ZMF EIKON & ZMF ATTICUS

Anyone have a chance to compare the Elear to the Atticus and Eikon?

 

New Eikon & Atticus review

http://enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0117/ZMF_Eikon_Atticus_Headphones_Review.htm

 

Do people who review dozens of headphones just not give a shit about building measurement rigs anymore? Learned absolutely nothing new from that review.

Edit: Not to say it's a bad review, just seems to say basically everything we already know. Now let's get some measurements to back up the claims.

 

"I felt like the thunderous bass of the Atticus got a little excessive at times, dominating the song. Paired with higher impedance tube amps, however, something quite strange happened. Contradictory to all my expectations, the bass tightened up, seemingly storing up energy for a massive impact when it is summoned from the nether. And boy does it ever hit hard when called upon!"

"Contradictory to all my expectations, the bass tightened up, seemingly storing up energy for a massive impact when it is summoned from the nether."

"summoned from the nether."

I thought headphone reviews were supposed to be a legitimate description of the headphone, not a hilarious joke.

 

Had to do a double take myself a couple times. This is why I like measurements. They work as a good check against these types of reviews.

 

Woof. Most audio sites need either (1) much better editors or (2) measurement rigs. Enjoy the Music needs both.

Hope I can hear the Eikon sometime next year...

 

Lol. I summon things from my nether every morning after coffee. Produce good bass sometimes too.

 

It was written by Hansotek. Very nice guy, but completely useless for reviews/impressions.

 

I couldn´t get through the whole review. I have no clue who finds this kind of verbal masturbation enlightening!

Wish they would just keep it short and end with a list of pros and cons in addition to measurements.

 

I just checked his hf profile. Seems to have 10k+ worth of cables and power conditioners. Knows his stuff.

 

Oh it was Hansotek? I have met him several times (he comes to most of the Chicago meets). He really is a very nice guy. I didn't realize he was getting into reviews. I kind of feel bad now for poking fun.

 

I've met Hansotek as well and will also vouch that he seemed like a nice dude. That said, his review doesn't provide enough context or meaningful information to really get a good sense of where things sit. I can understand the lack of measurements, but I would have liked to have had more references off of known headphones. Ultimately I found the review to just be a lot of words to really just say that the Atticus has some mid bass emphasis, the Eikon is more neutral with some potential for shoutyness at high volumes and more incisive sounding overall, both are warm leaning, he prefers the coloration/delivery of the Atticus, and he really likes the headphones. Ok.

 

I don't know, I found the review to be pretty helpful. I'm ordering the Atticus and I had been considering an OTL tube amp after having a chance to listen to an Elise for a week. Hansotek's positive experience with the Atticus and Decware CSPS has pushed me more in this direction. I'm now considering the Decware in addition to Zach's (hopefully soon to be released) Sonnare amp and Ampandsound Kenzie. The ZMF is the cheapest at a grand and the Kenzie is $1700 so I might just split the difference and get the Decware (which is also recommended by Zach).

 

Do yourself a favor and read these reviews first before Hansotek's shit:
http://www.verumsonus.com/zmf-atticus-padauk-review/
http://www.verumsonus.com/zmf-eikon-cherry-review/

I at least know those reviews are grounded in some reality. That's f'ing valuable in this hobby, let me tell you.

I'm in the same boat as you, thinking of trying tubes again with my Eikon. I preordered, but kind of didn't expect it to be quite as good as its supposed to be. If it lives up to the hype for me, I might be done with headphones and be moving on to the wonderful world of trying to perfect my source and gear backend.

The Elise with it's sub bass roll off seems like it could be a poor match with the ZMFs in theory, in practice I don't know, no one does yet. The Decware stuff is certainly on the warm side from what I'm hearing, so I might stay away.

The Sonnare is super intriguing and I'm really hoping for the best, but we will see. Right now I'm thinking about building a Torpedo 1 since the Torpedo 3 is basically impossible to find.

Maybe I'll do none of it and just wait to try stuff at meets and on loan. That's almost certainly the wisest decision, but I've never claimed to be wise.

 

I have to imagine that the Sonnare will sound really good with the Atticus and Eikon since Zach is tuning the amp specifically for those headphones. I'm also interested in buying the Decware so that I can run the preamp out into my solid state amp.

 

Hello,

I enjoyed the Verumsonus reviews. They actually don't love everything which is a refreshing change. ☺

Are they on SBAF?

 

Yes they are but I will not divulge who it is unless I get permission.

 

Got my paduak eikons last Friday, zach shipped it to me early so I can get it to the gta meet which happened last Saturday.


Initial impressions (Zach says these need 2-3 days burn in, so impressions are subject to change)

Dynamics = great (but I think the Focal Utopia hits a bit harder in the mids and treble and has a blacker background)
Resolution/detail = great (but I think the modded Hd 800 resolves a bit better)
Smoothness = great (but I think the modded He-6 is a bit smoother)

Stage is large for a vented closed but not quite as large as hd800/he-6, I think utopia has more depth to the stage (but is narrower than the eikon). It also projects the stage in a similar holographic manner as high end hifimans and estats like the senn he-60 and stax 007/009.
Bass extension is very good, equal to the utopia/hd800, but falls just short of the he-6. Imaging is solid, but is not quite as good as what the best is capable of. But I think the stage and imaging is good enough that it presents a nice 3d soundstage. Balance is warm neutral, and it is not really fatiguing. But unlike other zmfs like the omni, it's not really warm or lush or euphonic. It's actually pretty airy for a closed back, more so than my senn hd580s but not quite as good as the he-6/hd800.
The biggest problems is that there are some issues in the treble and bass. Treble has a bit of brittleness and the midbass is not quite and clean and defined as the as the other totl headphones. Burn in could solve those issues, but that's what I hear right now.

Vs the modded he-6 (blue tak, eikon pads, regrill, 2 ply tp covering 1/4 of the driver) I also own, it has cleaner treble and bass, more dynamic, with a larger stage and better imaging and much smoother and airier. The eikons has more forward uppermids and a bit more mid bass. Resolution is comparable. That being said I while I don't think it matches a good modded hd 800 or he-6 or the utopia, I feel like it's quite close to that level of sound quality. And for a closed back to boot is quite amazing actually. It has none of the deal breaking shoutyness/sibilance of the ether C and lcd XC that's for sure.

Isolation is quite good and there's very little leakage. Usable in a library I think as long you're not listening at a super loud volume.

 

I heard this pair at said meet, and I liked what I heard especially with electronic music. I would agree with the owners comments that they are a little unrefined up top and the bass could be cleaner. I would also prefer less bass quantity on tracks that clearly don't call for it, but this is my preference. For rock there was some frequency masking of the bass guitar and at times the upper mids got a little hot.

I personally preferred the airiness and bass presentation of the HE-6, either stock or modded, but that is an unfair comparison. The Eikon was certainly more balanced than the TH-X00 which had a fishbowl effect on vocals and overwhelming sub-bass on most tracks.

 

It's interesting, a certain Verumsonus reviewer hears none of this on his paduak eikon and he's usually pretty anal about this kind of treble grain. Maybe zach sent me a bad pair?