ZMF New Headphones: Vérité and Aeolus

@PsychedelicBreakfast I want to echo the sentiment of others to instead invest in an amp/source upgrade. I would steer clear of the Liquid Platinum personally for the Aeolus. Not exactly a slammin amp, and I found the Aeolus to sound "fine" from it. Easy listening, super HD 6X0 type presentation, but nothing special.

Granted I never tried the Aeolus with the Mjolnir 2 (didn't own at the same time), but that amp brings the slam more than anything I have ever heard. Just be aware the sound is going to be a bit more incisive than the amps you have tried at this point.

If you are insistent on trying new headphones, check out the ZMF compendium, you will see at one point we had a bit of debate about "slam". I fall in the camp that the Auteur/Eikon slams harder than any of the other ZMFs due to the sub-bass emphasis, but I seem to be in the minority. Auteur with some eikon lambskin pads could be right up your alley. You sacrifice air with the eikon pads, but much more bass and the tone you seem to be going for.

Good luck in your journey! Take it from someone who gear cycled through just about every ZMF only to come back to my first the Auteur, if the Aeolus is doing it for you, build your chain around them.

 

He can order the SW51+ right now, but the only issue is wait. But once a buyer gets it... they'll understand why it's coveted on here. Other more expensive amps but with lesser wait have been brought up, like the ones on your posts and others previous.

 

The only reason I might be wary of the mjolnir 2 is because @PsychedelicBreakfast found the Aeolus too bright with Valhalla 2, and from what I've read, Mjolnir 2 and Valhalla 2 both have somewhat etchy treble. Given @PsychedelicBreakfast's preference for warmth, I think they might find a chain with a good tonal balance by going with bifrost 2 + a warmer/softer/more laidback amp (Starlett, ZDT Jr, etc.) and shifting the pads to the universe suede if it gets just a bit too warm/mushy.

 

I'll look into better amps and dacs tonight - I don't why I can't bring myself to look at $2000 amps. Somehow (not sure why) I'm more comfortable spending that on a headphone - and perhaps only ZMF because I know I can sell them.

I'm definitely upgrading from the Topping D10 though. I hope I can hear the difference though. I worry that the DAC differences are very subtle.

 

You are lucky because you are going to have your mind blown when you hear a good DAC. Snag a BF2, great budget choice, and a tonality you seem to enjoy. Then if the Jotunheim 2 ends up sounding great you can have quite the stack for only a bit over $1k.

 

The difference between your front-end and a $3k front end is going to provide a bigger sense of net performance improvement with the same headphone than a swap to a $3000 headphone on your existing chain. I guarantee it. You're underestimating your existing headphone and overestimating your gear. We see this all the time with new HD650 owners too. You'll see.

With that much budget space, you have a chance to break out of mid-fi purgatory for something that will bring you fulfillment regardless of the ups and downs of taste when it comes to the headphone itself.

 

Oh, I know for sure that if I go for the VC I will upgrade my amp/dac.I know they are the weakest links in the chain.I just wanted to stick with what for the Aeolus to save $$ for now. I suppose I can reverse the purchasing pattern: upgrade the source and amps and then upgrade to the VC if I still want to.

 

While I have never heard the Aeolus, I agree with others that say your best $$ spent is dac/amp upgrades (probably at considerably less cost than a used VC). What you have is holding your headphones back. Maybe a used Gungnir A1 will give you the slam you are looking for.

FWIW, I also agree with @Inoculator that Auteur and Eikon have plenty of slam...

-----edit-----
just thought I'd add that I used to own an LCx and it didn't last long for me. With both my ZMF cans, I thought it had a very collapsed headstage and that the music was flat/lifeless. I sold it off as soon as I built my crack.

 

To my ears, the Liquid Platinum is a very good match with the Aeolus. But damn I'm very curious about the SW51+

 

@PsychedelicBreakfast I agree with all the recommendations that you have received so far. Upgrade your DAC first and maybe your Amp if you can before changing your headphones. The Aeolus are a fantastic pair of headphones and selling them to go with the LCD-3 would be a big mistake in my opinion. I will let you what I think about the Verite Closed next week, but the bar is high because the Aeolus are my favorite headphones ever.

 

They're both planars, but are very different--mainly because the Ori is closed-back & the LCD-2 is open-back. As w/any LCD, comfort is a concern. I got around that by purchasing an after-market Audeze headband (better). I owned a pre-fazor LCD-2.1, a unicorn (since sold), but I've also heard LCD-2/fazor in other settings. Fazor does wonky/unpredictable things to the treble, so I prefer pre-fazor.

