The hand-built Verum 1 is the first product from the Ukrainian-based Verum Audio, a small boutique producer that started as a Kickstarter project. The Verum 1 is an open-backed planar-magnetic headphone with the following specifications:
The Verum 1 features a dual-sided magnetic array and thick diaphragm that’s a bit of a throwback to older planar magnetic designs.
After a two month wait with no tracking number, my pair of carbon fiber colored Verum 1’s finally arrived! They’ve got a decidedly DIY aesthetic which I neither love nor hate, but feel solidly built. Thanks to the ample adjustability, comfort is very good indeed, with no hot spots on my crown and an adequate amount of clamping pressure to keep the headphones in place without causing me discomfort. I’ve heard these described as being on the heavy side, but they don’t feel heavy on my head.
These headphones feature an ingenious pad attachment scheme - a metal ring slots into the extra material on the back side of the pads, and the magnetic force of the planar array holds the ring in place. This mechanism allows me to swap pads quickly enough to do some reasonable back-to-back comparisons.
I had hoped to receive my pair with both the original pleather pads as well as the “upgrade” fenestrated leather pads, but alas I received two pairs of the fenestrated leather. I have had the opportunity to try ZMF Ori lambskin pads and Brainwavz XL pleather pads as well. I’ll need more listening time for detailed impressions, but I can already tell that I strongly prefer the ZMF Ori lambskins to the Verum fenestrated leather, with the Brainwavz pads trailing a little behind.
As I recall when I had mine… I really liked the Dekoni hybrid pads for I think the LCD series…but can’t recall why…been awhile…
Hello Percy,
thank you for the first impressions
I wish, for future releases, more headphones to come with the connectors looking to the front or at least not completely straight down
I handle my headphones, cables and all connectors with the kind of care, a paranoid would apply
My neck gets not any longer, I tried stretching and Yoga
My shoulders are somehow not made for tall hf with fragile pointing down connectors and cables
When I’m chilling on the sofa my arms automatically go sideways on the rest and the space for the cables is gone
This man did some simple things, even I can recognize with a quick look
It swivels and is completely adjustable 
For the rest, one can put his own hands on for the last finish on some edges and make it unique 
easy swappable pads I look at you Beyerdynamic
different designs to choose
how is the sound?
with 8 Ohm it must be amp picky- is it really?
days ago I suggested the Verum 1 as one underrated headphone knowing some details about the build
Keep my fingers crossed
It is, though not necessarily much more picky than other planars that I’ve tried. It is quite efficient, which helps, but while it gets deafeningly loud on my phone it also sounds muddy and harsh compared to from my Atom or even Topping NX4. Like most planars, it seems to like high gain too. I can’t explain why, but even level matched it sounds better to me.
i rwad about some issues with some amplifier struggling with the low impedance. i think one of the topping amplfiers with 10ohm output impedance was a culprit.
8ohm shouldnt be an issue for most well designed amplfiers but amplfiers with higher out put impedance may waste a lot of power and run into current limits.
most amplifiers are fine though. its not an inefficient headphone.
That’s correct. It’s rated the same as my HD58X, which my LG V20 handles nicely. To reach 110dB SPL, the HD58X needs 12.93mA, whereas the Verum 1 needs 56.25mA. I don’t know at what point my LG V20 runs into current limiting, but it’s certainly conceivable that that point lies somewhere between these two values.
For kicks and giggles, here are MiniDSP E.A.R.S. measurements of a few different pads (HEQ compensated, psychoacoustic smoothing). In broad strokes (bass extension, upper mids clarity and shout, treble extension past 10 KHz), the measurements line up pretty well with what I hear.
Verum Leather - The fenestrated leather pads available from Verum. They’re quite comfortable, but too forward for me around 3 KHz (I’m sensitive there).
Brainwavz XL - Aftermarket pleather pads that looks similar to the Verum stock pleather pads but a bit deeper.
NewFantasia AKG Pads - Round, shallow, leather pads meant for AKG headphones like the K240, including foam damping discs. The ear holes are quite small and not very comfortable.
I’m not ready to write up impressions yet, but here’s some more measurements, this time comparing the Verum 1 with Ori pads against the HD58X, still one of my favorite headphones. The HPN compensation makes it easier to compare bass and mids, showing that the Verum 1 has overall very similar tonal balance to the HD58X, but with a bit less bass hump, nice linear sub-bass extension and a bit of 1 KHz elevation that I see on a lot of planars.
I will say that I’m mostly enjoying the Verum 1 and find it to sound way more natural/realistic than what I remember from my LCD2C. I do wish there were a little less energy in the 8-10 KHz range, but so far I’ve been unable to tame that with any mods. Front damping all seems to take off more of the upper treble and even some of the high mids, but leaves 8-10 KHz untouched 
Pad rolling with this thing is fun! I’ve added one more pair of pads to the mix, the Dekoni Elite Sheepskin for Fostex TH900. Here are measurements of my three favorites, HPN compensated.
When I had mine I really enjoyed using the ZMF pads as well…I believe my favorite were the universal suede and the auteur sheep skin(?) can’t recall…
In my search for the perfect pads, I’m finding that I like the bass extension and weight of the ZMF Ori pads, but their vocals are a bit too recessed and detail just seems a bit lacking. I’m actually liking the perforated leather’s midrange a lot, and they have a lot more detail, but the bass is too rolled off and lower mids lack a bit of warmth.
Well, I had an extra pair of the perforated leathers, so I converted them to “hybrid” pads by wrapping electrical tape around the outside.
This might be the one. Good sub-bass extension, some warmth, good vocal presence, good detail. Too bad it looks like crap! Maybe someone makes stock lambskin angled pads of the same depth with fenestration only on the inside?
Measurements of the exact same pad before and after taping, HPN compensated …
Cheers to all the Verum fellows here
Now I’m using Dekoni angled pads(might be the same as what @pwjazz mentioned above)
which offering the similar sound as the original pads but much more comfortable.
While I’ve been enjoying experimenting with the Verum One and find a lot of positive qualities, I have yet to fall in love with it. The recent arrival of some Campfire Andromedas has put further pressure on the Verum to grab my attention, and it hasn’t fared to well.
In general, I’ve been liking the sound from different variations of the ZMF Ori pads, but vocals are a bit too distant and the extreme seal creates a pressure that causes pain in my right ear.
On a whim, I tried the Verum with the Focus A pads from my HE4XX. They don’t seal well because of the glued-on plastic mounting rings, and lose sub-bass because of it. I’ll hold off on listening impressions for now, but I found the measurements very interesting. Note the highly zoomed in scale …
I also tried many pads for my mk2 headphones and ended up with the cheap Fostex 900 series thin leather pads I ordered from Aliexpress.
