That was my first thought. I’ve NEVER seen a headphone smoke like that, that’s crazy.
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It wasn’t an L30, haha. In was a SPL Phonitor e. I plugged the se connection in (like I have a thousand times) and zzzzaaaaaapppppp!
Here’s the smoke coming out of the Phonitor.
Damn… was the phonitor playing music at the time?
Can’t say. It may have been. I knew about the recommendation in the manual to turn down the music when plugging into the Phonitor. But I’m also a human being, and therefore flawed and imperfect… 
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Hopefully this can have a happy ending! Time to check warranty!
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I hope you can get everything replaced under warranty.
You’ve had a terrible time these past few months - I remember you posting about evacuating from the forest fires last September. I hope you’re doing ok.
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Smoke follows from shorted wires in either the headphones or the amp. Then, both get hotter and hotter and start to burn. I’m not sure if turning it down would have made any difference.
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Nice of you to remember. Yes, 2020 sucked for all of us!!
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It’s a shame you had this experience.
It’s also a shame that SPL don’t make a more concrete statement about this in their manuals, as it would help avoid this sort of thing (though, as you say, being human … doesn’t mean people will remember every time).
I commented on it in my review of the Phonitor X:
- You MUST turn down the volume or, better still, engage the “mute” function when connecting/disconnecting single-ended headphones via the standard 1/4” (6.35mm) jack.
The Phonitor e, X and XE don’t have short-circuit protection on their headphone output. This isn’t an issue with XLR outputs, since they are non-shorting. But 1/4" TRS jacks often (perhaps always) short out the socket as they are inserted. Even in-spec plugs and sockets will do it.
Once you have an unprotected shorting potential, then the question is at what level of output and duration of short will kill the device. You could get away with it for ages, and then a slower-than-usual insertion of an existing plug, or a switch to a newer plug that shorts for more of its insertion length, or just doing it as a higher than normal volume, will cause enough of an issue for something to fail.
So, that’s almost certainly what caused the smoke in the Phonitor e (which I’m assuming is now dead, incidentally). And once that shorted, if anything internal failed, then who knows what level of power was present on the outputs once the jack was fully inserted. With the Clears being relatively low impedance, it wouldn’t take much for that to result in enough current delivery to take those out too.
–
Hopefully SPL’s warranty will take care of you. Being an EU company, there is a better chance of the warranty covering consequential damages (i.e. the headphones).
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@TylersEclectic so i just got my Clear and it was a huge step up for me overall, but im also looking at ZMF as companions. What ZMF would you say will give me the same level of clarity, like Harley’s old window analogy…i would love to just go straight to the VC but im loving the look of the Auteur, and reading the Eikon has the most sub bass, like how do i pick? This can be for anybody as well…
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Well I think the Aeolus splits the difference between the Auteur and Eikon.
Auteur is the most neutral of the ZMF bunch which would be probably most similar to the Clears.
Eikon would be the most fun of the bunch and easily a different signature to the Clears.
Aeolus is just plain good in my opinion… I personally sold my Clears after getting the Aeolus. But the Aeolus isn’t as fast or detailed as the Clears… more warm…
At the end of the day they all compliment each other… I’d go with what you think your missing from the Clears and which one you like the look of most lol
But I’m biased and want to eventually own all the ZMF lineup 
@zach915m or @ZMFheadphones can weigh in on what they think as I don’t currently own the Auteur or Eikon
Also @ProfFalkin is a great source for ZMF knowledge as well!
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im listening to your closed backs VS discussion, and i heard you just picked the Aeolus, Stellia’s seem interesting to. i guess a closed back to pair at first and since i mostly like electronic for a closed back the Eikon might be a good first. Right on thanks for the detail, and same i feel they all are worth owning, basically trying to find where to jump first.
