For those reading in the future and deciding, I finally got my aeolus (sapele) and verite (silk) to go head to head to head with my auteur (blackwood). Disclaimer I have given up stax l700 for the auteur and have not found anything close to the amount of sheer pleasure i get from listening on them. These are my first inital impressions with no burn in and just use for a couple of hours on day 1 and day 2. I am doing this off a mayflower arc which is pretty clean and powers these just fine. Music preferences- all kinds including modern/alt/classic/rock, heavy metal, rap, pop and some irish/folk. Examples include ccr, metallica, acdc, three days grace, jimmy hendrix, kanye west, post malone, sublime, third eye blind, gin blossoms, paramore, evanescence, panic at the disco, scythian (please check them out on spotify, great st pattys day concert). With that out of the way here we go... Between the 3, if you put a gun to my head and said to eliminate 1 it would be aeolus. It is not bad by no means and it def worth its money. Bass heads will love these as there is plenty to go around. The vocals are very good but not on par with the other 2 and the highs take a huge backseat to the other spectrums to the point where they can even be drowned out. Definitly the most full bass of the 3 but at the detriment of mids and highs. Also, aeolus seems to be the most forgiving of the 3 in terms of closed in rock music or songs not really well mastered. (evans blue for example can sound muddy to me but these really cover it up a bit). Another note on the bass..it can come across as bloated for me. So that would leave verite and auteur. These 2 are so eerily similar. Lets start with the highs. this is def the brightest of the 3. where highs fell into the background of the music with the aeolus, highs are well represented and so clear, every now and then just borderline sharp but i wasnt annoyed just something i noticed it getting close to. For background 2-3k and 7-8k spikes are something ive typically had issues with (looking at you dt1990). bass is punchy but not really full, just accurate. it hits its note and moves onto the next note. bassheads arent going to feel that rumble that you would get with the aeolus and a little with the auteur but again its just punchy and accurate. mids, i left this for last for a reason. its better than the aeolus but on par with auteur. vocals are so clear and well detailed. this will come down to a matter of preference. auteur has the vocals very intimate and up close and the instruments back that up and cover around the sides. with verite vocals are pushed back a bit and are on the same level as the instruments so they tend to get drowned out a bit on some songs. I guess it comes down to do you like vocals front and center or are you instruments first. theres no wrong answer. I have a feeling its because of the more open nature (theres ports on the back of the cup to let out more air). So as you can maybe figure out my favorite, the auteur are the last man standing. On zmf's website it talks about the auteur not trying to be a successor to either the atticus or eikon but a more neutral sound and they accomplished this. its as if the best features of the atticus (which I had and loved) and the eikon (which i also had and remember them being boring but being a little more open and better highs). the bass is there, punchy but also stays around when it needs to and melts into the mids transitioning beautifully without overwhelming the mids. highs are crystal clear and NEVER sibilant at all. guitar strings and symbols are separated well from the mix to where you can even focus your ears to just hear them and distinguish them perfectly. mids are so clear, detailed and upfront. everything is so well separated and detailed it really feels like it just sits in the middle saying "oh you got bass, i got bass. Oh you got treble, i got that too. Mids? hold my 3.5in cord...." I will say it doesnt work on every song. Evans blue i mentioned earlier can sound muddy along with rock that instrument separation wasnt really a thought. Also, acoustic and classic rock music on the auteur is just and absolute melt in your seat and just listen and enjoy moment. TLDR; After short listening Auteur > Verite > Aeolus Waiting on the monoprice monolith portable dac amp that Zeos recently reviewed as im getting tired of some issues with the mayflower and want to get something more clean and probably reliable as well. Ill be burning them in a bit and putting more time into it over the next week and will sell 2 of the 3. These are def all endgame worthy. You just cant beat these dynamic drivers. Planar and electrostat can step aside for dynamics to take back over. If this is helpful i might come back and add more when i make a more definite choice. ONE MORE THING... i added the wood types as I think these can make a huge choice. Josh valour recently reviewed the auteur but it wasnt the same as my blackwoods. He described them being a bit bright where I and others ive seen would say theyre more warm. he had issues with some of the highs where as I never have an issue with them. so some may be our hearing but ill bet the wood is a factor too. Another quick edit lol. person mentioned below about suede pads and i would say dont on any of these. they bloat the bass, ruin the timbre and highs. yes they are very comfortable, but at too great of a cost Results: Thought id go ahead and update some info here (no edits made above this is all after testing and better amp). So I got the monoprice monolith portable thx dac/amp so I can be sure everything is being powered well and cleanly. Ultimately my choice was Auteur>Aeolus>Verite. I came to enjoy the bass of the aeolus more than the neutral sound of the verite over longer sessions and burn in on both. That said, i recently got the Heritage HP3 and i would suggest those over the aeolus. its better bass both sub and mid, better vocals which are pretty intimate, better highs and soundstage than the aeolus. Now the are pretty sharp for me on the S's and T's but put that baby on a tube and you get some nice fun low end and vocals (although vocals still not as crystal clear and detailed as auteur) and it brings down that sharpness really well. I did not have a tube amp for the verite and aeolus unfortunately. For now I am pitting the auteur vs the hp3 but i think the tubed auteur beats the tubed or solid state hp3. Let me know and maybe I can do a result for that as well.
