Auteur is a great jack of all trades, neutral enough to do everything kind of headphone. When compared to the verite, I can see why people might think it is a little boring. The flip side of that coin is that it is also smoother and easier to get along with.
Aeolus is more exciting. More bass, more mid emphasis, lots of gravy on your mashed potatoes kind of headphone. It’s because of this that it matches very well with Rock, blues, techno, classic rock, country, acoustic, etc. It’s strengths play into where that kind of music lives, bass and mids. Classical and jazz, less so.
Aeolus is also, probably, the most flexible headphone when it comes to rolling pads to adjust the sound. I have tried different pads with the Auteur, but I quickly picked the one I liked most and have stuck with it ever since. With Aeolus, I swap back and forth between the suede universe pads and the stock Aeolus pads. If I want more oomph, stock pads go on. If I want to mellow it out a bit, the suede pads go on.
Honestly, I would pick Aeolus and extra pads for fine tuning. I’m not saying that because one is cheaper than the other, but more that I think the Aeolus is more interesting. If you listen to wide range of genres like I do, Aeolus can be more exciting across the spectrum than Auteur if you don’t mind taking a few minutes to swap pads.
As far as the headband material, leather is fine. BUT… For the head suspension strap, go suede or go home. The suede strap has a tiny bit of cushion in it, and it’s so damn comfortable. I doubt I’ll buy another zmf headphone that doesn’t have a suede headstrap.
Pads are entirely dependant on which headphone you pick. For Auteur I use the Auteur perforated leather pads. For Aeolus, I swap back and forth between the stock Aeolus pads and universe perforated suede pads. I’ve heard other people prefer the Auteur perf suede pads, or BE2 hybrid pads, but I haven’t tried them. Either way, it depends more on what sound you want than it does about comfort. All of the pads are really comfortable.