ZMF Vérité C - Closed-Back Dynamic Headphone - Official Thread

Woah. That’s way closer than I expected. Thx Torq.

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This makes me think the Stellia is still slightly more smooth in the treble. It’s something I loved about it when I heard it. I may be oversimplifying things but the shape of that rise for the Stellia at 8.5khz is definitely my preference for that region (as I’ve noticed with the Ananda vs Arya as well), and speaking as a Verite Open owner, that’s the one area that I think could be improved upon. Still, the overall technical ability of the Verite (open in my case) has me preferring it over the high end Focals. You get almost all of the detail without losing the stage.

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The FedEx guy brought me something nice this AM. :slight_smile:

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Is that the Monkey Pod or Desert Ironwood?

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Theyre Monkey Pod.

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Home…and on my home gear with the Verite C; These scale well, which I was expecting, as the Verite O and the Aeolus both scale well with amps.

Tried on the Phonitor XE and they become quick, precise, and analytical sounding.

Onto The EC ZDT Jr. and they bloom into dynamos of sweet, precise sound, with a nice warmth and wow…just nice…

BHC+SB now and take the EC ZDT Jr. and multiply it by X. I thoroughly enjoy these with the tubes! BHC+SP gets a little wider and more resolving. The 3D effect gets more pronounced. I really like this combo…and I’m on the R2R DAC which isn’t exactly a detail monster lol.

CAYIN HA-1A MKii, oooh…what is happening here…not as wide as the BHC+SP but warmth and neutrality are here !!! I’m trying to re-think that statement, Neutral with a touch of warmth…honestly pairs very well with the Verite C, kind of a nice balance between the Phonitor XE and the BHC+SB…

The Verite C is for me a fantastic sounding headphone…at this stage I’m willing to say my favorite so far closed back…

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It’s between the Vérité Closed and the Stellia for me.

The Vérité C already having dispatched the HD820 in this regard.

We’ll see where I wind up in a few weeks when I get them back from you! :wink:

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I should have made @TylersEclectic wait until Sunday to hand over the Vérité Closed …

A rare thing for me, but I actually miss them.

And it’s been barely 24 hours …

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Seriously! I know these feels! It’s going to be very hard giving them back! :wink:

My reaction when I got the news I get to listen to these, then the realization I have to give them back:

I very much so, appreciate you and Zach allowing me to give them an extended listen, while you’re away.

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And…how I spent my morning and lunch at work today:

So onto the evening and I’m sipping some rum (Kaniche Perfeccion) and damn… I may prefer these to the Verite Opens…there is something there that just grabs me with the closed version…been going back and forth between the two… and that mild bump in warmth has a big effect on me. It has for me an added “pull me in” factor… also the tonal balance is slightly more smooth on the closed. I mentioned this in another forum… but the Verite Closed sounds like the Aeolus turned up to 11 with the Verites detail, imaging, and stage. The funny thing is it is subtle, and I’m still trying to put my finger on what I’m hearing that has me feeling this way…maybe it’s the rum :smirk:¯_(ツ)_/¯

@Torq I think it might be the mids… you mention in your impressions up above:

This and I think this comment is what is making these that added boost/differentiating factor to the Opens:

Verite C is just wow…

Ok, now back on the Verite Opens…and honestly thought I still had the closed on for a couple of tracks I had to reach up and feel the grill to remember which headphone I had on! That is awesome, I don’t think I’ve had that experience with a headphone before… yeah the difference is very subtle…I’m back on the Closed and it is the added warmth, Mid “sparkle” :wink: and that slightly “boosted”? 3d-ness that the Closed have I think is what I’m hearing over the Opens. Just Fantastic…oh damn, Rodrigo y Gabriela live in France just came on…and that “sense of space/ambiance from some venues is remarkable” quote from you was like ears meet awesome :wink: lol.

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Excellent pictures and a great collage!

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Yeah… kind of an oh that’s what that button in Photoshop Express does :sweat_smile: moment today… Face meet palm plus, collages I think make it slightly easier to post multiple pictures =) If anyone wants me to post individual pictures just ask and I will =) also any questions regarding the Verite C, I’ll do my best to answer them. But I may @torq for more robust answers if he is available to answer.