Did you try aeolus with universe perf suede pads or verite? Zach say they make them much more neutral, which also show in the measurements. He also said non perf pads would make them super bassy
@@c4monkey if they werent perforated that makes sense, but suede perfs make it much more neutral, that's why he recommends the uni perf suede for people who want less bass.. Zmf has so many pads its hard to keep track
Fell asleep with these on just this afternoon while listening to Iron Maiden. Deeply relaxing but also deeply detailed. If anything, I find the top end a bit soft. Intense to my ears is DT1990. These are very different.
The leather eikons round off the upper mid and low treble issues btw. Not sure why you listened to the Atticus and Eikon with suede pads, they change the original sound signature of both. Sure, the suede may be more comfortable, but I'm not the only one that believes it neuters the sound signature.
Maybe the eikons need to be modified more to be as good as the Atticus. I could probably reduce the treble while maintaining or perhaps increasing the detail. I'd love to give it a shot if I had the money.
I think he's hearing a smooth response and misnaming that as 'neutrality'. They aren't neutral, but there are no harsh peaks or dips, and while they have a warm tilt - especially in the midbass - it's hard to say they're overly bassy. Not to mention that they change a lot with pads and wood, and he has neither the stock wood or pads. Zach's said a few times that suede will tame the midbass, up the subbass and treble, and the measurements support that.
The whole neutral is confusing and usually mean "weak bass", what doesn't really make sense, since a song may have strong bass and the headphones is not reproducing trem correctly to appear "neutral"
@@jimis3167 Do your homework and give them a try at canjam or wherever possible and watch the stuff that are already on youtube, you'll get your answer.
Its like Groundhog Day all over again ;) No Chevy Chase, no 20-something Beverly D'Angelo taking a shower and we're all about a hundred years older - great. My current headphones do *exactly* what you describe with the treble - I'll pass on any other headphone regardless overall sound quality that does that.
Disappointed in you z... Bowsette is so main stream now... But in all seriousness, I also enjoyed the Atticus more than eikon. I felt they were more intimate and picked up more detail on the mids and lows.
Wood isn't exactly expensive, unless you talk about stuff like ebony or other exotics. Metal also, it's like in the cents range of price. Personally I prefer space age high quality polymers like on HD 800 for durability, immunity to humidity, acoustics and being lightweight.
![Z Review - ZMF Auteur [Day 3]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IVgfA7gAX2A/mqdefault.jpg)
![Z Review - ZMF Auteur [Day 3]](/img/tr.png)
My accountant said I have to stop watching your videos
If you have an accountant I don't think you have to worry.
Then stop watching then.
Fire/divorce your accountant!
@Mark Learst You dont need 1000+ on headphone gear
@@nicktan4530 yes he does! Stop it
For those reading in the future and deciding, I finally got my aeolus (sapele) and verite (silk) to go head to head to head with my auteur (blackwood). Disclaimer I have given up stax l700 for the auteur and have not found anything close to the amount of sheer pleasure i get from listening on them. These are my first inital impressions with no burn in and just use for a couple of hours on day 1 and day 2. I am doing this off a mayflower arc which is pretty clean and powers these just fine. Music preferences- all kinds including modern/alt/classic/rock, heavy metal, rap, pop and some irish/folk. Examples include ccr, metallica, acdc, three days grace, jimmy hendrix, kanye west, post malone, sublime, third eye blind, gin blossoms, paramore, evanescence, panic at the disco, scythian (please check them out on spotify, great st pattys day concert). With that out of the way here we go...
Between the 3, if you put a gun to my head and said to eliminate 1 it would be aeolus. It is not bad by no means and it def worth its money. Bass heads will love these as there is plenty to go around. The vocals are very good but not on par with the other 2 and the highs take a huge backseat to the other spectrums to the point where they can even be drowned out. Definitly the most full bass of the 3 but at the detriment of mids and highs. Also, aeolus seems to be the most forgiving of the 3 in terms of closed in rock music or songs not really well mastered. (evans blue for example can sound muddy to me but these really cover it up a bit). Another note on the bass..it can come across as bloated for me.
