Autuers on StereoNet at the moment bro. And I know another Brisbane fellow about to sell his Autuers too. They do pop up. I’ve seen all the ZMF models for sale in last couple months on StereoNet…
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Thanks for the heads-up, I was curious about the 9200 but they did seem over-priced. Wouldn’t buy them blind. The Empyrean is really tempting, but yes, I have heard they are possibly too bassy and laid-back/smooth as well.
Awesome! They are definitely worth trying at least before spending on kilobuck headphones. Good luck on your hunt! 
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I do have a slight preference for the Atticus over the Verite Closed. I listen mostly to really poorly recorded metal, and the VC is just too honest and revealing for my preferences. It throws all the flaws and crappiness of the recordings in my face. the Atticus smooths it out enough so that i still enjoy it, and don’t dwell too much on it. Now for well recorded music, like my jazz, blues, and folk music, then i prefer the VC slightly. just my preferences though. the VC is far more amp picky than any other ZMF too, imo, because of it’s ultra revealing nature. your whole chain needs to be up to snuff if you own either Verite model.
I have listened to the Aeolus quite a bit, my buddy has one i get to borrow when he feels like borrowing my VC. The Atticus and Aeolus are very similar sounding, you can tell they share the same driver and same basic tuning. but they are different. the Aeolus is more open sounding, of course, but also has a more balanced frequency response. it still has the Atticus’ epic mid bass, but the whole frequency response is more balanced, with more air up top, and i’d swear slightly more sub bass down low. and when pad rolling, you can get a more neutral signature from it, whereas the Atticus seems to resist it a bit. you can get it somewhat neutral sounding, but imo it doesn’t sound very good, you’d be better off with an Auteur at that point. I personally love the Atticus’ apologetically fun and colored sound signature, and prefer it to the more balanced Aeolus. but many think i’m nuts for loving the Atticus as much as i do, especially with the VC in my stable. I just love how fun and engaging it is. it’s the wild child of my lineup, and a blast to listen to. the Aeolus can also let it’s hair down and get wild too, but imo the Atticus just does it better. all my opinion
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The way I look at it is like this.
This is me just summerizing what I’ve read.
If you like your break downs, heavy bass use then probably the Atticus.
But if you like complex metal where all the intrsruments need room to breathe then aeolus.
Im leaning towards aeolus because you can make that headphone a little more bassy but I’m assuming you can’t make a closed as open as easily.
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Yes, I’d say that’s fair to say about the openness of the Atticus vs the Aeolus. Both handle instrument separation quite nicely. The biggest thing to consider is your amp, and how much speed it has. Slower tube amps can smear the separation a bit. Most solid state amps are plenty fast and not much concern.
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I actually think that if you like rock, I think you’ll like Audeze. I find their tonality (once you use EQ or Audeze Reveal +) to be very fitting for rock and metal. They also have the quality of being very forgiving of music that is not that well recorded (often the case with rock and metal) when compared to other high-end headphones.
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Comparing Verite to Empys. They’re both musical, warm sounding and comfortable. They are both very well made. They need different amps to sound their best. Tube for ZMF, SS for Meze. The ZMFs are faster, more detailed and have better tonality and soundstage. The Mezes have better bass and are only slightly behind the ZMFs on the other factors. The ZMFs need a higher quality ($) of amp to sound better than Meze and to me are better suited to Jazz/Vocals. The Empys are more all around user friendly and suit nearly all music. That makes them more “goldilocks” to me
Why not compare them side by side soon? Thoughts?
Emotiva basx a100. I got one used for $170. I actually had an he5le for a little while and the basx had plenty of headroom.
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It sounds to me like you’d be looking for a ZMF Eikon with lambskin pads since you’re constantly coming back to the Fostex. Would encourage messaging Zach for which pads he recommends for your target sound on those. He is extraordinarily helpful. Personally would go with lambskin and suede for two different experiences. Atticus is my personal favorite closed back ever, and I mean I will gush about how it makes me feel endlessly. Even I admit though it is nowhere near as resolving or technically capable as the Eikon. I chose the Atticus because it sounded organic, had a pleasing mid bass bump, full bodied vocals (despite the upper mid recession), and an overall softer experience easing my listening time into something quite laid back. Especially with those freaking suede pads man. Metal571 has an awesome in depth comparison on these two headphones in his YouTube review.
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Ever try Eikon pads on your Atticus?
it’s been awhile since i’ve done so, and i owned the Eikon at that time, i remember thinking i just preferred the Eikon with stock pads more than the Atticus with Eikon pads. the Atticus sounded a bit weird to me with the Eikon pads.
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Hey mate, I actually bought the Atticus that popped up last week. I’m liking it overall so far, although it’s quite lacking in clarity, resolution, detail, speed/transients. Mid-bass is good, but not as tight as I would like, mid-range is very good and a bit forward, highs a bit too rolled off. Kinda reminds me of a dynamic version of an Audeze, but not quite as dark. It definitely makes me more interested in trying the other ZMF models now though
Thanks for your impressions! I actually picked up a used Atticus last week and I’m quite liking it. It’s warmer and darker than I’m used to but I love how it is non-fatiguing and smooth. It is a bit lacking in clarity, resolution and speed compared to my other headphones though. Still, makes me very interested in trying more of the ZMF models in the future…
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That seems about right, want to try an Aeolus now that I’ve got the Atticus. Might prefer it a bit to the very warm and slightly dark Atticus.
Yes I think so too, when I tried them awhile back I was put-off by how dark and kinda muddy they sounded. Definitely need to give them another shot though. Which LCD do you think would be best for metal music?
What city you in? 20char
The Meze’s a definitely at the top of my shortlist right now, but another headphone that has me interested is the D8000 Pro. Many reviews I’ve read prefer it to the Empy and one review in particular, compared it to the Utopia, Empyrean, Susvara, Abyss 1266 TC, and D8000 and said it was the best overall for metal music. That had me really intrigued! Have you heard the D8000 Pro before?
Yes, that’s a nice looking amp, only issue is it might be a bit too big for my desk. I’ve been looking at getting the new Topping A90 amp. Looks like it might put about 4W into 50ohm in balanced mode. Should be enough for the HE6-SE if I went with it?