That dark sapele looks really nice. I love the darker colored ZMF cans. I might be in the minority, but I prefer softer woods on the VO and VC. The decay is slightly longer and it contributes to more of a pronounced 3D effect on the soundstage. I briefly owned a blackwood VO that was insanely nice, but after awhile I realized that I missed the sound of silkwood. It’s all system dependent and personal preference though, of course.
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Is the metal on the first photo copper?
Yes.
(Vérité Open – ZMF Headphones)
“When paired with the optional copper grille and rods, the copper will be pre-oxidized for an aged patina.”
The Sapele density, 1800, is twice that of the Silkwood, 900. The LTD Ironwood is 3260 and the upcoming LTD Blackwood is 3670, ZMF’s most dense earcup wood.
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Note that wood density (weight) is not identical to wood hardness.
https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-correlation-between-density-and-hardness-of-a-material?share=1
http://woodmonsters.com/wood-charts-density-hardness-stiffness-and-strength.html
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Damn this looks amazing. What does the extra hardness do to the sound?
Theoretically it would mean faster decay, and less resonance in audible bands. guitar bodies are made of softwood, drum shells are usually made of hard wood.
I don’t know if it is audible in a headphone shell. I bought the shell I thought was pretty.
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Most things Ive seen online state that the wood does make a difference but it is slight and doesnt change the overall character of the headphone. Likely much less than pad rolling, Buying the pretty one is the best advice.
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A friend that I showed them to who isn’t even particularly into audio said “geez, even if they didn’t sound good you could just display them like art.”
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Very nice!
20, you know the thing…
In my experience the decay was the biggest factor. The bass on the blackwood hit a little harder. Notes had more immediate impact, then they were gone, just like that. It’s an exciting sound that takes an incredibly fast headphone and seems to make it even more so.
I ended up preferring the longer decay of the silkwood. I think that contributes to the wild 3D soundstage, perhaps my favorite aspect of the VO. You can’t exactly pinpoint where sounds are appearing from, notes can run into each other and things seem to swirl all around you. That effect was certainly still present, but slightly reduced on the blackwood.
Keep in mind, the silkwood is 840 on the Janka scale and the blackwood is 3670. You literally couldn’t have more of a difference when it comes to ZMF wood variants. I’m sure that most wood comparisons would end up with more subtle differences.
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Yeah I agree with this. I had a silkwood VO and after going to the stabilized VC I feel it hits much harder and feels like it goes lower in the bass. The notes seem faster as well. Pretty awesome imo.
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OK. I’m at my computer with a nice glass of red, listening to my silkwood VO’s on my new Pendant and thinking "it can’t get better than this. And then you go and ruin it with the pix of your AMAZING new VO’s. DAMN, they look amazing and now I’m dissatisfied.
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Thank you for the kind words but the Silkwood are extremely nice as well.
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ZMF really creates pieces of art with all of their creations. A true boutique in every sense of the word.
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Yes, of course they are. But yours really are beautiful. Great pix, BTW.
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That wood+metal combo is absolutely killer.
I love how desert ironwood has the dark browns & maroon colors of something like padauk, but is somehow “cooler” in appearance–not all warm and cuddly. I think that’s due to traces of grey in the color pattern…very pretty IMO.
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Woah, that is 
! I wish the Auteur would receive some ZMF LTD love…
BTW, last day to get a LTD Ironwood is today…
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Beautiful headphone. Note the weight is the same as the VO Ironwood LTD.
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