Honestly, Torqs initial impression post is pretty spot on for me as well. So I feel like I’ll just be doing more of these stream of concious posts =) with a mini review before I “have” to give them back to Torq :wink:

Me walking back to my car after giving them back…

then later that night…


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@TylersEclectic we’ll need you to bring that to the HeadFi meetup :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :wink:

Who cares about sleep and family… :smiley:

No seriously, we’ll have to meet up so I can try those again when we’re both back from vacation. :slight_smile:

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You got it! They sound great out of the N6ii, also I have the Suede Non-perf universe on right now…and some of the magic disappears… at least for me… the non-perf lamb skin Universe are so far the way to go! At least for me :wink: I still need to try the Eikon pads and the Perf Universe pads

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Ok, the last post before going to bed…I think I need to start time-stamping my edits to my stream of conscious posts lol…they look very odd sometimes without the context of time…

Anyhow! So currently my favorite amp pairing is the Cayin HA-1A MKii with these… just really has nice synergy. I think the added tubey-ness to the relatively neutral (at least in terms of tubes) HA-1A MKii with the slightly boosted warmth of the Verite C is just a nice combo.

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The second favorite is probably a toss-up between the Bottlehead Crack+SB and the Phonitor XE…but I should probably plug back into the Eddie Current ZDT Jr. one last time before making this statement.

Bottlehead has a bit more stage and OOMPH, also with my current tubes it can get overly bright at times.

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Eddie Current ZDT Jr with the Verite Closed… is a little too bright with the tubes I have in there now…I have to try the tubes that were gifted to me and see if they make a difference. But once I turn the volume down a bit, it sounds very much so in between the BHC+SB and the Cayin HA-1A MKii.

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FInally the Phonitor XE, my beloved VU meters, and that dark inky background =) Yes, please. You lose some of the magic of the 3D-ness and warmth but, you gain, stage, imaging, and detail back… this combo is almost apples-apples very hard to differentiate from the Verite Open. Damn, Stand by Me (live at teh Late Show w/David Letterman) performed by Tracy Chapman just came on and some of the 3D-ness has come back! FAN-TAS-TIC!!! lol @Torq do I have to give them back :wink: lol

I think Headphones.com has both the Phonitor X/XE and the Cayin available right now and I can’t recommend enough these amps, no matter where you buy it from, I think Musicteck.com is the other Cayin seller in the US. Look at both and determine the best value for yourself =) but seriously if you get the chance to listen to either give it a go! The Phonitor is end game Solid State for me. The Cayin HA-1A MKii is just fun to look at and has a nice neutral(ish) sound but with a nice shot of tubey goodness to keep it fun =) plus have I mentioned how pretty it is… that window into the tubes is such a joy to look into at night while imbibing and listening to some good music! sorry shilling a bit as I enjoy other people experiencing what I’ve experienced :wink: plus it adds more people to compare with =)

Well, that was a lot longer than I intended… I’m going to bed now :wink: I’ll be out of town next week so I’ll miss greatly the Verite C! for a couple of days. But I’m hoping to get some time in with my A7III and my burgeoning photography hobby lol, then back with the Verite C with some more thoughts, I’ll put a review together before relinquishing them back to Torq :sweat_smile:

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Zach mentioned to me that the Universe perf pads on the VC ruin the bass. Im gonna take his word on it.

Im digging the Auteur leather pads. More neutral and airy sounding than the others. Brighter than the suede for sure. Less slam,but the sub bass digs deep. Tight,snappy,clear sound.

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I’ll skip them then, as you are the second person to say this. I’m looking forward to getting them back on my head next weekend…in the meantime…more pineapple and coconut cocktails!

I’ll throw the Auteur pads on next!

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I’m looking for input on my personal decision… I have a few TOTL cans. I’m actually broke, just really lucky. And invested in music. I have an LCD4 that gets the majority of my use, an HD800 as an occasional pallette cleanser, and an Eikon. I can just afford the VC if I sell the Eikon and the HD800. Or the LCD4. What are the chances I would like it enough to justify either move? How does it rank up against those on technicalities (detail, imaging, soundstage)? How absurd would it be to use the VC with a cheap amp on a rockboxed iPod?

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Well, my Verite open has more or less replaced my HD800…but the HD800 has that unique wide sound stage and imaging.

The closed is similar to the open, just warmer. I think the Eikon will have better bass, HD800 will have better stage.

The Verite Closed is the better all arounder in my opinion. But ultimately it’s your decision.

I use the closed with my Cayin N6ii just fine but it’s a pretty powerful DAP, I’m not familiar with the iPod or amp you have but if it powers your HD800 well then it should power the Verite closed…

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What pads are you using for the VO and VC? Im not hearing warmer on the VC. In fact I think its slightly brighter,with much better sub bass. I havent really rolled in my “3D tube roll” yet to see which is more holographic yet.

Using Auteur leather on VC and Uni leather perf on VO,which are,at this point,my two preferred pads respectively.

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