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My two favorite headphones brands are ZMF and Focal both are fantastic for different reasons! My most used headphones currently are VC and Stellia
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Focal changed my perception for real, they were on my short list for 2 years and finally got them along with the GL2000 Friday, huge leap for me. I’ve mostly been in the mid tier, 600’s, 6xx, Ollo S4X, Grado 60’s, 80’s and Hemps, Beyer 770 80 and 250 and iems. Really helped to go that way though to figure out what i prefer. Great now i know i can start selling everything else, thanks for the time, really like the videos, they get me through work…
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Thank you! Appreciate you tuning into them =) it’s a lot of fun interacting with the community… I don’t think I’m a reviewer… more just a dude that likes gear lol… sharing my experiences. I leave the proper reviews to those like @Resolve @Chrono @Precogvision @antdroid etc! plenty of others in here as well =) I just try and explain how I’m experiencing these things from a generally average guy that likes new toys to play with ha!
To me it’s more about the journey and experience… and of course above all else the Music! How well do these things convey the music for me. How lost can I get in the music with the help of the gear =)
Keep that head nodding to the music 
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Welcome to the community! What are you looking for in the companion to the Clear? Are you looking for a dramatically different experience or something similar but slightly different? Do you care about open vs closed?
I own the Clear, Atticus, Eikon, and Verite Closed (VC). I’ve heard the Aeolus a few times, and owned an Auteur for over a year but sold it to fund an amp. Will be getting a Wenge Auteur soon hopefully!
The closest set to the Clear in terms of tonal balance and overall presentation is the Auteur. It’s also fairly neutral, but warmer than the Clear by a bit. It has a more full bass, noticeably slower decay, and a bit more treble presence. I tend to think of the Auteur as what the Clear would sound like on a warm tube amp. The Auteur has a wider soundstage with more dimensional placement, though it’s a bit hazier.
The VC would be next closest to the Clear in overall sound, but will be noticeably warmer, especially on a tube amp. The VC (and Verite Open) are the only ZMFs that can hang with the Clear in resolution. Not that the other models don’t resolve well, they do, but the VC is the ZMF resolution king, and imo matches the Clear in micro detail retrieval. Bass, especially with the Universe Lambskin pads, is much more elevated, but still very natural sounding. Speed is great on the VC. It’s not quite as fast as the Clear, imo, but it’s debatable. Of all my ZMFs, I find the VC to be the trickiest to amplify. Not in terms of power requirements, but in terms of synergy. I personally find the VC at it’s best on my Pendant amp. On my Phonitor, it’s good, but not terribly engaging.
The Aeolus would be next up, but I’ll let owners chime in with better impressions. My experiences with it were a few in store demos pre-covid. I thought it was similar enough to my Atticus that I didn’t feel the urge to buy one right away, but I’ll eventually get one.
The Atticus/Eikon are the warmest of the bunch, and will give you the biggest deviation from the Clear sound. Both are highly engaging and fun to listen to. The Atticus is warmer overall with tremendous midbass presence. The Eikon takes that midbass hump and pushes it down a bit, extending the response curve a bit more to the subbass and treble. It’s more balanced sounding than the Atticus, but for me, also a bit more fatiguing. Both are warm and fun though, I can’t stress that enough. If I had to choose my Clear and one other headphone, i’d personally go Atticus. It’s the farthest from the Clear sonically, and offers a wonderful contrast.
Hope some of my ranting helps!
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Oh man, so sorry! I have a Phonitor e and I hate plugging in my SE cables for this reason. SPL really needs to add protection to the circuit so this doesn’t happen.
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You know I agree!!!
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Wow thank you for the detailed response exactly what I was looking for. I’m really not quite sure what I’m looking for actually I just got the clear and I got the GL 2000‘s and I’m just listening I guess. I love the design work and the aesthetics of ZMF headphones. The Auteur Wenge right now that’s really hard for me not to just pull that trigger but I don’t wanna go in blind since it’s a chunk of money and I’d rather figure out what my listening preferences but this is a big help so I appreciate it. The Clear definitely opened my eyes to high resolution like that old Robert Harley window analogy I love resolution and that depth I guess soundstage left and right to me is great on this headphone but that resolution that non-veiled sound is really high priority. Also bass I listen to a lot of Electronic and if I don’t have bass it’s really a hard pass for me but thank you thank you man I’m gonna write all this down
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The Eikon is epic for electronic music. I’m not a huge electronic listener, but when I do, I grab my Eikon pretty much exclusively. It digs so deep with such presence in the lowest frequencies. The only headphone that I’ve used that outdoes it down low is the TH900. But that thing has some really wonky tuning, and is quite fatiguing to me.
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