ZMF Verite Closed

I've just looked at this in the Jude's Canjam ad:





Desert ironwood looks awesome -- I think I am saying this phrase every year lol.. regardless, it's definitely another wood I desire to collect.

According to the Wood Database, this wood is as hard (3,260 janka lbf) and dense (75 lbs/ft3) as African Blackwood: https://www.wood-database.com/desert-ironwood/
(harder and denser than Cocobolo)



FR measurement (not Jude's but Zach's) looks interesting too. Not sure about which pads were on each. @zach915m may chime in.

 

I like getting my hands on all the hard wood I can

(sorry, couldn't resist ... carry on with actual headphone discussion)

 

Man, now I'm really bummed that I won't be in London this year.

 

Just a couple quick notes:

1. The Desert Ironwood is about 620 grams with Mg Chassis, the MonkeyPod is about 470g, big weight difference there. The Desert Ironwood has the African Blackwood immediacy and "pop."

2. Graphs were taken on our Audio Precision system, and are uncompensated. I'll get some DF compensated graphs up for ease of viewing on this page in the coming weeks.

3. The graphs above are Universe perf on the Verite and auteur solid on the V closed. The Universe solid pads would actually be a touch closer to the U pads on the Verite, but I prefer the slight treble accentuation and 3d space the auteur pads give so I presented the graph that way.

The V closed will come with both auteur solid and Universe solid pads. There will also be a hybrid available with suede top and lamb sides and inner, a protein version of each pad and a suede version of each pad. So pads galore in both Universe and auteur shapes. The suede per usual is the most "neutral."

4. We aren't doing our typical pre-order, we will make 50 sets, release them, and just be "sold out," when they are all shipped out. I want to try this with closed Verite in order to at least make them feel easier to attain without wait.

I'll update as we get closer to a release. I'm shooting to have a batch ready for RMAF.

 

I am surprised you were able to find sufficiently sized pieces of ironwood. most types of ironwoods I have seen are relatively small.

 

Is there no vents (similar to Atticus and eikon)?

 

Yes it was very hard! When I found a supplier that had some they had 100 PCS big enough for headphones. The trunks are even smaller than African Blackwood, so it was a unique find indeed. Really surprised and happy I found it, it's more expensive than African Blackwood which is a feat in itself.

There's one vent but it's on the side of the cup a-la Verite-Open. The venting is smaller than Eikon or Atticus, making it our "most" closed headphone.

 

Is there any difference in processing time to craft them because of the significantly harder wood? Was wondering if the simpler design was driven by the wood. Haven't seen a open verite in person to know if they have the same profile as the closed.

 

Oh - the design never really has much to do with the wood choice, just with the acoustics. My main aesthetic concern here was to make sure the cups were lower profile than the atticus/Eikon while being able to maintain a larger soundstage. This was achieved by making the cups 2mm larger in diameter, thinning the walls slightly, having a larger front "panel," and completely starting from scratch with airflow and damping.

Aesthetically - the design has some compound radius' that I think show more complexity in person than in the pictures I took, but I did want to make a headphone where I could use the design as a canvas for really nice wood. One aspect I built into the design was a slight radius on top which will allow me to do the burst finishes that I haven't done on the dynamics, which I do some of on our t50 mods.

It'd been a while since I tuned a closed headphone, and I was able to borrow some minor aspects from the auteur, aeolus and Verite to help get a spacious and clean sound. I will write this all up and get it on our website before release.

 

Just my luck!! My Eikon is in QC step and should be about to ship and Zack is almost ready with the Closed Verite.
Schiit happens and such is life!!

 

@Claud :
dislike for personal mind rambling with 0% topic content contribution.

 

I am sorry I disturbed you. I was just expressing what I am sure several others who have been waiting patiently for their Eikons are thinking with the information release about the Closed Verite. If I had just waited a bit longer before I ordered. Either way, In a week or two, myself and a few others will receive our beautiful Eikons.

 

Hm.

@zach915m they look like they might be close to Be2'd Veritè with solid Auteur pads? Might be time to find my barnyard Atticus a loving new home.

 

It is interesting what some of the members dislike. No biggie.

 

Random overexcited posts carrying little to no weight in information tend to get disliked. The point is to add to the discussion, if you want circle-jerking this is not the place to be.

Making a post about dislikes probably won't help your case but rather further strays from the topic..

 

A couple of ZMF tips in this context:

1. Zach is a very passionate guy continuously developing "something". Now it's evident ZMF tends to release at least one new product every year.
2. Do not hesitate to communicate with Zach (email preferred) before placing orders. From #1, buyers may want to know whether better-suited products are upcoming. If kindly and politely asked, Zach would answer to such questions in the way benefiting customers. Just don't share such info publicly.

I honestly felt the same way as @Claud previously -- and learned #2. lol

 

Anyone got a chance to spend time with Verite Closed at Canjam London?

 

Lol. More like not liking the idea of someone nutting all over a thread and leaving their spooge for everyone to see. This isn't Head Fi. If you want to for some reason scream on this board about things like that, use the Profile Post.

That said, I spoke with Zach and his wife at CanJam, and they were very gracious people. Communication with ZMF should never be an issue.

 

Had a very very brief listen to these.
In short it does sound like a closed Verite, denser mids, not as airy high end as expected with a closed design. Above all the other closed ZMF cans and the least closed in sound of them all.
Unless you need a closed can I don't see why you would pick it over the open Verite as I don't see any advantages, bass doesn't hit harder or lower and is slower by a touch.
If one does have a need for a closed can I seriously suggest giving the Stellia a go before pulling the trigger.