My LCD-2.1 was a solid all-rounder. Good at everything, not really great at any one thing. Like many planars, the bass hit with authority, but isn't quite on the level of the Ori. It's a solid headphone, no doubt.

But the Ori is IMO on a different level. It's big, made of pretty wood, sounds good top to bottom (others found things to not like in mids & treble, but I'm not one of them), with rather spacious mids, big soundstage for a closed-back (better, in fact, than the LCD-2.1). The bass is the star here: from upper bass all the way to sub-bass, it's classic, slam your ears planar bass. Planar & dynamic drivers propogate sound rather differently, and the biggest difference I hear is in the bass: planar bass tends to press against my ears with some force, vs dynamic bass "bouncing" against my ears (this isn't easy to describe).

The Eikon's bass is kind of spectacular in different ways--I used to have fun comparing the Eikon to the Ori.

PS: Others here are right--recommend you upgrade the DAC. That LCX is a solid amp, so no real complaints there. I personally like having multiple amps (giving each headphone different sonic flavors), but that's a solid start to amping IMO.

 

Oh, interesting. Would you say that the Eikon/Auteur have the same level of sub-bass or mid-bass as the Aeolus? What about compared to the VC?

My impression was that the Eikon/Auteur have less bass than the Aeolus.

 

In my experience with the Auteur vs. Aeolus, the former is more linear in the bass, with notably more rumble and depth. It is also leagues better in presenting the texture and nuance of bass. By contrast, the Aeolus has more punchy, snappy, explosive bass, with a much larger focus on the mid -bass over the sub-bass. I actually prefer the way the Aeolus presents bass...it's more fun and visceral feeling to me.

 

Eikon has the most proportionally boosted sub bass of any ZMF and more than most headphones in general. One of the reasons it's my fav ZMF along with the fact that they have the smooth bio timbre and can be cranked without fatigue for a better sense of macro slam even though it's more damped microdynamically vs aeo/att/verite. Less wet and bloomy too. My all time fav unmodded headphone and a partial inspiration for the tuning of my own modded TH900s.

If you like the ZMF mid bloom, decay trails, midbass emphasis, just want basically what you have with aeolus but with more boom, Atticus is closer to what you may want though.

I have EARS + SBAF comp measurements of all of them aside from VC in my sig if you want to compare their tonal aspects.

 

I guess it might be helpful to more clearly define what you consider "bass", because for my ears the Aeolus with the stock pads have bass-a-plenty, though focused more on the mid-bass than sub-bass as others have mentioned.

I know EQ isn't the panacea that many claim it is, but if it's sub bass that you're seeking that could also be a place to start. From my listening (I used to own an Eikon, have had an Auteur on loan for a short while) they both have more sub-bass than the Aeolus, but less mid-bass. I'll say I was plenty satisfied with the mid-bass on both Eikon and Auteur as well.

Personally I found the Auteur's treble to be a bit too much overall, which is why I settled on an Aeolus..it has good sub bass extension, not sub bass emphasis and plenty of mid-bass. The clearer about what it is you're looking for, the better advice you're likely to get.

Good luck!!

(edited for clarity)

 

Wait--what?

 

Probably not necessary, but thought I'd include that since it was changed from my original post...

 

(Pharmaboy frantically searching for online definition of "clarity")

 

Yes, I did mean it lacked sub bass; mid bass is plentiful I agree. I just wish there was little or no roll off when it came to the sub bass.

I have tried to EQ the Aeolus but without significant success.

I agree about what you said about the Auteur. That has been my impression as well. Have you heard the VC? Is the treble as forward?

I’ve been pretty much looking at DACs since my post yesterday. Let’s see what I can settle on!

 

I had up until recently both the Eikon (so closed back Auteur - same driver but FR is a bit different depending on pads) and VC. I have not heard the Aeolus, but triangulating impressions from trusted ears here the VC has a flatter and fuller midbass>bass>subass sound that is technically superior as well. Treble with VC is not as forward as Eikon (which itself is a bit less than Auteur) but because of the w shaped FR a simple comparison is hard. With all due respect to @Pharmaboy, the "bbc dip" mid recession of the VC is very real and is ultimately one of two reasons why I sold it, the other being the reverb that either enhanced or distracted, depending on the track being played. Don't get me wrong, it's a TOTL headphone and these are nitpiks that even with them get you 97.2% of the way to nirvana, but with TOTL (and the requisite $) headphones it's all about that last 5% and personal preference.

However, like others have said you could get the VC (or Utopia, or fill_in_the_blank) and when you plug it into your chain your just taking the HP back to 70%. Get a bitfrost and a used amp of some sort that can get your current HP, the VC, or any other TOTL to its potential.