wider use case for me. Well yes and no.

Jazz, classical- I would not use the Bokeh for jazz or classical. Brass lacks the bite that I like so this kills classical for me. Vibraphones cause the Bokehs woodcups to light up with resonance like a Christmas tree. Complex passages often deteriorated into cacophony. Christian McBride's "Gang Gang" from his album Live at Village Vanguard starts with a vibraphone solo. During the solo, the resonance is tolerable but the moment the rest of the band kicks in, it becomes unlistenable. Late fifties and early sixties jazz fared the best (Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer and Coltrane's Blue Train were standouts). Overall though, I found issues with Jazz from the 50's all the way up to current releases.

I moved on to Pop - it fares a ton better than jazz and classical but inconsistent. On some songs the cup resonance works like magic - it takes you right to that edge on Adele's "I'll Be Waiting". Freaking amazing. Lady Gaga's "Stupid Love" very good. Feed the Bokeh Whitney Houston and holy sh!t!! Lady Gaga's "So Happy I could Die" and most of the Fame Monster album was too dark for my taste. The piano on Sara Bareilles' "What's Inside" was distractingly resonant. the darker the pop recording the less I enjoyed the Bokeh. Hip-hop/rap fared the exact same as pop for me so I won't go into it other than to say there were an equal amounts of hits to misses. Soul (any era because it is often well recorded) and R&B (early to mid 90's) fared better.

Let's ditch the genre to genre evaluation because I found how the Bokeh would perform with each track I played to be completely unpredictable and because of this, I listened to hundreds of songs. I stumbled upon Bowie/Ziggy Stardust "Moonage Daydream" now we are talking - this was probably the best I had heard this song. I started to think I had the Bokeh figured out and moved to Prince - I listened to the entire Purple Rain album - flipping fantastic. Toto's "Rosanna" and "Africa", Springsteen's "Adam Raised a Cain" absolutely. All of Phil Collins and Cyndi Lauper works. Evanescence - holy crap good. The wood cup resonance made Patti Smith's vocals on "Gloria" sound amazing. But, The Who, and Led Zep were let downs. Tears for fears was bad - super resonant reproduction of "Head over Heels" I don't know.

Anyway, when this headphone is good, it is damn good. I don't bat an eye at its lower resolution and the darker than my preference mids and top end - its competent smoothness has alot to do with that. Its just that when I would return to the Auteurs - after my ears and brain adjusted for less bass, I prefered the increased resolution, clarity, lack of cup resonance, better treble, and their better ability to handle complex music passages. To me, the Auteurs sound like they should cost a grand more than the Bokehs - only $400 more seems like a steal and a no brainer to save up for them over the Bokehs. That is of course if your preferences lean closer to mine.

I think an open back Bokeh might be more of my thing. It would need to retain a fair percentage of the Bokeh's fun factor though. I definitely would pick these over the LCD2C.

 

First off, Thanks for the opportunity of trying out the headphones.

TL/DR
A super fun and bass heavy headphone. Great for bass heavy music but the bass can be to much for rock and classical music. Wouldn't recommend it for detailed listening but a blast for just jamming out and enjoying music.

Primary listen was done on a PC>R8MK2>Master9

Comfort, Isolation, and Pad variety:

No real surprise with ZMF. The headphones are super comfortable. I didn't have any problems with fatigue or stress wearing them for several hours at a time. I found changing the pads was a huge pain in the ass on these headphone. It would take several minutes for me to get the pads lip to full go around the wood ring. Thankfully there was a clear winner for the pads sound for me so once I tried all 3 I didn't have to swap pads again. I keep a fan next to my desk and used that as a guide for the isolation level for the headphones.

Of the 3 pad types included I found the hybrid pads to be the best of the lot for over all tone and enjoyment. They are the pads I did the vast majority of my listening with. They were pretty close to the solid leather pads for isolation. Really only being able to mostly block out the fan on low speed. Any speed higher than that it would require music playing to fully block out the fan.

The all leather(pleather?) were in a close second but I found they really reduced the sound stage quite a bit over the hybrid pads. They did have slightly better highs and bass impact but wasn't worth the loss in sound stage. Since being a closed back it is already at a disadvantage over open backs. Best isolation of the pads being able to almost fully block out my fan on low.

The suede pads, to me, were terrible. The made everything sound veiled and dark. Like putting a thick piece of cloth between the driver and my ear. I really only listened with the suede pads for about 10 minutes before I wanted to change back to a different pair. Provided only slightly better isolation than my Aeouls headphones.

Of the 3 pads I would get the hybrid for sure and if you want a little more isolation and highs I would get the solid leather.

Portability:

The headphones are very easy to drive. Worked great with my XDSD Gryphon. I did try using the headphones while moving around and doing things around the farm. Like with other heavy headphones, I found that as soon a I would bend down to pick something up off the ground the headphones would immediately slide forward catching on my ears. So, I don't know that I would really use them for active out-and-about activities. Fine for casual strolls.

Sound:

Everyone has talked a lot about the specifics of the sound so I'm going to keep this part pretty short. With the right music these are the most fun headphones I've listened to. Which, I find makes them hard to describe. With the incorrect music the bass is over powering and blows over the lower mids. The overall tone of the headphones is dark/warm and bassy. the highs are there but are pretty muted compared to the mids and the bass.

What is the right music? Well, I would say anything that is already bass forward. Like EDM, pop, drum and bass, hip-hop, trance, basically most modern popular music. Really anything made with samples and a performance pad(what ever the mixing and sampling button pads are called)

What is the wrong music? Classical, Jazz, Rock, Metal. Pretty much anything that uses a live band/drum kit it seems. I'm sure there are exceptions.

Would I recommend the headphones? Absolutely, if your main listening consists of or relates to the the ones. If not then I would maybe pass on them.

Am I going to buy a pair? Yes. Right now? No, want to see if any fancy woods or colors come out first. They are my favorite ZMF headphones I've listened to and one of the most fun headphones I've hear to boot.Which is super important in music enjoyment for me.

 

I just received a pair of Bokeh Closed in the limited Spectraply. So far I'm really enjoying them. From memory they don't have nearly as much cup resonance as the pair I used to own in the first run Limba. This is good in my book. Everything is tighter and cleaner. I'll give these some burn in and report back with any notes.

I'm using the stock hybrid pads and also have a pair of top perf leather thick pads and stock protein pads to try out eventually.

Visually these are more reserved than photos would have you believe. But, when the sun hits them they do pop! Lots of chatoyance in the grey and purple rings.

Pic or it didn't happen.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how bright/loud the opens are in the red color when I get mine. Any day now..............

 

I want to hear these. My main issue with the Bokeh during the tour was the cup resonance. If that is reduced then I might have missed out on my new favorite headphone.

 

I'm still really enjoying the Bokeh Closed. For whatever reason they pair really well with the Mojo 2. And my does the Mojo 2 scale with a good spdif source (shout out to Blue Jeans Cables for making me a mini coax to mini coax cable!).

I switched to the Hybrid pads lately and have fallen in love with these again. Protein seem to accentuate the minor cup resonance these have and things can get messy in busy passages. It took me a while to notice this but switching back to the Hybrid pads has cleaned everything up. I no longer notice any cup resonance at all.

Hybrid at first seemed too bright but really they are just clean and tight from top to bottom. Maybe a bit less bass presence but nothing drastic. They will for sure show you weaknesses in your source gear.

I did also try the closed mesh with the protein pads and do not recommend. Really neuters the high frequency extension and masks the details and plankton these are able to normally present.

 

What is that DAP?

 

IBasso DX340

 

Looks nice!