So that would leave verite and auteur. These 2 are so eerily similar. Lets start with the highs. this is def the brightest of the 3. where highs fell into the background of the music with the aeolus, highs are well represented and so clear, every now and then just borderline sharp but i wasnt annoyed just something i noticed it getting close to. For background 2-3k and 7-8k spikes are something ive typically had issues with (looking at you dt1990). bass is punchy but not really full, just accurate. it hits its note and moves onto the next note. bassheads arent going to feel that rumble that you would get with the aeolus and a little with the auteur but again its just punchy and accurate. mids, i left this for last for a reason. its better than the aeolus but on par with auteur. vocals are so clear and well detailed. this will come down to a matter of preference. auteur has the vocals very intimate and up close and the instruments back that up and cover around the sides. with verite vocals are pushed back a bit and are on the same level as the instruments so they tend to get drowned out a bit on some songs. I guess it comes down to do you like vocals front and center or are you instruments first. theres no wrong answer. I have a feeling its because of the more open nature (theres ports on the back of the cup to let out more air).
So as you can maybe figure out my favorite, the auteur are the last man standing. On zmf's website it talks about the auteur not trying to be a successor to either the atticus or eikon but a more neutral sound and they accomplished this. its as if the best features of the atticus (which I had and loved) and the eikon (which i also had and remember them being boring but being a little more open and better highs). the bass is there, punchy but also stays around when it needs to and melts into the mids transitioning beautifully without overwhelming the mids. highs are crystal clear and NEVER sibilant at all. guitar strings and symbols are separated well from the mix to where you can even focus your ears to just hear them and distinguish them perfectly. mids are so clear, detailed and upfront. everything is so well separated and detailed it really feels like it just sits in the middle saying "oh you got bass, i got bass. Oh you got treble, i got that too. Mids? hold my 3.5in cord...." I will say it doesnt work on every song. Evans blue i mentioned earlier can sound muddy along with rock that instrument separation wasnt really a thought. Also, acoustic and classic rock music on the auteur is just and absolute melt in your seat and just listen and enjoy moment.
TLDR; After short listening Auteur > Verite > Aeolus
Waiting on the monoprice monolith portable dac amp that Zeos recently reviewed as im getting tired of some issues with the mayflower and want to get something more clean and probably reliable as well. Ill be burning them in a bit and putting more time into it over the next week and will sell 2 of the 3. These are def all endgame worthy. You just cant beat these dynamic drivers. Planar and electrostat can step aside for dynamics to take back over. If this is helpful i might come back and add more when i make a more definite choice.
ONE MORE THING... i added the wood types as I think these can make a huge choice. Josh valour recently reviewed the auteur but it wasnt the same as my blackwoods. He described them being a bit bright where I and others ive seen would say theyre more warm. he had issues with some of the highs where as I never have an issue with them. so some may be our hearing but ill bet the wood is a factor too.
Another quick edit lol. person mentioned below about suede pads and i would say dont on any of these. they bloat the bass, ruin the timbre and highs. yes they are very comfortable, but at too great of a cost
Results: Thought id go ahead and update some info here (no edits made above this is all after testing and better amp). So I got the monoprice monolith portable thx dac/amp so I can be sure everything is being powered well and cleanly. Ultimately my choice was Auteur>Aeolus>Verite. I came to enjoy the bass of the aeolus more than the neutral sound of the verite over longer sessions and burn in on both. That said, i recently got the Heritage HP3 and i would suggest those over the aeolus. its better bass both sub and mid, better vocals which are pretty intimate, better highs and soundstage than the aeolus. Now the are pretty sharp for me on the S's and T's but put that baby on a tube and you get some nice fun low end and vocals (although vocals still not as crystal clear and detailed as auteur) and it brings down that sharpness really well. I did not have a tube amp for the verite and aeolus unfortunately. For now I am pitting the auteur vs the hp3 but i think the tubed auteur beats the tubed or solid state hp3. Let me know and maybe I can do a result for that as well.
Did you try aeolus with universe perf suede pads or verite? Zach say they make them much more neutral, which also show in the measurements. He also said non perf pads would make them super bassy
@@Scoutscout1000 only tried stock and suede but I felt the suede made it too bassy and it was flabby bass. It brought down the vocals and treble.
@@c4monkey if they werent perforated that makes sense, but suede perfs make it much more neutral, that's why he recommends the uni perf suede for people who want less bass.. Zmf has so many pads its hard to keep track
Never found anyone who's also listened to Evans Blue
Fell asleep with these on just this afternoon while listening to Iron Maiden. Deeply relaxing but also deeply detailed. If anything, I find the top end a bit soft. Intense to my ears is DT1990. These are very different.
