A consistent point in conversations here & on other headphone boards concerns the soul/musicality/emotional “rightness” some headphones have, and others don’t. What exactly is that quality? (I’m not sure, but know it when I hear it/feel it).
Rather than look at ZMF through the lens of production times, unit costs, profit margins, other standard business metrics, I tend to look at them in terms of their “hit rate,” the proportion of their headphones that nail the soulful, organic, musical sound thing. Of all the ZMF headphones I’ve heard IMS or at shows, and either own or once owned, these are the ones that tick that soulful, musical box for me:
– Eikon (owned)
– Ori (own)
– Aeolus (own)
– Verite Open (own)
– Verite Closed (loaner IMS for ~2 weeks)
Of the rest, I owned an Atticus but couldn’t get it to sound good on any of my amps; heard the Aeolus a number of times but find it a touch sharp in the upper mids (I might have been listening w/the wrong earpads, though); and never managed to hear the Vibro, Blackwood, or ZMF Classic.
(am I missing any?)
Doing the math, that’s 5 out of 10 ZMF headphones that really nail the sound of music; that have the natural warmth, bass weight and resonance I hear in music performed IRL spaces. That’s a hit rate of 50%…which would probably be even higher if I’d managed to hear the Vibro & Blackwood.
That rate of success is nuts, off the charts–well beyond other headphone manufacturers.
Am I being subjective? Obviously. Would some feel that other manufacturers hit their sonic sweet spot often? Of course.
All I can say is this: in all the years/decades of my audio obsession (headphones being a relatively recent thing for me), I learned it’s rare to encounter a pair of speakers, an amp, a preamp, or whatever that can really communicate the spirit and feeling of music to the listener.
This means for me that ZMF is the one to watch. I can’t wait to see what else Zach & Bevin come up with in the future.