The leather eikons round off the upper mid and low treble issues btw. Not sure why you listened to the Atticus and Eikon with suede pads, they change the original sound signature of both. Sure, the suede may be more comfortable, but I'm not the only one that believes it neuters the sound signature.
I was going to ask about that. Ive got the Lambskin pads. Im not trading that out for some shit suede...TY
his reviews on these are essentially useless since they aren't with stock pads. going from solid leather to solid suede is like switching headphones.
car enthusiasts have a word for engine sound : "EARGASM"
good enough for us audiophiles as well
Black Hawk Down is fuckin amazing, it has some really tense action. With a good surround setup, the viewer takes cover by reflex.
Maybe the eikons need to be modified more to be as good as the Atticus. I could probably reduce the treble while maintaining or perhaps increasing the detail. I'd love to give it a shot if I had the money.
Do we know which ZMF closed backs have the best isolation?
Black Hawk Down is amazeballs, IMO.
how do you get pre-out interference to stop? have media bridge subwoofer shielded rca's going 15 and 25 feet to 305's
24:53 ok now i want this wall vid!
Those Suede pads raise the treble and lessen the bass (vs stock pads). My Eikons have the stock pads and never cause fatigue
Wow you're right Z. Its ~$7,000.
Hey Zeos you should review the nanoAVR HDA by mini dsp. Looks amazing
Link to crazy power cables??
www.amazon.com/WAudio-Hi-End-Audio-Power-Cable/dp/B01L2MBYWC/ref=sr_1_cc_4
It's the WAudio Hi-End Hifi Audio AC Power Cable. You can find it on Amazon.
Hey Zeos, the Ether C Flow still the best closed can or do the ZMF closed backs compete?
This.
Interesting… the Atticus are marketed as warm and non-neutral on the ZMF website
I've seen/read a good amount of Atticus reviews and zeos is the first one to describe them as neutral
This also caught me off guard, especially considering I own a padauk Atticus and it's about as far from neutral as it gets for a high-end headphone.
I think he's hearing a smooth response and misnaming that as 'neutrality'. They aren't neutral, but there are no harsh peaks or dips, and while they have a warm tilt - especially in the midbass - it's hard to say they're overly bassy. Not to mention that they change a lot with pads and wood, and he has neither the stock wood or pads. Zach's said a few times that suede will tame the midbass, up the subbass and treble, and the measurements support that.
The whole neutral is confusing and usually mean "weak bass", what doesn't really make sense, since a song may have strong bass and the headphones is not reproducing trem correctly to appear "neutral"
he is using a different pads
From the sound demos, the Atticus sounds warm with a MidBass forward sound.
How are you not treble sensitive to the th900/909??
He probably is, pretty sure everyone is, but people still love them and they have their place.
Black Hawk Down was pretty decent, worth the watch
Why not Mono, Zeos?
please tell me your gana review the ORA graphene Q headphones when they come out?
How do these compare to T5p (gen 1 or gen 2)?
These are way more mid focused. Both great cans.
Aeolus vs L300 Limited with maxed out dac and amp?
L300
you forgot to link that big ass power cable
These or the Verite closed is the real question.!?
Absolutely most definitely verite closed
@@MeteoraEra You've heard them both, how you're too sure?
@@jimis3167 Do your homework and give them a try at canjam or wherever possible and watch the stuff that are already on youtube, you'll get your answer.
That random RATM reference
Guerilla Radio ftw
Would love to see you listen to that one Tenacious D track "Master Explorer HAHAHAHHA
Did zeos Just talk about getting himself a litle Timmy and Sally? Poking his tweeters....
These or the Atticus or the Neumann NDH20?
i gave you a like when u said "treble texture" LOL
baccano!!!
Its like Groundhog Day all over again ;)
No Chevy Chase, no 20-something Beverly D'Angelo taking a shower and we're all about a hundred years older - great. My current headphones do *exactly* what you describe with the treble - I'll pass on any other headphone regardless overall sound quality that does that.
Jesus CHRIST Z, September?!
Disappointed in you z... Bowsette is so main stream now... But in all seriousness, I also enjoyed the Atticus more than eikon. I felt they were more intimate and picked up more detail on the mids and lows.
So much wood, wish I could hold them all
Wood isn't exactly expensive, unless you talk about stuff like ebony or other exotics. Metal also, it's like in the cents range of price. Personally I prefer space age high quality polymers like on HD 800 for durability, immunity to humidity, acoustics and being lightweight.
Yo
558, ALL DAY!
give me 909 and Eikon and im done
pls not Bowsette